Jesus chose these people, as unlikely as they appeared. He loved them, he forgave them, and he transformed them in the people who would work with him to advance His Kingdom.

Each of these individuals encountered the Transforming love of God, His great grace, acceptance, friendship.  He was aware of the treasure in them. He sees the treasure in us, a people who will also work with him to advance the Kingdom of God today.

This is a Segway, or rabbit trail but I’ll tie them together. We often look at many Old or New Testament stories with such familiarity we’re no longer astonished by them.

• What if you were kayaking in the bay of Erie and you dropped your car keys down and watch them sink to the bottom. What if someone said “I know, I’ll just tell the keys to float’
• What if you were at the foot of State Street at the Bicentennial Tower and you needed to get to Perry Monument, at the end of the peninsula ASAP; how about if somebody put their hiking stick into the bay and watched the water separated and ground dried up so that you could walk directly across?
• What if you worked at the Pentagon and they needed a military strategy, and someone suggested “let’s walk around that city and then shout”. And did it, and it worked!
• What if all the grocery stores really ran out of food? What if someone took one kids lunch and fed all the school children in the city of Erie.

All these things were done by humans, including Jesus as a human, relying on the Holy Spirit.

[Elisha ax floats; Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Elisha all parted water; Joshua at Jericho; Jesus fed crowds more than once]

I believe this year we will begin to see unlikely people bringing unusual solutions from the Lord.  An important part of our involvement in the Kingdom of God in this year is to know who we are; and no longer who we were.

2 Corinthians 5:16-17   So from now on, we do not think about what people are like by looking at them. We even thought about Christ that way one time. But we do not think of Him that way anymore.  For if a man belongs to Christ, he is a new person. The old life is gone. New life has begun.

God’s declarations to us – Mary Beth White                    4-24-2022

Should we ever say “I am a sinner saved by grace”? last week while in the shower, the Lord told me NO. Look at the verb tense, we WERE sinners but now are righteous

2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  God calls us righteous!  What else does He say about us?

Old is gone, new is now

2 Cor 5:17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

2 Corinthians 4:16  So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.

We Fell short, but now are justified

Romans 3: 23-24 since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

1 Corinthians 6:9-11   9 Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males, 10 no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom. 11 And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Death to life

Ephesians 2:   1You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. 3All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. Not just life, but eternal life begins now

John 5:24 Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.  [also John 3:36 and John 4:14]

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Darkness to light

1 Peter 2:9  But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Ephesians 5:8 is more emphatic; For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light—

Kingdom of satan to Kingdom of God

Col 1:13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, Acts 26:18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

From a Slave, to friend, to child of God

John 15:15 I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.

John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name

Romans 9:26  “And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘you are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.”

From Distant to Chosen and deeply loved

Ephesians 2:3-4  All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.  But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us … made us alive together with Christ… and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

John 15:16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.

John 17:23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Even our Garments change

Is 64:6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Isaiah 61:10    … for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

The Lord God almighty declares this about you & me; and wants us to agree with His word.

I was created to become the righteousness of God

I wear salvation, and righteousness

I am a new creation; my inner nature is being renewed day by day.

I have been saved by grace; and I am justified by his grace as a gift

I have redemption, I am washed, sanctified, and justified.

I am alive together with Christ

I already have eternal life

I am seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

I am His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be my way of life

I am part of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people

I live in his marvelous light and I myself, am light

I live in the kingdom of his beloved Son, under the power God

I am a friend of God and a child of the living God

I am brought near to God, he chose me, and He loves me with a great love, my heavenly papa loves me in the same way (with the depth and quality) that he loves his son Jesus

MaryBeth White

We praise and thank you LORD for bringing us here to dwell and we declare it as our possession. Erie, Pennsylvania, city & county, is the place in which we are called to rejoice and exercise dominion authority (Deuteronomy 11:10-12). We are grateful that Your thoughts for Erie are thoughts of peace and not evil, to give us a future and continuous hope (Jeremiah 29:11). We bow our hearts before You and on behalf of the people here we repent of the sins of our city & county. We ask You to forgive our sins and cleanse Erie from all unrighteousness.

Teach us to prepare the way for a divine visitation of Holy Spirit in Erie. May our city/county as a whole, turn to God. We plead the blood of Jesus over Erie and declare Jesus is LORD over this land (Nehemiah 1:6-7, 1John 1:9). From this day forward, we will only speak Your words and Your will over this Gem City! We take authority over every negative word that has been spoken over Erie and we declare them null and void in Jesus’ name. We pull down every witchcraft prayer over our city and declare those words powerless – they will produce no fruit here. We stand as watchmen on the wall over Erie and declare the Blood of Jesus over our borders and city gates.

We declare fear cannot reside in Erie, and division will not reign here. We decree unity reigns in Erie city and county and where there is unity, God commands the blessing of life evermore (Psalm 133:3). We declare today, sickness, and disease will not gain a foothold in Erie. God fearing people in Erie are strong in the power of His might, and there will be no feeble among us.  Children will play daily in the streets of our cities and towns, safe and unafraid for God is watching over our land. Our streets and roads will be filled with healthy, whole, elderly men and women, who have been blessed by God and satisfied with long life. We are covered in the blood of Jesus Christ, and are walking in the fulness of healing that was purchased for us at the Cross (Psalm 105:37).

We declare this day that Erie and its governmental officials will do only what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD. We ask for godly men and women who do Your will to be elected to every office and appointed to every council/board position. We pull down every stronghold over Erie and cast it to the ground. We say, “Go back to where you came from, there is no place for darkness here.” We ask You to send warring angels to surround our borders and keep out all evil and those with evil intent. May those involved in drugs, trafficking, greed and pride and other evils, leave our city and never return (Psalm 127:1, 125:2, 91:11-12). We commit this day to build fortified walls around our city. Walls of the spoken Word of God, walls of praise and worship, walls of prophetic declaration, walls that cannot be demolished, but will forever prosper, in Jesus’ name (2Chronicles 14:2-7, 1Timothy2:1-4).

Your word says, “Unless the LORD guards the city, we say awake in vain.” We ask You to guard our city/county from this day forward, knowing whatever we ask in prayer, we receive. Thank You God for guarding Erie day and night. We bless our neighbors to the north, south, east and west; may they be blessed because Erie is blessed! We declare and decree this day, Erie is obedient to God, in total peace, and continual prosperity.

Adapted from city-by-city.org.