Celebrate Recovery Weekly Encouragement 4-27-23

The king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang: ‘Give thanks to the Lord; his faithful love endures forever!’”
2 Chronicles 20:21 (NLT)
The story of King Jehoshaphat perfectly illustrates the power of thanking God in advance, before God’s dream for you comes to pass.

When faced with an attack by three enemy armies, Jehoshaphat had an unusual battle strategy: “The king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang: ‘Give thanks to the Lord; his faithful love endures forever!’” (2 Chronicles 20:21 NLT).

Would you agree this is an unusual way to organize an army? Imagine what the opposing armies thought when they saw the Israeli army led by a bunch of harpists and trumpeters.

The choir wondered what was going on too. But King Jehoshaphat had reminded them that the battle belonged to God, and if they believed in him, they would succeed. That’s why they were able to thank God in advance for their upcoming victory and then show him that they believed by putting the choir before the army.

Prayer and praise are verbalized faith. When you say, “God, thank you that you’re providing the resources needed for the ministry dream you gave me. Thank you that you’re healing the relationships that could have threatened that dream,” that’s thanking him in advance.

It doesn’t take much faith to thank God after he’s done something. The way you show God that you have faith that he will complete what he started in you is by thanking him in advance.

Here’s the power of thanking God before your dream is completed: “At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves” (2 Chronicles 20:22 NLT).

Jehoshaphat’s army didn’t lift a finger (except to play their instruments). How did they win the battle? They thanked God in advance. They believed he would take care of them and save them from their enemies. They showed faith in their battle formation. And then they watched as God gave them their breakthrough.

When are you going to start thanking God for how he’ll see your dream through? Maybe you’ve wanted something all your life, but you’ve just been begging. Maybe you’ve tried to bargain, bribe, or pressure God to say “yes.”

God is just waiting for you to show faith.
Celebrate Recovery Devotional (Rick Warren)

Inventory
Lesson number 9
It has been said that “hurt people hurt people.” What did the person do to cause you resentment and/or fear? An example would be the alcoholic father who was emotionally unavailable for you as you were growing up. Another example would be the parent who attempted to control and dominate your life. This reflective look can be very painful, but that’s why having a sponsor or an accountability team is essential.
We will be looking closer at step four which is the inventory step. The next three lessons will focus the steps we take to clean up and clean out our lives.

Hello forever family! We are getting ready for an evening filled with hope! Come and enjoy a BBQ chicken dinner with all the fixings.
When you purchase your tickets you will automatically receive a raffle ticket. We will be raffling off some great gifts. We are also having TWO silent auctions that will be running at the same time! One will be for special desserts and the other will be all sorts of stuff donated by our local businesses.
Bret and Pauline Gordon will be sharing what God has done in ther lives thru the Celebrate Recovery program. Bret is the West Coast Regional Director for Celebrate Recover on the Inside. He and Pauline are also the ministry leaders at New hope Celebrate Recovery in Clovis.
It is very simple to get your tickets for this event, just scan the QR code located beneath this post! We hope to see you there! 

This was a fantastic opportunity to get together and connect with everyone that came thru. Thank you for all of you that came by and said hello, we enjoyed spending time and talking with each one of you! 

Brian Willems CADC 1
Ministry Leader
Celebrate Recovery
New Life Community Dinuba
110 N. Nichols
Dinuba CA 93618
Office 559-591-1176
Cell 949-294-8852