Remember, this journey is not busyness. It's for you. Let that sink in. Make this personal.

Surrender is the key word. Why are you surrendering to God? What are you surrendering to God?

Surrender is not what you give up but what you will gain. But it takes a heart of humility. Do whatever God has instructed you to do. 

Here are some Scriptures for your meditation: 

• Deuteronomy 6:5 & Luke 10:27
• Philippians 4:13
• Galatians 2:20, 5:24-25
• Ephesians 3:20
• John 4:34 & John 17:4

Assignments for this week:

1. Read the book of Esther.
2. Build an altar. Get on the altar. Give it all to God. Attach yourself to Him. He will take you where you will be fully satisfied.
3. Thank God for everything. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

Lastly, remember to listen to the full podcast (hisvessel.org/podcast). 

If you have any questions or just want to reach out, please do! [email protected]  

Friends, we're on a journey! We want to be vessels -- emptied of self, filled with Father God. 

What are some truths from God's Word that you've gleaned from last week? What are some words or rhemas that God has given to you? Are you taking note, writing them down? 

Surrendered may seem like an empty word, but it's a fulfilling word: to be one with Christ, single-minded or single-purposed with Christ. Do we have the mind of Christ or have His purpose in mind as we live our lives?

Here are some Scriptures for your meditation: 

• John 17:21
• John 10:10
• John 3:30
• John 17:4 

Here are some questions for you to consider this week:

1. Are you living surrendered? If so, that's great. If not, why not?
2. Is Christ your standard? Remember, He made Himself no reputation. (Philippians 2:5-8)
3. What does God want from you? 

Lastly, remember to listen to the podcast (hisvessel.org/podcast) and get your assignment from Jo. 

If you have any questions or just want to reach out, please do! Jo@...

 If you haven't yet listened to the podcast this week, here are a few notes to get you started. And, hopefully you'll join us on the journey soon! 

We have a new beginning for 2025. We have a season of opportunity. But that's not all. God has things in store for us -- greater than we can think or imagine. 

Let's think about two words: becoming and radical. 

1. Becoming - Becoming is a process. Specifically, for us, it's a process of God making us who He desires us to be. 
2. Radical - To be radical for God is to get back to the fundamentals. (For example: It's a fundamental truth for a man and woman to marry.) 

Meditate on these three verses from God's Word: Deuteronomy 6:5, John 10:10, John 3:30

Questions to consider:

1. Do you want to live saved (by God's salvation)?
2. Do you want to live surrendered to God?
3. Do you want to live satisfied by what the Master desires for you to do? 

If you answered yes, then you're ready for God to be your life -- not just tacked on to your life....

There is a battle going on in the home for control, and the only way we can resolve that so that we can live in peace is to go back to God's word.

God created us as male and female to be husband and wife so that we would fulfill our God-given roles and live fully satisfied lives. If you want your husband to lead, you must let him lead in his God-given role. 

As denoted in Proverbs 31, the woman’s role in the home is to watch over the ways of her household. But what is the role of the man in the home? 

"Then the Lord God took the man and he put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it." Genesis 2:15

When God created man, he put him in a home, which was the garden. He put man in the home (garden) to do two things: to provide for and to protect (to tend and keep). It is man's responsibility to provide for and protect the home. Man is instructed to hedge up the home, to put such boundaries around the home that whoever is living in that home would be protected and cared for. And th...

Transgenderism has gotten out of hand. We have lost sight of truth and gotten way off the pathway of righteousness. We have crossed the line in going as far to let gender identity get so twisted and warped that we are now identifying as animals.

Why? What is the underlying issue? Why does transgenderism have such a compelling movement in our culture today?

There is confusion and chaos, and it has created much division in our culture. This is a red flag that the enemy, the spirit of darkness, is trying to come against the truth about God.

Reflecting on the history of when transgenderism evolved, it slowly crept into our culture in the 60's. Men wanted to identify as women, and it was openly recognized to create equality. That door was slung open, and riots were caused from the hatred and discrimination. The movement was not excepted, and they backed up. They changed their strategy, and another movement began in the 70's as it entered the sports arena. This is when the LGBT movement b...

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7

We have turned away from truth and we are devising our own plans. We have begun to seek after the ways of the world to find our peace, our prosperity, and our purpose. This has pulled us away from the fear of God.

 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Provers 9:10

 We are to not only know truth, but we are to live it.

 We have got to get our lives back in order by eliminating the chaos and confusion.

 What it means to fear God: 

1. Look up to God and you see Him for who He is.
2. Humble yourself before God and you willing put yourself under His sovereign rule. When you put God as the authority of your life, then you are to willing chose to obey His rule.

God moves and acts on behalf of His people when we get things in order. We need to first look to Father God as the authority over our life, our nation, our churches, and our homes. We have got to get in reali...

Many Christians today are using the Passion Bible translation, and it's not a translation of the Bible. I was first alerted to the Passion Bible soon after the Passion translation was published. I was at a women's retreat, and the speaker referred to several scriptures and quoted from the Passion translation, and immediately my spirit was quickened. I thought, "that's not what the Bible says." And each time this speaker quoted these scriptures, I would think, "where is this coming from?".

I began researching this Bible and learned from my research that the Passion Bible is really man's philosophy. It is man's thoughts of the Bible. It appears to me from my research that the author of the Passion Bible is attempting to explain his understanding of the meaning of scripture rather than translating word for word what the Bible says. 

The Passion is not a Bible; it's a manuscript. When you're questioning the validity of something, you always look for the author's credentials. So I spent h...

A friend of mine recently shared with me an experience she had with losing a diamond earring. She was willing to go to great lengths to get it back. When she found that diamond earring, her joy was stored. This experience reminded me of what has happened to the church. We have lost something very valuable but we need to be willing to go to great lengths to get it back so our joy can be restored. It is time for us as a church, as a body of believers, to repent and return to worshiping and obeying God. 

We need to decide that the church building is no longer going to be a social building where we gather to socialize. We need to turn the church from the entertainment center that it has become, back into a place of worship where we wholeheartedly seek God. I believe the church has fallen asleep. We have become slothful. Romans 13:11 “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.” What Paul was te...

THE ORDER OF PRAYER

I want to pray for you in a manner in which I would go into my prayer closet and spend one-on-one time with God in prayer. We always want to start with praise. What is praise? It's simply talking about God. It's acknowledging before Him who He is. It's recognizing who God is. It's not you thanking God for what He has done for you. It's not about you. It's about getting a fresh look at God and who God is. When we start with praise, we get a true vision of God and who He is. It's not about asking God for something at this point; it's about praising God.

 PRAISE:

Lord, we just come before Your throne at this moment. We acknowledge that You are the God most high. We acknowledge that You are sitting on Your throne in the heavenlys and You are the God of love. You love us with everlasting love because You are God. You are sovereign. You are the God of judgment. You are the God of mercy. You are the God of patience. You are the living God. You are the God from everlasti...

Why does God allow certain things to happen in each one of our lives? Maybe
things have happened in your job, maybe things have happened with your finances,
and you've asked God about that - maybe about family members, family situations.
Could be you've asked God about things where you live, or what's happening in our
nation. We all have asked God about certain things that we have encountered, or
maybe we are encountering right now. And I know hundreds of times I have asked
God questions about this, and maybe you've even had friends come to you, that
they've had situations happen in their lives, they share their stories with you, and
they ask why, why did God allow this to happen to me, or happen to my family, or
happen to my friends?