Category: Words of Study & Instruction: Scribes & the Arts

This page features Words of Wisdom and Instruction written specifically by Holy Spirit for those in worship arts. They are designed to take you into deeper bible study, revelation and understanding concerning the secrets and mysteries of God's Word.

Part II: Godly Confidence vs. Pride, Arrogance & False Humility

Posted on by Theresa Harvard Johnson
Copyright 2014 Theresa Harvard Johnson
 
Believing in who God has called you to be is not necessarily being prideful or arrogant.
 
Walking in and walking out who God has called you to be is not prideful or arrogant.
 
Acknowledging who God has called you to be is not prideful or arrogant.
 
Pause.
 
First, let those three sentences sink into your spirit and saturate there.
 
Next, let’s take a look at some basic definitions of pride and arrogance. Pride is deep rooted self-admiration tied to one’s view of their own achievements, twisted personal power or even one’s own abilities, gifts and talents. It is literally stepping into a role in which a person becomes their own God. Arrogance is the elevation of pride that causes a person to feel and exhibit feelings of extreme self-importance in which they respond to others and the world out of a “god-like” mentality. They demand a level of service that is completely selfish and self-centered. (Psychology Today Magazine has an excellent article that distinguishes between the two entitled, The Key Difference Between Pride and Arrogance. See footnotes at the bottom of this article to explain other characteristics of this article.)[1]

Part I: Are you Godly confident?

Posted on by Theresa Harvard Johnson
(The video above is powerful. Please watch it! It is 4-minutes long. In addition, the focus of my blog post is on “Embracing Your Confident” as a means of accessing your authority and power in Messiah. It is from the perspective of confusing CONFIDENCE with arrogance and pride. I pray that this series encourages you.)

Copyright 2014 Theresa Harvard Johnson
A couple of weeks ago, the Lord began ministering to me about the power of confidence. It is through this confidence that you and I are able to access our authority in Yeshua and access POWER. Confidence works with faith. Confidence strengthens us in overcoming fear. The trouble is, so many of us have given our confidence away and exchanged it for false humility –the devaluing of the gifts of God that are within us, and causing the extraordinary “in you” to become common.
 
I had to repent for this – as I had walked this way for a very long time. In truth, it was an effort to lower who I was so that others might be more comfortable around me. It was the epitome of compromise, the very altar the Lord had called the ministry entrusted to me to destroy. It was an attempt on my part to people please, fit in. (If you want to take a look at the extreme side of this, read Luke 9:26.)

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Ministry Integrity

Love Not The World

Posted on by Theresa Harvard Johnson
1 John 2:15-17 CJB says, “Do not love the world or the things of the world. If someone loves the world, then love for the Father is not in him; because all the things of the world – the desires of the old nature, the desires of the eyes, and the pretensions of life – are not from the Father but from the world. And the world is passing away, along with its desires. But whoever does God’s will remains forever.”
 
In this passage, the term “world” is referring to the world system or the ways of Babylon – not people. The phrase “things of the world” is speaking specifically toward the objects and influences that are valued inside this world system. Things that become the idols of men. The Apostle John infers that the act of clinging to the world system is proof that a person is living out of or from their old nature, the sin nature of the flesh. He is admonishing believers to turn away from this pull and commit to our Father in Heaven.

Believe What God Has Said!

Posted on by Theresa Harvard Johnson
Copyright 2014 Theresa Harvard Johnson
2 Corinthians 1:20 CJB says, “For however many promises God has made, they all find their “Yes” in connection with him; that is why it is through him that we say the “Amen” when we give glory to God.”
 
I love the Complete Jewish Bible and this contextual translation of 2 Corinthians 1:20.  Paul is literally telling us that God keeps ALL OF HIS PROMISES as long as we seek to realize that the answers to those promises are WITH GOD.
 
When you are going through difficult times, this seems like an insurmountable thing to believe. As I continue to share with you on this blog about being accountable and maintaining ministry integrity, I will do so in context with some harrowing experiences from my own life that I overcame. It is possible to face temptation, endure the fallout from mistakes you have made, and resist the enemy of your soul wif you cannot believe God is on the other end of your ugly situation. One of the strategies that I use most is running to the feet of Jesus as often as necessary to break through and jump forth! Sometimes, his feet are the only place where you can find the strength to continue… and HE WILL meet you there.

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Leadership Development

That They May Come To Their Senses

Posted on by Theresa Harvard Johnson
Copyright 2014 Theresa Harvard Johnson
 
2 Timothy 2:26 CJB, “Also he should be gentle as he corrects his opponents. For God may perhaps grant them the opportunity to turn from their sins, acquire full knowledge of the truth, COME TO THEIR SENSES and ESCAPE THE TRAP OF THE ADVERSARY, after having been captured alive by him to do his will.”
 
Have we overlooked this command in the midst of our faith?

Have we cast it aside for the sake of self-righteousness, judgement and dogma?
 
As people of God, it can be easy to focus on the teachings of the condition of people and forget the “compassion-of-Christ” component that burns through it. I am not speaking of humanity’s kind of compassion which changes like the wind, but the kind of compassion that our Father has shown forth in pursuit of us throughout of eternity. A compassion rooted in His great love!  We must remember that the primary purpose of sharing the truth of the Gospel rests in the hope of reconciliation. It is the blazing foundation of every administration of ministry in Christ – that if a man hears the Gospel, he will turn his heart toward the Lord. Period. When we fail to grasp this truth, the scripture above infers that we should be catalysts for causing people to gain GOOD SENSE.
 
To be senseless literally means to lack a conscious reality of CHRIST. The passage also moves us to understand this reality: That it is God’s heart that NO MAN should perish if at all possible (2 Peter 3:9). But we – people of God – should never become the problem or a hindrance to this process. In truth, we are the SOLUTION to the problem men face.