11 Aug Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way (Because Tenacity is a Necessity to Fulfill your Destiny) Part 14

Posted at 08:00h in Uncategorized by

Joy Church is continually reaching out to the police in our community.  There are presently about 30-40 police officers and their families who are active parts of our church.  Unfortunately, one of our officers was recently shot in the line of duty.  He is a S.W.A.T. officer and a wonderful man of God.  He just gave his video testimony at Joy Church (you can see it by checking out Joychurch.net).

He recounted miracle after miracle in which the devil meant to kill him, but God intervened and turned his situation around!  The bullet missed a main artery by a half of a centimeter, or he would have bled out right there on the streets.  The night he was shot we hurried to the hospital to see him and there was already about 40 officers there supporting John and his family (half of them were from Joy Church).  I usually could not get into the trauma unit in a situation like that, but because there were so many officers from our church, they treated me like the President of the United States…I could go anywhere I wanted as I was accompanied by the police.

I found the officer and his family, and was able to minister to them very directly from the Word of God.  On the way to the hospital God gave me a word from Mark 5:36, “Fear not, and believe only.”  I was able to grab the officer’s hand and pray with him and his family.  As I was ministering to him, the nurse came back and told us that the Mayor and Chief of Police were both here to talk with the officer.  To which the officer told the nurse to have them wait as he needed to talk to his pastor!

In times like this, the mayor can’t help you!  The Chief of Police can’t help you!  Only God’s Word can help you!  As I stayed with the precious man of God, the doctor came in and gave him a very bad report.  They were saying he may never be able to go back in the force and maybe never walk again!  I reminded the officer, “Fear not, and believe only.”  To make a long story even longer, today this officer is walking, working out on the elliptical exercise machine and returning to work in 10 days!  Through this harrowing event, this officer had tremendous tenacity!  Truly, tenacity is a necessity to fulfill your destiny!

Over the last number of weeks we have shared with you the following:  our key verse is found in II Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and of a sound mind.”

Then we began to teach on 10 Truths Towards Tenacity:

  1. Tenacious people don’t’ waste time feeling sorry for themselves (Rom. 8:31).
  2. Tenacious people don’t hand the reigns of their emotional well-being to another (Phil. 4:4)
  3. Tenacious people embrace change (Ps. 55:19)
  1. Tenacious people don’t waste energy on things they can’t control (Phil. 2:14).

This week let’s continue….

  1. Tenacious people are not people pleasers (Prov. 29:25).

Here the Bible tells us, “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.”  Please allow me to share “8 Powerful People Pleaser Points”:

  1. You’ll never find peace in another man’s head!
  2. You’d be surprised how little people are actually thinking of you!  “Well then, Pastor Jim, what are they thinking of?”  The same thing you are thinking of…yourself!
  3. If you compromise to keep a relationship, eventually you won’t recognize yourself.

Please remember this…never compromise on principle, frequently compromise on preference.  If you are married you understand this principle.  In marriage, you should never compromise on Biblical principle, but in order to keep a healthy marriage you must compromise on preference.  For example, I like to go fishing.  Anne likes to go shopping.  So I frequently compromise and we go shopping…at Bass Pro!

Next week we will continue our series!