Month: April 2009

Vision Is A Gift From God

On By josephbarlowIn Encouragement, Journal, Teaching1 Comment
Hey Friends,
I found this word the Lord spoke to me a few years before I became a pastor, I thought it might help you today:

Vision is a gift from God.

It becomes an authority that you submit to.

At this time submit to the vision of those in authority over you.
At the proper time you will be assigned a vision. You will be the bearer, the steward of that vision. But for now be a steward of the vision I have given to those in authority over you.

Your faithfulness will prove your trustworthiness.
When you are faithful it proves to me safety for my vision that I will impart.

When you hand your baby to someone they must be trustworthy or you will not release care of your baby, even for a moment for them to hold it. So it is with you; I will not release care of my vision to you until I see your maturity; until I see you caring for what I’ve assigned you for now.
I hope that word helped you, it did me.
God bless you Friends,
Joe
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Your Word

On By josephbarlowIn Journal1 Comment
Hey Friends,
I love the Word of God. 
It helps me so much. 
Here’s an entry from my journal about that.
Lord, Your Word
cleanses me
trims me clean
hones me
builds me up
holds me together
guides me
instructs me
encourages me
fills me
reveals the truth to me
reveals You to me
gives me faith
makes me knowledgeable, wise & understanding
Your Word gives health to my body
and nourishment to my bones

Your Word is 
Jesus the Logos (John 1)
Your Word is
 the Holy Spirit the Rhema (Eph. 6)

Your Word is exalted above your name
It gives me all the instruction and promises I need 
to live a glorious, productive and victorious life. 
Thank You Lord, for your Word!
God bless you my friends,
Joe
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The Best Story On Leadership I’ve Ever Heard

On By josephbarlowIn Encouragement, Teaching1 Comment

Hey Friends,

I’ve been teaching on Leadership at our church’s leader’s meetings. 
Check this out:
   When my sister, Connie, was in high school, one day the teacher walks in and says,
     “Today, we are going to talk about leadership. But first, I want everyone in this room
     who thinks they are a follower to get up and stand on the left side of the room.
     Everyone who thinks they are a leader, get up and stand on the right side of the room.”

   So all of the kids, trying to be humble or something,
     got up and stood on the follower side of the room. 

   Nobody stood on the leader’s side.

   My sister, standing in that follower line looked around and said, “Well, I guess I’m a leader.”
   and she walked over to the leader’s side of the room. 

   After she did this….. 

              everyone followed her!
Remember my friends:
To be a leader, 
  • you have to be going somewhere
  • you have to provide enough influence for them to leave their status quo

People want a better life and won’t follow you unless you can better their position.

Lead On My Friends
Blessings,
Joe
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A Free Download For You

On By josephbarlowIn SongsLeave a comment

Hey Friends,

I’ve added a new song to the list on the left here.
This is a song I wrote on a prayer retreat a few years ago.
My friend John King produced it for me; he’s a genius.
I played around with it after he was done and tried a different intro.
Let me know what you think.
I hope you enjoy it. 
God bless
Joe
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One Of My Heroes

On By josephbarlowIn MissionsLeave a comment

Hey Friends,

I want to introduce you to a person whom God has used in my life in a powerful way:
He is a powerful preacher of the Gospel. God also used him at my ordination service back in 2005 to call Nancy & I out of the audience to prophecy over us. 
Here’s the video of that:

That was amazing because he did not know that out of all the people that were being ordained that night, I was the only one being ordained for the first time as a pastor. He also did not know that I worked there and was in charge of that particular conference, but the prophecy said, “You have to go back…” when he said that I knew he was talking about going back to my former church to pastor there.
Anyway, Bishop Bismark has a blog and I wanted you to see it. He is doing a powerful work in Zimbabwe, take a quick moment and read the description of what he just did recently. It’s a powerful testimony. 
Love y’all
Blessings
Joe
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