{"id":20567,"date":"2021-01-09T00:01:21","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T23:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/?p=20567"},"modified":"2021-01-07T17:10:24","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T16:10:24","slug":"step-back-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/2021\/01\/09\/step-back-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Step Back"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-20567-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/January-9.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/January-9.mp3\">http:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/January-9.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/en-GB\/bible\/463\/2CO.5.17.NABRE\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2 Cor. 5:<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">17<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (NAB, emphasis added) \u201cSo whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; <\/span><\/i><b><i>behold<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, new things have come.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In order to cheer up when change looks distant, you must stop and <\/span><b>Appreciate<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The Master\u2019s Work<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and sometimes that means celebrating the little things. A woman practically dragged her husband to my office because she was convinced, he needed counselling. The problem was, even when she is sitting right beside him, her husband could not help looking at beautiful women. <\/span><!--more--><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On this particular day, however, she had seen the beautiful woman from a distance and was watching to see what her husband would do. Her husband did not turn to look at the woman as usual, but she saw his eyes move. This man used to turn his neck before, now it is only his eyes, change has happened, and we have to celebrate it. Do not get me wrong, I am not endorsing men with roving eyes. What are you looking for when you have already married the most beautiful woman in the world?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The truth is, when we celebrate the little gains it gets reinforced and it becomes big. When you appreciate what God is doing in your life you have \u201c<\/span><b>An In-Explainable joy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/en-GB\/bible\/463\/2CO.5.17.NABRE\"> 2 Cor. 5:<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">17<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (NAB, emphasis added)<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201cSo whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; <\/span><\/i><b><i>behold<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, new things have come.\u201d <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If in your life, you cannot say the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">old has passed<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the new has come<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, I suggest that you consider your walk with God. Why? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/en-GB\/bible\/97\/EZK.36.26.MSG\">Eze. 36:<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">26-27<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (MSG)<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201cI&#8217;ll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you.\u00a0 I&#8217;ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that&#8217;s God-willed, not self-willed. I&#8217;ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by My commands.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A lot of people are too self-willed. But when we come to God, God gives us a new heart. He puts a new spirit within us. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/en-GB\/bible\/116\/zep.3.16-17\">Zep. 3:<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">16-17<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On that day the announcement to Jerusalem will be, \u201cCheer up, Zion! Don\u2019t be afraid! For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty saviour. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u201d\u00a0 On this day, the announcement to you will be \u201cCheer Up!\u201d and so shall it be in Jesus Name, Amen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are you struggling with embracing the big picture? Or have you embraced the big picture but cooperating with God makes you uncomfortable? Do you find it difficult to accept your unique path, to accept the fact that everybody&#8217;s journey and the story is different? Or is your struggle with appreciating what God is doing in your life? This is not about someone else encouraging you, but about you seeing the beauty of what God is doing in your life. Jesus Himself says to us in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/en-GB\/bible\/70\/jhn.16.33\">John 16:<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">33 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(GW\/CEV) \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the world you&#8217;ll have trouble but cheer up! I have defeated the world.<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>Prayer<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Lord Jesus, I choose to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">embrace the big picture<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cooperate with the Master Artist<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">accept God\u2019s unique process<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for me, and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">appreciate the Master\u2019s work<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in Jesus Name. Amen!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2 Cor. 5:17 (NAB, emphasis added) \u201cSo whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.\u201d &nbsp; In order to cheer up when change looks distant, you must stop and Appreciate The Master\u2019s Work, and sometimes that means celebrating the little things. A woman practically [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[242,146,275,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ability","category-acknowledge-god","category-appreciate","category-encouragement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20567"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20591,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20567\/revisions\/20591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}