21 Days of Praise and Fellowship: Day 2
- Sherry Braswell
- May 5, 2020
- 7 min read
Good Morning Sisters,
I can still hear her voice...and oh what a BEAUTIFUL voice it was! 7 yr old Mia (CeeCee’s daughter) filled our cups last night with those powerful worship songs. It was the perfect start to our next phase of praise and fellowship. God is raising up His army and this sweet girl will be at the front of the line as a praise worshiper. It was wonderful!!!
THANK YOU Mia!!! You are a precious treasure in God's kingdom!
Last night was our 43rd day of fellowship. When have you ever worshiped with someone for 43 days? I have not...until now. These days are unprecedented and God is up to something mighty in the hearts of His people. I believe with my whole being that this ministry was birthed for RIGHT NOW!!! We are God’s remnant! THIS IS OUR TIME!!! He changed the world with 12 disciples...what do you think He can do with 20 faith filled women?
The first 28 days we focused on Prayer, the second 14 days we focused on Praise and the final 21 days we are focusing on Praise and Fellowship. Please see our schedule below as we have a 7 day break between May 11- May 17th. Our final day will be May 31st which is Pentecost.
Why are we calling it “Praise and Fellowship?” Please see my notes below. The Lord has been giving me a lot to share and I believe the days we are now in are the most significant of all. We can expect to see the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit this world has ever known! We are less than 30 days from Pentecost.
Today is day 2 of our “21 Days of Praise and Fellowship." Michele will be leading us tonight at 7pm.
21 Days of Praise & Fellowship
5/4-5/10 7 days
5/11-5/17 (7 day Rest/Break)
5/18-5/31 14 days (Pentecost is 5/31)
Please use this link for the next 21 days:
I look forward to praising with you tonight!
Love,
Sherry :-)
My notes: There are 50 days between Passover (Easter Sunday) and Pentecost. Did you know that this Passover was the only Passover in over 2,000 years that was not celebrated but observed? The whole world was in their homes. Could it be that Pentecost (5/31) will also be observed? Could this mean that the greatest revival the world has ever known could be 30 days away? Less than a month? Pentecost comes from a Jewish harvest festival called Shavuot. The Christian holy day of Pentecost, which is celebrated fifty days after Easter Sunday, commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks. It sounded like a very strong wind, and it looked like tongues of fire. The apostles then found themselves speaking in foreign languages, inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Apostle John (whose name means “God is gracious”) understood what it meant to fellowship with God. He said Christianity is at its core, not the observance of rules or rituals but a walk of personal relationship with Jesus. Fellowship with God is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian. And because he understood fellowship with His father he understood the importance of fellowship with one another. John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Fellowship comes from the Greek word, KOINONIA, which means “to share in common.” Christian fellowship is more than attending Church — it is “assimilating” into the body of believers, becoming “one” in worshiping, loving, caring and sharing. We are here together because the BLOOD of Christ unites us. I think the Lord wants a greater unity in Christ than ever before. We come together in unity, with our focus being on Jesus. I would not have met many of you had we not been in this crisis together. Fellowship with the body of Christ is where love is tested and proven. It is the opportunity to learn how to love one another — it is God’s great classroom of the development of Christian character. We are benefited by both the strengths and weaknesses of the fellowship. The mature ones help to strengthen and encourage us, while the weaknesses in the less mature give us the opportunity to practice — to test our spiritual growth in such characteristics as patience, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, etc. (All spiritual virtues must be challenged and tested to bring forth progress.). As we come together in fellowship what is our focus going to be? Pastor Steve Furtick said Sunday in his sermon...The only thing you can really control is your FOCUS!!! You always have a choice. Your choice is what you choose to focus on. Peter fell down because of broken focus. He took his eyes off of Jesus and began to sink. If you’re being squeezed right now God is bringing something productive out of it. During the next 21 days what will we choose to FOCUS on? *We’re going to be focused on what God is going IN us as opposed to what is going on around us. *We are going to grow our roots deeper with Him and with one another. *We’re going to renew our minds with truth and release the lies of the enemy. *We’re going to change old thought patterns and negative thinking. *We’re going to focus on God’s love for us and pour that love out to others. 1 John 4:8 says “God is love”.The Hebrew word for “love” is “AHAVA which means “I give”. It’s the idea that I am pouring myself out with no expectation of receiving. *We’re going to focus on praying for our President and interceding for our country as the enemy is seeking to destroy us. *We’re going to focus on being thankful, looking for the good and modeling this for our friends, our family and our communities. The two that I believed understood what it meant to focus on the right things were John and Paul. John was the apostle who understood Grace. Grace is not a teaching, theology or doctrine. It’s the person of Jesus Christ. Even his name means “God is gracious”. He was the apostle that was with Jesus until the end. He was the apostle that focused on Jesus’ love for him. He was the apostle that the enemy was unable to destroy. He was the apostle that God trusted to write the book of Revelation John focused on Jesus and the love Jesus had for him. And Paul wrote two thirds of the New Testament standing in raw sewage praising God. The only reason that there is a book of Philippians is that Paul was thrown into prison. What was great about Paul was he had this ability to communicate confidence and uncertainty in the same breath. I believe THIS is what WE are called to do today. Philippians 1:22 “If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know!” Paul is awaiting whether they are going to kill him for preaching the gospel. He was under house arrest in Rome and he saw a purpose in it. He didn’t know what was going to happen to Him but He knew God would use it for good. He doesn’t need to know how it ends to see the glory of God in it. You don’t need to know all of the details to take your next step. Just ask Abraham. What are the greatest words of faith you think Paul ever spoke? He says “I do not know”. These are great words of faith. Sometimes the greatest statement of faith you can make is “I do not know”. The way he models confidence for us in the face of uncertainty. Focus on the fruit. This is the word of the Lord today. While you’re waiting, learn to worship. Worship is what is tilling up the ground... he tills up our hardened heart during the times of waiting. Philippians 1:12 “Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.” The most productive parts of your life will not be the prettiest. The biggest miracles of your life will take place in the mess. What’s happening IN me is much more important than what’s happening TO me. Focus on being THANKFUL... What is God teaching you to appreciate in this season? Is God teaching you to appreciate things you have become used to? Sometimes we can’t appreciate things until they are not there. The things we were complaining about in Feb we would be praising Him for today. What is God causing you to appreciate in this season? Sometimes the only way God gets us to appreciate something is to let us go without it for a while. I don’t believe God sent this virus but He is using it for good. We get used to the things & people He sends us. It took leaving Egypt to appreciate the things they had grown accustomed to. Things they took for granted. God is not only teaching God is resetting the baseline of what we consider a blessing. The new baseline for being grateful “if you got breath praise Him” New baseline for being grateful: Psalm 150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD. God is homeschooling us right now. Teaching us some things about RELEASE. It’s not about how much weight you are carrying as it’s about your grip. For all of the planners and control freaks out there. You could lift a lot more if you would loosen your grip. Hold it differently and you can carry more. Quit looking back & looking forward. This is the day. Focus on now. Focus on today. This is the day the Lord has made. Let go of what’s behind you so you can reach for what’s in front of you. You can get there if you let go. Why is it so hard to do? To Let go and let God? It’s about releasing the things you could never control to begin with. God is showing us in this season how little control we had to begin with. A lot of what we know is negative thinking. We have to unlearn what we know. One of the greatest lessons of this season is not what I need to learn but what I need to unlearn. What do you need to unlearn? We’re addicted to knowledge. We must find a balance in between. We have to unlearn our point of reference of what we have called normal. Will you change your habits in this season? God is trying to set us free from things we never needed to begin with.
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