THE SPLENDOR OF DAY ONE

Genesis 1:2  (Amplified) "The earth was without form and an empty waste, and darkness was upon the face of the very great deep.  The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters."

When I think about the day before you began creation, nothing has ever been said about it, well, that I have read, my Lord.  All that I know is that Your Word said You hovered, moved, brooded above the waters, actual nothingness.  Brooded...I can feel from You Lord that You were lonesome, bored, alone.  All Your wonderful power, ideas, dreams building up inside, exploding through Your spirit.

And then, Day One.  You decided to do something about all this darkness.  It was time to begin to put Your plan, Your ideas to fulfillment.  Then You spoke.  I can imagine Your voice coming from You with such power, such excitement, a force to be reckoned with; one word came forth "LIGHT".  And light appeared.  Were You surprised?  Had You known before that all it would take is one word from You to produce what You said?  Was it the first word You had spoken out loud?  There was no one for You to talk to, nothing to exclaim over....I believe You were amazed at Yourself, at Your Majesty.  I am sorry, my God, I am not trying to be disrespectful, but I feel Your spirit swelled at the very power of Your voice, just at Your command, it was.  The beginning of faith.  You had faith that when You spoke it would happen.  The beginning of faith.  You just showed this to me. This is why it is so important to You that we believe, that we have faith when we speak in Your name it will happen.  Real faith that will produce the same effect as You speaking. Oh, my Lord, this is amazing to me.

Then, my Father, You separated that light from the dark that had always been there. The light, so invasive to the dark.   And You called them Day and Night.  You had this planned, didn't You, my God, the names of what it would be called already decided.  Day for light and night for dark, the blackness.  Evening and morning.  And that was Day One.

From the first day of light and dark, the separating of the two, would then describe life as it would be known in the spirit.  There would be light; You sent Your Son to bring salvation to the world, bring light to the dark place our souls were in.  Light would be good and darkness would forever be evil.

Day one causes me to think about the day I was born again, resurrected in the Light of Jesus as He invaded the dark parts of my heart, my soul, and filled every part with the Light of His salvation, His beauty, His love.  The Light that would separate me from the darkness that had invaded every part of me, bringing fear, confusion, doubt.  The Light shining through every crevice where the darkness was hiding, trying to maintain some hold over me.  But where there is light, there is no longer darkness.  And I was freed from the abyss of darkness by the whisper from You into my spirit, as You again said "LIGHT".  And that was Day One of my rebirth in You, my God .... my rescuer, my salvation, my life.  You spoke the word and it became so.  And because of my faith in You, it is still so today.

My Lord, as I was thinking this morning about the splendor of Your creation and thought about how it all began, You began to pour into my spirit these words.  And more.  How faithful You are my Lord, always so faithful.  I love You, my God.  You know my heart, Lord, and as I worship You, You bring me into Your presence, to spend time in Your glorious Light that is always surrounding You.  No more dark ever where You are.  You will never have darkness around You again.  Just the Light of Your Son and the Light of Your children, those who love You more than life, as I do, my God.  More than life, I love You.

This 28th day of February, more than life, as You so changed mine, when You gave Light into my life.

TESTIMONY OF FAITHFULNESS

Psalm 89:1 (Message)  "Your love, God, is my song, and I'll sing it!  I'm forever telling everyone how faithful you are."

How can I begin to describe what Your love has done for me, to me.  My God, Your love has changed everything about me.  Remember, my Lord..."no", You are telling me, "I don't remember....I don't remember anything bad about you".  Sometimes I forget, my beautiful Lord, that You do not remember those things that I remember because You have cast them far from you.  I know You have also cast them far from me; it being the enemy that brings them back.  So I thank You once again Father for the things You don't recall about me, thank You for cleansing me of them.   But before You drew me back to You, my Lord, I did not care for that person I was, but now, I like who You have made me to be.  I love the person I am in You Father, I love the person You keep pouring more of Yourself in, that person....me. 

Everything You have told me You would do for me, everything; if I would follow You and give You all of me, surrender my will to Yours, give You complete control of everything in my life... You have done it all.  All that You promised and You continue to do more and more.  You have been faithful in every manner concerning me.  You have blessed me with continued good health, You take care of my finances, and though I don't have much, in You I have enough.  You make what you give me meet very need with extra for some other things.  How I wonder so many times, how can I be so blessed. How blessed I am just to have You love me, and that my God is more than enough.  You have given so much to me already, and yet, You continue to bless me.

I love You so much.  I want to spend all my time worshiping You, Father.  You are so worthy of all my praise, all my worship, all my love.  I will use my blessings to bless others, Lord, I will continue to use what You give to me to spread Your love to others.  I will testify to Your great love, and Your faithfulness.  You keep Your word.  What You say You will do, it is just what You do.  It may not be in the timing I am thinking, but we know it is Your time that is correct in all concerns.  You are never late, and if it is not early, it is because You are working out something beautiful in me, for my growth, for Your glory.  I am blessed so by You in the wait as You spend more time with me, showing me Your ways, Your truths. 

Your Word lights up instruction from You Lord.  As You promised, You provide me guidance and knowledge through Your Word.  Showing me Your faithfulness to those before me, letting their stories and battles prepare me for what is ahead.  Faithful to care for me, You are showing me how to live my days and witness to others through Your beautiful Word.  How I love Your Word, I love how You brought Your children through time after time, sometimes  having to discipline them, but always in love and forgiveness. And I know You are the same with me.  Faithful, loving Father.

My days are highlights of testimony, my God, as You continue to take me from morning to night and again the morning, begining again.  Life so precious lived in You, I can only worship You for Your wonderful love and faithfulness.  I am never worried for anything as I know You, my Lord, and I know You will take care of everything, no matter what happens.  Why should I worry, You have shown me time and again that You take care of everything concerning me.  I trust You completely.  You have never failed me.

I worship You my Lord.  Your mercies are new every morning and Your love flows in a constant stream from Your throne to my heart.  Your Spirit fills my soul with peace and joy.  I love You, my God, for who You are, just for who You are.  I would wish for only one thing, just one, my Lord.  More of You.  That is my only desire, more of You.  I can not get enough of Your presence my Lord.  Just You. More and more.  You, only You.

This 27th day of February, 2011, I give You all my worship, all my praise, all my love.  I testify to Your faithfulness....Your great faithfulness....

GLADNESS OF HEART

Ecclesiastes 5:20 "He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart."

What a revelation.  What joy I have found.  And it was there all the time.  I actually had a semester on the Books of Poetry in the Bible of which Ecclesiastes is a part of. But I have found it true that some scripture remains dark until that moment that the Lord brings light to it for you. At the right time, the perfect time that it will bring enlightenment to your heart, refreshing to your soul.  And here the scripture is.  I remember reading it when I took that class but it read through without shouting at me.  Tonight it shouted big time.

I am thinking that the reason age is so much on me right now is that is what the enemy is trying to use against me right now.  Of course, it is foolishness on his part as I don't pay any attention to what he does or says, as I know my God is taking care of me and I don't worry about the small things.  But the old demon is trying to convince me at my age, that I don't have any business thinking I can pick up and move to another city, another job, another house.....but God.  He is not counting on the fact that I don't rely on my strength, my power, my own doings.  I rely solely on my God.  Completely.  It is all on Him.  I believe this is His will for me, and I know He will make it all happen.  I only concentrate on my part.

The important thing for me to know, for any of us to remember, is that today is the day we stay in.  Not yesterday for sure, for the Lord has forgotten it, so why would we want to remember it?  It is gone and will not return for a replay, so there is no need for it to replay in our minds, in our hearts.  Good memories are written on our hearts, so I am not speaking of those wonderful times with families, friend, those beautiful memories that God is so wonderful to preserve for us, written in His beautiful hand across our hearts, never to be erased.  Have you ever known someone with alzheimers disease, that they forget a lot of present day things but can remember way back to pleasant times?  Those memories written on their hearts.  Now this is the way I see it, the way the Lord showed it to me.  Those memories are not forgotten, beautiful, happy memories of days gone by.  But the other things, why do you want to rehash them, they were not good, hurtful a lot of them, let them go.....the Lord has and He desires for you to do so also.  When the enemy brings them to mind, dismiss them along with his attempts to control you with those past days.

But today, I will think on the goodness of my God, how He has made my heart so glad.  He has such plans for me and they are exciting, new, fresh.  A life to live for Him, and thinking of the new life has my heart overjoyed.  I don't know how it will all develop but God does and that is good enough for me.  I notice as I am driving down the street, worshiping my Lord, that I am drawn to look at the flowers blooming, or the birds on the electrical wires; the clouds in the sky, or the beautiful clear sunshiny day.  These things give my heart joy.  The worship songs I sing along with praising the Lord from deep inside of me, this gives my soul peace.  The creation of my God causes my heart to expand with joy and the Holy Spirit to give me new songs to sing to Him.

The scriptures before verse 20 tells us that when God give us things, possessions or wealth, and enables us to enjoy them, to accept our lot and be happy in our work, we should do just that.  We should not feel guilty when the Lord blesses us.   We should be joyful in what the Lord has done for us, there is no shame in being blessed.  Mercy, where do some folks think it is wrong to be blessed with the abundance of the Lord.  Now, I do believe that the Lord gives us abundance to continue the giving of the blessing.  But it is a matter of rejoicing at the goodness of God.  I am happy in working for the Lord in whatever place He puts me and I will be joyful in His blessings to me.

His goodness and blessings, these are the things I will keep my mind occupied with, not my life, not my age, not yesterday.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  There is nothing that cannot be done in the Lord. When God wills something to be done, and you put your will in His, it will be done. Gifts from the Lord, cherished gifts from God. 

Father, You have given me so much, and I know the blessings will continue.  You have told me so, told me to expect to be blessed abundantly with all good things from you.  You are Holy my Lord, You are Awesome.  You hold my heart in Your hand and it is safe there as You hold my heart next to Yours.  I can feel Your presence as I write this, I can feel Your love, the sweetness of Your breath; I can hardly type as Your presence is so heavy here...

My God, thank You for just being You this 26th day of February, 2011.

SWIFTLY GO THE YEARS

Proverbs 9:11 "For through me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life. "

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that we are in March next Tuesday.  Wasn't yesterday Christmas? Even last Christmas seemed to arrive before it should have.  Now, we are almost in March, the third month of the new year.  The new year, it just began a few days ago, it seems like.  Time is indeed swiftly passing.  And with the days, months, years....my life.  I turn another year older in a few months. I would have said six months, but with time going as fast as it is, it will seem like only a few months. And it will be here. I am having a difficult time realizing I am going to be that old.

Does age do that to anyone but me?  Most of the time I forget to ask for a senior discount because it is hard to consider myself a senior.  But I have been, according to AARP for some time now.  I surely need to begin to remember asking for the discounts I am so entitled to.  But when doing that, I remember how old I am.

My Father, the same wonderful Father we all share, I do so like to consider Him my Father, and I am sure you feel the same.  It is more personal when you say "My Father", and I have a very personal relationship with Him. So, if you don't mind, please understand my calling Him, mine.  My Father, as I was saying has told me that there are things I will be doing for Him.  He has shown me where He will have me be in the near future.  I am so wanting to be there and I am beginning to do the things He has shown me I need to do to prepare.  But the enemy has been knocking at my mind with his thoughts I don't want to know.  For instance, he says, "how are you going to do all these things at your age?; or do you think you will stay healthy enough to do this?"  There are more comments but you get the idea.  I, in my normal routine when satan trys to tell me his lies, just brush him off and go about my business. But it makes me weary just the constant of it all.  I know I am getting old, and I know it will be a lot of work to pack up and go where the Lord leads, but you know what, I am going to do it.

How many times do you get a chance to pick up and go where the Lord leads.  Go where He has a new plan for you.  Well, let's say, it is a new plan to me.   My God had this plan for my life long before, possibly before I was born.  He knew He would lead me to another place, to do work for Him, and He knew I would go.  As I remember my life, I would think He would have had some doubts in me along the way, but then I remember, He knows everything that is in our lives, past, present and the future.  So yes, He did know I would go wherever He would lead me.  I think after we moved to South Dakota for those few years, not knowing anyone in that little town, just go because He led us there to work for Him; well, I learned that when He calls you to do something, He prepares the way for you to do it.  So I have no doubt that the way will be prepared.

But back to the years.  The quickly passing years.  Scripture tells me that in God my days will be many, and that He will add years to my life.  So I know from this He already has a long life planned for me, and He will add even more years to those.  So figuring it that way, I am just in my prime years.  If you think of it that way for your life, those of  you in the Lord, you can add years to your life also.  When God calls you to do something, He is going to see that there is plenty of time for you to accomplish what He has for you to do. 

All jobs in the kingdom are important.  I believe they are all equally important as they usually pertain to worship or witnessing.  I would put evangelizing in the category of witnessing as they are witnesses to the salvation of the Lord and to eternal life with the Father.  Worship is, I believe, my best suit, but I truly feel that we are all witnesses, we witness through the lifes we live.  How we deal with day to day situations, what we speak, how we act.  People can tell in a minute if you are a child of the Lord, and what kind of relationship you have with Him.  So I am a witness also.  But....I love to worship.  I know the Lord will have me doing both, but I certainly pray my main job for Him is worshiping.  There is nothing I love more than worshiping my God, giving Him the glory for what He has done for me, how He has raised me up to worship Him.

My age, in worldly years is moving.  But my life in the Lord is just beginning.  It is a life fresh and new, full of wonder and hope in the Lord as I wait to see what He will do with me.  What He will do with the creation He has made of me, His worshiper.  I will worship Him all the rest of my days, and from what the Lord has said, they will be many.  An exciting time ahead of me, ahead of all of us in the Lord as He uses each of us to further His kingdom, to prepare the way for the return of our Lord Jesus.  Work that will glorify the Father, honor the Son, and show the Holy Spirit's work in us.  Blessed I am to be chosen by my Father for His purposes.

My God, You are so worthy of all my worship, all my praise.  I praise You, Lord, just for who You are.  Just because I love You, just because You love me.  Nothing else, just because You are.  I love You will all my being, You mean everything to me.  You have given me life, new life, with added years in which I can glorify You, my love, my Lord.  This 25th day of February, 2011, I thank You for new years to my life, my life in You.

BRAGGING RIGHTS

Romans 12:11-12  (Message) "Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame.  Be alert servants of the Master; cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder."

These last few weeks have been difficult for me.  I have had such an oppression on me.  Not depression, for I am not depressed.  No, not depressed.  This has been like a heavy weight on me, oppressing me, dragging me down.  But I have not let it get to me.  It has made me tired and weary, but my spirit has been where it always is.  Just rejoicing in my God.

Each morning I have awaken, and as always, I raise my voice in worship to my God.  I sing unto Him, I speak words of adoration and love to Him.  I thank Him from deep within me for my rest in Him that night, for His goodness to me, for the precious love He gives me, and oh, my Lord, for your presence.  That never changes.  This is what I do first thing each morning, every time I wake during the night, all during the day, I worship my Lord. I sing praises to His name, I give Him all the glory and honor. All the time. He is my God, my true love. So regardless of how I have felt, I know it is not coming from the Lord.  If it were coming from Him, still I would worship Him.

But these past weeks, I feel like the enemy has taken a pick to me, continually trying to chip away at my mind, my peace, my spirit.  I keep fighting back, with song, praise and prayer.  He keeps chopping with his pick, chop, chop, chop.  I keep singing, praising and praying.  You can see we have had quite a battle, but I have not lost and he definitely has not won.

This morning, in my weariness, so tired, having to work my day off, I rose up out of bed.  I began to feel that heaviness upon my shoulders, but I began to praise and worship my God.  All of a sudden, I felt a rush inside of me, like a shout from the Lord from within me.  He was telling satan, "Come on - you can't get to this child of mine - she will rise up and praise Me no matter what you do to her".  And as I began to praise the Lord's name, telling my God He meant everything to me and that I would never cease to worship Him, I felt a burst of energy and refreshness in my soul going through to my entire body.  New oxygen in my blood stream as though my Lord breathed new life into me, strengthening me, refreshing me.  My God was boasting on me to satan.  How awesome is that!  Knowing that I will praise Him no matter what happens, no matter how tired, how weary I become in my daily life.  He knows me, knows my heart is His.  God was showing me off.....what an energizer to my soul.  Can you imagine, He was bragging on me.  How He knows me, how He knows how much I adore Him.  He knows.  But then I tell Him all the time how much I love Him.  He means everything to me.

As the fire of my God's love begins to burn the remainder of the old man off me, the sweet incense of my love and devotion for only my God rises and as He draws in the breath of me, that sweet honey smell of what He has made me to be, joy fills His heart and causes His love to explode in my heart, in my soul, and I am brought humble before Him in adoration.  My God, my God, how I love You.

God is bragging on me.  He has bragging rights on me.  He knows I am His, only His and nothing this world can do, nothing the enemy can conjure up will cause me to stop worshiping my Lord.  Nothing, not one thing he can do that will ever cause me to turn from my God.  I know this, God knows this, and what is most important, the enemy knows this.  One day when he begins to feel the flames circle around him, he will remember me, a child of Almighty God, that he tried so hard to defeat, that he keep throwing hurt, sorrow, pain at, that child that would not stop worshiping God.  Just would not stop worshiping God. A battle he fought time after time, a war he lost.

My Father, you have given me the energy necessary to continue this fight with Your boast of me, Your bragging of me.  I thank You that I have come to the place in our relationship that You know I will never leave You, just as I know You will never leave me.  You have given me Your love, Your presence and Your heart.  I love being a part of You my God. I will never leave Your side. I will sit at Your feet forever, worshiping only You, loving only You.

This 24th day of February, 2011, my God boasted of me.

HOPE AND DREAMS

Romans 5:5 (Message) "We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand...out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise."

I have hope.  I have hope in my Lord that for me, the life He has planned, is just beginning to be fulfilled.  I have hope that He is beginning to move me into those plans He has began to work out for me.  The Lord has put words into my heart that give me a glimpse of what He wants me to do.  Of how I am to move into His plans.  Such hope, such glorious hope.

The dreams my Lord has given me.  Sweet dreams of ministering to Him, ministering to others through Him, wonderful dreams.  I feel that it doesn't matter what your age, if the Lord puts dreams into your spirit, they are for a reason.  A dream that is to inspire you, encourage you, show His constant love for you.  Yes, I have dreams, God given dreams for my future.

As I was thinking about my hope, my dreams, the Lord showed me something I had never thought of.  God has a hope, He has dreams also.  He showed me He has a hope that all will be saved and come to love Him. The Lord's hope is for all His children, everywhere, be redeemed and know Jesus as their Savior.  That all peoples all over the world will praise Him, worship and adore Him.  Yes, our God has a hope that He has had since He formed the earth, to be praised and worshiped just for who He is, our loving Father, the Almighty God.  His hope.

Our God also had dreams.  Dreams of His children everywhere loving each other as He loves us, laying down their arms against each other and embracing each other in brotherly love.  Helping one another, giving to each other as their abundance grows, to work side by side to make a world filled with love, with joy, with God as their only god, their hearts filled with love for Him alone.  But those dreams so far have been only that, dreams, no reality.  But there is still time, for now, still time to fulfill the dreams the Lord has.  Still time to begin to spread His love all over the world, our country, our city, our neighborhood. It is a start, in your own neighborhood, to show God's love, His mercy. 

Hope and dreams.  God has them, you have them, I have them.  So many people have had them and let them go because it seemed like they would not happen.  Let them go because they lost faith that God would see them fulfilled for His children.  I am not letting go of the hope my God has given me, of the dreams He has planted in my heart.  My faith in God will not waver, will not slack down because I have not seen the fulfillment of this hope, this dream yet.  I know my God.  I know He does not give hope and dreams and yank them back. No, He is faithful to do what He has shown me He will do.  I know my God.  I know His love.  I know His heart.

I thank you my Father for your unfailing love and hope for me.  You have a hope for me, to see me bring worship to You.  To see me encourage others to give all their worship to You.  To see me ministering to others drawing from the experiences of my own life, the life You brought me through, each good and each bad experience, You brought me through, for just this dream, this hope.  To be used to bring You glory and honor.  I am willing Father, to be used in any dream You have for me.  I will make sure Your dreams and hope for me are fulfilled Lord, just as You fulfill my own.  Please make your dreams and hope for me a reality, Lord. I am ready to go with You, to what You have planned for my life.

Tonight, my Lord, this blog is number 100.  It is hard to realize that we have been doing this for 100 nights, doesn't seem that long since You had me sit down and begin this.  What a wonderful revelation this has been to me, writing with You each night; You showing me things in scripture, in visions, in music.  Showing me Your words, Your ways, Your desires.  One hundred nights of sitting at my desk while you whispered into my spirit Your flowing words of hope and encouragement, sometimes Your words of hurt and disappointment, but always Your words of love, your unconditional love.  Precious Lord, thank You for trusting me with Your words, with Your heart.  I pray You are pleased with Your child.  I will continue to be a vessel for just You, just Your words.  All of You, my God, please, none of me.

So, here we are, one hundred nights later; my love for You has grown more each day. I had not thought I could possibly love You more that I do each day, but I do.  My love for You grows stronger each day.  My faith in You seems like a huge oak tree, wind blowing on it hard, but it doesn't even bend.  My faith has been tested, tested and tried but I am never losing my total faith, my trust in You my God. You are mine, I am Yours.  I am not going anywhere from You and I know You will never leave me.  I love You. Totally, completely, forever.

This 23rd night of February, 2011, our one hundreth night, I give you all my worship my God.  I give You all my everything, for You have given me a new life, you have given me hope and dreams

THREE LITTLE WORDS

1 Corinthians 13:8a "Love never fails.";  13:13b "But the greatest of these is love."

There are three little words that have probably been used more than any other words put in a phrase.  Those little words are "I love you".  I can remember hearing these words as a baby and growing up, always being told "I love you" by my parents, family members; always hearing them. So many have these memories. But these little words, haven't always been what they were meant to be.

These words "I love you" have become the most frequently and misused words known.  These three words put in this phrase have made people jubilent, happy, overwhelmed, depressed, lifeless, go from live to death, just these three words.  These words have so often been used to entice, con, wear down, entrap rather than the intent to show adoration, affection, to instill warmth and belonging.  People have used the words I love you to get others to do their bidding, earn money for them, and ultimately shaming them. I know people that hate to hear the words as they became nothing more than work for them. Told that they were loved to get them to do something they did not want to do, but because of that love, did it.  What have these three words done to so  many.

"I love you", these little words were to be used to show a true affection for one another.  These words are heaven inspired, shown by the Father who loved us so much that He willingly sent His Son to die so we could be forgiven of our sins, so we could be in a loving relationship with the Father.  Love words meant to pour warmth and confidence into a person.  To have a true sense of belonging. To be the basis of a man and woman as they would fall in love and be married.  Love that would stand no matter what they faced on a daily walk with each other.  I have found that the only love based marriages that withstood all were those founded in God, with a three-fold love relationship, true love, real love. 

Not all love relationships are true or real love.  A lot of marriages are based on practical things, money, convenience; they are based on children.  When the children grow up, there is no base to the marriage.  Marriages fail because there is no true love, although the words "I love you" were used a lot. Usually used to convince the partner to stay within the bounds of the relationship; not to leave; selfish reasons that had nothing to do with real love.

The three little words have been used to bribe, threaten....I know my God has grieved over the manner in which His words, those words that show so much love from Him, have been used.  I know I have heard them so many times, in so many ways, for so many reasons in my life.  I hate to think back on the ways I probably used them also.  But I did not know, as I am sure you have not known, that these three words, these words hold such power in them.  The power of love, real love, true love...that power can heal hearts that have been broken before, those words can take someone who feels like no one could care for them and make their heart swell with joy; it can take a child that has been abused and turn her heart to trust another when real love, true love is spoken and given.  Love is a powerful word and when used as part of the three word phase "I love you", it can give life to another, a meaningful life.

Love, the word that God gave us to show us His true, His real feelings needs to take a higher place in our minds.  Those three words, "I love you" should not be spoken so lightly, spoken to use, to abuse.  They should be spoken to give husbands and wifes, parents and children, and precious friends a heart felt knowledge of how another feels about them, real, true feelings.  Not wanting anything in return, but giving of their hearts as God has given of His.  Pour out love, the best part of each of ourselves to another as God pours out His love to us.

Those three words "I love you" become an anthem when used back to the Lord.  A praise offering of thanksgiving, opening your heart up to Him, loving, loving, and loving Him.  He knows our hearts, so the words had better be true when expressed to God.  You cannot fool Him like some people are fooled. He knows the importance of those words, and He loves to hear you tell Him you love Him, that your whole heart is His.

My Lord, my precious Lord, how I love You.  These are not just three little words to me, my God, and I so find them inadequate to tell You how I feel, but they are the words You gave for this expression, this feeling in my heart, this love.  I pray my love for You blesses You, Lord; I offer them to only You from my whole heart.

You are my everything Lord, and I hold these three little words in my heart for You, this 22nd day of February, 2011, "I love you".

HEAVEN'S GATE

Genesis 28:17 (Message) "He was terrified. He whispered in awe. "Incredible. Wonderful. Holy. This is God's House. This is the Gate of Heaven."

The words for my post tonight were not as forthcoming as usual. Normally, I will get the title earlier in the day but today, nothing. I had decided that tonight I would be just worshiping my God, loving and ministering to Him, which I love to do, but normally it is planned, with my telling the Lord, that this night I will be giving unto Him, instead of Him giving to me.  I am so blessed when I can just worship and praise my God.  So tonight, I was listening to a song, a new song, so beautiful, so annointed.  The Lord spoke into my spirit the words "Heaven's Gate".  So I knew that was it.  He is never late, I only get a tad anxious sometimes. He spoils me when He gives me the title early on, but he is never late. He is so faithful to provide the words for these posts as He leads me to doing them.

So I had Heaven's Gate.  As I was listening to the next song played, the Lord begin to show me what this Heaven's Gate meant.  I saw a large gate, and all I saw was the gate.  It was so wide I could not see the sides end, and the top of the gate went up into, well, I did not see the top of the gate.  It was that big.  It looked real thick, but it was hard to tell.  There was a long path leading up to the gate with all sorts of things and people on the sides of the path.  I saw people struggling to get past all the distractions along the path.  As I watched I saw them get pulled to the side only to pull and fight themselves back on the path.  Some, I hated to see, did not make it back on the path, but stayed on the side, caught up in the entrapments set there.  I expected to see people walking through the gate, proud and victorious.  But only a very few made it walking up to the gate.  When they got there, this small, thin door opened and then went in. 

I saw those righteous few, who had been in the Lord always walk up to the narrow door and walk in. They had no trouble getting in.  Then I saw those like myself, who had to fight to stay on the path most of their life, falling away only to get back on the path with the forgiveness of the Father, through the blood of the Lamb, back on the path working their way towards the gate.  I saw the enemy, pulling and tugging at them, showering them with every enticement, every known pleasure, trying to pull them back, not willing to concede that these people, these redeemed, had come to love the Lord with all their hearts and souls and would not be stopped.  These people were fighting their way to the gate, pushing and shoving all the entrapments aside, keeping their eyes straight ahead.  And I saw, so many, as they fell along the path, tired, worn down by the constant barrage of pulling and tugging from the people and attractions on the side of the path.  Beaten down, but not counted out, I saw so many of them crawling their way to the gate.  Determined not to be defeated, they clawed at the path, pulling themselves to the door in the gate.  As they reached the door, it opened, and a glorious spirit came out of the door, reached down and picked them up and carried them inside.  As they were carried inside, I heard shouts of jubilation, songs of rejoicing resounding in the heavens. I realized I was crying as I watched this. And crying now as I write what I saw.

There will be a constant battle, one fought every day, won every day with the strength and power given to us by the Lord; a battle over our souls.  The enemy will not give up until we reach that door, that narrow door in Heaven's Gate.  Most of us will be beaten down, weary, tired of the battle, but we keep pressing on, not giving in to the temptations thrown daily at us by satan.  Keeping our eyes on our Lord, we will go forward, even if we have to claw our way up that path, there is nothing going to keep us from our final destination, the Throne Room of God.  There will be rejoicing of all the saints of Heaven when we arrive, our Lord will be there to welcome us; knowing the struggle and battles we fought to spend eternity with Him. We will be there, sitting at the feet of our beautiful Father, glorifying Him with all our love, all our worship.  We may have lost some battles along the way, but we have won the war.  We have made it into Heaven's Gate and are seated with Jesus by the Father.  Our rightful place.  Where our God always intended us to be.  We made it.....He never let us go.....And at the end, tired and weary as we were, He carried us in.

Thank you Father, for showing me that no matter how hard the path is, I can make it all the way with Your power, Your strength, Your love.  How can I not be successful when I know You are waiting for me, encouraging me, wooing me with Your love, never letting me go from Your sight as You watch me come to You.  I can see Your smile as You watch me push aside all temptations, enticements, all distractions of the world.  Smiling as You see my eyes steady on You, never looking anywhere but at You.

I love You so my God.  You have my heart, my soul is singing worship songs to You, and my eyes are steady on You.  This 21st day of February, 2011, I am coming my Lord, I am coming up the path, I will reach Heaven's Gate.

THE BULLY AT THE DOOR

1 Samuel 17:26b (Message) "Who does he think he is, anyway, this uncircumcised Philistine, taunting the armies of God-Alive?"

When I was so trying to give my all to the Lord, there was one part of my heart that I was having a hard time letting Him in.  I so wanted to fling open the door, have my God come in and cleanse out that area of me, just that last part of me, hidden from all for so long. 

As I would gain courage and strength to open the door, the bully would show up and stand in front of me.  You know this bully, I don't think anyone has not had an encounter with him.  It is our old enemy, satan, you know the one that fills your mind with all his nastiness, all his doubt, fear, anxiety thoughts.  Every time I would begin to let the Lord in, he would show up, block the door and begin his assault on me. "Do you think God will forgive that, oooohhh, bad stuff in there.  Sure you want to give that up, don't you think you have given up enough already?"  Heard those words?  Yes, I am sure everyone who is trying to give their all to the Lord has heard those and many more.  And, for the longest time, I backed off the door, leaving it just as it was, closed, dark, wretched.

Then, on the day the Lord filled me with all His love, all His goodness, let me see that He loved me no matter what, that He was so happy with who I was becoming in Him; my God showed me that there was nothing in the world that could keep me from His love, from Him.  I began to look at my heart and the closed door.  I realized that my biggest battle was in my mind. It was not even a heart issue at all, it was a mind issue.  There is a constant battle going on in the mind between you, the child of the Living God, and the enemy, who hates God with all his being.  The enemy wants nothing more than to separate you from God, to cause a continual avenue for sin for you, knowing that sin keeps you from the presence of God.

I stood up.  I finally summoned all my army of scriptures that I had stored up in my heart and began to shoot them at satan.  The day following my wonderful infilling of my Lord's total love for me, I went for the forbidden door. I began the encounter as I knew it would draw satan's attention right away and here he came with his verbal assault.  I began with the scripture in 1 Samuel.  "Who do you think you are?", I said to him.  I told him, "Do you realize I am a beloved child of the King. There is nothing my God does not know about me, He knows what is in my heart. I am no longer going to fear a bully that picks on me just because he thinks I am weaker than he is."  I continued and told him that I had Almighty God on my side, and He would continue this fight for me, as this battle was not mine, it was Gods. Then I put my hand on that forbidden door and opened it and asked the Lord to please come inside and cleanse every part of my heart until it was pure before Him.  And, He did.  I am so happy to say that He came in and cleaned every spot of my heart until there was nothing in it but Him, love for Him.

Most of us try to fight the enemy on his terms, forgetting under the barrage of things he throws us, wearing us down, keeping us weak.  But we have the power of God to defeat any attack the enemy tries to put on us.  We are the strong ones.  It is a mind thing.  If satan can make you think he has the upper hand, well, then he does.  Read what the Word has to say about our power in the Lord. About what we should be doing every time the enemy comes around.  Stop letting satan rob you of God's presence, of becoming pure before Him, letting Him come in to your heart, behind every door and cleaning everything out so He can reside in you, so the precious Holy Spirit can come in and stay.

My bully has been defeated.  I have been rid of him for months now, and he no longer has a place in my mind.  I am not telling you that he does not try, for he certainly does not give up on those that choose to follow God, love and worship only Him.  To those who give up all earthly desires to belong to God alone, the enemy works overtime. But we also have the advantage over satan, we have God on our side, and as His Word tells us, this battle is His.  Just remember not to try to wage this battle yourself, just give it right up to God.  Ask the Lord daily to protect your mind, to keep your thoughts pure and righteous; to keep your heart only unto Him.  He is faithful to do what He has said.  He will not fail you.  He has not failed me. He is steadfast and true.

My Lord, how I love you.  How safe and protected I am in You.  I know whenever that bully begins to appear at my door, I will immediately open the door, I will not cower in a corner. I will open that door and let him see Who is standing beside me.  He cannot stay when he sees You next to me.  And I know You will always be there.  I fear the bully no more, as he is no longer a threat to me.  I know he can only threaten those who fear him and I have no fear as I know You are so much bigger than he is, not I, but You.  I am so aware of his tricks, his ways. You, my Lord, have given me the things to be watchful for, and You will continue to protect me. I trust You my God with all that is in me.

Thank you, precious Father, for Your love, Your wonderful love, the grace that abounds to me daily, and the joy that fills my soul constantly as I think of You.  You are so worthy my God, of all my worship, all my love, every moment of my life.  I give all to you, this 20th day of February, 2011.

THE NEXT DANCE

Psalm 30:11-12  (Message)  "You did it: you changed wild lament into whirling dance; You ripped off my black mourning band, and decked me with wildflowers. I'm about to burst with song; I can't keep quiet about you. God, my God, I can't thank you enough."

I have been dancing with the Lord.  I actually envisioned this earlier today.  I was listening to beautiful worship music, just lending myself to the music and worshiping the Lord from my heart, loving Him as I sang, longing for His presence to linger with me when I saw a Hand reach down.  I placed my hand in His and was lifted up into His arms. I want you to know, it thrills me now remembering it, as I tell it to you. My Lord took me into His arms and as choirs of angels sang a love song, we walzed around the universe.  We touched softly down upon the stars, glided across the moons surface; the light of the moon was overshadowed by the reflection of God's love on my face.  We whirled and whirled around and around until it seemed like only one person dancing, I had melted into the Father as we became one heart, one being.  Then gently He put me back, where I had been.  As I looked up, I saw the Hand give me a card, it was a dance card; on it was written, "until the next dance".

I was filled with mixed emotions.  So sad the special time with my God was over, but so excited of the promise of more.  I believe the Lord loves dancing with His children.  The closeness of the special waltz, I guess that is what it was, it was hard to know actually.  How can you be so close to the Father, and notice anything but Him. But we were moving, and I considered it a dance as He told me there would be another.  Dancing with the Lord took on a new thought of dancing with me.  It was beautiful, a glorious experience. Kind of reminded me of when my earthly daddy would have me put my feet on the top of his and he would dance around with me. Or he would pick me up in his arms and dance with me to Glen Miller or someone like that.  I smile as I remember, I never wanted those dances to end either.  It was such a safe feeling, my daddy holding me.  But as wonderful as those dances with daddy were, they could not compare with the dance I had this morning with my Lord.  My God holding me, not fearing as the trust I have in Him is beyond measure.  He replaced any mourning with such joy, giving my feet freedom to dance, dance with Him, dance for Him.  Joy, such heartfelt joy.

So many things have come to mind this day after that experience. I wondered how I could have been treated to such a beautiful time with God, how did it happen.  My Lord was quick to let me know it was because of my love and devotion for Him.  The new songs I sing to Him from my heart drew Him to me.  He wants to hear our songs of love, our songs of worship.  Those songs that are born in our spirit, from our hearts, just made for singing to Him, no one else.  Songs that no one has heard, that are just from us to Him.  Do you ever do that?  Just sing from your heart?  As your heart fills with so much love for the Lord, it just springs forth like a gusher....it has to come out of you.  Just lift those words up, put music to them and sing to Him.  Just love on Him, minister to Him with your heart.

Keep your heart pure to the Lord, with love for only Him.  Free yourself of all worldly desires.  Learn to trust the Lord with all that is you, not fearing as you know He will take care of you through anything.  Complete trust in Him.  Seek Him with everything that is in you, day and night worship Him alone.  And keep your dance card empty....you never know when that beautiful Hand will reach down...and ask you...for the next dance.

Beautiful Father, thank You for honoring me today; giving me of Yourself, showing me Your love for me, Your desire that I remain completely Yours, always just Yours.  Taking the time to court me, loving me as only You can.  I love you so much my God.  You are my everything, I have no desire for anything that is not of You.  This 19th day of February, 2011, I am waiting, anticipating, longing for my next dance with You.  I will not let anyone fill my dance card but You.  I wait for You alone.

IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT

1 Kings 19:11,12  "Then He said, "Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord." And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire, a still small voice."

When I read these passages,  Elijah, seeking help from the Lord, so zealous for the Lord, hiding from his enemies, sought the Lord.  Fearing his enemies, but loving the Lord, searching for Him to come to talk to him, to help him.  The Lord told him to stand out on the mountain before him.  The wind came, the earthquake came, then a fire, but the Lord was not in them. Then Elijah heard a still small voice, the voice of the Lord.  And the Lord told him what to do, how to handle this problem. Elijah sought the Lord and the Lord came.

How many times have I laid in my bed at night in the past and cried out to the Lord, needing an answer so bad, not sleeping afraid I would not hear the Lord.  I need not have worried,  I found that when the Lord has something to tell you, He will make sure you hear Him.  In the very still of the night, He will whisper to me.  He will come when you have almost given up on an answer, in His timing, He will come.  I believe my Lord waits until He is sure I want Him to help me, to come to me, more than anything else.  When I acknowledge that there is no help but His, no where I would even consider going but to Him; He comes.  With that soft, gentle voice, He asks "What do you want from me?"  I  know that the Lord knows what I need, but He will always want you to ask.  He wants me to talk to him, to visit with Him.  I believe He loves my company as much as I love His.  See, I know He loves me so much.  He has shown His love over and over, with His help when I cry out to Him, with His provision for my live, my needs, and His giving of His Son to redeem me.  I don't doubt for one instance His great love for me.

But He asks me, "What do you want from me?"  I can remember a couple of years ago, crying out to my God for healing of my husband, then for grace to do the things I would have to do, decisions I had to make.  There were the lonely nights that followed that I cried for comfort and loneliness.  So many times crying to the Lord, Come, Lord help me, undo all this, let's go back, let this not be true.  But it was true, no going back.  My Lord held me all those nights and just let me adjust, adjust to a live alone.  At least, I thought it would be alone.  I was so wrong.  But He didn't tell me then that I was wrong, He wanted to show me.  In the still of the night, He wanted to show me that I would not be alone.  It took a while, but then things began to change.

In the night, the quiet of the night, worship music playing softly all night long, each time I awoke, I felt a warmness that I came to recognize as God's presence.  As I would wake, my lips singing with the music I heard, worshiping, loving my Lord, I would begin to feel His presence. His joy at my worship, at my love, my desire to please Him.  The Lord began to show me what He had in store for me, for my life, His desire for me.  He wanted me to continue to grow more and more in love with Him, to the point where there was no doubt in my heart, my mind and my soul who I loved more that life itself.  He wanted me to continue in knowledge of how much He loved me, of what He would do for me.  Letting me know I would never have to worry as long as I put my love for Him before anything on earth.  If I would stay separated from lust for worldly things, the lure of the bright lights and attractions the enemy would constantly put in front of me; taunting me with pictures of my past to drag me down, to make me think I was unlovable, undeserving of God's love.  Don't you see now, satan, nothing you can do will make me think of myself any less than a beloved child of God.  There is nothing you have in your arsenal that can destroy what God has given me, what He has shown me that is my future with Him, in Him.  I WILL NEVER leave my Lord, my God who is my only desire in life.  Never will I go from my Lord.  Never.  If I don't have my God, I have no life.

In the still of the night, my God comes as my worship rises to Him, He comes to spend time with me.  To tell me of His plans, His dreams for me.  Yes, the Lord has dreams and plans for each of us.  But to hear them, you  must listen for that gentle, soft voice.  The voice you will only hear when you have given Him everything of you, nothing held back, every part of you belonging to Him, longing for Him, desiring to please only Him. 

My Lord, I am complete in You.  No more nightly tears, no more loneliness.  Only peace, joy, wondrous joy in Your presence.  Your righteousness, Your glory pouring out on me as I sing to You my praises, my songs of worship, my new songs of love meant only for You.  The songs of my heart sung for only You.  I give You everything I am, Lord, Your child, seeking only to spend time in Your presence.  You ask what do I want from You.  I want You Lord, only You.  I want to stay in Your presence, in the warmth of Your embrace, each day, each still night.

I am Your child, Father, humbled at what You give me to say, once again, this 18th day of February, 2011.

BEHIND DOOR NUMBER THREE

Joshua 24:15  "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

Does it seem to you that the same people you have witnessed to time and again still cannot make up their minds to serve the Lord?  You have spent countless hours telling them about the Lord only to have them leave and go try something different.  Example, Door Number One.  Behind door number one, they found some new friends that convinced them to go out on the town and have a good time.  Just let nothing stand in the way of a good time, didn't matter what you did, as long as you were not hurting anyone, just having fun.  And this was fun for a while, but it was not too long and they were back at your door.  Miserable, upset with their life and wanted to hear from you what they could do to change, perhaps if you would tell them again about your God.

Once again, you take them in and begin to tell them of the wonderful Lord you serve.  How He loves them no matter what they have done; if they are truly sorry for the way they have lived, the Lord will forgive them, and they can be saved, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.  This time, they even go to church a few times with you and look like they are deciding to follow Jesus.  A couple of months go by and you are thinking that your friends have finally made the decision that will change their lives.  But then...

"Hey, did you know", they begin to tell you.  "You don't really have to go to church on Sundays to see God, you can go fishing and hunting. God can meet you anywhere. And it is not really a sin to drink.  I heard it on TV, so it must be okay".  Once again, they have been lured away by what is more convenient, what fits their schedule, or rather what they would rather be doing than worshiping the Lord.  Drawn away once again by what is behind Door Number Two.  This time you decide you are not going there again. Just let them do whatever it is that they want, they know better; God will take care of them, you are not going to do it.  How did this sound to you, did you make it a whole day thinking you could do this.  You know the Lord will not let you leave them alone.

These are the people assigned to you.  We all get assignments from the Lord.  I don't know how God decides who we get to minister to, but He does and here they are.  I believe some of the people are there to refine us, to shave off those sharp edges that we all still carry, to perfect our patience and love for others. But whatever the reason, and I don't look for Him to explain it all right now, we have these folks assigned to us.  They are our responsibility to nurture and encourage in the Lord.

I believe some people just like to expand themselves and see just how far they can go before they HAVE to chose the Lord.  Just live it up in the world, trying all the world has to offer as they think they have all the time in the world to do so.  I don't believe this is a good idea.  In fact it is a rotten idea.  What if you are having the time of you life (as you would call it) and something goes wrong and you die?  What will happen then? What if you die in the midst of your sin? Do you want to take that chance with eternity? Is what the world is offering so attractive that you would risk your soul for eternity?  How long do you think you can put the Lord off.  He is offering everything He has to you, offering to give you forgiveness, all His love, mercy, grace.  He has laid it all out for you, including the death of His Son, for the forgiveness of your sins.  God has come after you time and time again, using His chidren to witness to you, minister to you until they knew not what else could be told you, and still you hesitate. 

The world, beautifully hidden behind doors of enchantment, excitement, unknowing adventures.  You have opened doors one and two.  What is hidden behind door number three.  Are you going to go for the door or are you going to wake up from this trance that the enemy has put you in and realize what you already have been offered.  The real deal, the known prize, Jesus Christ.  The tangible you can feel, the knowledge of the life offered in Him, the eternal life gained through Him.  Jesus is here offering all His love, His mercy and grace, deliverance from all the enemy's wiles, redemption of all sin, salvation and a relationship with the Father.

Or will you choose Door Number Three.  Another door offered to you; don't think for a moment that it is from God, as this is an earthly door, one of satans.  The enemy has gotten to you twice already.  This door looks really good, satan is so good at covering over evil with what appears to be good, nothing harmful.  Don't go there.  The Lord is standing beside you, pleading, don't go there.  Your friends are pleading, Jesus is here, you must choose Jesus.  What are you going to do.....

Door Number Three opens.....Z O N K .  I pray you did not choose this door but stayed with the Lord instead, solidifying your relationship with God and the body of Christ.  Choosing to make Him Lord of your life, and Lord over your life.

This analogy may not be to your liking but the Lord is so wanting His children to stop going back and forth between Him and the things of the world.  It is time to make a choice and stand on it.  If you choose God, then begin to live your life for Him alone.  Put Him above all things on earth.  Don't let your relationship with the Lord be questionable.  Show people who you worship.  Be not ashamed of the gospel of Christ or your walk with Him.  Become what the Lord wants you to be, righteous without blemish or stain, washed in the blood of the Lamb, His beloved child, who will reign with Him in eternity.

Thank You, my Lord for Your words.  You are my life, my God and I choose You.  There is no doubt or waivering in my choice, it is easy for me to make my choice You.  I know You, I know You love me, You have taken me from ruin to redemption, from misery to magnificent moments with You, from lonely to most loved by the Father.  Who else would I turn to, my God, after knowing Your great love for me; after spending time in Your presence, there is no one like You, Lord, no one.  I am yours forever.

My Lord, I give you all glory, all honor, all my worship, only, to You this 17th day of February, 2011.

SHOW AND TELL

Jeremiah 33:3  "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know."

The Lord speaks so sweetly at times, so softly.  You need to be listening intently at all times for His voice.  I wasn't sure I understood quite right. Show and Tell.  Immediately I thought of going to school with your pet or something special you had.  And then I realized that this was exactly what He wanted.  He wanted me to show something special that I had.  He wants us all to do this.  Special we have, something special....surely you are not wondering what this is.

The Something Special we have, is the Someone Special.  We have Jesus.  Jesus, our Redeemer, our Savior, our King of Kings.  Are you hiding this, this special gift we were given from God, and if you are, why?  Are you ashamed....do you fear what people might say.....afraid you might be left out of the "in" crowd?  Surely you know that this fear is man-made.  And what do Christians care about the "in" crowd anyway.  The only  IN  CROWD  I want to be in is the crowd around the throne of God worshiping Him.  That is the crowd to desire to be in.  But, I will get off that, as I will be praying that the Holy Spirit will convict you of those thoughts and fears and lead you back onto the right path to the Father's throne room.

Here we have our special gift, our Lord, freely given to us, complete with all the love, peace and joy you could ever imagine.  What are you going to do?  Will you begin to show everyone the difference He has made in your life, will your talk be about the joy and the peace you have since Jesus came into your life, will your walk be according to His commandments and teachings?  What will you show others of Jesus.

Now here is the second part of that experience; Tell.  We are instructed to go into the world and tell others about Jesus, about His sacrifice He made for us; how He died to save us from our sins, and how forgiven, gave us the way to the Father.  Tell all, yes, that means those people you work with also.  If they do not know you are a Christian, isn't it time they knew?  There may be someone you are working with that needs prayer, but has no one to ask.  Let your light shine before men; great will be your reward in Heaven.  The Lord will bless you here on earth when you bless His children; when you take time to step out and tell of His great love, give of yourself and love others through the Lord, sharing the Lord's Word with all those around you.

Show and Tell, just a quick summary of what it can mean to be a Christian in a world that is ruled by the enemy.  Just a short guide to what is expected of us here, work to be done, the gospel to be shared, all to glorify our God.  We are not saved, cleansed and santified by the blood of the Lamb, to sit and wait for the Lord's return for us.  If that were the case, and there was nothing else for us to do, He would lift us up the minute we surrendered our lives to His.  No, there is work to do.  We have a purpose on earth as children of the Most High.  We are to show who we are in Him and tell others how they can have the same wonderful blessings of salvation, forgiveness and mercy of God.   Show and Tell, and we all get to show and tell of our wonderful Lord. It is for everyone that has been redeemed by the Lord.

Once again, my God, You have led this in a direction unexpected from where I thought it would go. But I know where ever it goes, You lead there and it is what You wanted said.  Perhaps another time, You will show me those other things.....

My precious Father, thank You again for Your words.  I cannot do this without Your guidance, Lord, without Your annointing.  This day has been so special as I was able to spend it with You, worshiping and loving on You, ministering to You.  And You came, You came and spent time with me.  You never fail to reward me with Your presence when I worship You, when I pour my love on You.  Thank You, Lord, for Your blessing me today.  I need Your presence all the time, Lord as it is my only desire, Your presence.

I love you my God, with all my heart.  You know my heart Lord, You know how I love You.  Stay with me, I pray, throughout each day and night, lead me in Your ways, let me enter into Your presence with worship to bless You.  This 16th day of February, 2011, I give You all honor and glory.

EAT AND BE FILLED

Ezekiel 3:2  "Then he said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it."  So I age it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth."

The Word of God, the Holy Word of God.  Our Bibles, the life giving source of our daily lives.  The Lord knew we would need instruction, knew the need we would have for constant reminding of what He had to say about things, about the problems we would face. Basically I would call the Word of God, an instruction manual.  A manual instructing us how to live our daily lives based on the design God had for our lives.  The Word of God that was in existance from the beginning. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning."  The Lord shows us from the very beginning, why we came to be.  He loved us.  He wanted to give us all His best.  To share Himself with us. 

All throughout history, from the beginning of time as we know it, the Lord has given to His children all His love and blessed them and blessed them.  No matter the number of times they turned away, worshiped idols, sinned in every conceivable way known to man, God would welcome them back with open arms when they had been chastised and repented.  He loved so much.  He still loves us so much.

That is I encourage you to read the Word of God.  The Word of God is alive.  When you read the Lord's Word, ask the Holy Spirit to open up the Word, to let those words become alive in you as you read them.  The Word are the words of the Lord, given to help you understand who He is, why He is, and what He wants to do for you.  Get several translations, if need by, to help you see clearly what the Word is trying to say to you.  I have found that the same scripture will take on an entirely different meaning at different times in my life, depending on what I needed at that time.  Same scripture but God opened it up to fit my need. 

The Word is there to fit your need, make your life understandable.  To fill you in on the wiles of the enemy, how to overcome what he tries to do to you and to give you grounds for righteous living.  Living in the Lord.  Living the life that the Lord has planned for you.  I believe the reason so many of us miss out of a lot of what the Lord has for us is from fear.  We do not seek the Word to find answers, and tend to stay fearful of what we don't know. A great tool of the enemy.  We have to feed on the Word, seek to understand this wonderful Lord that loves us so.

The Lord tells us in His Word, "to fear not", He tells us to "trust and obey", Jesus tells us to "Have faith in God".  Trust the Lord, trust His Word.  The Word does not change, it is the same as it has always been from the beginning.  Just as our God does not change, His Word does not change.  What it meant for our ancestors, it means the same for us.  Sin is sin, redemption is redemption, and salvation is salvation.  The only way to the Father is through the Son.  His Word tells us, explaining what we must do to be saved, born again, and santified by the shed blood of Jesus for our sins.  It never deviates from this message.  It also never changes the message of love.  "Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor as thyself."  The greatest of all commandments.  Found in the Word.

The Word is a peace giver.  You cannot read the Holy Word of God and not feel a wave of peace settle over you.  The sweet peace of the Father, coming to you with His love.  He is there to take all your burdens, all your heartaches and give you peace in exchange.  He is glorified when you give your burdens to Him.

I cannot fully tell you what the Word means to me.  There are not words I can use to explain. The Word highlights my life, tells me who I am in my God, His beloved child, a child of the Almighty God, who will reign with Him forever.  A child of the King.  Where can you find life giving messages such as this except from His Word.  The Word that tells us how God so loved us, He sent His Son to die for us, so we could spend eternity with Him.  So we could be washed clean of our sins, so we could have the Fathers presence with us. 

The precious Word of God.  How I love your Word, my Lord. When I am reading the Word, You are filling me with such meat of the Word, as I eat and eat more of the Word, the sweetness of its message is aliken to honey.  The sweet message of Your love, Your deliverance and Your plans for me ringing forth, assuring me that there is nothing I can do to cause You not to love me, nowhere I can go that You cannot find me and that You want to spend time with me.  You are waiting to spend time with me.

My God, my wonderful Father, I want to spend all my time with You.  I want to worship You as You are so worthy of all my worship.  I give to You, all my love, all my worship this 15th day of February, 2011.

WHO IS THIS KING OF GLORY!

Psalm 24:10  "Who is He, this King of glory?  The Lord Almighty....He is the King of Glory."

I have waited all weekend for this day, this day that everyone in our country and several other countries celebrate as Valentines Day.  It is basically what a number of people would call a pagan holiday.  A day people celebrate love, giving love, receiving love.  But as I was thinking about it, I realized that everyday this is just what goes on between God and His children.  The giving of His love, His receiving of our love, and back again to us, to Him. This goes on every day, there is not one day a year for this act of love but every day, always.

Thinking on this, I wondered, Who is He, that no matter what we do, He loves us.  This King of Glory, so magnificent and marvelous, our God, Who is He, that He would love us so much. That He would love me so much.

Who is this King of Glory?  He is the King of Kings, He reigns over all principalities on earth, He is the Great I Am.  He is a Friend to the friendless, He is the Father of all.  He is the Author and Finisher of our faith.  So faithful to us, He knew our beginning and He alone knows our end.  He already knows what we will walk through and is prepared to help us, our Lord Jesus, having been here on earth and subjected to the same trials and temptations as we.  We have the opportunity to study the Word, to see how He withstood temptation, how He overcame trials, to follow His example. He never lost sight of where He was going, of Who He was in the Father.  He encourages us as He knows what we will have to endure to finish the race.

This King of Glory, He is the mender of broken hearts.  Giving us the Comforter to reside in us, the precious Holy Spirit.  We were not left alone, the Holy Spirit always with us.  He is our Provider, seeing to all our needs, taking care of all necessities, our not having to worry and He, always sustaining us.  He is the Restorer of dreams, our futures.  His Word tells us that He knows the plans He has for us, plans to give us hope and a future.  He has seen to our futures, all we have to do is place ourselves into His Hands, let Him lead us in His way.

Our Lord, this King of Glory, is the Joy Maker, thrilling us with His presence when we worship and adore Him.  He spends time with us, flooding our beings with joy unspeakable, words failing to be able to explain the feeling He gives us when He descends like a flood from Heaven onto us.  He is the Peace Giver.  There is never a moment of worry or stress when you are in the Lord, deeply encased into His presence, nothing but complete peace, no fear, just perfect trust bringing His perfect peace.

Beautiful King of Glory, this is the part I have waited for.  You are Love Unconditional.  Love that has no bounds, no height, no depth, no distance.  Love that outweighs all sin, forges all misunderstanding, it is uncompromising, this love never wavers, it is a constant flow of perfection; totally unconditional.  I had to do nothing to receive it, can do nothing to stop it.  I received this love before I was born.  You asked for nothing in return.  You hoped for something, but asked for nothing.  The choice was mine.

I chose to love You in return.  I chose to give You all my love, all my heart, all my being.  I chose to follow You and give You all my devotion.  I chose You, my life is in You.  You are all I desire.

Who is this KING OF GLORY?  He is my God, He is my Jesus, He is my Holy Spirit.  And WHO AM I?  I am His Beloved.  On this Valentines Day, my Lord, this pagan day of hearts, I am reminded that You can be glorified in all things on earth when Your children give it unto You.  I give You this day as I do each day, with all my love, from me to my One True Love, You, my God; this 14th day of February, 2011.

CHOSEN TO WORSHIP

2 Chronicles 29:11  (Message) "Children, don't drag your feet in this!  God has chosen you to take your place before Him to serve in conducting and leading worship --this is your life work; make sure you do it and do it well."

The New International Version says "My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him and serve him, to minister before Him and to burn incense".  I thought this was so beautiful and then when I looked over (this Bible is a parallel Bible) to the Message side and saw, conducting and leading worship, I knew why the Lord had me read this today. 

Some days do you wonder if you are fulfilling His call on your life?  Are you like me, wanting to make sure I am serving Him in just the capacity He desires you to be.  I know He took weeks and taught me just how to worship Him, each night, until He knew I had it right. I have sang for so many years, on praise and worship teams, solos, choirs.  And until He spent time teaching me, I thought I was worshiping. But no, I realized, I was only singing songs.  Now I worship, no doubt about it, I worship.  The songs have to be worship songs, either someones elses that I use to worship with or new songs that come from my heart, but worship, just worship.

I have come to realize I was chosen to do this. A lot of people really worship the Lord, I mean there is no question that they love the Lord and love to worship Him.  But I believe that some are specially called. Called to make it their life's passion. A passion for the Lord that is not quenched unless they are worshiping Him, drawing into His presence with their worship.  I believe the Lord choses certain ones that He knows will not be put off by man or circumstances, that no matter what, they will worship Him. When the Holy Spirit speaks, they will listen, and do what He says, right then.  He says worship now, they will worship now; sing this, they will sing.  I at one time let myself be intimidated by man, listening to what I heard in my ear and not my heart and quenched the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Then I had to endure the absence of the Holy Spirit until my longing drew Him back.  Not any more. I can not grieve the sweet spirit of the Lord.  I must obey. I must worship.

When you worship the Lord, you are ministering unto Him.  You are giving to Him all your love, your adoration, all praise and honor. Close your eyes and see yourself worshiping, hands lifted high, glorifying the Lord with your whole heart, your puried heart before the lord.  Do you feel the smile on His face, the joy coming from His heart, the love pouring forth ever so strong.  This is ministering to the Lord, when it draws pure joy from His heart at His child loving, longing for Him, worshiping Him.  The incense that once was burned in sacrifice, that incense is your love coming through your worship, your songs of worship to God.  He knows when your worship is coming from your heart, the depths of your soul, love pouring out from you to Him. Such a sweet aroma it brings to Him, so sweet, so satisfying, so special.  This is why you are chosen.  This is why I was chosen. To bring joy to our God, to delight Him, to show Him how special and wonderful He is, how loved, how cherished.

My God, my God, how I love You.  Thank You for chosing me. I am so honored that You would chose me, no one special before, but how special I feel now, Lord. So special to have been chosen, hand-picked, to serve and minister to You, to lead others to worship You.  To stand before You, with my hands outstretched up to You, and worship You with all my heart and soul. I exalt You my Lord, You are so holy, so holy.  There is none like You, Lord, none.   You love me, You call me beloved one.  You bless me abundantly, You protect me, Your child.  Chosen by Almighty God to worship, to lead others in worshiping You.  I bow before You, my Father, I bow before You, humbled at Your love for me.

Let me never forget Father, how You have brought me through all the hard days, how You held me through my tears, how You forgave me all my sins, cleansed and santified me for Your service, and loved me with a passion unmet anywhere.  I live to worship You, it is all I want to do day and night is minister to You, love You, sing to You.  I will sing to You my Lord, until there is such a sweet aroma coming up to You, You will not be able to do anything but come to me, stay with me, keep me with You until that day.......in eternity.

Specially chosen some are, but all can be chosen.  If they give completely of themseves to the Lord, living to worship Him in all heartfelt spirit and truth, loving the Lord above all others, desiring to sing and worship Him, lead others to worship Him, they too, will be chosen.  A wonderful calling of God.

This day, the 13th of February, 2011, Your chosen worshiper choses to give You all her love, all her worship.

THE WORD OF OUR LORD

Proverbs 30:5  "Every word of God is pure, He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him."

My Father's Word.  From a child, I learned the Bible verses, the first verse thought the greatest by so many, John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life".  This was my first memory of the Word of God.  So many people come to the Lord through this verse.  Simple but so strongly stated.  For God so loved...; everything follows that. God so loved the world, so loved us.  He gave His only Son for us, so we could be His, so we could be washed by the blood of the Lamb, cleansed, hearts pure, so we could have a relationship with our God. So loved...

His Word is a lamp unto my feet.  Lighting my path so I can find my way to only Him.  Lighting the way so we can see the snares of the enemy before us, so we can not be fooled and fall.  His Words, some not understood at first, some confusing.  Some people just stop at these and skip over them as they do not quite get the meaning.  But this should not be.  Ask the Lord to enlighten the meaning of His precious Word before you read.  Ask Him to quicken the meaning to your heart, ask the Holy Spirit for guidance, He will guide you through the Word, showing you the love and help that the Father placed there.

In the beginning was the Word.  The Word has always been; the Father always knowing what we would need, the trials we would encounter.  The battles have never changed all throughout history.  They are the same now as then, except the names, some places, technology has changed.  Some of the places are the same, the battles keep going generation to generation.  But His Word is the same, the guiding verses still showing us how we are to live, how we are to love.

The Word became Flesh.  What was the Lord to do, He had tried love, blessings on His people, conviction, forgiveness, restoration and still they would turn from Him.  They would still reject Him.  God is perfection, He is God.  He cannot, will not look on sin.  He knew one day He would have to send His Son, there would be no other way to have His children reconciled to Him. No other way.  So the Word was sent in the Son.  Precious Lamb of God, our Jesus, our Savior.  For us, He became man.  And for us, He went to the cross, beaten, mocked, alone.  He hung there on the cross, forsaken by the very Father that loves Him so, as He bore our sins; the Father not being able to look on Him.  Do you know how this must have hurt the Father, not to look on His beloved Son, His only Son because He bore our sins.  What love this is for us that God could not look on His Son as He was made sin for us.  The Word of God, Word of God. Our Savior.

The Word giving Holy Spirit, coming to us as our Comforter, our Convictor, our Connection to the Father.  To be with us until that day, to guide, gently showing us the way to the Father's heart through prayer, praise and worship.  Urging our words to the Lord in thanksgiving, love and worship.  Precious Holy Spirit, life giving Word.

The Word of God, the promise to end all promises "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his walk.  I Am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last".  The Word always was and always will be God.  Our God, alive, a part of everything we are or will be.  We are His beloved, His so loved...

My God, I will worship You for everything You are to me, for everything You have been, everything You will be, just for Who You Are.  You are the First, the Last, the Beginning, the End, the Word.

I love You, precious Lord.  My heart is full of love for you, my soul thirsts for more of You, more each day. I am not satisfied with a little, I want more, more of my wonderful God. You are everything to me, this 12th day of February, 2011.

OVERWHELMING PRESENCE

Hebrews 13:5b  "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you."

Have you ever had a day that you dreaded coming?  A day that you would have like to skip over for fear of what it would bring to mind, come flooding back like a river that you cannot stop.  This was my day. This day has been building up in me for about a month.  Another anniversary day, another day that will come each year no matter what you try to do to stop it.  And, since there are no stopping time, the day came. 

I got up this morning and immediately began to worship my Lord as I do each morning.  And He came.  My God came and visited with me while I got ready for work.  I have worship music playing pretty much all the time I am at home.  It plays throughout the night on my IPod, and when I am in my office, it is playing on the computer.  So I just worshiped my Lord and He spent time with me.  His presence, overwhelmingly evident.  My precious Father, with me. Thinking about it now, thrills my soul once again.  And so, I went to work.

At work, worship music plays throughout the day.  My assistant understands that this is who I am, I must have worship music, I must have the songs joining the words from my heart throughout the day to worship my God, my wonderful Lord.  I was by myself for the first two hours at work, listening to the music, worshiping, and He came.  All I could do was be thankful I was alone as I cried, His presence so beautiful and overwhelming me with His love, His touch.  And this went on all the day long, His wonderful presence.  I could feel the Lord there, and then when I was alone, for even a minute, I could feel His touch, and I was overwhelmed again.

The Lord sent my boss today.  You would love my boss, precious man that he is.  He told me he was not going to come until Monday but got up this morning and felt he needed to come today. When he realized what the day was, he knew why he was sent.  The first time I met him, he was giving the impression he was not personable, just by the books, numbers and all, and then our spirits met, and recognized each other in the Lord.  My boss, a man of God.  I want you to know how blessed I am of God to have a man of God for a boss.  He has shown up on days that were hard for me, having a bad day himself, and played gospel music all day on his computer for us.  That is the goodness of God.   I can remember last year on this day, my boss came to the office.  And I will never forget what he told me.  He told me that God does not make mistakes.  That sank into my heart and has stayed there. God doesn't make mistakes, He knows exactly what He is doing.  We may not understand it all, but we have to trust God, know He is taking care of us no matter what happens.

The rest of my day was spent, just doing my work, but also in the presence of my Lord.  I have found that He never leaves me, He loves me and He is not going anywhere.  And on those days, at those moments when I don't know if I can handle the loneliness, the grieve, He will be right here with me, overwhelming me with His presence.  His beautiful presence.  His amazing love.

I can rest tonight as my soul is at peace, my heart is being healed by the balm of the Lord's love, His gentle arms around me as I rest tonight. I have no doubt of that, I know I will be held close as long as the Lord feels I need to be held.  He will not leave me, he will not ever forsake me. 

When you are loved so much, why would you ever doubt that you would be left.  I know there are people that feel like they have no one to love them, that they have been forsaken and left by everyone they loved. But you need to know, there is One who will never leave you, never forsake you, He will always love you unconditionally, never judging but gently guiding you into His path, showing you His ways, giving you His blessings.  If you think you have no one, you are wrong....you have the Lord; just open your heart and let Him in.

Thank you Father, for Your overwhelming presence with me today, and I still feel Your presence here now and I know You will not leave me. I love You my God, I worship You with all that is within me, all the love, all the devotion, everything that I am, I am because of You.  You are so great, so worthy, and I, I am so blessed.  This 11th day of February that would have been so difficult, was made beautiful by your overwhelming presence.

I AM A WITNESS

John 1:6-8 (Message)  "There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light.  He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in.  John was not himself the Light, he was there to show the way to the Light."

As I was reading this scripture, the story of John, the phrase "he was there to show the way to the Light", was illuminated to me by the Lord.  The Lord began explaining our purpose here.  John was born before the Lord Jesus to prepare the way of the Lord.  He was to tell the people that the One coming would baptise with the Holy Spirit, whereas he, John baptisted with water.  That the One coming was the Son of God.  We all know this story, and we know that John did not seek any glory for himself, but was there giving glory to the Son, to Jesus.

The Lord began to tell me, John spread the word of Jesus and prepared the way for His coming to the people, he showed them that the One coming was going to be the Light, the Life to all who believed.  The Lord said, "now, you and my people are the ones, you will be My witness, you will be the ones that will prepare the way for My Son, for His coming again.  You will witness to His birth, His death, His resurrection, to His return.  You will tell all that I sent my Son to earth, and taking on your sins, the sins of the world.  You will tell how He descented into hell and took the keys of death and Hades, and arose victorious and now sits at the right hand of My throne. You will witness.

I, a witness to all this.  I wondered, how can I be a witness to things I have not seen.  Then I knew, it is not what we have seen that is the truth, but what the Lord has shown us by His spirit, and what we believe, trusting in the Father, believing in the Son that gives us the truth.  It is the knowledge imparted to us by the Holy Spirit, opening the verses of the Word of God to our understanding, that makes me a witness.  That makes you a witness.  We are witness of Jesus, of the Word of God.  We are the ones to go out and proclaim the time of the Lord.  This is the time of the Lord, He is returning soon and we must prepare the way.  That He is the Light, we are only the witnesses.

Are you prepared to be a witness?  I wonder, are we prepared to do the Father's will; to tell others about the great love He has for us, so unconditional, that He sent His Son to die for each of us, for forgiveness of our sins, to be reconciled with the Father, so we could live our lives having the relationship with Him He so desired.  Such love, such sacrifice.  God has given us everything we need for our witness.  He has given us the Holy Spirit to dwell inside us, to provide us with a constant connection to Himself.  He has given us His Holy Word, which details every event leading up to the birth and death of His Son, why He sent His Son, and what is to come, His Son, Jesus Christ, returning for the Bride that is being prepared for Him.  We are being prepared to be the Bride.  And it is not just for us, there are others that are to be a part of the Bride of Christ.   These children of God must hear the Word, learn of His love, accept Jesus as their Savior, be one with the Lord.  We are to be witnesses. 

If we do not witness, who will tell the lost?  If we do not witness, how will they know.  And we cannot just say the words, we cannot just tell the story, anyone can read the Bible.  It is in so many languages.  We have to show, yes, show the Word of God.  The lost must see something in us that puts a desire in them to have what we have.  To have that joy, that glow, that peace.  We must have the annointing of the Lord when we go out to witness, prayed up, having the Word prepared in our hearts and mouths, and the humbleness of a servant, showing that we are just preparing the way for the Light of the world.  We are not the Light, just a witness of the Light.  Just those with the knowledge of the Light, the glory of the Light.  We are children of the Living God and His Son is returning to claim His own.  Our Lord wants none to be left behind, He wants all to be saved.  So we have been prepared for these last days, prepared to be a witness of who Jesus is, why Jesus came, why He died and why He is returning.  And RETURN HE WILL! 

Are you prepared?  If you are like I am, feeling like this has been why you were called by the Lord, saved and santified by Him, then yes, you are prepared.  It doesn't take an evangelist, a peacher, a mega-TV personality, it just takes a willing vessel.  So if you are willing, our God is ready to give you the charge....be a WITNESS to the COMING OF THE LORD.  Join me in preparing the way for the Lord. This is so exciting, knowing we have a key part in His return.  We are to be His witness. Thank you Lord.

My Father, thank you for trusting me, trusting Your other children to whom You place the charge, to be the witnesses of Jesus.  We know You, Lord, we trust You, and believe that You will give us every tool, every word to be said, and that You will be with us each step we take in preparing the way of Your Son's return.

I love you, my precious Lord. I have given You my all, I give my worship to You as easily as I breath.  I love to worship you, my God, as You are everything to me.  Everything I ever could want, this 10th day of February, 2011 as I go out to be Your witness. To prepare the way of the return of my King, Jesus.

I AM CONTENT

Matthew 5:5 (NIV) "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth".  (Message) "You're blessed when you're content with just who you are...no more, no less.  That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought."

I often, in years past, have read the Beatitudes and looked at this particular verse.  I always thought it meant I was to be meek, unassuming, quiet.  But I have learned so different these past months.  I like the way the Message translation puts this verse.  Being content. I can not say I was always content, but I can definitely say "Now I Am".

When my husband was alive, we subscribed to the theory that if you worked for a living, you should have what you want. So basically, we did. He would see things at the store or on TV and tell me " you need that". Most of it was cooking stuff, as I cooked well, and he loved to eat my cooking.  So needless to say I have a lot of kitchen stuff. But, the point is, we did not lack anything we wanted.  And now, it is just stuff.

Stuff is what you end up with when you no longer have the need for it.  I don't mean that it can't be used, I just mean I don't need that type of satisfaction any longer. See, when we fill ourselves with objects we purchase, things that are basically filling a void in ourselves; when the void is no longer there, these things become stuff.  Even married, don't you find that there is a void in yourself that nothing your spouse can fill?  Nothing the things you buy can fill, nothing money can buy that will fill the void?

There is only one answer to filling the void inside.  That answer is our God.  Only He can come in and fill you to completion, taking care of all the unfulfilled desires you had.  I remember last August as I was getting ready for work. I have talked about this before, how listening to "For the Lord is Good", and as I began thanking the Lord for all He had done for me, and He then physically filled me to overflowing with His love.  There was not a part of me that was not touched at that moment by Him.  As I stood there with my hands raised in worship to Him, He completely filled me with Himself.  I am still overwhelmed by the gentleness of my God.  With such a flow of love going in and all around me, filling me, leaving nothing untouched, nothing left lacking.  After that day, what I noticed was all the stuff I had around.

All those things that use to mean so much suddenly had become stuff. I became a person content with what she had.  I became a person that had renewed life, renewed interest, renewed love and joy with what the Lord was doing.  I began to see everything differently.  Where I used to enjoy looking at the Sunday paper to see what the sales were, I began to not even look unless I absolutely needed something, and then I would look to see if anyone had it on sale.  Then half the time, I would go to the store, look at it and change my mind about needing it.  You see, I have it all now.

Now, all I need is my God.  And I have my God with me.  He is not going anywhere. He has shown me what I am in Him.  I am content with me, with who I am in Him.  And I have possessions now that no amount of money can buy.  I possess joy (it bubbles up inside me), I possess love of the Father (He will never cease to love me), I possess faith that can move mountains (He has shown Himself to be so faithful to me), and I possess peace unlike anything I have ever known.  I have been a Christian for years, but now I am walking and talking, communing constantly, with my Maker, my God.  There is such a difference.  You can be a Christian and never know the heart of God, never see His plan for you, never feel His constant presence.  I have so much more now.  I have a contentment that cannot be bought, it has no price tag for me, as the price was paid by my Savior, Jesus, when He took my place on that rugged cross.  Jesus paid all my debts, He made the way possible for my encounter with my God in August, gave me the most cherished gift I could ever receive, the passionate love and presence of my God.

To say I am content is an understatement.  I am more than content.  I have no wants other than to be the vessel my God wants me to be, to be filled with His love to give away, His words to comfort and help another, and His joy, His joy that He brings to me because I am His.  I have no needs except that I need His annointing, for only by His annointing can I do what He has for me to do.  I have no desires except my desire to be with Him, for Him and in Him for the rest of my life.  I am nothing, and it is okay, because He is everything. This I know now is true meekness, content with what I have and who I am, for what I have is from Him, and who I am is who God made me to be.  I have everything that is important to my life....my everlasting life.

My wonderful Master, my wonderful God, to You be all the honor, all the glory.  All my worship is only for You, this 9th day of February, 2011.