You could be in your lone corner of the world, on fire for God, but before long your fire will go out. You have no real power by yourself; you have power with people, and it’s the Church – not the individual – that has the power to change society.

Hebrews 10:25 reminds us, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

If you’re on a serious path to becoming a fully committed disciple of Jesus, what’s your relationship with His Church? Do you understand it? Knowing the price paid for it causes you to see it through brand new eyes. Click here for more in-depth on this message.

I have been meaning to write this letter for awhile. I am grateful to be a member of Victory World Church where I learn and grow with true doctrine teaching of Jesus Christ.

I participated in the Freedom debt reduction partnership and I pledged in joy with my church, giving it all in full as I had planned to give. It’s so amazing what has happened with my personal debts – it’s a miracle!

I had a past bill from Gwinnett Medical Hospital a little over or close to $5,000. I was unemployed, but I had walked in a blessing to receive cancellation of my debts through a program that considers my situation a hardship. They paid and removed the entire debt off my credit and mailed me the documentation with the 0 balance!

Oh, our God is faithful and mighty. I give God all the glory, and may the Lord bless and prosper Victory in all she does! Amen.

________

We want to hear about what God has done in and through you at Victory. Whether long or short, complex or simple, your story is worth hearing, and there are others who need to hear it. Won’t you please consider sharing your story with us? If you’re willing to do so, please click the Share Your Story quicklink above, write your story, upload a nice photo (if you can) and click submit. It’s that simple. Now, don’t be shy. God’s given you a story for a reason! Share it today!

Like any other victory you may have experienced, being successful at living a life by faith in God starts with a simple decision to do what’s necessary to make it happen. Abraham, the father of faith, made that decision one day, and he defied his family and everyone else around him to see it through. His decision to follow God affected the history of the world.

It takes courage to believe, trust and obey God like Abraham, but if you’ve ever stepped out on faith before, you already have that courage within. If you haven’t, then now’s a good time to start.

Many of us trust God some of the time, but I believe so many more of us are ready to go further. God wants us to diligently seek Him, or live our lives by faith. Once we make up our minds to do it, Abraham teaches us how through these four principles:

1) Faith follows God into the realm of uncertainty

2) Faith believes God for the impossible

3) Faith believes in the Covenant of God

4) Faith trusts God will always provide

I covered these four in detail and more this past weekend as we continue Running with the Giants. If you are a person of faith, you are a seed of Abraham, and God promised Abraham that in him all nations would be blessed (Galatians 3:6-9). But it’s on one condition:  you only have it by faith. Decide today that you will trust God more and more and begin living a life of obedience to Him, like Abraham. Click here to get this message in its entirety.

“We woke up one day and realized the American dream we had been striving for was really the American nightmare….”

How has God impacted your life through Victory? Please tell us about it – Share Your Story today!

For the next few weeks, I want to talk about one of the most challenging areas of life that we deal with every day – marriage and family. People – including singles, marrieds, with kids & without – have a lot of tough questions about family life, so I thought we should try to answer some of the toughest ones. In fact, we want to hear your toughest questions. And, we’d like to address as many as possible – either in our weekend messages or online (e.g., on our Facebook page). If you’ve got a tough question about marriage or parenting, I invite you to click here to submit it online. Then, be on the lookout for the answer in the coming weeks.

This week, we’re tackling one of the biggest questions that hangs out there in society:

WHY SHOULD I GET MARRIED?

A good question to be sure, what with prominent news outlets Newsweek and TIME running articles that give the impression that the institution of marriage will soon be a thing of the past. And, honestly, the statistics are showing a definite downward trend in the number of marriages since the 1960′s. These days, our society is telling us that family cannot be defined by God, but rather that family is whatever our flesh wants it to be.

Why is the institution of marriage under such attack? Because the enemy knows that marriage was at the very foundation of how God designed society to work! God created a man and a woman to reflect the completeness of who He was. God’s intention was for man to rule the earth from the template of marriage – a man and a woman coming together and working together to reflect the image of God in the earth. That’s why Satan hates marriage and everything it stands for!

We all know the story from there: Adam and Eve decided to act independently from God and listen to the enemy. From there we see sin enter life, and relationships have been under attack ever since then.

But the good news is that God is in the redemption business! He came to heal and restore relationships – between man and himself, yes, but also between men and women.

So, back to the question: Why should I get or be married? Well, I’m glad you asked. Actually, there are some very interesting and good answers. And, although I’ll list them in brief here, you’ll really have to watch or listen to the message I preached this past weekend to get the full explanation. But for now…

1. Marriage creates a healthier society
2. Marriage creates an environment to mature
3. Marriage reflects the nature of God

Marriage is a countercultural institution. Everything about it was designed to bring people back into a God-ordained order, to restore what was broken in the garden. That’s why it’s such a fight, and why so many have a hard time with it.

We invite you to join us for:
21 Days of Prayer and Fasting
January 8th-28th, 2011

The Power of Prayer & Fasting

As we enter into a new year, it’s time to honor the Lord with our annual 21 Days of Prayer & Fasting. For many years, as a church, we’ve set apart at least 21 days in the month of January to pray and fast for breakthrough in our personal lives, in the body of Christ, in our nation and in our world.

If you will be joining us, we’d like to send you an encouraging and informative email each day during the fast. These emails will serve to strengthen your spirit as you deny your flesh and will also inform you of the needs we will be praying for corporately each day. If you’re interested, you can subscribe here to receive these daily sources of inspiration.

Or, you may download a PDF version of our 21 Days of Prayer & Fasting Daily Study Guide here.

Types of Fasts - You may choose a “Daniel’s Fast” – a diet consisting of fruits and vegetables, or you can participate in a total fast, consisting of water only, or a liquid fast of fresh juices. Other ways to participate include fasting from television, radio, internet, or anything that you recognize as having control over your life. Fasting is something the entire family can participate in to varying degrees – each person in their own way.

About Fasting - It is much easier to fast while active. Fasting will cause hunger pangs initially, but you will get the energy you need from stored fat in the body. If you are under the care of a physician, please seek his/her advice regarding the level of participation that is best suited to your physical condition.

Why Fast? – Fasting is the most powerful spiritual discipline of all those discussed in the Bible. Through fasting and prayer, the Holy Spirit can transform your life and produce incredible results. Prayer alone is mighty, but when combined with fasting it produces a powerful force against which hell cannot prevail.

Filling Ourselves during a Fast - The secret to being filled with the Spirit of God is first to empty ourselves. Through fasting, we empty ourselves of food so that He can fill us. Food is man’s greatest carnal impulse. Fasting helps you to master this appetite. When you can control the strongest appetite, you can gain control of the other carnal appetites as well. Your appetite acts as a prayer alarm. Instead of eating to satisfy your cravings, you pray. This keeps you focused all day long. We replace pleasures of the flesh with spiritual pleasure. Psalm 34:8 says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” Taste is a trigger which sets off certain physical and mental reactions or connections. When you taste the Lord through fasting and prayer, it triggers various reactions in your heart.

Best Ways to Prepare Physically for the Fast – While hunger pangs and weakness can be expected, you need not dehydrate, faint or get sick while fasting. There are several ways to prepare yourself physically for a healthy fast:

Days before the Fast

• Stop eating foods that are high in caffeine or sugar.
• Begin drinking more water than usual.

Day before the Fast

• Eat something small every two hours.
• Avoid foods with caffeine or salt.
• Drink plenty of water.

Final Meal before the Fast

• Plan your final meal early enough in the afternoon so there’s no rush to finish before your fast begins.
• This final meal should contain high carbs and low salts.
• Don’t eat too much, but drink plenty of water

Good Advice for Ending Your Fast – After 21 days of fasting you may be tempted to “jump right back in” and eat some of the foods you’ve missed. However, it’s much better to ease back into your normal eating habits rather than suffer from an upset stomach by loading it with foods it’s not ready to digest. Here are some healthy ideas for ending your fast:

• Begin with the simple B.R.A.T. diet – Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast
• Begin with brothy soups and avoid heavy carbs and proteins
• Eat something small and light every two hours; drink plenty of water

Additional health benefits of fasting:

• The body goes through a natural detoxification process, allowing for the release of poisons and toxins from the system.
• Energy is diverted away from the digestive system due to its lack of use, and instead is routed toward the metabolism and the immune system. This allows for a swifter healing process.
• One becomes more rejuvenated due to an improved immune system, as well as the increased production of hormones.
• The body begins to use its fat stores as an energy source, which positively affects one’s cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and weight.
• Going without food imposes a mild stress on the cells of the body, causing the cells to respond by growing stronger and increasing their ability to cope with more severe stress. This causes one to become more resistant to sickness and disease.

And don’t miss PASSION 2.0 – an amazing evening of passionate worship and in-depth teaching from the word – each Wednesday during the fast -  January 12th, 19th & 26th – beginning at 7:30pm in our Atlanta Campus main auditorium (V1)! Let’s take it to another level! Click here for more info.

We have a very exciting announcement to make. Take a look at this video featuring Pastor Dennis and Montell Jordan to find out what it is!

Dennis Rouse Montell Jordan Interview from Victory Videos on Vimeo.

We, the pastors and staff of Victory World Church, would like to wish you and all your family and friends a very happy Thanksgiving!

We are tremendously grateful to be a part of this body together with you. Thank you for all the ways in which you make Victory such a great body of believers!

As we celebrate this holiday, may the Lord pour out abundant blessings on you and fill your heart with gratitude because of his great love and kindness!

Guest Speaker and VWC friend, Peter Pretorius shared a powerful and compelling message exhorting each of us to reexamine God’s message of love. God’s love (Agape Love) is a love without boundaries and it holds the key to the very foundation by which Jesus teaches each of us to live out our lives.

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:43-48 (NIV)

Christ consistently admonished His followers to love all people especially those who persecute and abuse us. This teaching goes against many of our natural inclinations; which typically draws us toward those who treat us well. Yet, our Lord calls us beyond just those people whom we are comfortable with… He calls us to do more than to tolerate those people who treat us wrong. He commands us to love them! We are called to a higher standard and we are reminded that the challenge is not in loving those that love us but rather it is found in loving those who seem unlovable.

Our sonship with Christ comes with knowing that we are a child of God and also in accepting Him as Lord over our life. The love that is demonstrated through this relationship is different today because now the Love of God is shared abroad. It is not limited to a certain group of people and is not hindered by the type of person. We must understand how God’s family works… it operates in love and we are called to live our lives in the very same way.

Remember, we are pilgrims of this world. This is not our home – our reward is found in eternity. We will never fully realize this reward here on earth, but we must keep an eternal mindset in order to succeed in all that we are called to do.

As John 14:21 tells us, “He who has my commandments and keeps them is He who loves me and I will manifest myself to Him” (NCV) If we begin to operate in the same love that Christ has shown us, then we will no longer be preaching or loving for our calling sake, but rather we will experience a heart that is broken for the people of this world. Imagine how the Lord can manifest Himself when we make ourselves readily available to his commands! People will begin to see Christians in a different light, rather than see us as exclusive or judgmental, they will see us as a body of believers who love. What an awesome thought – that we can first be seen as people who love.

To watch this message online, click here.

Special thanks to Lydia Gaddis, volunteer writer, for writing this great synopsis of our weekend experience.

This past weekend, Pastor Johnson Bowie shared a dynamic message during our services that was both challenging and faith building. He addressed many of the misconceptions about God’s desire and ability to heal his people and encouraged our faith, both to receive healing in ourselves and to pray for the healing of others. There’s so much truth in this message that so many people need to hear and get down in their spirits, but I’m only going to share a sampling of what he said here. Instead, I want to encourage you to listen to it, even repeatedly, until your spirit is saturated with its truth and your faith in God’s healing power is growing and vibrant. So here’s the sampling:

WITH GOD… ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE! And that changes everything! All things are possible. And today… it’s possible for you to be healed. Because you’ve walked into a place that believes!

I KNOW it’s hard to believe, hard to have faith. I know we’ve all had different experiences in life and with God. I know we’ve all got a little doubt. Some of us have a LOT of doubt, but we all have at least a little bit of doubt. We’ve heard that healing is not for today; or that God makes people sick or even that God is glorified when we are sick.

But, if you don’t get anything else, know this – God is your healer. It is God’s deep desire for you to be healed, healthy, and whole. Because God is a good Father! And He wants you to have faith in that… that WITH HIM all things are possible for him who believes.

Now, if you need healing, know someone who needs healing and/or want to be someone that the Lord uses to bring healing to others, click here to watch, listen to or download this message right now. It’s time we experienced the fullness of God’s goodness and power and shared that with others so that they will also know and believe that With God, ALL things are possible!