State of Alabama Ladies Retreat Info

DRESSED TO BE BLESSED

ALABAMA LADIES RETREAT 2010

May 14-15, 2010

Camp Boothe - Green Pond, Alabama

Speaker this year: Anzella Abernathy

"Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand...Ephesians 6:11

Oh! How we are excited about His Presence, His anointing on our lives. To be dressed in the whole armor of God so that we will be able to stand against the lies, tricks and deceit of the enemy. That we may be able to war for our God. To be able, by the blood of Christ to stand as a Godly Woman, a Godly Mother, a Godly Wife in an ungodly world. To please our Lord and to make our lives count for Him and His glory. To have an influence on our children, our families, our neighbors, our youth and to have an influence in the work place, in the school house, in the church, and in our homes. We may be dressed in a suit, in heels and hat, or jeans and sneakers but on the inside there is a sword drawn, a belt of truth, a breastplate of righteousness, feet shod and prepared with the Gospel of peace, shield of faith in place, and on our heads we wear the helmet of Salvation. With a song in our hearts, a prayer on our lips and the joy of worship we march to the sound of His beat. Not as women of the world but women of the Word.

Come, as our Lord Jesus Christ comes to meet with us. Let us stand shoulder to shoulder in triumph and celebration. Bring your needs, He will be there. Bring your worries and fears, He will be there. Bring your prayer requests, He will be there. The Lord of Hosts and Captain of the armies of Heaven will be there to enable and bless you His Soldier, Dressed to be Blessed.

We will have a hat contest (the most innovative hat) which can be pretty or comical. Ladies we are wearing hats for fun. You are invited to wear hat, heels, and gloves in a victorian, pollyanna, modern, or whatever you like fashion for fun at the banquet or if you prefer to dress down and just wear a hat for the banquet.

Friday night after service, we will enjoy snacks, fellowship and fun.

Please, help me out again this year by bringing a few door prizes. Women enjoy them so much. Thanks you so much for all your help.

Sister Donna Howard

State Ladies Ministries Director

Word Devotion 04/09/2010

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

Word Devotion 04/08/2010

(Jesus speaking) PEACE I leave with, MY PEACE I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27 NKJV

Word Devotion - 04/07/2010

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14 KJV

WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN WOMEN DARE TO...

Intercede and Pray? Read Hannah's story in 1Samuel 1 and 2:1-11. Hannah was barren and her heart's desire was to bear a son. Hannah's intercession was heard, her prayer was answered and her life was changed. Interestingly enough, not only was her life changed, but the lives of many whom she never knew. She named her son Samuel which means "heard" and "asked of God." A prophet, a priest, a judge, and an intercessor was born due to her intercession. Samuel's courageous leadership proved to be a turning point in the history of Israel. What will happen when we dare to pray? Intercessory prayer will change our lives and the lives of many others in our family, church, community, region, state and world. People will be saved, healed, delivered and set free! Revival will come!
I DARE YOU TO INTERCEDE AND PRAY!

Surrender? Read Mary's story in Luke 1:26-38. And Mary said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me, according to thy word," v38. Mary simply surrendered to God's will... His purpose, His destiny and His will for her life! In the natural she didn't know how God was going to bring about the things spoken to her by the angel. Mary just trusted Him and SURRENDERED. We all sing the song, "I SURRENDER ALL...All to Thee my Blessed Savior, I surrender all." He desires for us to surrender all to Him - holding nothing back, nothing hidden, nothing in reserve. JESUS will be birthed in and through our lives so that our life will make a difference in the life of another. "For with God nothing shall be impossible," v37. God is able to bring about His purpose, His destiny and His will for each of us. Is it that He is just waiting for us to surrender.
I DARE YOU TO SURRENDER ALL!

Touch Him? Read the story of the woman with the issue of blood in Luke 8:43-48. We all want Jesus to touch us, and He does and He will... But what will happen when we touch him? The woman with the issue of blood was no longer hidden in the crowd when she touched Jesus. She was considered an outcast in her day. She had an issue of blood. For 12 years she spend all she had on physicians. SHE SPENT ALL. Many of us know how she must have felt - We are spent out, exhausted, weak and weary because of our own "issues." No matter how she felt that day, feelings had nothing to do with it, because she was filled with faith. She said, "I WILL TOUCH HIM!" As she pressed toward Jesus, she thought to herself, "If I can but touch His robe, I will be healed." Jesus said, "Daughter your faith has made you well. Go in peace, your suffering is over" v48.
I DARE YOU TO TOUCH HIM!

Janet Baker

Women's Ministries Coordinator

Hackleburg Church of God of Prophecy

Word Devotion - 04/06/2010

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: Be of good courage, and HE shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD. Psalm 27:13-14 NKJV

Word Devotion - 04/05/2010

For GOD so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in HIM should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 KJV

Word Devotion - 04/04/2010

Jesus told her (Martha), "I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. John 11:25 NLT

Renewed 2010

Kandace, Michelle, Wendy and Lisa hang out at the Welcome Center Michelle registers with Lisa and Tina

Greetings fom Pastor LizExpressive worship with Sister Donna Howard Ministry of Sister Cathy Payne

Worship Band: Jared, Cynthia, Morgan, and Joey

Guitarist - Daryl Weatherly and Vocals - Halie, Jennifer and SusieAlabama Women's Ministry Director, Sister Donna Howard

A delicious lunch catered by Dollies of Hamilton and served by our Men's Ministry
Partners in ministry, Donna Howard and Janet Baker

Staff: Pastor Liz, Cathy Payne, Janet Baker and Tina Stults

Final Detail Meeting for Women's Conference

Ladies, don't forget that our final meeting before the Renewed 2010 Women's Conference is Thursday, March 4 at 7:00 p.m.

Renewed 2010 Women's Conference

Renewed 2010
Women's Conference is coming March 12 - March 13
to the Hackleburg Church of God of Prophecy.

"...and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, that you put on the new man
which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness."
Ephesians 4:23-24

Cathy Payne, International Women's Ministries Director of the Church of God of Prophecy will be our key note speaker for this conference.

Schedule:

Friday, March 12, 2010

Registration: 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.

Meet, greet & seat: 6:30 - 7:00 p.m.

Worship: 7:00 p.m.

Snacks immediately following service

Saturday, March 13

Talk & Prayer Groups 9:00 - 9:30 a.m.

Meet, greet & seat: 9:30 - 10:00 a.m.

Worship: 10:00 a.m.

Lunch immediately following service

Registration Cost is $10 per person which includes conference, all snacks and catered lunch on Saturday.

There are only 200 seats available, so please call 205-935-3549 to pre-register. Free registration for every leader who registers 5 or more attendees.

Free gift for every registered attendee. There will be door prizes awarded as well.

Our host hotel is Econolodge in Hamilton, Alabama. When making reservations refer to promo code AL216.

Econolodge $49.95

2031 Military Street, Hamilton, Alabama 35570 Phone: 205-921-7831

Women called to Worship

In reading the book of Matthew I have found myself both challenged and intrigued as a woman of God. God has shown me great and mighty things through His word. Jesus was constantly challenging the Pharisees, the religious rulers, and the disciples. He went against everything that they had come to believe. He was not trying to destroy the Law but rather to give clear incite into what God truly meant by His rule book. Through parables, stories, and being in His presence people were often offended and put in a position to change their way of thinking or become angry, un-accepting, and indignant. Often this is what happens today. When God challenges our opinion of the truth we have a decision to make to either accept what God is saying or become angry, un-accepting, and indignant.

In Matthew 26:6-13 we see the story of the woman who poured out the costly perfume on Jesus. In this story the disciples become indignant. They tell Jesus that she has waisted so much in her actions because she could have sold the perfume for money to help the poor. Jesus rebukes them and tells them that the poor will always be with us and what she did will be told in the Gospel. He also says that she will be remembered for it.

As I thought of this woman and her actions I thought of her being remembered. She was remembered for her sacrificial worship of Jesus. She might not had been remembered had she sold the perfume and gave the money too the poor. There are not many storied about people selling all they have to give to the poor, but there are many stories of people laying down their lives to follow God. There are three thing about this woman and her story that challenge me as a woman of God. She gave a sacrificial offering of worship, she did her actions in private, and she was rewarded openly.

What an awesome sacrifice this woman made to God. She sacrificed her reputation. She went into a place that she wasn't supposed to be the home of a leper. Lepers were unclean and unapproachable. She chose to go against the law to get to her Savior. She was willing to suffer the reproach of the world for one moment in His presence. And what did she did in His presence was worship. She brought an offering not of money, but of praise, thanksgiving, and adoration. She took the thing that was of most value to her and poured it out on her Savior.

She did this action not in the temple courts or in the market place where everyone could see, but she did it in an intimate setting. Because Simon was a leper I imagine that the only people there were Jesus, Simon, and the disciples. There might have been a few others lepers there, but I don't think all the religious people came to this dinner party. I imagine that the throngs were even repulsed at the idea of going to a leper's house. It was in this private setting that she chose to pour out her offering. There were no people there to see and speak of what she had done except Jesus, Simon, and the disciples. This shows just how much she loved Jesus and not the approval of others. She didn't know that her private act of worship would become part of the Gospel.

The disciples still had enough religion in them to criticize this women for her actions, but Jesus was quick to reprimand them. He saw it as a act of preparation for His burial. How awesome was this act. Through the leading of Holy Spirit this woman did something that would appear as foolishness to others. She prepared Jesus for death before it happened. All she knew was she had to do it. She chose to operate in faith rather than flesh, and what she did in private was rewarded by God in open. She is mentioned in the Gospel and is for every known for her action of worship. Her act has been read by millions. When God chooses to reward you it is no small thing.

As women of God what are we willing to sacrifice to God? Are we willing to go up against our pride to worship Him? Are we willing to do our acts of worship in a place not to be seen by other but to be seen by God? In this day we seem not to be coming against the law, but rather to be coming against our own pride walls that religion has built. We feel that if we go to the altar or place of prayer when the call is given others will think badly of us. We feel that the place of prayer is for sinners only. We feel that we can go there for healing and deliverance on occasion if someone else goes first because people might think if we go first we have sin in our life. All of it is pride and until pride is broken in your life you can't approach Jesus as this woman did. She was humble as we should be. She got to the place where it didn't matter who saw or didn't see. She was going to be with her Savior, and she was going to give Him all that was of worth to her. She is an example of a true worshipper. I challenge all who read this to break down their pride walls and become humble before Him. Through true humility you will become a true worshiper and God will reward you openly for the things you do in secret.

A New Beginning for Women's Ministries

In September of 2009 I stepped down as Women's ministries director and Janet Baker assumed the roll. God has truly blessed us with Janet. She is an awesome woman of God with a heart for women. She has really stepped up to the challenge and is excelling in her ministry skills. God is breathing new life in the women's ministries through her involvement. I look forward to all she will accomplish this year and the years to come.
Expect great things in 2010. God is taking us to a new level with our new leader!

Worshiping God Accomplishes Freedom From the Enemy

1 Samuel 16:23 *And when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, David took a lyre and played it, so Saul was refreshed and became well, and the evil spirit left him.* A little before this scripture, we can see that the spirit of God had left Saul and a spirit of torment had entered into Saul where he could find no rest.

The word of God says that He rides on our praises! The worship of God is discussed throughout the Bible and we are told that we enter His presence with our worship.This tells me that when the enemy is tormenting you with whatever the "situation", he chooses to torment you with or you yourself allow the door to be opened that there is a way to find freedom from the enemy.

We have to pick up our praise, we need to lay down ourselves and focus our attention on the Creator instead of a creation. God will ride in on our praises and because light and darkness have no room together, neither sin or the presence of God, the torment will leave as the evil spirit left Saul. When David played the harp, I believe that he played what he knew and that was worship and not just playing music for the king but playing what he had done all along. David worshiped God and the book of Psalms tells me he knew the Creator!!

God, help me to become more focused on You the Creator and not any creation that can be formed in my life.

Brighter than the Sun...

I have heard a lot of comments lately about the sunshine...about how beautiful the day is or how nice the sunshine is..I have made them myself. After days of rain and thunderstorms, it's always nice to have that day of sunshine that makes for a beautiful day that just makes you feel better.

The Word tells us that Jesus is seven times brighter than the sun. Imagine, seven times brighter! Another place in scripture, it reads that He is the Light of Heaven. Naturally, I can't look at the sun without squintting or wearing sunglasses. Then I think of sin and how it can't be in the presence of God, I imagine its like when we look at the sun and have to turn away, but to be in a place where we will freely stand in a light seven times brighter than the sun is amazing to me. Jesus is amazing, He told us that we are a light to a dark world, knowing how bright He is, I pray, "Shine through me, shine through me God, be that light through me, that no one will see April, but they will see Your light through me, they will see You."

In His Hands

Have you ever felt vulnerable to the attack of the enemy? I have felt that way just this week. I've battled and struggled and felt like I would explode if some relief didn't come. It's during these times of struggle that we need to realize that in His hands we are safe and protected. In Psalms 18:2,3 we learn "The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my keen and firm Strength in Whom I will trust and take refuge, my Shield, and the Horn of my salvation, my High Tower. I will call upon the Lord, Who is to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies."

In John 10:28 We learn that nothing can snatch us out of God's hands, but we can jump out. I think it is in the times that we are battling the enemy the most (and not seeing victory on the horizon), that we are near to edge of His protective hands about to jump. Job agrees with John saying that no one can deliver us out of Gods hands (Job 10:7). So what does it all mean?

When we walk with God we have to put our entire trust in Him and him alone. When we start to trust in ourselves, we are dangerously close to jumping out of His hand. God's way is not always the easy way, but it is the safe way. When you walk with God it's like walking blind folded. You have to trust the one who lead. Do you trust Him to lead you? When you have that trust in Him you are in His hands. He won't put you in the path of destruction. It's all about trust with God. That level of trust comes only with intimacy, and intimacy comes only with spending quality time with Him.

I challenge you to examine your relationship with God. Is He leading you or are you about to jump? The relief that we all seek will only come when we get back into His hands.

Drawing Near to God

We have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve You.
I Samuel 12:10

Looking back at 12:9, we can see the trouble they were in. They realized and noticed the reason bad things and troubles were all around them. They realized that it was because of their sin, following after a false god instead of the One True God, their First Love. They knew they had to turn back from their sin toward God in order for deliverance from the bad things that was happening.

In our own lives, we will have trouble when we stop following after G0d and turn toward the Baals and Ashtaroth's. Now it may not be a god that we made, a statue of bronze to fall down before. Paul reveals in I Corinthians 10:14, Therefore, my dearly beloved, shun (keep clear away from, avoid by flight if need be) any sort of idolatry (of loving or venerating anything
more than God).

God has to rule and reign and have complete control. This is an area of my own life God has been showing me, that He wants complete control of everything that I am. What gods can we setup? The television or the devotion to certain programs, the computer, housecleaning, shopping, even our friends and family. God has to come first, when He does, everything else will fall into its rightful place and you will be able to endure whatever is thrown your way.

Your flesh has to be fed everyday, no matter how much Christmas dinner you eat. The next day you are hungry like you've eaten nothing. Your spirit has to be fed everyday, no matter how much God you take in, everyday your spirit craves more of Him. That is the way it should be we should all have an addiction to the spirit of God that we will do whatever it takes to get to that secret place to get inside His presence, to feel His heart, to hear His desires not to make our requests but have a conversation with the Lord God Almighty. He waits for us.


Look for God in everything, look for ways to spend time with Him. Paul said in Ephesians 6:18, Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God's consecrated people).


This doesn't mean that we have to stop and kneel in the closet all day, although, getting away secretly is a good and beneficial thing. What we can do is put on some worship music and turn off distractions and pray while we do our normal daily activities. When we feed our spirit, the voice of God is louder and more clear, when we feed our flesh, the voice of the enemy is louder and more clear.

As we enter into the 21 day fast, I want to encourage you to seek Him more, as we deny our flesh, let's feed our spirits more. Let's hear the voice of God louder and clearer for 2009!

How close are you God?

While studying the book of Job, God has been revealing some incite into His plan and purpose for my life. I seem to learn something new everyday that causes me to run after Him. God is so great and vast and majestic, yet He chooses to have a relationship with me. He desires to walk with me through out my life and guide me in every step I take if I will only let Him. How awesome to know that the King of the universe knows my name and desires to have a truly intimate relationship with me. In His word He says that He will stick closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). I never understood that, but through this study I’m learning that God does just that. He sticks closer than a brother, friend, mother, father, child. He never gets aggravated and says, “That’s it. I can’t stand you anymore.” The only way to get rid of the closeness of God is to run away from Him. He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). He is a very present help in time of need (Psalms 46:1). I’m learning that God is really always there no matter what I’m going through. No matter how difficult the trial may seem at the time, He is there! He was there for Job and He is there for you, too!

Job had never been through a trial of this difficulty before. It was challenging and it was going to be life changing for him. We go through things like this in our lives also. God challenges us for greatness. It is through these times of trial that our fleshly flaws are exposed. We can allow God to remove these things to make us stronger and to cause our spiritual growth, or we can falter under them, run from them, and find no growth and stay in the same place. If God is allowing a great challenge to come in your life, then consider it an honor that He loves and respects and considers so much of you to allow it. He is sitting on the throne saying things like, “Hey watch what she does here. Isn’t she awesome? I bet Satan never saw that coming. I’m so proud!”

You are truly blessed and highly favored when trials come because God sees what is coming and knows that you can make it through.

The Power of Unity

They all gathered together for the appointed time of Worship. They had done this before. It was a part of their culture and way of life. It was expected of them by their God. What made this time any different than the others? What caused God to manifest this way? What is the key to having God "show up and show out?" The answer is UNITY!

As I began to Read the book of Luke and study out the Christmas story, I began to see somethings from a different perspective. The priest in the Jewish culture had jobs to do. Every morning and every evening they would go to the temple to offer sacrifices to the Lord . One of the functions was to burn incense before the Lord (Exodus 30:7). Burning the incense was probably the closest you could come to God with out being the High Priest. The Altar of incense was sitting directly in front of the veil that separated the Holy of Holies (Exodus 30:6). It was Zachariah's turn to serve in the temple and he was chosen to burn the incense. While serving his function something miraculous happened. We know the story. He was visited by Gabriel, told he and his wife would finally have a child, and he was made dumb until after the child's birth.

Why did this happen? What triggered God to show up. The obvious answer was that God had a plan and this was His appointed time, but there is more. God is governed by His word. God gave dominion and power over the earth to us. We have to invite God in and release His power on the earth. He can influence our thoughts and our actions, but ultimately we have the control and with out inviting God in He cannot and will not move on our behalf.

So what happened to invite God to show up and manifest His will? UNITY, UNITY, UNITY!!! The scripture just before Zachariah sees Gabriel says that ALL THE THRONG were praying in the court at the hour that the incense was being burned (Luke 1:10). A throng is defined as a great multitude. This was not "the intercessors" having prayer meeting. This was not the "prayer chain" calling up the people on the list. This was not the "prayer warrior" down the road covering someone in prayer. This was everyone who came to worship at this time all praying. Talk about unity. The women were not thinking about the chores that they had to do when they got home. The men were not thinking about the work they would being doing later on that day. They children were not playing with their buddies. Everyone was praying!

Because these people decided to come to the house of God, forget about the cares of life, and focus on God, He manifest His awesome power. I can think of another time this happened. One hundred twenty people gathered together determined to wait on God to manifest Himself in some way. They didn't know what would happen, but they would stay until something did happen (Acts 2:1-4).

What has happened to unity in the body of Christ? Church services have become a part of our culture. They are ritualistic. We go not expecting anything from the Lord, but rather we come because that is what we are supposed to do. What would happen if we would drop the cares of life for a few moments and enter into His courts like this throng did? What would happen if we would pray, not screaming out a wish list, but begging for His presence? We would see the manifestation of His presence. We would see things that we haven't even asked God for, come to pass. Healing, Deliverance, and Miracles would manifest.

The next time you come together as the body of Christ think about what unity will bring and put your focus on God. Watch and see what He will do!

God's Heart

God reveals throughout the Word His feelings toward His children. We as believers in Christ are His children and all need to be reminded with the Love His Heart feels for us. Here is just a few thoughts from God's Heart.

Isaiah 40:11
He will feed His flock like a shepard: He will gather the lambs in His arms, He will carry them in His bosom and will gently lead those that have their young.

James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all.

Zephaniah 3:17
The Lord your God is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior [Who saves]! He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest [in silent satisfaction] and in His love He will be silent and make no mention [of past sins, or even recall them]; He will exult over you with singing.

Jeremiah 33:11
Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know.

Matthew 10:30
But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

1 John 3:2
Beloved, we are [even here and] now God's children; it is not yet disclosed (made clear) what we shall be [hereafter], but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall [as God's children] resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He [really] is.

Wow! At the awesome love God has for us. What a Father we have!