A few years back, I recorded 10 audio files and titled them A Minute With Michelle. These short segments were created simply to encourage the listener and give them a little "something to think about!"
MWM #7 We Are All Equal – Yes, We Are! Why is this truth so hard for us to believe? Social pressure, media, advertising agencies, family dynamics, and peer pressure have convinced us that some people have more value than others. This is human perspective. God’s perspective is different!
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A few years back, I recorded 10 audio files and titled them A Minute With Michelle. These short segments were created simply to encourage the listener and give them a little "something to think about!"
MWM #6: Holy Spirit Empowerment We just celebrated Easter, when Christ rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven. Before His departure, He instructed His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to come upon our earth. Forty days later, on The Jewish Feast of Pentecost, that happened (see Acts 1 and 2) and we saw that the Holy Spirit came and empowered humans to be "witnesses." What does that mean? When people encounter you, do they see Jesus in you? A few years back, I recorded 10 audio files and titled them A Minute With Michelle. These short segments were created simply to encourage the listener and give them a little "something to think about!"
MWM #5: Surely Goodness and Mercy I wonder if when Christ, as He made His painful way to the Cross, had to remind Himself that "goodness and mercy" would follow His act of obedience to His Father. His great passion for humanity caused Him to do what was right, not what was easy. We too can have that same strength. A few years back, I recorded 10 audio files and titled them A Minute With Michelle. These short segments were created simply to encourage the listener and give them a little "something to think about!"
MWM #4: When Your “Earth Suit” Wears Out! One of my favourite things to do as a Christian Minister is to conduct funeral services for the elderly. Why? Well, it is such a wonderful opportunity to celebrate lives well-lived, and I am fortunate to always be able to discover and convey the wonderful heritage left behind for loved ones. So, fear not! Real, eternal life truly begins after we have lived and died here on earth. So live well, and when your "earth suit" wears out, rejoice! A few years back, I recorded 10 audio files and titled them A Minute With Michelle. These short segments were created simply to encourage the listener and give them a little "something to think about!"
MWM #3: The hardest thing we’ll ever be required to do is to “Love one another.” Loving one another requires the grace that raised Christ from the dead. Unconditional love – the love of God – is the only thing that will change people. All other methods of keeping order will only modify outward behaviour. Love will cause deep change and freedom. A few years back, I recorded 10 audio files and titled them A Minute With Michelle. These short segments were created simply to encourage the listener and give them a little "something to think about"!
MWM #2 – The Joy of the Lord is My Strength! Feeling weak and defeated? The Bible tells us in Nehemiah 8:10 “for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” It is written in the context of celebration, and knowing that each day is holy. Often, in the midst of the "cares of this world," I find it difficult to find joy, but I have learned to choose joy! I have found, too, that “a cheerful heart is good medicine” (Proverbs 17:22). Everyone has a unique sense of humour. Find your laughter! Put on joy! A few years back, I recorded 10 audio files and titled them A Minute With Michelle. These short segments were created simply to encourage the listener and give them a little "something to think about"! MWM #1 – The Just Shall Live By Faith (Romans 1:17)
In this segment, the message of living a life of faith is timeless – other than the reference to my Palm Pilot and daytimer! Like Abram of the Old Testament, I want to know God’s plans for me. I want to know where I’m going! But God’s answer is always, “Go!” So, I must say that this scripture, and the principle attached to it, is probably the hardest thing for me to walk in, without throwing at least one hissy-fit along the way. You see, I can either be "the just" or not! That’s my choice. OK, "Uncle." I choose to be Yours, Lord! Today we, Revival People Network Netherlands, travelled by car to Rotterdam, Holland, to join a vibrant and welcoming congregation there named Kom En Zie ("Come and See"). It’s difficult to explain what happened there. Pastor Mike Sainz was given free rein to lead the worship team, which consisted of an amazing drummer, a violinist, and an accordion player. They are lovely people, servant people – as in, "What can I do for you?" people. Pastors Gina and Rosemary joined the team as singers. The congregation "received" us as a group of believers who had come from across the ocean to stand with them.
It was fascinating to witness the people deriving from the worship team their need to connect with God at a level deeper than human; a truly "deep calling to deep" experience. It took a while, and there came a point when the congregation would not let Pastor Mike quit leading them in worship. Then it happened – a break through! Something shifted in the room and people were very open to hearing the Word of God. Apostle Shirley gave the message of being ready to run; the urgency of being ready and willing to be who God wants you to be (He wants you to be yourself!) and go where and when the order comes. She talked about the process of "becoming," and used the example of the horse that, against all odds, won the Kentucky Derby a few years ago, because he was the only horse that had not been pampered and had trained in the mud, in the rain, and close to danger. The training that made him a winner was arduous, and it paid off. Apostle Shirley urged the people to say "Yes!" to God, and to say it now! We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Kom En Zie, put on graciously by its people. What a great day. In the evening, we gathered to debrief our time together, and to discuss the individual highlights for each of us. It’s amazing how easy it is to fall in love with people so quickly and thoroughly, in just over a week. Tomorrow, myself, Nancy, and the group from Bahamas will all return to our respective homes. It’s been a pure joy! I slept a full eight hours last night, so I’m now in the rhythms of the Netherlands; but tomorrow is our last full day here, so another time adjustment is coming upon me quickly.
This morning, the weather was cold and miserable, and the rain was coming down hard. We all gathered in the large kitchen/living area of our facility and Apostle Shirley continued her teaching on the strengths and weaknesses of some of the various functions of an Apostolic or New Testament work, of which a church would be a part. This is typically called a Five-Fold Ministry team, whose leadership would include prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. It’s good to be able to openly discuss the challenges that are guaranteed to present themselves! Nancy and I got dropped off in Bennekom by Pastor Mike Sainz from Oleans, New York, and we had a nice quiet lunch and did a little looking around the town. We walked back to our facility just outside the town limits. This evening, we went to Mirella and Willem’s beautiful home in the next town where we had dinner, and watched a documentary about the 14-week outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Lakeland, Florida. As mentioned in another blog, Willem is a film director and works for an evangelical television network paid by the Dutch government. It was a very fair assessment of the situation that came down when Todd Bentley, who was leading the healing crusade, fell into an adulterous affair, left his wife, and was removed from the pulpit that had been attracting tens of thousands of people from around the world. The film showed the facts fairly, exactly as a documentary should do – the good, the miraculous, the bad, the joy and sadness, the failures and the faith of people who know and believe that even when people can fail, God never does. Willem had also filmed Apostle Shirley Arnold the last time she and her husband Steve were in Holland, at the Corrie Ten Boom home in Haarlem. It was a one-take, one-camera, unscripted, unrehearsed shoot that turned out fantastically! Both Willem and Apostle Shirley are "naturals" and both love God, His plan, and His people. This kind of cooperation can – and does – create the miraculous. Tomorrow is our last full day here, and we will be going to Rotterdam to support a small church there. Can’t wait! Today, as we traveled to Haarlem, we talked about our responsibility as Christian leaders. I know that when I started the church arm of Northern Praise Ministries in 2010, my husband Ian said that he’d go along and support me if I "didn’t tell anyone what to do." I kept that promise and I found that, in so doing, I allowed intelligent people to make wise decisions based on the Word of God as I taught it. So, for controversial issues that some may be struggling with, I have found this to be true: if you give people a solid foundation of God’s unfailing Love, they will, in time, choose what is right. It won’t often happen overnight, but eventually God’s Spirit will override the heartache and pain of life, and lead to freedom.
Today was a bitterly cold day with fierce winds, and there we were, standing on a street in Haarlem, at a corner house owned by the Ten Boom family. The house is 600 years old! There are about four floors connected by a narrow, winding staircase, and the house has many small rooms and a couple of larger rooms. This is the house that courageously housed Jews who were being rounded up and taken to extermination camps. This is the house where everyone was welcomed, and where music and Bible study was an ongoing activity. This is the house that had a perfectly constructed secret compartment; just two feet wide and eight feet long, that would hide six adults at the same time, as Nazi soldiers searched every inch in response to rumours that this house had something and someone to hide. This is the house where another Dutch person betrayed – for money – the secret, which caused the whole Ten Boom family to be arrested. Within ten days, "Opa" would die and the family would begin to learn to forgive over and over again. Our tour in the Corrie Ten Boom house was a life-changer, and I’m so glad I got to go. The family lived a life of true Love. Talk about Love! Nancy and I had another Divine encounter today. We were getting some lunch after our tour, and a darling young woman next to us asked if we would help her with a school project by giving her our personal definition of "love." I answered: “Love is being unconditionally accepted in the state I’m in, right now.” It was a day of Love. This evening, we had another casual meeting with the people here in Bennekom and area. Sweet, sweet people who love God with all their hearts and love this land! |
AuthorMichelle Sim - licensed Christian minister, speaker, author, founder of Northern Praise Ministries Inc., and supporter and connector of creative people. Archives
June 2016
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