Monthly letter from Don Dickerman November 2022

I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings…Blessed is that man that makes the LORD his trust, and respects not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

 Psalms 40:1-4 

 You are committed to what you confess. Say again?  Explain.  You are committed to what you confess. What you confess, what you say, is what you believe, what you believe is what you will do.  Negative confession produces negative feelings and a negative lifestyle.  It opens to Satan, closes to God.

Confess the positive promises of God’s Word.  Believe them to materialize in your life, to become reality in your own life and you will commit yourself to them.  Build faith.  Don’t allow negative confessions to destroy your building.  Build your faith through Prayer, God’s Word, godly counsel, godly books, tapes, praise music and an attitude of praise from your heart.  Listen: Give God the negatives.  Refuse to dwell on them.  When you feel inclined to complain about someone, about an injustice or trauma that was apparently caused by another person take it up with the Lord out on a mountain top or in the desert…don’t take your murmurings to another person, and don’t allow them to live inside of you! Confess sin, confess yours and what others have sinned against you, asked to be cleansed!  Admit what your conscience convicts you about; don’t cover it up.  The Holy Spirit will be truthful, when you are convicted, confess it!      

Do not put your trust in your feelings.  Remember, God will use your own words to create a new life for you.  God inhabits the praise of His people…not the complaints and criticisms.  He inhabits our praise. Begin to make positive communication, persist in communication that is positive.

Picture yourself in a room with two doors one door is always open, the other is always closed…by your choice.  At one door stands God, at the other stands Satan…only you can open the door.  When one is open the other is closed!  You can praise your way out of anything!  Even the pain of the past.  While you may grow weary of hearing this, perhaps in much hearing it will sink home.  It is a choice YOU must make. YOU must decide if you want to be free from the past.  YOU MUST MAKE THE CHOICE.  If you want healing, there are some things YOU must do.

Forgiveness and PRAISE are not options, they are absolutes! Praise has wonderful lifting power.  First Samuel records a time when King Saul was tormented by an evil spirit.  What a wonderful way to get rid of the enemy when he attacks with mental torment…PRAISE.  Praise God, praise the people you love. Never condemn or criticize, they are like boomerangs to the spirit.

Martin Luther said, «When I cannot pray, I always sing!» What you focus upon will ultimately consume you.  Focus on God.  Try the GLANCE AND GAZE PRINCIPLE…only glance at the problem, the circumstances, gaze upon Jesus!

 In 2 Chronicles there is the account of Jehosaphat.  He was told there was a great multitude coming against him from beyond the sea. He fully realized the difficulty and he went to the Lord with the problem that was TOO GREAT FOR HIM. The battle was won through praise. Word came to Jehosaphat through one of the young men: He appointed singers to go before the army singing.  Two of the opposing armies began to fight the third, when they had demolished them, they turned on each other until the valley was filled with dead bodies of the enemy and «none escaped».  Not only did the PRAISE bring victory but great reward. They had added riches and reward they never dreamed of. There were two songs in this great battle. A song of praise before and a song of deliverance afterwards! Remember, if you CHOOSE to deal with your pain and your past God’s way…The Battle is the Lord’s, and you can know both victory and reward by praising Him.

Don’t be concerned with what you have tried and failed in, concern yourself with what it is possible for you to do.  Move on!

The past is a pit…and a horrible pit!  The following verse says, «…and put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and trust in the Lord.»  David certainly knew calamity. He knew a painful past.  Saul did not treat him very well!  When someone hates you enough to try to kill you, I’d say that qualifies as a painful memory.  When you are reminded by God’s prophet that you have committed adultery and murder and your sin is open before all of heaven, that qualifies as mental torment.  When your children refuse to serve the Lord and seek all that God has given you, that must qualify as troubling thoughts. 

There was a time when David was «greatly distressed» in his early life.  He led his men in battle and returned to find himself in the midst of «calamity».  The people spoke of stoning him.  They wept till they had no power to weep.  Their wives, their children, their belongings had been taken captive.  The simple answer to his simple prayer was: “Shall I pursue after this band?  Shall I overtake them?”  He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely recover all.”  Pursue! (1 Samuel 30:8)  

Some of the most challenging words in all of scripture is found in this chapter. Encourage yourself in the Lord.  Don’t wait for others, it may never come, they have problems of their own, encourage yourself in the Lord – PURSUE! Likely, if you wait others won’t encourage you anyway, they may criticize and condemn you.  Encourage yourself in the Lord.

The responsibility for recovery and healing lies in YOUR hands.  In calamity!  You take charge of your life or someone else will.  You make the choice to be healed.  The pain of the past is only pain because you allow it to be.  Purge the past PURSUE the present.

I have learned thru many years of ministry…if you depend upon others to change things for you, you will likely remain unchanged. YOU must make a move.  Do something different. John Hagee says, «READ MY LIPS, YESTERDAY IS GONE.»

Go for today, plan for tomorrow, you don’t have anything else! PURSUE THE PRESENT, FACE FORWARD. PURSUE THE PRESENT!  PURGE THE PAST! PURSUE THE PRESENT!

“I seek no backward voyage across the sea of time.  I will ever press forward.  I believe God intends the present to be better than the past, and the future to be better than the present.» John Ireland  

Forward is the only way to look, breaking loose from the prison and pit of the past is a choice only you can make.  Confess it…make a commitment to your confession.  “The past is gone and I’m going on.”

Great Blessings.

Just for Jesus,

Don