Hearts United Women's Ministry

Knitting Hearts Gathering on June 8, 2019
Living Above Your Circumstances with Joyce Sanders

Written by Sue Pellum Sanders
Notes from Joyce’s message included

Greeters welcomed guests as they entered the hallways and then moved to the welcoming center. Guests were loved on and enjoyed a continental breakfast prepared and served by the hospitality team. Joyce Sanders opened the service with prayer before Mona blew the shofar. Nicole Symthe prayed an opening prayer, and then the dance team orchestrated a congregational dance to a song by Aaron Shust and Joseph Aaron, “There Is None Like You.” We declared along with the dancers, “There is none like You, together we proclaim the power of Your name. . .Your kingdom will forever reign. . .how majestic is Your name in all the earth.” After Joyce Sanders prayed, Liz Gorski made announcements of upcoming events. Taylor Smith led us in proclamations from the Word of God.

Susan White and her team led us in worship. The opening song was a truly anointed one by Phil Wickham, “Spirit of the Living God.” Holy Spirit-driven reverence flowed as we sang the lyrics, “Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me. Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.” We moved onto a shouting song, “When I Think About the Lord.” We celebrated our salvation and privileges as children of God: how He saved us, raised us, filled us with the Holy Ghost, healed us to the uttermost, picked us up, turned us around, placed our feet on solid ground. We sang out our hallelujahs thanking Jesus and declaring His worth. We continued to give Him honor as we sang, “There is no One higher, no One greater, no One like our God. There is none more able, Christ our Savior, great and glorious.”

Joyce Sanders’s message, “Living Above Your Circumstances,” focused on three steps that we can follow for the rest of our lives.

Introduction:
Have you ever felt stressed? Stress refers to anything out of the ordinary (stressors) that we have to adjust to.  Did you know changes occur in the body as it attempts to adjust the stress response? What do you do or turn to? How do you find inner peace?

Proverbs 12:25, “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.” Proverbs 14:30, “A tranquil heart (a heart at peace) gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.” (ESV). Proverbs 17:22, “A joyful heart (sound heart) is good medicine (life to the flesh), but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”

Many researchers believe that strong feelings and emotions are the real “triggers” of a stress response that leads to illness. Frustration, humiliation, unresolved fear or anger, and a sense of failure are among the most distressful.  The Bible gives us help in how to deal with these “triggers” and how to manage stress responses.

Did you know? Any accumulated grudges contribute to the biochemical changes that set up a depression? Offense leads to anger. Anger leads to bitterness and resentment which then leads to holding a grudge toward the offender. Holding grudges eventually lead to self-pity and a great sensitivity (the leads little thing bothers you).  All this eventually leads to depression.  We can break the cycle at any point—at anger before you become bitter by the power of the Holy Spirit…

 You can do one of three things:

• Express—other suffer
• Repress—you suffer; can lead to illness, ulcers…
• Confess—to God who already know and ask Him to give you what you need.

The purpose of this teaching is to help you understand what Scriptures say about identifying what causes you stress (your “stressors”) and managing your responses to them.  God uses these things (our responses) to reveal our hearts.

STEP ONE – Control the Negative (3 steps)

1. Be aware of the desire to have things done your way.

• We can have strong opinions, a natural tendency. What do you do when things don’t go your way? Pout? Pull Away? Cry? Get mad?
• Tools used are manipulation and control
• Problems arise when we have to have things done our own way to be content and gain self-esteem.
• Actions we take, and reactions we have can be damaging. Pray, “Lord, help me to respond and not react.” We’re not only responsible for our actions; but our reactions as well…

Isaiah 53:6, “All we like have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

2. Realize we depend on people, places, things, and events for emotional stability. Where do you get your Peace? Your joy? 

• We look to people, places, things, and events to provide love, joy, peace, and comfort. This becomes a way of life.
• People let us down, places get old, things wear out, events become boring.
• In desperation, we seek new people, different places, better things, more exciting events. Cycle continues.
• God desires to be the source of our emotional stability by providing love, joy, peace, and comfort.
• Thought: The world was created for us to enjoy but not be our source of joy. 

Galatians 5:22,23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance…”

3. Realize we blame people and circumstances for our emotional instability.

• We instinctive believe if only this person and/or that circumstance would change, we would be free of emotional instability.
• Trying to control what we can’t change is a dead end. Progress comes when we change what we can control.
• Stop blaming and start taking responsibility for own behavior. Own our own part.
• Bible teaches: It’s not what happens to us that troubles us, it is our response that is upsetting. 

Mark 7:23-23, For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness (lustful), an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:  All these evil things come from within and defile the man.

Summary–Controlling the Negatives

• Getting our way should not be the source of contentment and self-esteem.
• Don’t depend on people, places, things, and events for emotional stability.
• Avoid blaming people and circumstances for emotional stability.

 

Step Two – Accentuate the Positive (4 Steps) 

1. Experiencing Love

• God is love. Therefore, God NOT those around us, should be the source of our love.
• Remembering this removes pressure from relationships in two ways: We no longer look to others for love, nor do we try to be the source of love for others.
• With these pressures off, we are free to enjoy our love with each other.

1 Thessalonians 3:12, And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you. 

2. Knowing Joy

• Joy is what you know.
• Results from knowing that God can produce good from any situation. God is Sovereign. He is GOOD!
• Share: Thoughts on Romans 8:28.
• When circumstances are difficult, we can be confident that He is ultimately working for our good.
• We can relax. This prevents unnecessary struggles.

John 15:11, These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and you’re your joy might be full.

3. Being Comforted

• Comfort defined: being contented and satisfied.
• Looking to God as our source of comfort, we can be content even in the midst of all disappointments and trouble. “I don’t understand Lord, but I TRUST you.”
• Results in our being satisfied.

11 Corinthians 1:3,4,  Blessed be the God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Fathers of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we might be able to comfort them which are in trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

4. Receiving Peace

• Jesus promises us “a peace that passes all understanding.” Phil. 4:6-7, “…And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (ESV).
• Two kinds of peace; His and the world’s.
• Worlds peace is fragile and easily broken.
• God’s peace will remain constant in the midst of stressful circumstances. 

John 16:33, These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.  In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Summary–Accentuate the Positive

• Love never fails.
• Joy remains.
• Comfort is available in all disappointments and trouble.
• God’s peace is not fragile.

Step THREE – Take Action to Control the Negative and Accentuate the Positive (5 Steps) 

1. Submit

• Action begins by submitting ourselves to God.
• God in His mercy sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to satisfy God’s penalty for our sin.
• This should motivate us to maintain a continuous attitude of submission. 

Romans 12:1, Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 

2. Identify Sin.

• Submitting ourselves to God allows the Holy Spirit to be in control.
• Because we tend to justify our sin, we need the Holy Spirit to accurately identify sin. Call it what God calls it.
• Allow God to identify your sin throughout the day.

Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

John 16:8, And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and righteousness, and judgment.” 

Hebrews 4:12, For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

3. Confess

• See our sin is not meant to bring condemnation and guilt but affords an opportunity to be cleansed. John 3:16-17
• The Holy Spirit identifies our sin so we can confess.
• Confess defined: agreeing with God. Saying what God says
• When we confess, God promises to forgive us and cleanse us immediately.
• When we are cleansed, the sin is no longer there.

1 John 1:9, If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our ssins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

Share:  Testimony of Power of the Word of God… washing and renewing took place as prayer and God’s Word increased my understanding of forgiveness.  I began to have a greater understanding of God’s mercy and God’s grace.

4. Be Controlled

• After confessing our sins, we are clean, but we are also empty.
• It is good to be clean but not good to be empty.
• Ask God to fill your heart with the fruit of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Comfort, etc. 

Ephesians 5:18, And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.

Principle of Replacement: Matthew 12:43-45.
This is so important.  Once you confess the sin. Replace with the fruit of the Spirit

5. Be Consistent.

Galatians 5:16, This I say the, walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.

• Consistency requires maintenance.
• First priority for maintenance involves quickly confessing our sin, when convicted, and replacing it with the fruit of the Spirit.
• Should supplement Bible study, prayer, worship, sharing, and stewardship.
• Do NOT let the supplements become a substitute for these 12 steps.
• The more we are under the Spirits control, the less we have to have things go our way to be content… and our sinful reactions, when we don’t get our way, will be fewer.

We will never become sinless on this earth; but we will sin the closer we walk with the Lord

Summary–Taking Action to Control the Negative and Accentuate the Positive

• Submit
• Identify sin.
• Confess sin.
• Be controlled.
• Be consistent.

Frustration comes when we try to control that which we cannot change.  Progress comes when we change that which we can control. Living above Your Circumstances will occur as the Holy Spirit controls the three negatives, thus allowing the four positives to be accentuated. Consistency will come as you work the last 5 Steps—(submit, identify sin, confess sin, be controlled, be consistent)–for the rest of your life.

Joyce encouraged us to practice these basics every day.
1) Commit each day to the Lord.
2) Each day ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit.
3) Keep short accounts of sin.
4) Confess sin.
5) Ask the Lord for what You need.

Joyce shared some experiences from her own life. She said, “Living above your circumstances will occur as you totally surrender to the Holy Spirit.”  Another quote highlighted the way to live above your circumstances: “Consistency will come as you work the last five steps for the rest of your life.”

She shared a chart contrasting the carnal man with the Spirit-filled man. Self is in control in the carnal man; however, once a Christian surrenders Himself to the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit begins to flow from his or her life.

Joyce gave an invitation for not only salvation but also surrendering absolutely, unconditionally, now and forever to the Lord. She also testified about the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

The last song, “Holy Spirit You Are Welcome Here,” was a reminder of how God had manifested His presence and how we had experienced His glory and tasted His sweet love.

We never leave a KHM gathering without experiencing God and gaining new insight from God’s Word. Today, we stood amazed in His presence astounded by His mercy and love. Hopefully, our hands were lifted high in surrender because His grace is always enough. We shouted, “Lord, there is no One higher than You.” We will forever praise the glory of His name.