Tag Archives: healing

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Lyrics for “Enthralled by Your Love”

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Enthralled by Your Love

They left me empty and broken.
I searched for the one who could put me back together again.

I could not escape from the pain,
giving myself to the darkness, trying to hide from my shame.

In this hopeless place, you found me.
Instead of piecing me back together, you made something brand new out of me.

Chorus/bridge:
I am you beloved, your bride, sitting in heaven by your side.
Enthroned in your beauty and grace, enthralled by the love in your gaze.

When I was lost, you searched for me.
I found my worth in the price that you paid to bring me liberty.

You saw me for what I could be,
captured my heart with your love, making me into royalty.

Chorus/bridge:
I am you beloved, your bride, sitting in heaven by your side.
Enthroned in your beauty and grace, enthralled by the love in your gaze.

Copyright © by Jodi Woody
August 21, 2013

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Feeding-The-Hungry2[1]

Comfort and Compassion
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for…” Isaiah 40:1
There are a lot of hurting people in this world, the result of the fall, Satan’s attacks and our own stupidity and wrong choices. Jesus comforted the hurting and had compassion on their plight. He told the woman caught in the very act of adultery that he didn’t accuse her. He told the woman at the well, who was living with her wrong choices, that he had living water for her that would change her life. He fed thousands who had empty bellies and empty hearts.
We see in the fourth chapter of Luke, Jesus standing in the Synagogue in Nazareth where he was raised and quoting Isaiah 61:1-2, “The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.” Then he tells them that he is the fulfillment of this scripture.
What is the good news? That God loves us that his son came to show us that love and how to love others. Jesus demonstrated compassion and comfort. Paul tells us in Philippians 2:1-2, “Are you strong because you belong to Christ? Does His love comfort you? Do you have joy by being as one in sharing the Holy Spirit? Do you have loving-kindness and pity for each other? Then give me true joy by thinking the same thoughts. Keep having the same love. Be as one in thoughts and actions.” The good news is that what we have received from Jesus, we can share with those other hurting people. His compassion and comfort came out of a heart filled with love. His compassion healed the man with the withered hand in spite of the consequences he would face from the religious people. His compassion drove the demons out of the Gaderine, healed the sick, cleansed the lepers and it forcefully nailed him to the cross. The compassion of Christ was so great that the grave couldn’t hold it, or the five hundred others that came up with him.
Jesus told us that we are to preach this good news of God’s love and compassion. The wonderful news that he sits on the throne of grace in all authority and power then gives us the same authority and power her on earth. The good news that he hasn’t left us here alone, but has sent the Comforter, His Spirit to guide us and teach us. Jesus never put conditions on his love; he just wanted to help people. Search the scriptures and you’ll see he never turned anyone down. Sure, in his home town, in the same chapter quoted above in Luke, he said a prophet couldn’t do much for his own, because of their unbelief, but he still wanted to help them. He never said, “It’s your own fault, deal with it,” but he did tell us, those who say we love him, “what you’ve seen me do, you do it!”
We could reach the world this way – could change the world this way. One person at a time, one smile, one hand reaching out in love, one crust of bread, one warm blanket at a time…

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Living Beyond the Cross: Part One

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We tend to set up camp at the cross, when that was never the Father’s intention. We have come to the cross to confess our sin, accepting Jesus’ atonement…and then stayed there. Some even worship the cross. We have to go beyond the cross. The work of the cross is finished. How do I know that? Because Jesus said, “it is finished!” If it wasn’t, he wouldn’t have said it. Notice he didn’t say, “it is being finished”, “the work of the cross is continual,” no he said FINISHED. Period. We respect and reverence what Jesus did there, the price he paid, the blood he shed there, but we can’t live there, can’t stay there. We have to move past. Jesus said that he was the door-we don’t stand in doors, we go through. Jesus was the door to the Father.
So what’s on the other side of the cross? The cross is the door to the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is on the other side-the throne room. Jesus sits on that throne; he isn’t hanging on a cross. The cross couldn’t hold him, hell and the grave couldn’t hold him. He was destined, before the foundation of the world to sit on that throne. We are seated there with him, those of us who have accepted the finished work of the cross (Ephesians 2:5). Who sits on a throne? A king. Who has authority in that Kingdom? The king. The King of Kings sits on his throne in Heaven ruling his Kingdom and what does he call us? “Kings and Priests” (Revelations 5:10). What is the job of a king? To rule and reign, to use their authority to prosper the Kingdom.
I am learning-and trying to walk in this authority. It isn’t something new to me. Our Senior Pastor always talks about “A King, a Kingdom and a Royal Family.” But the word says that “Faith comes by hearing, and continuing to hear, the Word of God.” So sometimes we have to hear it over and over to get it from our heads into our hearts. Faith never takes place in our heads, always in our hearts. What our heads can’t comprehend our heart can believe. We don’t have to understand it all, just believe it all. Even the little Revelation I have received on this subject, I sometimes forget. I go back to the cross…habit, and to be honest I love to remember the love of the cross. Through some classes last week on healing and the Kingdom, some of those wrong thinking patterns were broken. So some of what I am sharing is from those classes. I hope it frees you up the way it has me.
Jesus didn’t “plead the blood”. He never said, “By the stripes on my back you are healed.” He didn’t ask his Father to heal. He prayed often, frequently all through the night, but he didn’t pray for God to heal. He hadn’t shed his blood; the cross was still in his future. But that didn’t stop him from doing his Father’s work. He healed the sick, cast out demons, cleansed lepers the list is endless. He did all of this as a man, not God. Through the power of the Holy Spirit and obedience to God’s will, motivated by their love, he did these mighty works. He knew his position, knew who he was. He didn’t let the fact that he was here as a man stop him. He knew who his Father was and that all power and authority came from the Father. “I only do what I see my Father do, I only say what he says.” He continually told the Religious people of the day that his power came from the Father.
Now, he did die, hang on that cross, shed his blood, went to Hell, took the Keys, stripped Satan of his power, and was resurrected. All of that is true, and wonderful! But he also ascended into heaven where he sits on his Throne of Power and Authority. Before he left he told us to do what he did. He told us to preach. Preach what? The cross? No the Kingdom. The Kingdom is the love of the Father that wants to see his children blessed, set free, stand and walk in their authority. To be on the offensive not just defend. Take territory; don’t just try to protect the little we have. He wants his family to grow! He told us to heal the sick. We do it, through the Holy Spirit working in us. Cast out demons. Not pray them out, cast them out. Tell them to leave. They have no authority. You do.
I know some religious toes have been stepped on and some sacred cows slaughtered. But religion stinks! It’s a set of do’s and don’ts that can only dictate how to behave. It never changes a heart. Relationship with the Father, now that changes our hearts and life’s. Now we do his work out of love for him. I swallowed hard at least a dozen times over the course of this class. I kept hearing this word ‘but’ in my head. Look at it this way, the cross, the beatings, the stripes and the blood, they were all to get us to the Throne of Grace. Important, necessary and wonderful? Yes, of course. The cross was the means to an end. The work of the cross tells us ‘how’ we got in the family of God, ‘why’ we are able to be healed, delivered and saved. ‘Why’ we have our authority. It the reason we can say to the sick, “be healed,” say to those in bondage to sin and the devil, “be free.” His stripes did heal us. His blood did cleanse us. So we are healed and clean. We don’t have to ask God to do these things, they are done. Accept it. Live like its true!
When we keep going back to the cross, it’s as if we crucify him again. Wasn’t once enough? God’s word tells us it was “once for all.” Just think about that for a minute…
Can you hear him calling you from the Throne of Grace?
So maybe you screwed up yesterday, you fell away, stumbled into some old sin…so what? There is Grace in the Throne room of God. Turn from the sin. That’s all repentance is, really. It’s already under that blood. It’s already been forgiven. When we live in the Kingdom, we become his ambassadors. We find that we don’t mess up as often, we stumble less. We are, like Jesus, only doing what the Father said and saying what he told us to say. We are part of that Royal Family sharing the goodness of the King. Who wouldn’t want to come out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light with us? If you are one of those who declare themselves “a sinner saved by Grace,” stop it! God said not to call unclean the things he has made clean. Jesus’ blood cleansed us; we are clean, no more sinners but saints, Sons no longer servants. God said, he never lies.

More tomorrow…

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Who Is My Enemy

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“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12

Our enemies are not made of flesh and blood. We all know that right? We’ve heard it preached, taught and we’ve read it ourselves in God’s word. People are not our enemies. But, honestly, that is hard to remember at times. We can be so easily irritated by that one person (or sometimes several different people). I have found myself, more times than I am comfortable admitting to, wanting to “lay hands on” someone because of their words or actions and it had nothing to do with prayer or imparting gifts! Or as my grandson likes to say “give them a five knuckle sandwich.” It’s easier to see the carrier, the messenger, than the real enemy. Our enemy is Satan. He comes to only kill, steal and destroy. He and his minions are spirit and can only operate through people. My pastor uses the term, “principalities that use personalities.” That person that antagonizes, manipulates, irritates, brings division and harm, is operating under the influence, and sometimes control, of an evil spirit and most of the time they aren’t even aware of that fact. There are those occasions that the only enemy is our own human nature, our own flesh, but we will leave that for another day.

There have been times that we have been hurt, or worse, had to watch a loved one be crushed under abusive behavior. We have all been affected by or witness to bullying, unfair treatment, discrimination and all of those other ugly behaviors, all products of the fallen world we live in. They stem from anger, bitterness, pride, selfishness and straight from the pit of hell. So how do we keep things in perspective? How do we not lash out in anger and revenge at those who have hurt, or continue to hurt us? How do we look past the flesh and blood person and see the evil lurking behind? First, we have to accept God’s love in our lives, His love for us and His love for others, including that person who has you wanting to behave in an ungodly way. We need to renew our minds, wash it out, with God’s word (Romans 12:2). When we love God’s law we aren’t easily offended (Psalm 119:165). When we stand on God’s word, write it on the tablets of our hearts and we allow God to fill us with His love we are slow to judge and quick to forgive. Love covers a multitude of sins, so it allows us to overlook some of the behavior (Proverbs 6:12). Another way that we can overlook the flesh is to remember at one time we were just like they were. There is a reason they are called “the lost”. We were unloving, backbiting, selfish children of our father, the devil.

Quite often the ones that hurt us the most are our own loved ones, family members, spouses, our Church family. Some are even professing Christians (I would say they may still have a lot of their carnal nature there, living by their senses). How do we handle that? First off remember that they are not the enemy! If someone has offended you, we are supposed to go to them. That can be harder than asking someone to forgive you, I know. Occasionally, you will find that they never intended to hurt and didn’t realize they even did. Sometimes they know they did, but refuse to admit fault or ask for forgiveness. If it’s a big deal, ask for leaders to help with the situation, if it is not a major thing, just shake the dust off of your feet and move on. Forgiveness isn’t an emotion, it’s a choice. You choose to forgive, whether they ever admit fault or not, and let your emotions catch up. When the behavior is continued, and the relationship is toxic, forgive, but don’t stay in relationship with that person. God never intended for abusive behavior to be part of a family. Sometimes we have to distance ourselves from people and their sin. Don’t be a part of sinful behavior. Forgiving isn’t saying what they did was acceptable or that you will allow the behavior to continue in your life. You are just letting the junk go out of your own heart and refusing to hold it against them. Forgive, but move on! Let go of the anger, hurt and pain and allow God to heal. Satan hates that. He loses the battle when you forgive.

I am not saying this is all easy! From time to time, we will all face the enemy with the face of a friend, or at least a human face. But look past that face of flesh and see the evil lurking behind. Rebuke the devil; arrest his plans in your life and the life of the person he is using. Our enemy is not a person with a different opinion, skin color, doctrine, faith or beliefs. Our enemy isn’t the rapist, murderer, adulterer or even that grouchy neighbor next door. Pray for those who seem to be your enemy, the person who is being used by Satan. Pray for those who despitefully use you. Be kind to those who have the enemy working in them. This heaps coals on the head of our true enemy. Love the un-loveable. Forgive those who have hurt you. Our enemy is spirit and must be fought with spiritual weapons. We use God’s word. How does he feel about that person, the situation, your reaction? Use the blood of Jesus. Plead the blood over your life and the life of that person who has hurt you. Testify of God’s goodness. What He is doing, has done, how He feels about you, and how much He loves you. Praise God, it stills the enemy and the avenger (makes him shut up and stop his attack.) Be slow to judge and quick to forgive. Satan hates that as well.

You’ll see it all gets easier. You’ll find yourself hurt and offended less. Your patience with people will be greater and your love stronger. Relationships will be restored. Families and Churches will have less division. We will be more careful of how we treat others. Life’s too short to hold grudges and allow bitterness to take over our lives. When we do that, Satan wins the battle and gains ground. None of us want that. The person you once saw as your worst enemy might just end up being a brother or sister in Christ. God want that. He doesn’t like their behavior any more than you do…but He LOVES them. He wants them found and accepted into the beloved.

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that your may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. There for take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with the truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness. And having shod you feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:10-18

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God Cares About the Little Things

Originally written July 2010
God is so “involved” in my life. He proves it again and again. Yesterday I was looking for the lyrics to some songs I had written years ago, and instead found a prophecy for myself and one for my daughter from 1995. I typed them into my new computer and printed off copies for us both. Mine talked about pretty much everything I’ve gone through physically, since that day and God’s promise to deliver me from it all! At Church, the next week, Apostle Bill preached about prophecy. One thing he said was, “We fight our warfare by the prophecies that have gone out before us!” No coincidence there! If I had not put the 1995 prophecy away, (I had kept it somewhere obvious for a long time, but eventually it got stuck away in a notebook) had I studied it and pondered it in my heart, I never would have lost hope a few months ago, the way that I did. God gives us what we need! He truly does! We just have to be faithful! I have several old prophecies on tape and some more recent ones on CD. I’m gonna hunt them all down and type them up, and “rehearse them” until they are stuck in my heart! Yesterday morning I woke up with heart racing and stomach sick, I did not have the strength to fight, I went through the motions of rebuking and confessing, but my heart was not in it. I drifted back to sleep and when I woke up I remembered a message from a few weeks ago about prophesying over myself. I got out of bed, came downstairs and started praying in tongues, next I started shouting, (yes the first 30 seconds felt stupid, and I was thankful that my window were shut), but then something just welled up in me! I did business with my flesh! I did business with the devil, and I loved on God! I did some groaning and weeping in the Holy Spirit and when all was said and done, I had peace like a blanket over me. Then last night at Church when asked “who wants to prophecy” I couldn’t sit still! I had just experienced it, that day in such a great way in my own life! I did not have some great word, for the man I spoke over, but I was obedient! Man did that feel good! What has God been speaking over you? What did he promise in the past? Maybe you’ve never had a personal prophecy over yourself…well open your Bible, find some promises of God, and DECLARE them over your life! What do you want changed in your life? Rom 4:17-18 NKJV “in the presence of Him whom he believed — God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;” We need to call into existence what we need! Don’t speak about your debt, call forth finances! God said, “wealth and riches are in my house!” Don’t complain about your physical symptoms! Call forth Divine Health! God says, “By the stripes of Jesus’ back I have been healed!” Call forth what IS NOT, as though IT IS! Let’s be honest, we don’t have that much more time left on this earth, we need everything God has for us to be a light unto a dying world, to walk in the abundance God wants for us so that we can help the needy, and to stand and having done all to STAND THEREFORE! I’m still learning, thank God! Every day He brings me up higher and higher! Won’t you allow Him to do the same for you?

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Standing in Faith

This was originaly written on June 8th, 2010 (After being diagnosed with a heart condition that needed surgery)
I had to do some housecleaning today, natural and spiritual. I commanded the spirits of infirmity, self pity and despair to leave my home. Isn’t it funny how without daily upkeep our houses get messy? Well it works the same way with our spirit. If we don’t maintain our faith, get rid of those “un-Godly” beliefs and replace them with the Word of God, things get out right nasty. As I ran the vacuum and got rid of all the cobwebs that had been accumulating in my house, I realized the areas of neglect in my spiritual walk. You can do much soul searching while setting your natural house in order. God is so patient with us, and so encouraging. He really has been so loving to me. One day I was complaining to God about my being ill, and not receiving a healing, and like a petulant toddler said, “Jesus do you even know how I feel, you are God, were you ever even sick a day in your life?” and my patient Lord chuckled at me, just like a parent when their child, makes an illogical accusation, and replied, “Only while on the cross, when I bore your infirmities, and those of everyone else.” What could I answer …besides to see Him in pain on that cross…cry and ask Him to forgive my self pity. Another day, as I lay in bed, feeling very sorry for myself and even more confused, I cried and begged, “Why do I have to go through all of this again! Why do I have to have surgery! Why, why, why!” I was in despair. I received no answer from God, no great revelation, no reason for my suffering. My mind rolled and whined until finally I was too tired to even make sense. It was then I heard, so clearly, “I LOVE YOU”. I sniffed, took a breath, sighed in surrender and said, “I love you too.” I closed my eyes and slept in peace. Friends and Family, God doesn’t condemn us-He loves. Yes, he chastens, (for me quit frequently recently), but always from the heart of a Loving Father. Jesus knows our pain, He cried out to His Father begging for another way, but in the end, He did the will of His Father. Let us do the same. We may not like the path set before us, it may look dark and scary. But He who knows best will light our way! He’ll give us the strength, and walk there beside us. He will deliver my healing! I can count on Him! He is ever loving, and ever FAITHFUL!
P.S. The surgery was not finished due to “equipment malfunction”, what the doctors couldn’t fix, God totally healed!

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First Publication-Savage Love

I always wanted to write. As a small child, my imagination ran wild. I’d rather read than eat, write than play sports, and if you ever played with me, there were large storylines, costumes and lines to recite! Life though, tends to run away with us and I just recently finished my first book and chose to self publish with Createspace. I am proud of my first work, and am at a place in my life where there is time to dream, create and put it all on paper.

Savage Love:
Daffyd thought that he had it all, fame and fortune, good looks, and the life he had always dreamed of. Now, at thirty the only thing remaining is the money. He has lost his family, his health, his good looks and his faith in God. Living as a recluse in the Mountains of Montana he has given up on life.
Samantha is thirty-five and recently widowed. Spending the last fifteen years in a marriage of convenience, to a man almost twenty years her senior, she now doesn’t even know who she is. It seems that her life had been on auto pilot, and though she dreams of another life, she can’t seem to find the way. Samantha has two things that keep her going, her daughter and her faith.
Savage Love is a story of love, hope and new beginnings. When two lives come together, seemingly by chance, both are transformed.

CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/4218386