Encouragement

Thought For The Week...

Wait

Patience can be one of the most difficult and frustrating disciplines that we are faced with. We are a hurry-up people; if we’ve prayed and asked God for something we expect immediate results. If we do not learn to practice the art of patience and adhere to it, we will become stressed out, overtaxed, restless, irritable, depressed, oppressed, and/or nervous. All of which will cause trauma to our bodies and opens the door to sickness. It is imperative that we learn how to abide in, lean on, relax in, rest in, and snuggle down in the arms of God; if we do not, we’ll find ourselves as a patient in somebody’s hospital.  We must never believe that God doesn’t have our best interest at heart. He is not like our earthly fathers who may promise and then be not able to answer because things didn’t happen as they planned. No, God has already orchestrated everything that we need to sustain us along this life's journey. With that being said, let us be mindful that God is not neglecting us and understand that a delayed/postponed petition does not mean that it is not going to come to fruition; it’s just not feasible and/or beneficial for us at this time. We can be assured that God knows what we need; He is never late; He is working out all things to our good and always provides more than enough to meet our need.

Take heed…

He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound]. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and [selected] young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted; But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired. (Isaiah 40:29-31 — AMPC)

Rev. Donna M. Humphries

Heaven Gates Ministries, Inc.

Thought for the week...

Burden

There is not one individual who at some time or another has not been bound by the cares and concerns of the world. In fact, some are still bound and seem unable to find a way out of their dilemma. What is it that is keeping you bound? This is something we all must determine. And once we become aware of that which hinders us, we must take the necessary steps to keep ourselves from being steeped, trapped, ensnared, shrouded, etc. by it's talons of deceit.

In order to understand what it means to be protected and hedged in from hinderances - difficulties, troubles, disasters, obligations, etc., we must first understand who it is that protects us. GOD! God is the creator of the universe; He knows all and nothing gets by Him. Without Him, there would be no sustainable nutrients and/or air to breathe. His Son, Jesus, died for our sins, and all who receive HIm are promised protection and a life that will outlast this earthly realm. [He will] usher us into our eternal life with Him, His Father, the Holy Spirit and the great cloud of witnesses.

When we become truly serious about wanting to be protected by God and reach our eternal home in glory, we will adhere to the principles and precepts outlined in His Word. The Bible provides everything we will ever need to know about living. And when we read and study it, it will instruct us as to how we can remain shielded/cloaked from the hinderances even while they are transpiring. With that said, let's make sure that we are doing that which the Word instructs so that when we are attacked/tempted by the adversary and/or presented with the adversities of this world, we don't think something strange is happening to us.

Listen and take heed...

Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail). (Psalm 55:22 - AMPC)

Rev. Donna M. Humphries

Heaven Gates Ministries, Inc.

Thought for the week...

New II

What is it that you're looking for? Are you looking for lasting change, a change from the old you, the way you did things, saw things and that "stinky" thinking? Well, there is a way to change all of that; and that is to change you. We will never achieve lasting change on our own because there is no good thing in this flesh suit that we wear; but, there is a way, and that way is Jesus. Jesus hung on a tree, shed His blood and died, freely giving up His life so that we could live a life free of sin's penalty of death. And, the only way that we can live this life is by accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior.

The only way that we are capable of not surrendering to the stratagems of the adversary is to live holy and upright. My brothers and sisters, God has so much for us; He wants us to truly experience His unconditional love, blessings and promises. More importantly, He wants us to spend eternity with Him. But we can only do that when we are willing to change and let go of that which we want; you know, our way or no way. Jesus provided the way for our fresh start, a do-over; but He will not force us. We have a free will, the choice to do right or do wrong. No one can say that they don't know the difference; even a little baby knows. Therefore, it behooves us to want to grow in the things/ways of God so that we can be assured of our eternal life of living with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and experiencing His love face-to-face. I can't wait!

Listen and take heed...

For I'm going to do a brand-new thing. See, I have already begun! Don't you see it? I will make a road through the wilderness of the world for my people to go home, and create rivers for them in the desert! (Isaiah 43:19 - NLV)

Rev. Donna M. Humphries

Heaven Gates Ministries, Inc.

Thought for the week...

‍Judge

Every person has been given the ability to think and form an opinion. When a person doesn't take the time to think matters through and evaluate the pros and cons of their actions, they will continue to make rash decisions and live with the adverse effects of those consequences. Now before we are quick to point the finger, we must look at ourselves and see what consequences we are living with because of the rash decisions we have made.

Time as we know it is soon to come to an end, and it is imperative that we make wise decisions - ones that will bring forth positive results. Even after weighing the pros and cons of our desired outcomes, there will be times when we err in our decision making because we are not perfect. However, those times should be few and far apart. If we want to be assured that the decisions we make will bring forth positive results, then it is imperative that we seek God's advice, and then follow the instructions He provides. God's Word tells us that if anyone lacks wisdom, all they need to do is ask Him for it, and He will generously supply them with it. Make no mistake, we will all stand before God and give an account; the evidence of how we lived our life will be revealed. Therefore, we must not waste our time looking at others' mistakes, but be extremely careful that we evaluate the decisions we want to make. Because whether we want to believe it or not, those decisions will be instrumental in determining our eternal life.

Listen and take heed...

The Lord judges the peoples; Judge me, O Lord, and grant me justice according to my righteousness and according to the integrity within me. (Psalm 7:8 - AMP)

Rev. Donna M. Humphries

Heaven Gates Ministries, Inc.

Though For The Week...

Decree

I don’t know what you are going through, but I do know that God is able to bring you through it and over it. You are not alone, we’re all going through something; we’ve either just came out of something or are getting ready to go through something, but we must come to the understanding that we are not left on our own. God’s promise is true; He’ll never leave us or forsake us. Therefore, no matter how alone we may feel, God is with us, enabling us to go through and come out with the victory.

The Word of God tells us that life and death are in the power of tongue. Regardless to what we might be going through, we need to begin to proclaim what God says about the situation. If we will take the time to focus on and understand who we are in Christ, then we’ll begin to command with all the authority and boldness of the Holy Spirit and spew forth the biblical principles and precepts of God’s Word. The Bible tells us that we are healed, delivered and set free from every affliction. It tells us that God sent His Word and healed our disease. It tells us that sin shall not have dominion over us. It tells us that we are the head and not the tail. It tells us that we are above and not beneath. It tells us that we are to be lenders and not the borrowers. And it tells us that we have more than enough. Listen, it is imperative that we stop substantiating the diagnoses, symptoms and negativities in our lives and begin to boldly proclaim, command, declare, charge, prescribe, direct, and pronounce the blessings of God’s Word and live.

Take heed…

You shall also decide and decree a thing, and it shall be established for you; and the light [of God’s favor] shall shine upon your ways. (Job 22:28— AMPC)

And they overcame and conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony… (Revelation 12:11a— AMP)

Rev. Donna M. Humphries

Heaven Gates Ministries, Inc.

Thought for the week...

New

‍So many times, we attempt to change ourselves; we don’t like who we are, what we’ve
become, how we look, how we sound, or how we should go about doing things. We say
if I could just do this, then I would feel better about myself, people would like/love me or
God would be satisfied with me. But guess what, we, as a people, are never satisfied. As
soon as we accomplish one thing, we’re off to the next; and most of the time, it’s without
consulting God on what it is that He has for our life. This is especially true for the non-
believer.

We’re good for starting over. We’ll make New Year’s resolutions and even move to a
different location just so that we can begin again. However, what we fail to realize is that
we’re taking the same old person with us, US. And, if we don’t surrender ourselves, the
very essence of who we are to God, we’ll never truly experience lasting change. Why,
because the old us, our tendencies and characteristics, are just lying dormant waiting for
an opportunity to surface. Whenever we don’t crucify, that old man mentality, will
always find a way to resurface because it was never put to death in the first place. Of
course, there will be individuals who will disagree with this, and they have the right to
their opinion. But for the born again believer, we understand that there’s no good in our
flesh; it does what is familiar and hates change. So with that being said, it is imperative
that we daily surrender our will for God’s will, letting the mind that is in Christ Jesus be
also in us, so that we are assured that when this life is over we’ll live for all eternity with
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in the New Jerusalem; the new
heaven and new earth.

Listen and take heed…

Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new
creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away.
Behold, the fresh and new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17 — AMPC)

Rev. Donna M. Humphries

Heaven Gates Ministries, Inc.

Thought for the week...

‍Release II

Satan hates it when we surrender to our life to Jesus because he knows that his
strongholds will be torn down and the control he once had is fleeing from him. As our
conscience becomes alive to righteous, we are able to understand how detrimental our
past lifestyle was and the damage it did, not only to us, but to other as well. We begin
to understand the consequences of our action and penalty that will be paid.
We lived our lives so long outside of God’s will that we may find it hard, at times, to relinquish
our old ways; but God gave us a helper in the name of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is
always available to help us. He’ll strengthen us to stand up under the pressure from the
adversary to do wrong. He’ll stand by us to encourage us and let us know we are not all
by ourselves. He’ll counsel us as to that what we should and shouldn’t do. He’ll

intercede for us and advocate on our behalf. With that being said, we must be careful
that we don’t open the door for the adversary to lead us back into the depth of his
darkness, and find ourselves submitting to the things that we dilly dallied in prior to our
conversion.

Listen and take heed…

Since we have such a huge crowd of men of faith watching us from the grandstands, let
us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back, and especially those sins that
wrap themselves so tightly around our feet and trip us up; and let us run with patience
the particular race that God has set before us. (Hebrews 12-1 — AMPC)

Rev. Donna M. Humphries

Heaven Gates Ministries, Inc.

Thought for the week...

‍Release

The Word of God tells us that we are to let go of everything that appears to be
evil/sinful; in fact, it says we are to shun the very appearance of evil. However, that can
seem hard to do. Prior to receiving Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, we didn’t see
some things as being sinful; they were just the way of life. Oh, we knew right from
wrong, but yet we participated in certain situations because we didn’t feel that we were
really hurting anyone. We were just getting our groove on.

Once we become a born again believer our conscience becomes alive to righteousness,
and as we study God’s Word, we begin to see things in a different light, God’s light. As
we grow in godliness, we begin to understand how detrimental our past actions were
and come to appreciate God’s love, His grace, His gift of repentance, and His
forgiveness. Therefore, we can be encouraged as we relinquish our hold, surrender our
will for God’s will and feel the liberation of trusting God knowing that if He is for us. He is
more than the world against us and, we can be assured that He who has begun a good
work in us will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His
return].

Listen and take heed…

So if the Son liberates you [makes you free men], then you are really and
unquestionably free. (John 8:36 AMPC)

Rev. Donna M. Humphries

Heaven Gates Ministries, Inc.

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Thought for the week...

‍Defame

‍The thief of this world, Satan, does everything he can to attack the believer’s reputation
and nothing pleases him more than for us to fall into his snares and be disgraced. His
ultimate goal is the tearing down of our faith; he knows that if he can accomplish that
then we will walk in a spirit of condemnation and/or rejection, believing that we no
longer deserve [the love of] or are loved by God.
 
The adversary weaves his web of deceit and patiently waits for the believer to let down
their guard. There’s not one person who is not susceptible to the adversarial traps,
tricks and/or strategies. And, if we’ll be truthful, we’ll admit that there was a time where
we fell into one of his snares. It doesn’t make a difference whether it was the lust of the
flesh, lying, stealing, backbiting, gossiping, etc., we became ensnared. The adversary
wants us to believe that God has stopped loving us; but we must remember that we are
more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. And, it is when we turn to God and repent,
owning our mistake, confessing that we were wrong and are godly sorrowful for our
actions that we win out over the adversary. With that being said, there’s no reason for
the believer to be bound by the adversarial strongholds of depression, opposition and/or
rejection, because God’s love and His unmerited favor gives us the power to walk by
faith—being justified by the blood of Jesus—and overcome the deadly traps of the
adversary.

Listen and take heed…

Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows
and receives. [All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely
and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption
which is [provided] in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:23-24 — AMPC)

Rev. Donna M. Humphries

Heaven Gates Ministries, Inc.

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Thought for the week...

‍Understand

We must not think ourselves to be a know it all but realize that there is always more to
be learned and attained. We are to be a people of ever learning. This society we live in
changes from day-to-day and we must stay abreast of that which is transpiring. As we
go about our daily living, there will always be tasks to complete—whether they are in the
home, on our jobs, in our church, or [in] the community at large. It is imperative that we gain
a knowledge of that which we do; we must be able to grasp and comprehend the
significance, implications and importance—the ins and outs—of the tasks and complete
them to the glory of God.
 
God will not give us more than we are able to do. He knows our strengths and
weaknesses and will allocate tasks to us according to that which He wants to do in us
and through us. Where we see weakness, God see strength and He equips us for the
task at hand. In fact, He knows when and where we will be unsure and fearful of what to
do and will encourage us so that we can see pass our mistakes. He’ll use those
mistakes to show us where we need to familiarize ourselves with the concepts and
significance of the task so that we can interpret them and complete the process.

We must stop looking at ourselves as failures and look at the processes that we go through
as steppingstones to that which God has for us to do. Therefore, with that being said, it [is]
imperative that we stop looking through the blurred lens of a sinful world, seeing
ourselves as through a darkened, fragile mirror of our own making and look to God, the
author and finisher of our faith. And be assured in our sanctified soul, knowing for
certain that God who began a good work in us is as able to bring it to completion.

Listen and take heed…

May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced
with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your
innermost being and personality]. (Ephesians 3:16 — AMPC)

Rev. Donna M. Humphries

Heaven Gates Ministries, Inc.