Psalm 50:14 "Let the giving of thanks be your sacrifice to God, and give the Almighty all that you promised."
Father, tonight as I drove home, all I could do was thank You for Your goodness to me this day. Had it not been for Your touch on me as the day wore on, the hour growing later, I would have not been able to stand. Weariness began to set in and still there were more people. It seemed as one would get out of a chair another would fill that place. It was such a good thing, but even good things can make you tired. But You, O Lord, You never left my side, helping me keep that freshness so each person could feel that peace and joy, those words that would make each feel special. There was only one moment that I felt some irritation beginning to rise, and then I realized that this one also, was probably more tired than I, and Your sweetness returned through me. Give her what she needed this night Lord, give her sweet rest in You.
There is never a time that You, my Lord, should not receive thanksgiving from Your children. What have we to give You, Father, if not thanks from our hearts; thanks for the very blessed lives we have in You. When I see Christians complaining about their lifes, I know it grieves You, Lord. Forgive them, Lord, forgive me, also, as I know I am guilty of this at times. I have no business in that place. Forgive me, my Lord. You have given me so much to be thankful for. I know I have nothing to give You other than my love, my adoration, and my worship. I will always worship You my Lord. Giving glory to Your Name gives me such joy. The beauty of Your holiness is all I seek. I love You so much. Thanksgiving for the blessings of my day, each day, poured out from Your throne room to me, should be rising right back to You. Sweet Holy Spirit, always keep me mindful of the beautiful blessings that flow to me constantly. Let me never take for granted the kindness and love of my Lord.
O Lord, to You, I will always be grateful. I will praise You with all that is in me, for You are so good to me. Your mercy reaches down to me, new each day, restoring that part of me that has bottomed out in weariness, in pain, and in sin. Cleanse me Lord, for as hard as I try, I know I fall short in my daily activities. I need You, Lord, I need You. Let me cling to You Lord, each day, as I know no other way to go, but with You. Let me live in Your sweet presence each moment; cleanse me, Holy Spirit, with the precious blood of Jesus so I may never be turned away from my Lord's presence. This is my desire.
My Lord, for all You are, for everything You have become to me, for Your precious love for me, I give You thanks, O Lord, my God!
01-31-12
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
THREE CROSSES ON THE HILL
Luke 23:34 "Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
There were three crosses on the hill at Calvery. Two of the crosses held robbers, criminals flanking the cross of One who knew no sin. Three crosses, three men, but only One was guiltless. So often, and I am included also, focus is made on the cross. But you see, the only thing that makes the cross we come to time after time, for redemption, for rememberance, for reflection is that our Savior, Jesus, the Christ was on that cross.
The cross was not made any differently than the other two, rough, slinters that would dig into the skin, just the same, but for the blood. The Bible does not say if the other men had been beaten, I believe had they suffered the same treatment as our Lord, it would have been mentioned. But they were just hang on the crosses to die, as was the custom with criminals. But our Lord, Jesus, He was beaten, He was treated with such contempt, mocked, spit upon, despised by those that knew Him not. His blood flowed down on that cross, the blood that would be for the cleansing of our souls, the redeeming blood that would eternally change the lives of those that would call upon His Precious Name and ask His forgiveness.
This is so difficult to write, as whenever I look at the cross, the one in the middle, and remember those days preceeding the day when He hung there, I just weep. Where were those that would cry out, "No, not our Lord, save Him, save Him. He is Jesus, He is our Savior, He is our Friend". But no one cried out. There were afraid of the political, religious powers. And yes, you might feel rage rile up in you as you think why didn't someone stand up for Jesus, why didn't they protest, how could they have let Him die like this, how could they let Him be beaten like this. And yet, here we are today. Where were these protesters when abortion was made legal; when prayer was taken from the schools, when the Ten Commandments was abolished from the court houses, when nativity scenes were against the law to put in public places. We see people go make tent cities to protest politics, tea parties to do the same, to bring about change...but where are the protestors to the crucifying of our Lord again and again, to lift up the Name of the only One that can bring real change. Are we so afraid of the leaders of this country that we will hide our Christianity, our love of the Lord (and this can become questionable now). Do you openly talk about the Lord at your workplace, to your friends (other than those you go to church with) and to people you meet on the street, at the store? Do you walk by someone mistreating another and say nothing, but hurry by?
The three crosses, standing on the hill. Two of the crosses with criminals, one so enraged that he had to be next to a man he knew to be innocent, instead of feeling the pain of His innocence he mocked Him instead telling Him to save Himself and him also. Arrogant, spiteful, thinking of his own self, wanting the Man he knew was a King to save Himself only so he also could be saved. The other man, humbled by the very Presence of Jesus, asked to be remembered when He came into His kingdom. Jesus felt his sincerity and saved him. Three crosses, only one Savior, only one Righteous.
The cross means nothing without the knowledge of the Man who hung there, who bled there, who died there. Only our Lord Jesus makes that cross anything of note. Today it is a symbol of the place of death to self, as our Lord died there in human form and rose again in three days making it possible for death to our sinful nature, and a rebirth taking place to live in Christ, a victorious life in Christ. If you do not know the Man who hung on that cross; if you have not taken the time to develop a relationship with the King of kings that died for your sin, who was beaten for your infirmities and your disease, who endured all the sin on the world upon Himself so you could be free of sin; take time now, take a new look at the cross in the middle and see the Man that died there, see the Savior that loved so much, that as He hung there, His thought was to ask forgiveness for those that did not know what they were doing.
When we let the things of this world pass by us without making our protests, without standing for Jesus, our Savior,without protesting against the putting down of our Lord, our God, do you wait to hear those words again? We know better.....we have His Word.....we know where we should be standing. There is a line in the sand....on which side will you stand? Will you stand on the side where you can clearly see those crosses, and focus on the one in the middle, the one with the blood stains, and shout "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, our Lord is Jesus"; or will you be on the other side, eyes shielded from the cross, as you slowing but surely say "crucify Him" again.
Father, again, You led me to a different place, but I pray Lord You make it the words You wanted to say. Just You, my God, just You. I will lift my eyes to that hill, where the cross stands still, and I will say to my Lord, I love You, and always will. I will never let the things of this world whitewash the blood off the cross of my Savior, the blood that saved me and gave me eternal life.
01-30-12
There were three crosses on the hill at Calvery. Two of the crosses held robbers, criminals flanking the cross of One who knew no sin. Three crosses, three men, but only One was guiltless. So often, and I am included also, focus is made on the cross. But you see, the only thing that makes the cross we come to time after time, for redemption, for rememberance, for reflection is that our Savior, Jesus, the Christ was on that cross.
The cross was not made any differently than the other two, rough, slinters that would dig into the skin, just the same, but for the blood. The Bible does not say if the other men had been beaten, I believe had they suffered the same treatment as our Lord, it would have been mentioned. But they were just hang on the crosses to die, as was the custom with criminals. But our Lord, Jesus, He was beaten, He was treated with such contempt, mocked, spit upon, despised by those that knew Him not. His blood flowed down on that cross, the blood that would be for the cleansing of our souls, the redeeming blood that would eternally change the lives of those that would call upon His Precious Name and ask His forgiveness.
This is so difficult to write, as whenever I look at the cross, the one in the middle, and remember those days preceeding the day when He hung there, I just weep. Where were those that would cry out, "No, not our Lord, save Him, save Him. He is Jesus, He is our Savior, He is our Friend". But no one cried out. There were afraid of the political, religious powers. And yes, you might feel rage rile up in you as you think why didn't someone stand up for Jesus, why didn't they protest, how could they have let Him die like this, how could they let Him be beaten like this. And yet, here we are today. Where were these protesters when abortion was made legal; when prayer was taken from the schools, when the Ten Commandments was abolished from the court houses, when nativity scenes were against the law to put in public places. We see people go make tent cities to protest politics, tea parties to do the same, to bring about change...but where are the protestors to the crucifying of our Lord again and again, to lift up the Name of the only One that can bring real change. Are we so afraid of the leaders of this country that we will hide our Christianity, our love of the Lord (and this can become questionable now). Do you openly talk about the Lord at your workplace, to your friends (other than those you go to church with) and to people you meet on the street, at the store? Do you walk by someone mistreating another and say nothing, but hurry by?
The three crosses, standing on the hill. Two of the crosses with criminals, one so enraged that he had to be next to a man he knew to be innocent, instead of feeling the pain of His innocence he mocked Him instead telling Him to save Himself and him also. Arrogant, spiteful, thinking of his own self, wanting the Man he knew was a King to save Himself only so he also could be saved. The other man, humbled by the very Presence of Jesus, asked to be remembered when He came into His kingdom. Jesus felt his sincerity and saved him. Three crosses, only one Savior, only one Righteous.
The cross means nothing without the knowledge of the Man who hung there, who bled there, who died there. Only our Lord Jesus makes that cross anything of note. Today it is a symbol of the place of death to self, as our Lord died there in human form and rose again in three days making it possible for death to our sinful nature, and a rebirth taking place to live in Christ, a victorious life in Christ. If you do not know the Man who hung on that cross; if you have not taken the time to develop a relationship with the King of kings that died for your sin, who was beaten for your infirmities and your disease, who endured all the sin on the world upon Himself so you could be free of sin; take time now, take a new look at the cross in the middle and see the Man that died there, see the Savior that loved so much, that as He hung there, His thought was to ask forgiveness for those that did not know what they were doing.
When we let the things of this world pass by us without making our protests, without standing for Jesus, our Savior,without protesting against the putting down of our Lord, our God, do you wait to hear those words again? We know better.....we have His Word.....we know where we should be standing. There is a line in the sand....on which side will you stand? Will you stand on the side where you can clearly see those crosses, and focus on the one in the middle, the one with the blood stains, and shout "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, our Lord is Jesus"; or will you be on the other side, eyes shielded from the cross, as you slowing but surely say "crucify Him" again.
Father, again, You led me to a different place, but I pray Lord You make it the words You wanted to say. Just You, my God, just You. I will lift my eyes to that hill, where the cross stands still, and I will say to my Lord, I love You, and always will. I will never let the things of this world whitewash the blood off the cross of my Savior, the blood that saved me and gave me eternal life.
01-30-12
Sunday, January 29, 2012
THE GLAD GAME
Psalm 100:2 "Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing."
I watched the old movie 'Polyanna' on TV this afternoon while I was cooking. I found myself laughing, crying, and hearing so much from the Lord during this time. I love the fact that even when I watch something on TV that the Lord will sit with me, making comments, showing me how even such as a simple movie can reflect His Word, and draw men to Him, if they will but yield to Him.
This little girl, Polyanna, played a game, called the Glad Game. No matter how bad something was, she found something to be glad about, and it changed her attitude. It also changed the attitudes of the people in this little town, as she taught the game to them. She was used by the Lord to give insight and correction to the pastor there as she told him the number of times that glad was used in the Bible. She said it was over 800 times. I don't think the actual word glad is used that often, but derivatives of the word is used over and over; glad, joy, rejoice, joyful, gladness, merry. All words indicating happy, delighted, gratified, joyful, cheerful, merry as given in the dictionary.
What I gained from this movie more so than the drawing of the people together, and that was a beautiful thing, a heartfelt thing; but that as Polyanna said, if the Lord used a word so many times He must have wanted us to take special notice of it. What is it that tends to attract so many people to the tragedies of life, to the misfortunate things that happen. Why do you think so many people have their computers wiped out by virus for following threads that proclaim something bad that happened to some celebrity, or some politician? Are we so focused on the bad that we overlook what our Lord has done for our lives, for our futures.
When I make a mistake, or know I do something that will, once again, take me around the mountain, I don't picture my Father frowning down at me, mad at me, I see Him smiling at me, joyously knowing that just because I failed, I was not giving up, I was going to continue to follow Him and strive to be more like my Lord each day. And the very fact that I see Him smiling at me, causes me to be glad, to be of good cheer. Gladness is indeed contagious.....but so is misery. If you are miserable and all you do is talk about it, and how horrible everything is, how rotten this world is, before you know it all those around you will be in the same boat with you. They will be in that boat, but they will be blaming you for their misery. Would you not rather have them in the boat of gladness, and be rejoicing with you that you shared that joy with them. When most people are miserable they are certainly not rejoicing in the Lord, and they are definitely not showing His love and grace to others. No one wants to be like a miserable person, no one will believe that this person has the Lord inside of them; or that the Lord, our Lord, is loving and kind. Forgive us, Father; once again, we are at the foot of the cross. Forgive our pessimism, our thoughts of gloom, doom and dispair. These are the things of the world, not the things of our Lord, of His Kingdom.
The things of the Lord, the message of the Lord are forgiveness, mercy, grace, peace and joy. Joy, that is a derivative of glad. Gladness is a thing of the Lord. He certainly wants us to be filled with His gladness, with His joy.
So for tomorrow, first thing, whether the weather is bad, or if the bones are hurting, or if you feel so tired, take a deep breath of the joy, of the gladness of the Lord, and play the glad game. There is something you can be glad of, for you are a child of the Most High God. There is such delight, such gladness in just being a child of God. And when you remember that you are a friend of God, smiles of gladness should be stretching across your face.
My Lord God, thank You for the lovely time together with You watching this little movie. I thank You Lord that You take the time to put Your thoughts into my heart using everything I see and do as an example of Your continued love for me; of Your neverending instruction and lessons to me; those things I can use to spread the message of Your love and forgiveness, Your peace and most importantly ...... your joy, your gladness.
I will always be glad...."when they say unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord".
01-29-12
I watched the old movie 'Polyanna' on TV this afternoon while I was cooking. I found myself laughing, crying, and hearing so much from the Lord during this time. I love the fact that even when I watch something on TV that the Lord will sit with me, making comments, showing me how even such as a simple movie can reflect His Word, and draw men to Him, if they will but yield to Him.
This little girl, Polyanna, played a game, called the Glad Game. No matter how bad something was, she found something to be glad about, and it changed her attitude. It also changed the attitudes of the people in this little town, as she taught the game to them. She was used by the Lord to give insight and correction to the pastor there as she told him the number of times that glad was used in the Bible. She said it was over 800 times. I don't think the actual word glad is used that often, but derivatives of the word is used over and over; glad, joy, rejoice, joyful, gladness, merry. All words indicating happy, delighted, gratified, joyful, cheerful, merry as given in the dictionary.
What I gained from this movie more so than the drawing of the people together, and that was a beautiful thing, a heartfelt thing; but that as Polyanna said, if the Lord used a word so many times He must have wanted us to take special notice of it. What is it that tends to attract so many people to the tragedies of life, to the misfortunate things that happen. Why do you think so many people have their computers wiped out by virus for following threads that proclaim something bad that happened to some celebrity, or some politician? Are we so focused on the bad that we overlook what our Lord has done for our lives, for our futures.
When I make a mistake, or know I do something that will, once again, take me around the mountain, I don't picture my Father frowning down at me, mad at me, I see Him smiling at me, joyously knowing that just because I failed, I was not giving up, I was going to continue to follow Him and strive to be more like my Lord each day. And the very fact that I see Him smiling at me, causes me to be glad, to be of good cheer. Gladness is indeed contagious.....but so is misery. If you are miserable and all you do is talk about it, and how horrible everything is, how rotten this world is, before you know it all those around you will be in the same boat with you. They will be in that boat, but they will be blaming you for their misery. Would you not rather have them in the boat of gladness, and be rejoicing with you that you shared that joy with them. When most people are miserable they are certainly not rejoicing in the Lord, and they are definitely not showing His love and grace to others. No one wants to be like a miserable person, no one will believe that this person has the Lord inside of them; or that the Lord, our Lord, is loving and kind. Forgive us, Father; once again, we are at the foot of the cross. Forgive our pessimism, our thoughts of gloom, doom and dispair. These are the things of the world, not the things of our Lord, of His Kingdom.
The things of the Lord, the message of the Lord are forgiveness, mercy, grace, peace and joy. Joy, that is a derivative of glad. Gladness is a thing of the Lord. He certainly wants us to be filled with His gladness, with His joy.
So for tomorrow, first thing, whether the weather is bad, or if the bones are hurting, or if you feel so tired, take a deep breath of the joy, of the gladness of the Lord, and play the glad game. There is something you can be glad of, for you are a child of the Most High God. There is such delight, such gladness in just being a child of God. And when you remember that you are a friend of God, smiles of gladness should be stretching across your face.
My Lord God, thank You for the lovely time together with You watching this little movie. I thank You Lord that You take the time to put Your thoughts into my heart using everything I see and do as an example of Your continued love for me; of Your neverending instruction and lessons to me; those things I can use to spread the message of Your love and forgiveness, Your peace and most importantly ...... your joy, your gladness.
I will always be glad...."when they say unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord".
01-29-12
Saturday, January 28, 2012
WEAK IN SPIRIT
Psalm 123:1-2 "Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens, behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress; so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He has mercy on us."
Circumstances can quickly lower the spirit in a child of God. I believe the Lord designs this to be so, so we will instantly remember the One, the only One, who can restore us and keep us strong. Different things can come to us, whether it be something at work that goes against us, the enemy using people to persecute us or when illness comes upon us or a loved one. I know many of you, my friends, have those who you are so close to that when something befalls them, when it hits them hard, their spirits drop and it affects your spirit also. It is almost impossible not to be affected when a loved one has had a truly difficult experience, or has been hurt, or is very ill. We are made with human emotions and those emotions will affect our spirits.
We do not have to continue to dwell in that place however. The ones that are ill, their spirits need to be healed, along with their bodies, as only the Lord can do. Our spirits, those of us whose hearts are so intuned to our loved ones, our spirits need a different kind of treatment. Our spirits must give way to the Holy Spirit as He wills to take us back to the cross, back to the beginning of our salvation, of our redemption. Look at that cross, the one that held the Beloved Son of God, the Lamb that was sacrificed for all our sins, all our diseases, all our infirmites, all our pain and suffering. The suffering our spirits are going through right now brings us into the suffering of our Savior. His suffering was not for Himself but for others, for all of us. The spiritual suffering we are experiencing when our loved ones are going through bad times, illnesses, are for the suffering of others. Our hearts are loving so dearly, so loving through the agape love of our Lord that we will suffer, suffer in their suffering. We realize some of that same suffering that our Lord had for our hearts, for our souls.
Father, I don't know if this is the right words. I know the thoughts You are giving me, but I am having a time with the proper wording. Dear Lord, please make it come to the eyes in the proper way that You want it to be explained. I believe because my spirit is suffering right now, it is difficult for the words to flow as You pour this into me.
But I know that whereas our spirits are suffering for our loved ones, I know that if we leave the cross now and journey to the tomb, where we will see the stone rolled away, the empty tomb, we know that our suffering is but for a short time. Our spirits are lifted up with the resurrection of our Lord, lifted above all circumstances that want to drag us down, above the suffering we have for those we love, above the words of the enemy trying to shout our victory down. But we are victorious, those of us that are in the Lord. Never once did our Lord seem defeated. He suffered in silence to glorify the Father, and we must remember that in glorifying the Father, He rose victorious. Begin to speak the Word of God to ourselves, to our weakened spirits. Allow the Holy Spirit to move in us and bring life to our spirits, life that will strengthen us and restore us. Then with our spirits strengthened we can then minister to our loved ones, speaking the Word over them, spirits strong and praying for the touch of the Lord on them. This reminds me of on an airplane, when they are giving the instructions for the oxygen masks, you are told to pull yours down first and put it on and then help the other. You must have that life flowing in you in order to help someone else. If you don't lay all your burdens down at the feet of our Lord, allow Him to heal you, restore your spirit, you cannot help another to breath that life giving flow. We must stay strong in our Lord, keep our spirits healthy in Him to help those we love.
Sometimes we must step back for a minute and look at ourselves and see what the Lord sees when we get low in spirit. He waits for our call, for our acknowledgement that we cannot do anything on our own, that without Him, we cannot be lifted up in spirit. Father, nothing can be accomplished without You. In You, we have life. Without You, our spirits will dry up, become dead. You are the strength of my life Lord, in You my spirit can be restored, become strong.
Father, I pray You will make this come out in the manner You intended to. Forgive me for losing some of the thought process. I understand each time we write, what You have done in me. There is nothing I go through that You won't bring out of me here, in these writings, to heal me, to restore me, to strengthen me. To have me look at myself as You do, not weak as I think, not laid low by the enemy, but just Your worshiper needing You more and more each day; needing to feel the arms of my Father around me, restoring my spirit as it gets weak at times at this; refreshing me so I may once again, give Your words of life to those I love.
I choose to worship You my Lord, all the days of my life. Nothing this day, nothing ever will, cause me to not worship You. As times get dark, when clouds come in around me, I tend to worship You all the more, for I know that in You I am strong, and I know that when I am worshiping You, I am in Your presence.
01-28-12
Circumstances can quickly lower the spirit in a child of God. I believe the Lord designs this to be so, so we will instantly remember the One, the only One, who can restore us and keep us strong. Different things can come to us, whether it be something at work that goes against us, the enemy using people to persecute us or when illness comes upon us or a loved one. I know many of you, my friends, have those who you are so close to that when something befalls them, when it hits them hard, their spirits drop and it affects your spirit also. It is almost impossible not to be affected when a loved one has had a truly difficult experience, or has been hurt, or is very ill. We are made with human emotions and those emotions will affect our spirits.
We do not have to continue to dwell in that place however. The ones that are ill, their spirits need to be healed, along with their bodies, as only the Lord can do. Our spirits, those of us whose hearts are so intuned to our loved ones, our spirits need a different kind of treatment. Our spirits must give way to the Holy Spirit as He wills to take us back to the cross, back to the beginning of our salvation, of our redemption. Look at that cross, the one that held the Beloved Son of God, the Lamb that was sacrificed for all our sins, all our diseases, all our infirmites, all our pain and suffering. The suffering our spirits are going through right now brings us into the suffering of our Savior. His suffering was not for Himself but for others, for all of us. The spiritual suffering we are experiencing when our loved ones are going through bad times, illnesses, are for the suffering of others. Our hearts are loving so dearly, so loving through the agape love of our Lord that we will suffer, suffer in their suffering. We realize some of that same suffering that our Lord had for our hearts, for our souls.
Father, I don't know if this is the right words. I know the thoughts You are giving me, but I am having a time with the proper wording. Dear Lord, please make it come to the eyes in the proper way that You want it to be explained. I believe because my spirit is suffering right now, it is difficult for the words to flow as You pour this into me.
But I know that whereas our spirits are suffering for our loved ones, I know that if we leave the cross now and journey to the tomb, where we will see the stone rolled away, the empty tomb, we know that our suffering is but for a short time. Our spirits are lifted up with the resurrection of our Lord, lifted above all circumstances that want to drag us down, above the suffering we have for those we love, above the words of the enemy trying to shout our victory down. But we are victorious, those of us that are in the Lord. Never once did our Lord seem defeated. He suffered in silence to glorify the Father, and we must remember that in glorifying the Father, He rose victorious. Begin to speak the Word of God to ourselves, to our weakened spirits. Allow the Holy Spirit to move in us and bring life to our spirits, life that will strengthen us and restore us. Then with our spirits strengthened we can then minister to our loved ones, speaking the Word over them, spirits strong and praying for the touch of the Lord on them. This reminds me of on an airplane, when they are giving the instructions for the oxygen masks, you are told to pull yours down first and put it on and then help the other. You must have that life flowing in you in order to help someone else. If you don't lay all your burdens down at the feet of our Lord, allow Him to heal you, restore your spirit, you cannot help another to breath that life giving flow. We must stay strong in our Lord, keep our spirits healthy in Him to help those we love.
Sometimes we must step back for a minute and look at ourselves and see what the Lord sees when we get low in spirit. He waits for our call, for our acknowledgement that we cannot do anything on our own, that without Him, we cannot be lifted up in spirit. Father, nothing can be accomplished without You. In You, we have life. Without You, our spirits will dry up, become dead. You are the strength of my life Lord, in You my spirit can be restored, become strong.
Father, I pray You will make this come out in the manner You intended to. Forgive me for losing some of the thought process. I understand each time we write, what You have done in me. There is nothing I go through that You won't bring out of me here, in these writings, to heal me, to restore me, to strengthen me. To have me look at myself as You do, not weak as I think, not laid low by the enemy, but just Your worshiper needing You more and more each day; needing to feel the arms of my Father around me, restoring my spirit as it gets weak at times at this; refreshing me so I may once again, give Your words of life to those I love.
I choose to worship You my Lord, all the days of my life. Nothing this day, nothing ever will, cause me to not worship You. As times get dark, when clouds come in around me, I tend to worship You all the more, for I know that in You I am strong, and I know that when I am worshiping You, I am in Your presence.
01-28-12
Friday, January 27, 2012
THE SHINING LIGHT
Matthew 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
Today, I received a hug from God. I had a new customer and as I worked with her, explaining all the details, what she needed to know, we visited a little, so I could get to know her a bit and so she could develop a trust in me. It is very important to let people develop trust in who you are. They need to know that they can depend that what you tell them is true, that trust means they can do business with you in confidence. WOW! Now I see, Father, how it is that we are discussing this tonight. I see why this happened to day, all so I could go here.
Developing trust is a very important thing in any relationship, whether it is personal, business or as in the matter of what the Father wants to bring here, spiritual trust. Developing trust in Him, your Father in heaven. As I visited with this new customer getting to know her.....yes, my Lord, I see what You mean here. If we are to get to know our Father in heaven, truly know who our Lord is, and what He wants to be to us, in us, it is important to spend time with Him. Trust doesn't come just by reading the scriptures. That is an important part, to know what the Lord has said, how it pertains to us and exactly what His promises are to us. But it will not come to life in us unless we spend time with the Author of the Book. If we just read the Word and not spend time letting that Word get into our spirits, not letting the Holy Spirit develop the Word into our minds, into our hearts, real time, here, spent in soaking in the Word, letting it's beauty get into our spirits; well it will just be words that, once again, will not mean anything to you. Once again, you will read and wonder what it could possible mean to your life. But when you will spend time in the Word, spend time with the Father; that is where the Word comes to life, where those words of encouragement, those stories written there will begin to reflect happenings in your life, showing you how to apply them to your situations.
When you will take the time to worship the Lord, sing songs to Him, talk to Him; He is not galaxies away from you, He is right there, where ever you are, so is He. He has given us His Holy Spirit to dwell in us so that when needed, the Lord is right there, with each of us. He draws from us the love and adoration of the Father; the Holy Spirit knows just what will attract the Father's attention and bring Him to us; and the Holy Spirit will lead you there, if He sees you truly want to visit with the Father, want to spend time with Him. I am alone at home and have time home to spend with my Lord, time perhaps others don't always have. But some of my favorite times to be with my Lord is when I am driving to and from work. Just going down the highway, singing my songs to Him, talking with Him; I know He loves this time as much as I do. Such special time, it goes so quickly as I am not concerned or worried about traffic, it just flows along with me as I flow along with my Father. Real time, His time, my delight.
Getting back to my customer. As we finished up our transaction, I said something about the beautiful day and how blessed I was by it. She told me that it was so wonderful to talk to someone that talked about being blessed by the Lord. She said she doesn't hear that often. She told me where she went to church and it led to a little more conversation. She told me that when she came in and I was waiting on a gentlemen, she saw how I smiled and was so happy, and she was knew I was a person she would like. Isn't it wonderful how being of the Lord attracts like spirits. So we talked a little more and she went to leave and turned and asked me if she could hug me. That is my hug from the Lord. It was as if He was telling me, "Well done, my child, well done", and had the lady give me a hug from Him.
Getting acquainted, so important in a trusting relationship. You must spend time with the Lord if you are going to be able to trust Him.....and if He is going to be able to trust you. That works both ways. How can the Lord know if He can trust us if we never spend any quality time with him. We can go to church three or four times or so a week, but if we never spend quality time, that time we reserve just for Him and ourselves, how is He to know if He can trust you to do a work He may need to give you instantly. Or to know if you can carry out an assignment He needs to send to one of His children to help someone. So trust, the kind that only comes from time spent together, is necessary for our walk, our work with the Lord.
Well, you can see from the title of this that what I thought I would be writing more about, has once again been changed once I got into it. I never know where the Lord is going to lead when He has me begin. The only important thing is that it leads where He wants it to go, that it reaches those whom He knows need to read this, and that it draws all to His Light, to give Him glory and honor.
01-27-12
Today, I received a hug from God. I had a new customer and as I worked with her, explaining all the details, what she needed to know, we visited a little, so I could get to know her a bit and so she could develop a trust in me. It is very important to let people develop trust in who you are. They need to know that they can depend that what you tell them is true, that trust means they can do business with you in confidence. WOW! Now I see, Father, how it is that we are discussing this tonight. I see why this happened to day, all so I could go here.
Developing trust is a very important thing in any relationship, whether it is personal, business or as in the matter of what the Father wants to bring here, spiritual trust. Developing trust in Him, your Father in heaven. As I visited with this new customer getting to know her.....yes, my Lord, I see what You mean here. If we are to get to know our Father in heaven, truly know who our Lord is, and what He wants to be to us, in us, it is important to spend time with Him. Trust doesn't come just by reading the scriptures. That is an important part, to know what the Lord has said, how it pertains to us and exactly what His promises are to us. But it will not come to life in us unless we spend time with the Author of the Book. If we just read the Word and not spend time letting that Word get into our spirits, not letting the Holy Spirit develop the Word into our minds, into our hearts, real time, here, spent in soaking in the Word, letting it's beauty get into our spirits; well it will just be words that, once again, will not mean anything to you. Once again, you will read and wonder what it could possible mean to your life. But when you will spend time in the Word, spend time with the Father; that is where the Word comes to life, where those words of encouragement, those stories written there will begin to reflect happenings in your life, showing you how to apply them to your situations.
When you will take the time to worship the Lord, sing songs to Him, talk to Him; He is not galaxies away from you, He is right there, where ever you are, so is He. He has given us His Holy Spirit to dwell in us so that when needed, the Lord is right there, with each of us. He draws from us the love and adoration of the Father; the Holy Spirit knows just what will attract the Father's attention and bring Him to us; and the Holy Spirit will lead you there, if He sees you truly want to visit with the Father, want to spend time with Him. I am alone at home and have time home to spend with my Lord, time perhaps others don't always have. But some of my favorite times to be with my Lord is when I am driving to and from work. Just going down the highway, singing my songs to Him, talking with Him; I know He loves this time as much as I do. Such special time, it goes so quickly as I am not concerned or worried about traffic, it just flows along with me as I flow along with my Father. Real time, His time, my delight.
Getting back to my customer. As we finished up our transaction, I said something about the beautiful day and how blessed I was by it. She told me that it was so wonderful to talk to someone that talked about being blessed by the Lord. She said she doesn't hear that often. She told me where she went to church and it led to a little more conversation. She told me that when she came in and I was waiting on a gentlemen, she saw how I smiled and was so happy, and she was knew I was a person she would like. Isn't it wonderful how being of the Lord attracts like spirits. So we talked a little more and she went to leave and turned and asked me if she could hug me. That is my hug from the Lord. It was as if He was telling me, "Well done, my child, well done", and had the lady give me a hug from Him.
Getting acquainted, so important in a trusting relationship. You must spend time with the Lord if you are going to be able to trust Him.....and if He is going to be able to trust you. That works both ways. How can the Lord know if He can trust us if we never spend any quality time with him. We can go to church three or four times or so a week, but if we never spend quality time, that time we reserve just for Him and ourselves, how is He to know if He can trust you to do a work He may need to give you instantly. Or to know if you can carry out an assignment He needs to send to one of His children to help someone. So trust, the kind that only comes from time spent together, is necessary for our walk, our work with the Lord.
Well, you can see from the title of this that what I thought I would be writing more about, has once again been changed once I got into it. I never know where the Lord is going to lead when He has me begin. The only important thing is that it leads where He wants it to go, that it reaches those whom He knows need to read this, and that it draws all to His Light, to give Him glory and honor.
01-27-12
Thursday, January 26, 2012
HE KNOWS THE VOICE OF THOSE WHO WORSHIP HIM
John 9:31 "Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him."
So often, I believe, people just think I am foolish. I am not in this boat alone, for there are so many just like me, worshipers of the Lord, that go about their day, singing and praising the Lord all the day long; speaking about the Lord, giving Him glory and honor; just loving on the Lord continually. Some people do not understand this, and wonder if it is an act or what we get from doing this. I believe these are the people, like those described in the Bible, that though they could see, were actually blind.
I was thinking of this today. How I love to worship the Lord. How I love to gather with other children of the Lord and corporately worship Him. I truly love to be in an atmosphere of pure worship as the songs of the heart rise up out of us, just loving through the words of beautiful melodies, loving our Lord, all together, united in one voice to tell our God how we love Him, how we thank Him for loving us, for being our Father, for being our God.
For those of you that wonder what we receive from our worship, our adoration of the Lord, I will try to explain to you what happens to us. From the moment the Lord taught me to worship Him, His presence with me so precious, so special; from this time I have worshiped Him, it seems like all the time, day and night. When I awake at night, I sing to Him, I tell Him how much I love Him. Day and night, worship music is a part of me, playing all the time, no matter where I am, always drawing me into songs from my soul, beautiful words of my own to sing along with the music, words dedicating my love and life to my Lord. During the day, I find my mind is always on my Lord, He has become the object of my affection, the attention that I seek. I purposely set my mind, my heart to getting the Lord's attention. I want Him to notice me, to hear my songs of love, to be drawn to me and want to be with me. When I sing, He knows my voice. When I worship, He knows it is me calling up to Him. He knows me, He loves my songs of love, He loves my worship.
Those that worship the Lord in spirit and truth know that when the Lord hears their voices, He listens, He responds. We, the worshipers of the Lord, when times get trying, when circumstances arise, when the enemy attacks, the battle raging, we know exactly what to do and do not have to worry. We begin to worship the Lord, we begin to call on His Name in prayer, never doubting for one moment that the Lord will not hear us. He knows the voices of His worshipers and when our voices call out, whether in worship or in prayer, in praise or in petition, He listens; He responds. And we, the worshipers of the Lord, leave our concerns, our petitions with Him and remain full of peace and sweet joy as we know the Lord has heard our cry and is taking care of all that concerns us.
For those of you who don't see the beauty of worshiping our Lord......here I must add, if you are not worshiping because you can not sing, that is an excuse, not a reason. The Lord loves each voice of each child of His. It is not the notes He hears you sing, it is the love He listens for and hears. When you sing what is in your heart, that is what the Lord hears. So sing away, sing with heartfelt love for the Lord; it is that heartfelt love that makes you a true worshiper; the adoration of your heart for God. The beauty of worshiping our God will become known to you when you begin to worship with no other reason than to give to the Lord, to love on Him, to pour out your heart before Him. You will find yourself surrounded with His presence, with the sweet fragrance of His love. It will make you never want to stop giving Him praise, giving your worship to Him.
Thank You Lord, for the beauty of Your love, of Your touch on me. I appreciate Lord, the way you have guided me today. I thank You for the rest I will have tonight. I thank You my King, for Your presence. I have sought You, I have found You, You are here with me. You know the voice of those who worship You. You know my voice and it pleases You when You hear me, Your worshiping child.
01-26-12
So often, I believe, people just think I am foolish. I am not in this boat alone, for there are so many just like me, worshipers of the Lord, that go about their day, singing and praising the Lord all the day long; speaking about the Lord, giving Him glory and honor; just loving on the Lord continually. Some people do not understand this, and wonder if it is an act or what we get from doing this. I believe these are the people, like those described in the Bible, that though they could see, were actually blind.
I was thinking of this today. How I love to worship the Lord. How I love to gather with other children of the Lord and corporately worship Him. I truly love to be in an atmosphere of pure worship as the songs of the heart rise up out of us, just loving through the words of beautiful melodies, loving our Lord, all together, united in one voice to tell our God how we love Him, how we thank Him for loving us, for being our Father, for being our God.
For those of you that wonder what we receive from our worship, our adoration of the Lord, I will try to explain to you what happens to us. From the moment the Lord taught me to worship Him, His presence with me so precious, so special; from this time I have worshiped Him, it seems like all the time, day and night. When I awake at night, I sing to Him, I tell Him how much I love Him. Day and night, worship music is a part of me, playing all the time, no matter where I am, always drawing me into songs from my soul, beautiful words of my own to sing along with the music, words dedicating my love and life to my Lord. During the day, I find my mind is always on my Lord, He has become the object of my affection, the attention that I seek. I purposely set my mind, my heart to getting the Lord's attention. I want Him to notice me, to hear my songs of love, to be drawn to me and want to be with me. When I sing, He knows my voice. When I worship, He knows it is me calling up to Him. He knows me, He loves my songs of love, He loves my worship.
Those that worship the Lord in spirit and truth know that when the Lord hears their voices, He listens, He responds. We, the worshipers of the Lord, when times get trying, when circumstances arise, when the enemy attacks, the battle raging, we know exactly what to do and do not have to worry. We begin to worship the Lord, we begin to call on His Name in prayer, never doubting for one moment that the Lord will not hear us. He knows the voices of His worshipers and when our voices call out, whether in worship or in prayer, in praise or in petition, He listens; He responds. And we, the worshipers of the Lord, leave our concerns, our petitions with Him and remain full of peace and sweet joy as we know the Lord has heard our cry and is taking care of all that concerns us.
For those of you who don't see the beauty of worshiping our Lord......here I must add, if you are not worshiping because you can not sing, that is an excuse, not a reason. The Lord loves each voice of each child of His. It is not the notes He hears you sing, it is the love He listens for and hears. When you sing what is in your heart, that is what the Lord hears. So sing away, sing with heartfelt love for the Lord; it is that heartfelt love that makes you a true worshiper; the adoration of your heart for God. The beauty of worshiping our God will become known to you when you begin to worship with no other reason than to give to the Lord, to love on Him, to pour out your heart before Him. You will find yourself surrounded with His presence, with the sweet fragrance of His love. It will make you never want to stop giving Him praise, giving your worship to Him.
Thank You Lord, for the beauty of Your love, of Your touch on me. I appreciate Lord, the way you have guided me today. I thank You for the rest I will have tonight. I thank You my King, for Your presence. I have sought You, I have found You, You are here with me. You know the voice of those who worship You. You know my voice and it pleases You when You hear me, Your worshiping child.
01-26-12
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
I WILL SEE JESUS
Psalm 42:2 “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when can I go and meet with God?”
I know a day is coming when I will see my Lord. When I hear worship music that sings about seeing the Lord, or read about the day when the Lord will appear to us, it thrills my heart. It brings tears of joy to my eyes. I know it will be a glorious day. But what about now? What about the desire of my heart to see my Lord now. Aren’t you longing to look upon His face? When I hear how Jesus was perceived as plain in looks, I cannot imagine that. I have seen very plain people, but their eyes, their smiles, their ways make them absolutely beautiful. Their hearts bring out the inner beauty in them and they are lovely to look upon.
I don’t see in my spirit someone that is plain when I see Jesus. I see the most beautiful, most wonderful person there is, no one so beautiful or amazing. Jesus is the epitomy of what I believe real beauty is. A heart so pure, so full of love for all, eyes that shine forth that love, and you know His smile has to show that love also. With love like that, the only outcome is beauty. More beautiful than any sunrise or sunset, more beautiful than anything ever seen before.
I think the reason that Jesus was not seen to be beautiful was that He was only looked at in the physical and did not come to be seen in the spiritual until after He went back to the Father. No one was looking for that perfect love that He gave, they did not understand it at first. I can picture one of the blessed people that were touched and healed. I can see that the man they saw at first looked entirely different after they were healed. Jesus probably would not have turned a head before He healed them, but when healed, those people saw Him through eyes of gratitude and love. They saw this wonderful, beautiful Savior that had just given them life, well, whole and forgiven.
I have been healed. I have been forgiven. I am loved by the King of kings, the Lord of all lords. I am an intimate friend of the Savior of the world, Jesus. He loves me passionately. Can you think of anyone who loves you just the way you are? That loves you, not expecting you to be anyone other than yourself? That is the way that Jesus loves. Giving everything to show that love, He now makes His desires known that He wants our love, just for Himself, not for anything He can do for us, but just that we choose to love Him. That is how I love my Lord. He has done so much for me, there is nothing I desire other than Him, His sweet presence.
Seeing how Jesus is pictured in movies, in paintings and photos, we put that image into our minds. I have several pictures of Jesus that I like so much, but I have a feeling we will be so surprised when we see Him for ourselves. We cannot comprehend such beauty as we will see when we see Jesus. He will be more than we ever thought possible.
I will see Jesus. I will look upon His face, I will reach for His hand, I will reach up and touch His cheek. I will look into those loving eyes and tell Him, at long last, tell Him in person, how very much I love Him. How I have waited for so long for that special moment, how I adore Him.
Until that day, I will see Jesus in my heart, in my spirit. I will behold His beauty as I read the Word, as I listen to beautiful music. I will see my Savior as I sing my songs of love and worship Him with all my heart. I will see Jesus because I love Him more each day. I will see Jesus because His Spirit is within me, and the Holy Spirit will bring me into the place where we are One. One Spirit, One Heart, One Love.
01-25-12
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
THE LION AND THE LAMB
John 1:29b "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."
As I was worshiping in church Sunday morning, the Lord just kept downloading into my spirit. He told me about waiting on Him, He showed me how precious it was to stand with others in unity and worship Him for just who He is, with no other reason but to worship Him. He loved how He was being worshiped.
Then as wave after wave of His glory came through the sanctuary, as I was worshiping, eyes closed, the Lord gave me a vision. My Father appeared before me, and no, I could not see Him, a Spirit actually, not like a person; but He was holding a precious Lamb and had His hand on the Lion that was by His side. As I stood before Him, He told me to hold out my hands and when I did He placed the Lamb in my hands. He told me to hold the Lamb to my heart. As I drew the Lamb to my heart, I could feel the Lamb's heart beating next to mine. As I held the Lamb tighter, our hearts beating in rhythm, the Lamb's heart seem to beat stronger and stronger. Then I felt the blood, the blood of the Lamb begin to wash over me, over and over again; like at a car wash when the water sweeps back and forth along the sides of your car; the blood was washing back and forth, over and over, top to bottom, cleansing me, cleansing me from all sin. As I looked at the Father, He smiled at me and told me that the blood of the precious Lamb of God was for once and for all, cleansing me from all sin, the sins of my past, the sins of my present and any sin that would be commited in my future. My sins, all, forever, were cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. As I felt the blood flow cease, I realized I only felt one heart beat now and when I felt concern, the Lord knew what was bothering me. He told me not to think that the Lamb had left me; no, He was there, our hearts had become one. I was now one with Him as I was made righteous by His blood, and was no longer separate from Him, but one with Him.
The Father then drew my attention to the Lion. I saw the Lion pacing back and forth in front of me, then He began to circle around me, each time going further and further out from me. The Lord told me that as the blood of the Lamb had cleansed me, made me righteous and one with Him, the Lion was marking my territory with His scent. He was enlarging my territory with each pass around me and was marking it with His fragrance that was unmistakable to the enemy. He was marking my territory, claiming it as His own, letting all know that I, and the territory given me, had been sanctified by Almighty God and woe to anyone that would attempt to harm me or take what had been assigned and given to me, or placed in my care.
My Lord then told me to always remember these things, and He reached over and lifted the Lamb from my arms and He walked away, the Lion following Him.
Can you understand why I love to worship my Lord. Amazing blessings come when you worship the Lord with all your heart, from the depths of your spirit. I was so blessed Sunday and continue to be as I will never forget what my Lord showed me, what He gave me to hold in my heart, to rejoice in my spirit. My sins, washed by the blood of the Lamb, making me one with Him. My life, the place the Lord has put me, the territory, the plans He is opening up to me, sanctified, marked by His hand to keep me safe as I do His will. My God, how I love You. I will worship You for all my life, for all my days.
The precious Lamb of Glory, One with those that worship Him in spirit and truth; the Lion of Judah, going about marking the territory around God's children with His Power, His Strength, His Might, proclaiming this land, this child, is Holy Ground for the Lord is with her always.
As I was worshiping in church Sunday morning, the Lord just kept downloading into my spirit. He told me about waiting on Him, He showed me how precious it was to stand with others in unity and worship Him for just who He is, with no other reason but to worship Him. He loved how He was being worshiped.
Then as wave after wave of His glory came through the sanctuary, as I was worshiping, eyes closed, the Lord gave me a vision. My Father appeared before me, and no, I could not see Him, a Spirit actually, not like a person; but He was holding a precious Lamb and had His hand on the Lion that was by His side. As I stood before Him, He told me to hold out my hands and when I did He placed the Lamb in my hands. He told me to hold the Lamb to my heart. As I drew the Lamb to my heart, I could feel the Lamb's heart beating next to mine. As I held the Lamb tighter, our hearts beating in rhythm, the Lamb's heart seem to beat stronger and stronger. Then I felt the blood, the blood of the Lamb begin to wash over me, over and over again; like at a car wash when the water sweeps back and forth along the sides of your car; the blood was washing back and forth, over and over, top to bottom, cleansing me, cleansing me from all sin. As I looked at the Father, He smiled at me and told me that the blood of the precious Lamb of God was for once and for all, cleansing me from all sin, the sins of my past, the sins of my present and any sin that would be commited in my future. My sins, all, forever, were cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. As I felt the blood flow cease, I realized I only felt one heart beat now and when I felt concern, the Lord knew what was bothering me. He told me not to think that the Lamb had left me; no, He was there, our hearts had become one. I was now one with Him as I was made righteous by His blood, and was no longer separate from Him, but one with Him.
The Father then drew my attention to the Lion. I saw the Lion pacing back and forth in front of me, then He began to circle around me, each time going further and further out from me. The Lord told me that as the blood of the Lamb had cleansed me, made me righteous and one with Him, the Lion was marking my territory with His scent. He was enlarging my territory with each pass around me and was marking it with His fragrance that was unmistakable to the enemy. He was marking my territory, claiming it as His own, letting all know that I, and the territory given me, had been sanctified by Almighty God and woe to anyone that would attempt to harm me or take what had been assigned and given to me, or placed in my care.
My Lord then told me to always remember these things, and He reached over and lifted the Lamb from my arms and He walked away, the Lion following Him.
Can you understand why I love to worship my Lord. Amazing blessings come when you worship the Lord with all your heart, from the depths of your spirit. I was so blessed Sunday and continue to be as I will never forget what my Lord showed me, what He gave me to hold in my heart, to rejoice in my spirit. My sins, washed by the blood of the Lamb, making me one with Him. My life, the place the Lord has put me, the territory, the plans He is opening up to me, sanctified, marked by His hand to keep me safe as I do His will. My God, how I love You. I will worship You for all my life, for all my days.
The precious Lamb of Glory, One with those that worship Him in spirit and truth; the Lion of Judah, going about marking the territory around God's children with His Power, His Strength, His Might, proclaiming this land, this child, is Holy Ground for the Lord is with her always.
Monday, January 23, 2012
THE CHAINS OF GUILT
1 John 2:2 "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."
Our sins forgiven, our lives restored, freedom given to us by our precious Lord Jesus. And yet....how often do we fall under the cloud of guilt, the chains that have bound us in the past coming back to draw us down once again. Those sins, once forgotten and buried; our knowing that we have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, made righteous in Him; those sins come back through the smallest door, back into our consciousness. Once again, the enemy has us in a choke hold...... When this happens, what is the first thing that comes into your mind? Do you begin to feel helpless, overwhelmed by the sin, or the remembrance of it? Does the enemy begin to tell you it is a lie that you were forgiven, that you have no fear of it, that you cannot possibly be acceptable to the Lord with such in your past? NO.....NO......NO !!! We do not go there. We know satan is a liar, we have heard his lies before and we are prepared for these attacks. We know we are totally forgiven by the sacrifice of our Savior, washed in His blood and given the beautiful life that our God wants us to have. So the enemy cannot trip us up here, he cannot bring us down.
SO WHY....do we allow ourselves to feel guilty about things that happen in our lives. We all do. Yesterday, I attended church on the west side of Dallas as I had a lunch planned with a friend after church. We were to meet at a restaurant close by between 12:30 and 1:00. The time came and I was still in church, beautiful service, waiting on the Lord as His presence was just moving in and out in waves. I did not want to leave, but also knew I had an appointment. I am so time oriented, my friends know that I do not do late. It is inconceivable for me to be late. But I stayed where I was, not wanting to leave the presence of the Lord. Finally near 1:30, I knew I had to go. It was so bothering me that they were waiting for so long. So I quietly left. It began on the way to the restaurant; the guilt... first I felt guilty as I had left them waiting for so long, and then that subsided and the guilt came over me that I had left church. How foolish, the Lord showed me this morning. All that time spent on guilty feelings, when it was only the enemy trying to drag me down. To take away the precious time at church in His presence, and make me feel like I should not have enjoyed my lunch. This guilty feeling went on all afternoon and evening.
What a waste of precious time. The Lord told me that when He set me free, I was free. Free to do as I felt I needed and not to feel guilty about it. He said He knew I loved Him with all my heart, and I was not choosing to leave Him for someone else, it was set up and that I was being considerate of others. I was already late and He knew that I had chosen to be even later than to leave church. And then the beauty of my Lord poured over my spirit as He reminded me, that when I left the building, I did not leave Him, for He went with me. He said He could stay in the church with the others worshiping, but He could also go with me, as He said He is always with me. I did not leave Him. I can never leave Him, He would not allow that. He goes with me, always.
How many times do you do things you would prefer not to do, because you would feel guilty if you did not do them. Just can't say no, for the enemy makes you feel that you have to be all things for all people or you are truly not a good person, not a good Christian. If you are not in church for all activities, if you cannot do every activity for your children at school or play, then guilt sets in. How often do we run ourselves ragged just to keep up with what we think is expected of us as Christians. Again, the Lord told me, how foolish. He does not set these guidelines for us, we do that. It is our perception and that of others, of what we should be, what we should do. We need to set limits for ourselves. The Lord wants us to rest in Him, relax in our lives. We spend so much of our time doing everything expected of us that we seldom have the time to relax with our Lord, to spend some time alone with Him. Give Him part of our day.
We are free. The promises of our Lord never change. He set us free, He will not put us on a guilt trip. It is not something He does. If He feels we need to change something in our lives, He will put a longing in our spirits for more of Him, the Holy Spirit will gently convict us of what is in error, and guide us into correcting those things. But guilt will not be a part of it. We are free.
Thank You, Lord, for setting us free. Free to be who we are in You. Free to be happy, and enjoy the lives You have made for us, enjoy the blessings You have given us. We are free to say "No" when it is something we really do not want to do, when it would take away from the time we would like to spend with our families, time we would want to spend with You. We are free. Free to be just Your children, resting in the knowledge that You love us just as we are, we do not have to prove ourselves to You. You, the Father of love, the Creator of life; You have made us free.
01-23-12
Our sins forgiven, our lives restored, freedom given to us by our precious Lord Jesus. And yet....how often do we fall under the cloud of guilt, the chains that have bound us in the past coming back to draw us down once again. Those sins, once forgotten and buried; our knowing that we have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, made righteous in Him; those sins come back through the smallest door, back into our consciousness. Once again, the enemy has us in a choke hold...... When this happens, what is the first thing that comes into your mind? Do you begin to feel helpless, overwhelmed by the sin, or the remembrance of it? Does the enemy begin to tell you it is a lie that you were forgiven, that you have no fear of it, that you cannot possibly be acceptable to the Lord with such in your past? NO.....NO......NO !!! We do not go there. We know satan is a liar, we have heard his lies before and we are prepared for these attacks. We know we are totally forgiven by the sacrifice of our Savior, washed in His blood and given the beautiful life that our God wants us to have. So the enemy cannot trip us up here, he cannot bring us down.
SO WHY....do we allow ourselves to feel guilty about things that happen in our lives. We all do. Yesterday, I attended church on the west side of Dallas as I had a lunch planned with a friend after church. We were to meet at a restaurant close by between 12:30 and 1:00. The time came and I was still in church, beautiful service, waiting on the Lord as His presence was just moving in and out in waves. I did not want to leave, but also knew I had an appointment. I am so time oriented, my friends know that I do not do late. It is inconceivable for me to be late. But I stayed where I was, not wanting to leave the presence of the Lord. Finally near 1:30, I knew I had to go. It was so bothering me that they were waiting for so long. So I quietly left. It began on the way to the restaurant; the guilt... first I felt guilty as I had left them waiting for so long, and then that subsided and the guilt came over me that I had left church. How foolish, the Lord showed me this morning. All that time spent on guilty feelings, when it was only the enemy trying to drag me down. To take away the precious time at church in His presence, and make me feel like I should not have enjoyed my lunch. This guilty feeling went on all afternoon and evening.
What a waste of precious time. The Lord told me that when He set me free, I was free. Free to do as I felt I needed and not to feel guilty about it. He said He knew I loved Him with all my heart, and I was not choosing to leave Him for someone else, it was set up and that I was being considerate of others. I was already late and He knew that I had chosen to be even later than to leave church. And then the beauty of my Lord poured over my spirit as He reminded me, that when I left the building, I did not leave Him, for He went with me. He said He could stay in the church with the others worshiping, but He could also go with me, as He said He is always with me. I did not leave Him. I can never leave Him, He would not allow that. He goes with me, always.
How many times do you do things you would prefer not to do, because you would feel guilty if you did not do them. Just can't say no, for the enemy makes you feel that you have to be all things for all people or you are truly not a good person, not a good Christian. If you are not in church for all activities, if you cannot do every activity for your children at school or play, then guilt sets in. How often do we run ourselves ragged just to keep up with what we think is expected of us as Christians. Again, the Lord told me, how foolish. He does not set these guidelines for us, we do that. It is our perception and that of others, of what we should be, what we should do. We need to set limits for ourselves. The Lord wants us to rest in Him, relax in our lives. We spend so much of our time doing everything expected of us that we seldom have the time to relax with our Lord, to spend some time alone with Him. Give Him part of our day.
We are free. The promises of our Lord never change. He set us free, He will not put us on a guilt trip. It is not something He does. If He feels we need to change something in our lives, He will put a longing in our spirits for more of Him, the Holy Spirit will gently convict us of what is in error, and guide us into correcting those things. But guilt will not be a part of it. We are free.
Thank You, Lord, for setting us free. Free to be who we are in You. Free to be happy, and enjoy the lives You have made for us, enjoy the blessings You have given us. We are free to say "No" when it is something we really do not want to do, when it would take away from the time we would like to spend with our families, time we would want to spend with You. We are free. Free to be just Your children, resting in the knowledge that You love us just as we are, we do not have to prove ourselves to You. You, the Father of love, the Creator of life; You have made us free.
01-23-12
Sunday, January 22, 2012
WAITING ON THE LORD
Matthew 26:40 "Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?"
Visited in a church this morning where the Glory fell as we waited on the Lord. "I'm waiting, Lord, I'm waiting." And we waited. As we sang and waited on the Lord, the Lord spoke to me, "How long will you wait, how long do My children wait for me?"
I saw back at the times I had prayed and prayed and when finished got up, went about my work, or went to sleep. I know I am not alone here, the Lord would not have shown me this knowing I was to share if I were the only one. I am thankful He showed me, for how often do we wonder why we do not receive an answer. Or when we worship, longing for His presence, but we worship for a little while, sit down and the remaining program of the service takes place. And we leave, wanting, disappointed because the Lord did not come, His Spirit was not with us, or if He was, He left. Why would He have stayed. We went from worship to offering and sermon without giving Him a chance to respond to our worship. See, the Lord showed me His Spirit is not readily evident as soon as we begin to worship. He will come and search our hearts first to see if we truly are longing for His presence, His being with us must be our heart's desire, no other need in us but to see the manifest presence of the Lord with us. To have the One we love with all our hearts come to be with us, to pour out on us His glory and His sweet, sweet presence.
As often at Destiny, ELCI did not have a sermon this morning, the pastor choosing to let the Holy Spirit have His way in the service, and as we worshiped asking the Lord to come, we waited on Him. We worshiped, we poured out our love to Him through our songs of worship, and He did not disappoint. Wave after wave of His beauty passed through the room, pouring a shower of blessing as He went by, touching each with His Power, His Grace and His Majesty. We waited, deep into worship and praise, and each time as we waited, He would walk among us again. Sweet, sweet Spirit of the Lord, drawing us into His presence as we were obedient and waited. It is a beautiful truth, "good things come to those who wait".
I believe that the reason we miss the Lord so often is that we are not willing to wait for Him. His time is not as our own, He wants to see if we will forget about our agendas, our schedules and seek Him. Instead of just lip service, "we wait on you", we truly wait. We forget about ourselves and concentrate on Him, and just worhsip Him. Time will virtually stand still for those who wait on the Lord. Our Lord wants to be the only thought on your mind, the only desire in your heart; when He sees this take place through your prayer and worship, He will not be able to stay away. He so desires to be worshiped, to be adored by His children. He loves us so much He wants to spend time with us, but He wants us to truly desire Him to come; so He lets us wait a bit to see how long we are willing to wait for Him; how long will we stand and worship, entreating Him to come, our souls longing for His touch on us; how long will you wait?
How long will you pray, and sit quietly, silently, nothing on Your mind but thanksgiving to the Lord for His precious love for you, His sweet touch of grace on you each day. Asking, receiving, two ends of the spectrum, and in the middle is waiting; waiting for the answer that is coming for those who will wait with the Lord.
When you worship, is the presence of the Lord your heart's desire; enough to wait for Him, to give time in the service, or at home, to wait on His presence. As you pray, seeking an answer from the Lord on concerns, healing, ministering; are you willing to stay quietly before Him and wait for His answer, to just love on Him and give Him your time, your devotion, your complete attention? Our Lord asks for very little from us. He desires to be with us, but it has to be what we desire deep within our hearts. It takes waiting.
My Lord God, let me never forsake the blessing of Your presence by being in a hurry. Let me always wait upon You my King. Let me wait, and if necessary I will wait longer, for Your presence is what I desire more than life. I love to worship You my Lord, to give You all the honor and glory. Let me wait, my Lord, for You to come to spend time with me, let me always remember You come, when You see my heart, and my willingness to wait on You.
01-22-12
Visited in a church this morning where the Glory fell as we waited on the Lord. "I'm waiting, Lord, I'm waiting." And we waited. As we sang and waited on the Lord, the Lord spoke to me, "How long will you wait, how long do My children wait for me?"
I saw back at the times I had prayed and prayed and when finished got up, went about my work, or went to sleep. I know I am not alone here, the Lord would not have shown me this knowing I was to share if I were the only one. I am thankful He showed me, for how often do we wonder why we do not receive an answer. Or when we worship, longing for His presence, but we worship for a little while, sit down and the remaining program of the service takes place. And we leave, wanting, disappointed because the Lord did not come, His Spirit was not with us, or if He was, He left. Why would He have stayed. We went from worship to offering and sermon without giving Him a chance to respond to our worship. See, the Lord showed me His Spirit is not readily evident as soon as we begin to worship. He will come and search our hearts first to see if we truly are longing for His presence, His being with us must be our heart's desire, no other need in us but to see the manifest presence of the Lord with us. To have the One we love with all our hearts come to be with us, to pour out on us His glory and His sweet, sweet presence.
As often at Destiny, ELCI did not have a sermon this morning, the pastor choosing to let the Holy Spirit have His way in the service, and as we worshiped asking the Lord to come, we waited on Him. We worshiped, we poured out our love to Him through our songs of worship, and He did not disappoint. Wave after wave of His beauty passed through the room, pouring a shower of blessing as He went by, touching each with His Power, His Grace and His Majesty. We waited, deep into worship and praise, and each time as we waited, He would walk among us again. Sweet, sweet Spirit of the Lord, drawing us into His presence as we were obedient and waited. It is a beautiful truth, "good things come to those who wait".
I believe that the reason we miss the Lord so often is that we are not willing to wait for Him. His time is not as our own, He wants to see if we will forget about our agendas, our schedules and seek Him. Instead of just lip service, "we wait on you", we truly wait. We forget about ourselves and concentrate on Him, and just worhsip Him. Time will virtually stand still for those who wait on the Lord. Our Lord wants to be the only thought on your mind, the only desire in your heart; when He sees this take place through your prayer and worship, He will not be able to stay away. He so desires to be worshiped, to be adored by His children. He loves us so much He wants to spend time with us, but He wants us to truly desire Him to come; so He lets us wait a bit to see how long we are willing to wait for Him; how long will we stand and worship, entreating Him to come, our souls longing for His touch on us; how long will you wait?
How long will you pray, and sit quietly, silently, nothing on Your mind but thanksgiving to the Lord for His precious love for you, His sweet touch of grace on you each day. Asking, receiving, two ends of the spectrum, and in the middle is waiting; waiting for the answer that is coming for those who will wait with the Lord.
When you worship, is the presence of the Lord your heart's desire; enough to wait for Him, to give time in the service, or at home, to wait on His presence. As you pray, seeking an answer from the Lord on concerns, healing, ministering; are you willing to stay quietly before Him and wait for His answer, to just love on Him and give Him your time, your devotion, your complete attention? Our Lord asks for very little from us. He desires to be with us, but it has to be what we desire deep within our hearts. It takes waiting.
My Lord God, let me never forsake the blessing of Your presence by being in a hurry. Let me always wait upon You my King. Let me wait, and if necessary I will wait longer, for Your presence is what I desire more than life. I love to worship You my Lord, to give You all the honor and glory. Let me wait, my Lord, for You to come to spend time with me, let me always remember You come, when You see my heart, and my willingness to wait on You.
01-22-12
Saturday, January 21, 2012
GLASS HOUSES
Mark 9:42 "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea."
Sitting in my office this morning I was looking at the people outside that would walk by our office and just stare in at us. I remarked to my assistant, "ever feel like you were in a glass fish tank"? She started laughing and I heard the Lord say, "You are". I just sat there for a few minutes realizing what He told me. I am sitting in a virtual glass house. So are you.
Do we take into consideration that the very way we live our lives, the way we conduct ourselves, is an important method of witnessing to others. Especially to young Christians, those that are new in the church and have just began to trust the Lord. They are watching us, to see how we act as a child of God. That is an awesome responsibility, but one that is expected of us. Our walk with the Lord will be watched by Christians and non-Christians alike. There is an assumption by so many of how Christians are to act. This assumption use to bother me a lot, as I always try to act the way I should but some folks feel Christians should be somber, quiet, and a little, well you know what I mean, all the time. They do not realize that we, also, are human with human qualities that are not always perfect. Well, that are never perfect but they want to perceive us that way. Thank You, Lord, for Your grace and mercy.
But I am off track, you notice, I tend to go that way sometimes; forgive me. We are to live the way the Lord tells us to. He will lead and guide us in His righteousness, in the way that He walked this earth. Do you think the Lord never laughted and teased with His disciples? I can see the Lord just loving to fun with them and laughing with them as they walked along the road, or sat around a table enjoying a meal together. Joy of the Lord, His joy is fun and free. But never once did He do anything that would have made His Father wince, or be ashamed of Him. He always did the will of His Father.
Such is the example for our lives. Jesus knew everyone was watching Him, those to emulate Him, and those to ridicule and condemn Him. The same holds true for us today. There are those that watch us and want to be like us; I don't care for this as I chose that they want to be like my Lord, all should be encouraged to keep their eyes on Him alone, not us. There are also those who watch us to criticize us and find fault in something we do so they can condemn us in our Lord. Holy Spirit, guide me, keep me in my Lord at all times, letting me only live to bring Him glory. But we are watched. If we can strive to live as our Lord Jesus did, to always live our lives to bring glory to Him, careful not to do things that would grieve Him, then we are where we should be.
We cannot live to man's standard, and should not want to. Sometimes the standard is extreme and sometimes so low it is shameful. The Lord's standard for our lives is just and fair. He only expects us to live our lives totally in love with Him, worshiping Him with our lives. When we walk in the Light, we stay out of the dark areas of this world that would harm us and grieve the Father. When we walk in the Lord, in prayer and service to Him, we are living our lives as He would have us to.
Glass houses, we do live in them, there is nothing we can do about people watching our lives. They will do so.....we can, however, give them an example of living in the Lord, and showing the peaceful and joyful lives that life with Him brings to each of us. I love my glass house, as the walls are decorated with mercy and grace, joy and peace, with blessing after blessing dripping off the roof. I pray that anyone who looks at my glass house, sees it as a temple of praise, a sanctuary of worship and the Guest of honor, my Lord Jesus, always residing there.
01-21-12
Sitting in my office this morning I was looking at the people outside that would walk by our office and just stare in at us. I remarked to my assistant, "ever feel like you were in a glass fish tank"? She started laughing and I heard the Lord say, "You are". I just sat there for a few minutes realizing what He told me. I am sitting in a virtual glass house. So are you.
Do we take into consideration that the very way we live our lives, the way we conduct ourselves, is an important method of witnessing to others. Especially to young Christians, those that are new in the church and have just began to trust the Lord. They are watching us, to see how we act as a child of God. That is an awesome responsibility, but one that is expected of us. Our walk with the Lord will be watched by Christians and non-Christians alike. There is an assumption by so many of how Christians are to act. This assumption use to bother me a lot, as I always try to act the way I should but some folks feel Christians should be somber, quiet, and a little, well you know what I mean, all the time. They do not realize that we, also, are human with human qualities that are not always perfect. Well, that are never perfect but they want to perceive us that way. Thank You, Lord, for Your grace and mercy.
But I am off track, you notice, I tend to go that way sometimes; forgive me. We are to live the way the Lord tells us to. He will lead and guide us in His righteousness, in the way that He walked this earth. Do you think the Lord never laughted and teased with His disciples? I can see the Lord just loving to fun with them and laughing with them as they walked along the road, or sat around a table enjoying a meal together. Joy of the Lord, His joy is fun and free. But never once did He do anything that would have made His Father wince, or be ashamed of Him. He always did the will of His Father.
Such is the example for our lives. Jesus knew everyone was watching Him, those to emulate Him, and those to ridicule and condemn Him. The same holds true for us today. There are those that watch us and want to be like us; I don't care for this as I chose that they want to be like my Lord, all should be encouraged to keep their eyes on Him alone, not us. There are also those who watch us to criticize us and find fault in something we do so they can condemn us in our Lord. Holy Spirit, guide me, keep me in my Lord at all times, letting me only live to bring Him glory. But we are watched. If we can strive to live as our Lord Jesus did, to always live our lives to bring glory to Him, careful not to do things that would grieve Him, then we are where we should be.
We cannot live to man's standard, and should not want to. Sometimes the standard is extreme and sometimes so low it is shameful. The Lord's standard for our lives is just and fair. He only expects us to live our lives totally in love with Him, worshiping Him with our lives. When we walk in the Light, we stay out of the dark areas of this world that would harm us and grieve the Father. When we walk in the Lord, in prayer and service to Him, we are living our lives as He would have us to.
Glass houses, we do live in them, there is nothing we can do about people watching our lives. They will do so.....we can, however, give them an example of living in the Lord, and showing the peaceful and joyful lives that life with Him brings to each of us. I love my glass house, as the walls are decorated with mercy and grace, joy and peace, with blessing after blessing dripping off the roof. I pray that anyone who looks at my glass house, sees it as a temple of praise, a sanctuary of worship and the Guest of honor, my Lord Jesus, always residing there.
01-21-12
Friday, January 20, 2012
ULTIMATE QUALITY OF WORSHIP
John 4:23-24 (Message) "But the time is coming, it has, in fact, come, when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter. It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."
The other night, I was watching; well to be honest, I was channel surfing through the Christian channels on TV, stopping on them long enough to see if the Holy Spirit would draw me there for the worship or the message. I saw some churches with huge choirs and orchestras; their music was beautiful, flawless, at least I thought so. But when I looked at the faces of the ones in the choir, I saw what I was not hearing. I saw that the worship and praise was just songs being sung. There was little joy on the faces of so many, I wondered if they were paid to sing. I know this sounds harsh, but when you are worshiping the Lord, there is a look of the faces of those that sing out of their hearts and spirits that will draw you instantly into their worship. That is the kind of worship that is desired by those that love the Lord and it is the kind of worship that He deserves, that worship that will touch His heart.
Have you ever watched the Gaither family reunions, the ones where all the family and friends are gathered together? They are having such a time in the Lord and when they begin to sing.... when they begin to sing you can see the song turn into worship as they look to the Lord and can see Him in their spiritual eyes. There is joy on their faces, so many with tears in their eyes, as they touch the heart of God and He touches them right back.
When I visited Destiny the first time I was drawn into the worship by the hearts of those singing their heart felt songs for the Lord. They did not just sing a couple of verses and stop to go on to another, they sang their worship unto the Lord until they knew it had reached Heaven's gate, and did not stop until they felt the flow of the beautiful presence of the Lord all around. It is like that each time I go. You can walk into the back door of the church and feel the difference, the presence of the Lord, as if He is waiting for the worship to begin, for He knows that it is coming from hearts and He loves it so. I have felt this in several of the churches I have attended. You just know that the Lord will be present for He cannot stay away from His people worshiping from their hearts and souls. It is the ultimate quality of worship.
Then there is your private worship. How the Lord loves to hear the quietest voice, the one that doesn't think they can sing, but love the Lord so deeply they have to sing out their worship to Him. If they only knew what He hears, it is like the grandest singer on earth singing when that voice reaches up to Him, worshiping as only those who love the Lord so longingly know how. What a beautiful tribute and love offering to our Lord, when you worship Him in your private devotion times, or when you are driving to work, doing your housework, just giving Him your devotion and love, sharing your day with Him, knowing that anything you are doing you just want to have the Lord there with you. Ultimate quality worship, the Lord loves this.
The worship that comes from the one who does not know how they will make ends meet, or the one that is undergoing serious health problems, the widow who is now alone; these hearts that love the Lord passionately and nothing this earth can bring will take them from worshiping the Lord. The Lord is their life, their heart's desire and nothing will stop that beautiful, ultimate quality worship that they must give to God, their Strength and Salvation, their Peace, their Joy.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest Name I know. Lord, let my song reveal the love in my heart, the desires of my soul to be one with You. Draw me close to You, my Lord, as I seek to please only You. Let me come into Your presence, as I worship You with all my heart. I love being Your worshiper, Lord. You could listen to the greatest singers in the world and yet you choose to let me sing for You. I can feel Your heart as I worship You, my Lord, so joyful as You hear Your child's song to You. My God, how I love You. I so desire to express my love for You in just what is pleasing to You. In beauty of song that comes from my heart, in spirit that is longing to be one with You, and with a love that cannot be equaled, producing the ultimate quality of worship.
01-20-12
The other night, I was watching; well to be honest, I was channel surfing through the Christian channels on TV, stopping on them long enough to see if the Holy Spirit would draw me there for the worship or the message. I saw some churches with huge choirs and orchestras; their music was beautiful, flawless, at least I thought so. But when I looked at the faces of the ones in the choir, I saw what I was not hearing. I saw that the worship and praise was just songs being sung. There was little joy on the faces of so many, I wondered if they were paid to sing. I know this sounds harsh, but when you are worshiping the Lord, there is a look of the faces of those that sing out of their hearts and spirits that will draw you instantly into their worship. That is the kind of worship that is desired by those that love the Lord and it is the kind of worship that He deserves, that worship that will touch His heart.
Have you ever watched the Gaither family reunions, the ones where all the family and friends are gathered together? They are having such a time in the Lord and when they begin to sing.... when they begin to sing you can see the song turn into worship as they look to the Lord and can see Him in their spiritual eyes. There is joy on their faces, so many with tears in their eyes, as they touch the heart of God and He touches them right back.
When I visited Destiny the first time I was drawn into the worship by the hearts of those singing their heart felt songs for the Lord. They did not just sing a couple of verses and stop to go on to another, they sang their worship unto the Lord until they knew it had reached Heaven's gate, and did not stop until they felt the flow of the beautiful presence of the Lord all around. It is like that each time I go. You can walk into the back door of the church and feel the difference, the presence of the Lord, as if He is waiting for the worship to begin, for He knows that it is coming from hearts and He loves it so. I have felt this in several of the churches I have attended. You just know that the Lord will be present for He cannot stay away from His people worshiping from their hearts and souls. It is the ultimate quality of worship.
Then there is your private worship. How the Lord loves to hear the quietest voice, the one that doesn't think they can sing, but love the Lord so deeply they have to sing out their worship to Him. If they only knew what He hears, it is like the grandest singer on earth singing when that voice reaches up to Him, worshiping as only those who love the Lord so longingly know how. What a beautiful tribute and love offering to our Lord, when you worship Him in your private devotion times, or when you are driving to work, doing your housework, just giving Him your devotion and love, sharing your day with Him, knowing that anything you are doing you just want to have the Lord there with you. Ultimate quality worship, the Lord loves this.
The worship that comes from the one who does not know how they will make ends meet, or the one that is undergoing serious health problems, the widow who is now alone; these hearts that love the Lord passionately and nothing this earth can bring will take them from worshiping the Lord. The Lord is their life, their heart's desire and nothing will stop that beautiful, ultimate quality worship that they must give to God, their Strength and Salvation, their Peace, their Joy.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest Name I know. Lord, let my song reveal the love in my heart, the desires of my soul to be one with You. Draw me close to You, my Lord, as I seek to please only You. Let me come into Your presence, as I worship You with all my heart. I love being Your worshiper, Lord. You could listen to the greatest singers in the world and yet you choose to let me sing for You. I can feel Your heart as I worship You, my Lord, so joyful as You hear Your child's song to You. My God, how I love You. I so desire to express my love for You in just what is pleasing to You. In beauty of song that comes from my heart, in spirit that is longing to be one with You, and with a love that cannot be equaled, producing the ultimate quality of worship.
01-20-12
Thursday, January 19, 2012
ARE WE PREPARED TO RECEIVE OUR LORD?
Malachi 3:1-2a "Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way for Me. And the Lord, Whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in Whom you delight. Behold, He is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears?"
Once again, the Father has shown me just how well He knows His children. He knows that our hearts long for the returning of our Lord Jesus. But He also knows a lot of the longing and desire of some people come from a need to be taken from this world we live in....to relieve the weariness and stress that living here presents to us daily. How many can truthfully say we long for His return just so we can be with Him; just to look into His beautiful eyes with nothing else on our mind, or in our hearts but a true desire for only Him. We have all been guilty, probably many times, in facing a difficulty, or from seeing injustice and sin, have cried out, "Come Lord Jesus, Come". But that cry indicates such a need for ones self to be freed from this world and all it's sinful ways, or to be released from a sick, crippled body, its disease weighing us down, and I so understand this, I am guilty of this myself. But the Lord has shown me, this is not the heart that will draw our Lord down to us.
The Lord God spoke to me last week and said "When My Son comes again it will first be to the hearts of man". I wrote that down on a pad I keep on the vanity in the bathroom. I keep pads of paper all over the house as I try to stop and make notes when the Lord tells me something. I have a tablet on the seat of my car also, He does tell me a lot when I am in the car. We must always be ready for a word from our Lord, especially now as time draws near. But I am wandering now. So as I was getting ready for bed the Lord spoke these words to me and I wrote them down and went to bed. I did not write about it. The Lord does not, I am finding, just give me words to write down and leave alone. So as I did nothing with those words, He again spoke to me this morning, into my spirit, and said "I have prepared for my Son's return for His Bride. Are you prepared to receive Him?"
I knew I was being given an important word for the Bride.
Jesus will first return to us in our hearts. Our hearts have got to be ready to receive Him. If there is any reason we want the Lord to return for us other than the purest love and desire for Him alone, His return will be delayed. Jesus has done everything to make Himself so desirable to us. His gift of love to us on the cross should have been more than enough but He continued to give to us. He sent His blessed Spirit, our Holy Spirit to dwell within our hearts; to guide us in His ways, to convict us of any sin that would hinder our relationship with Him and the Father; to console us as we repent of these sins; and to draw us back into the arms of our Lord once again....spotless and righteous in Jesus. Now our Savior sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us, standing before the Father as the Father sees us through Him, giving us His heirship, making us one with He and the Father.
And in return.....He only wants to be loved, desired, worshiped for Who He is, no other reason. Not for what we want, not for help with our problems, although He does that for us on a daily basis; He only wants to be loved for one reason. He loves us with such a passion, and wants to be loved in the same manner. Just loved, with the purest love.
Search deep into your hearts. Is the love for the Lord Jesus without reservation...without other desires crowding it? When you say to the Lord, "I love You Jesus" does your heart swell to almost bursting as you cannot find the words to express how much you love Him. Can you read the Word of God and not feel His presence all around you as you read of His love, His sacrifice for you? Begin to search your heart, look for anything that should not be there. Ask the Holy Spirit daily to search you for anything that is not pleasing to the Lord, anything not of Him, to be shown to you. Cleanse our hearts daily, Lord, of anything that is not of You, anything that would keep my Lord from desiring me.
When the day of the return of the Lord comes, when every eye, saint and sinner alike, will see him, if you are not ready, not prepared to receive Him, you will miss the most precious moment of time. Only those who have the urgency in their souls, with hearts having an unmatched love, the purest love only for the Lord, unlike any love for anyone else, will know the drawing away with Him.
You must be ready to receive HIm, not letting anyone, anything take your eyes off of Him. Parents, wives, husbands, you cannot allow your families to draw your attention from our Lord. That is part of His coming to your heart first, to assure you there is no worry or concern in a pure love of Jesus. Complete trust must be found in that love. I know a lot of you may not agree here but it has to be, only Jesus must be your hearts desire, your thoughts only of Him. Your eyes cannot leave His to look back. The Lord has told us all that if we give all to Him, including our families, He is faithful to draw them to Himself also. Trust that. Don't let the enemy put doubt in your hearts. You cannot save them, only the Lord can. And He is faithful to do that, He has promised.
Jesus is coming to the hearts of man. Are we prepared to receive Him? Are we prepared to let go of all earthly concerns and worries and rest in Him...give all to Him and just let our hearts be of the purest love...a passionate love.....that same love that Jesus has for us.
Prepare the way for the Lord. Let our hearts be drawn to Him as He comes first to your heart to see if He is what is found there...only Him. He is our peace. He is coming for His Bride...the heart of pure love...for Him alone.
01-19-12
Once again, the Father has shown me just how well He knows His children. He knows that our hearts long for the returning of our Lord Jesus. But He also knows a lot of the longing and desire of some people come from a need to be taken from this world we live in....to relieve the weariness and stress that living here presents to us daily. How many can truthfully say we long for His return just so we can be with Him; just to look into His beautiful eyes with nothing else on our mind, or in our hearts but a true desire for only Him. We have all been guilty, probably many times, in facing a difficulty, or from seeing injustice and sin, have cried out, "Come Lord Jesus, Come". But that cry indicates such a need for ones self to be freed from this world and all it's sinful ways, or to be released from a sick, crippled body, its disease weighing us down, and I so understand this, I am guilty of this myself. But the Lord has shown me, this is not the heart that will draw our Lord down to us.
The Lord God spoke to me last week and said "When My Son comes again it will first be to the hearts of man". I wrote that down on a pad I keep on the vanity in the bathroom. I keep pads of paper all over the house as I try to stop and make notes when the Lord tells me something. I have a tablet on the seat of my car also, He does tell me a lot when I am in the car. We must always be ready for a word from our Lord, especially now as time draws near. But I am wandering now. So as I was getting ready for bed the Lord spoke these words to me and I wrote them down and went to bed. I did not write about it. The Lord does not, I am finding, just give me words to write down and leave alone. So as I did nothing with those words, He again spoke to me this morning, into my spirit, and said "I have prepared for my Son's return for His Bride. Are you prepared to receive Him?"
I knew I was being given an important word for the Bride.
Jesus will first return to us in our hearts. Our hearts have got to be ready to receive Him. If there is any reason we want the Lord to return for us other than the purest love and desire for Him alone, His return will be delayed. Jesus has done everything to make Himself so desirable to us. His gift of love to us on the cross should have been more than enough but He continued to give to us. He sent His blessed Spirit, our Holy Spirit to dwell within our hearts; to guide us in His ways, to convict us of any sin that would hinder our relationship with Him and the Father; to console us as we repent of these sins; and to draw us back into the arms of our Lord once again....spotless and righteous in Jesus. Now our Savior sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us, standing before the Father as the Father sees us through Him, giving us His heirship, making us one with He and the Father.
And in return.....He only wants to be loved, desired, worshiped for Who He is, no other reason. Not for what we want, not for help with our problems, although He does that for us on a daily basis; He only wants to be loved for one reason. He loves us with such a passion, and wants to be loved in the same manner. Just loved, with the purest love.
Search deep into your hearts. Is the love for the Lord Jesus without reservation...without other desires crowding it? When you say to the Lord, "I love You Jesus" does your heart swell to almost bursting as you cannot find the words to express how much you love Him. Can you read the Word of God and not feel His presence all around you as you read of His love, His sacrifice for you? Begin to search your heart, look for anything that should not be there. Ask the Holy Spirit daily to search you for anything that is not pleasing to the Lord, anything not of Him, to be shown to you. Cleanse our hearts daily, Lord, of anything that is not of You, anything that would keep my Lord from desiring me.
When the day of the return of the Lord comes, when every eye, saint and sinner alike, will see him, if you are not ready, not prepared to receive Him, you will miss the most precious moment of time. Only those who have the urgency in their souls, with hearts having an unmatched love, the purest love only for the Lord, unlike any love for anyone else, will know the drawing away with Him.
You must be ready to receive HIm, not letting anyone, anything take your eyes off of Him. Parents, wives, husbands, you cannot allow your families to draw your attention from our Lord. That is part of His coming to your heart first, to assure you there is no worry or concern in a pure love of Jesus. Complete trust must be found in that love. I know a lot of you may not agree here but it has to be, only Jesus must be your hearts desire, your thoughts only of Him. Your eyes cannot leave His to look back. The Lord has told us all that if we give all to Him, including our families, He is faithful to draw them to Himself also. Trust that. Don't let the enemy put doubt in your hearts. You cannot save them, only the Lord can. And He is faithful to do that, He has promised.
Jesus is coming to the hearts of man. Are we prepared to receive Him? Are we prepared to let go of all earthly concerns and worries and rest in Him...give all to Him and just let our hearts be of the purest love...a passionate love.....that same love that Jesus has for us.
Prepare the way for the Lord. Let our hearts be drawn to Him as He comes first to your heart to see if He is what is found there...only Him. He is our peace. He is coming for His Bride...the heart of pure love...for Him alone.
01-19-12
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
ALL IS NOT ALWAYS AS IT SEEMS
John 7:24 "Do not judge according to appearance; but judge with righteous judgment."
I was watching the beginning of the Corrie Ten Boon movie The Hiding Place, and heard the following statement. "Just because a mouse lives in a cookie jar, does not make him a cookie". The Lord began to speak to me concerning this.
It is somewhat grievious to think about this, but the grieving of it's thought does not make it any less true. A lot of people that carry a Bible, go to church, even preach; oh, Lord, do I go here. Yes, I know it is from You, but....well, here I go. Those that love the Lord and abide in His ways will accept this, those that do not, well, this is, you might say, about them. A lot of people that proclaim to be a Christian are only religious. This is not to say that they do not love the Lord. I believe they do, but they dwell in the law, not in the freedom of our Lord Jesus. Have you ever known the hurt inflicted on yourself from church going people? Or the criticism and rejection? I know so many people that have left the church and stopped going all together because of things that have been done to them in church. So many reasons this is done; some think it is their place to "keep all the undesirables out". How this hurts our Lord, as it is these He dwelt among the most. If our churches are only for those that can dress proper, act according to the rules and traditions of the church, sing the proper songs; "don't get into complete worship here, don't sing love songs to our Lord", just keep to the hymnal. There is nothing wrong with the hymnals for they have some beautiful songs in them, heart written songs. But sing these songs with a love in them, with a desire to touch the heart of God with them, not as an anthem with all the notes properly sung, "all together now". Allow folks to drift off in their own special words to the Lord. But, I get off track. I just love to worship my Lord, and have been known to sing my own words to the music.
But much of the hurts inflicted on the children of the Lord, on His people, come from inside our own churches. Just because someone dresses nicely, carries the Word of God, says the right things, preaches with such command of the Word and the English language, does not make them a true Christian, the true meaning of the Word. It makes them religious; it makes them the Head of the church, instead of the servant of the Lord, a shepherd of his sheep placed under him for his care. The same with church leaders, teachers, down to the person that opens the door. I had a lady in the church I grew up in come up to me and tell me my parents needed to be ashamed for allowing my sister to streak her hair. Now this was in the 60's when it was not the thing to do when you were a teenager. You see, however, my sis did not do anything to her hair, it was naturally that way. But instead of this person being a loving spirit, it was done in a very critical way. If you were not dressed just so, you were frowned down on. I don't know exactly what happened, but something did and my daddy took us out of the church. If something was said to him about us kids, that would have been enough for we were well behaved, he was a Deacon and he would have made sure of that. But this is to say, that all those that are looked up to, are not always what they should be on the inside. Not full of the true love of our Lord.
So the mouse is not a cookie just because of where he lives. This is not an easy subject for I am not one to judge anyone. I think the reason I am in this place, thank you Father, is because I have seen some precious children of the Lord terribly hurt by folks in church. I do not want to see anyone not go to church for inflicted hurts by those there who are supposed to be God's hand extended. Let's get our act together folks. If we are going to wear the clothing of a sheep, let's make sure we have the heart of our Lord inside. The heart that loves as we are supposed to, without judgment, without malice, without reservation, but with the heart of our Lord who loves us unconditionally. Let's think before we speak, let the Lord show us the heart of a person before we assume they are not a child of God. We all are the same, remember, but for the grace of God, we are that unwashed one is search of a Savior.
Well, my Father, once again I have my head on the virtual chopping block. But if it costs me friends, well, they were not in You and You probably did not pick them for me. Always let my words be from You, my Lord, not from me. Let the words of my mouth and the love from my heart give encouragement and welcome to those You send my way. Let me be open and honest with all, let me only shine with the Light of Your Love and Your mercy and grace. Let me be exactly what I seem, Your child that loves Your children.
01-18-12
I was watching the beginning of the Corrie Ten Boon movie The Hiding Place, and heard the following statement. "Just because a mouse lives in a cookie jar, does not make him a cookie". The Lord began to speak to me concerning this.
It is somewhat grievious to think about this, but the grieving of it's thought does not make it any less true. A lot of people that carry a Bible, go to church, even preach; oh, Lord, do I go here. Yes, I know it is from You, but....well, here I go. Those that love the Lord and abide in His ways will accept this, those that do not, well, this is, you might say, about them. A lot of people that proclaim to be a Christian are only religious. This is not to say that they do not love the Lord. I believe they do, but they dwell in the law, not in the freedom of our Lord Jesus. Have you ever known the hurt inflicted on yourself from church going people? Or the criticism and rejection? I know so many people that have left the church and stopped going all together because of things that have been done to them in church. So many reasons this is done; some think it is their place to "keep all the undesirables out". How this hurts our Lord, as it is these He dwelt among the most. If our churches are only for those that can dress proper, act according to the rules and traditions of the church, sing the proper songs; "don't get into complete worship here, don't sing love songs to our Lord", just keep to the hymnal. There is nothing wrong with the hymnals for they have some beautiful songs in them, heart written songs. But sing these songs with a love in them, with a desire to touch the heart of God with them, not as an anthem with all the notes properly sung, "all together now". Allow folks to drift off in their own special words to the Lord. But, I get off track. I just love to worship my Lord, and have been known to sing my own words to the music.
But much of the hurts inflicted on the children of the Lord, on His people, come from inside our own churches. Just because someone dresses nicely, carries the Word of God, says the right things, preaches with such command of the Word and the English language, does not make them a true Christian, the true meaning of the Word. It makes them religious; it makes them the Head of the church, instead of the servant of the Lord, a shepherd of his sheep placed under him for his care. The same with church leaders, teachers, down to the person that opens the door. I had a lady in the church I grew up in come up to me and tell me my parents needed to be ashamed for allowing my sister to streak her hair. Now this was in the 60's when it was not the thing to do when you were a teenager. You see, however, my sis did not do anything to her hair, it was naturally that way. But instead of this person being a loving spirit, it was done in a very critical way. If you were not dressed just so, you were frowned down on. I don't know exactly what happened, but something did and my daddy took us out of the church. If something was said to him about us kids, that would have been enough for we were well behaved, he was a Deacon and he would have made sure of that. But this is to say, that all those that are looked up to, are not always what they should be on the inside. Not full of the true love of our Lord.
So the mouse is not a cookie just because of where he lives. This is not an easy subject for I am not one to judge anyone. I think the reason I am in this place, thank you Father, is because I have seen some precious children of the Lord terribly hurt by folks in church. I do not want to see anyone not go to church for inflicted hurts by those there who are supposed to be God's hand extended. Let's get our act together folks. If we are going to wear the clothing of a sheep, let's make sure we have the heart of our Lord inside. The heart that loves as we are supposed to, without judgment, without malice, without reservation, but with the heart of our Lord who loves us unconditionally. Let's think before we speak, let the Lord show us the heart of a person before we assume they are not a child of God. We all are the same, remember, but for the grace of God, we are that unwashed one is search of a Savior.
Well, my Father, once again I have my head on the virtual chopping block. But if it costs me friends, well, they were not in You and You probably did not pick them for me. Always let my words be from You, my Lord, not from me. Let the words of my mouth and the love from my heart give encouragement and welcome to those You send my way. Let me be open and honest with all, let me only shine with the Light of Your Love and Your mercy and grace. Let me be exactly what I seem, Your child that loves Your children.
01-18-12
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
ASKING FOR WHAT IS YOURS
Psalm 16:5 "Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance."
Father, what a wonderful revelation this is. Now what I thought I would be writing about as earlier you gave me something else, but then tonight as I was reading Your Word, You gave me this precious nugget, this Word that secures my heart.
My life, my blessings have already been declared. The Lord has set aside everything He has for me. I see a giant storage facility that has a room for each of God's children, their blessings intact, just waiting for them. I also see some getting pretty dusty, just waiting there. The Word of God says "You have not because you ask not". I believe this means everything from spiritual blessings to earthly blessings. I did not always get this; I guess I was meant somehow to think that the Lord would just give to me even if I said nothing; afterall, He knows my heart, He knows what I need. Our God still likes to be asked. Just as He likes to be told that He is loved, He also likes to be asked for what we desire, what we need. He does know us better than ourselves, and some things asked for will never be given, the Lord knowing this would be harmful to us, and not something that will be for our good. But my treasures are in that storehouse and He is giving them to me, daily. Everything is not of monetary value, but of a far greater value. I cannot imagine my life without the peace that the Lord has given me, or the pure contentment in Him; and what would I be like without the beautiful joy I have been given. The beauty of these things are that each day, they are applied to me again along with His mercy and His unconditional love. Each day, more comes, without fail, it is given me each day. Set aside from before I was born, all these lovely riches, just for me. And His presence. How I ask daily for more of Him, to be one with Him. I ask for peace, I ask for grace. I ask for His love, for His joy. And I ask for His presence, all the time. I have always had this thing about me, you will never know if you do not ask....they may say no....but the answer may be yes. And I have a yes mentality. I believe if I ask, from my heart that loves Him so much, that the answer will be yes. I am learning to ask for many things.
As I have said before, I was raised in church. I knew all the Bible stories, I knew the books of the Bible, I knew what it said, but that is about the extent of my knowledge then. Even as I grew older and read my Bible, it never seemed to come alive. It was words on a page, beautiful, encouraging words, but those words only stayed in my mind. I could tell you what the Word said about different things, but those words never went into my spirit, into my heart. You see, I never asked for the Word to be opened up for me. I did not seek the Lord for those answers in His Word. I did not get the revelations then as I do now. The difference? I ask, I ask my Lord to show me His Word, to open my eyes and let me see what He is telling me. I seek His face, I get right there and ask Him to let me know His heart, know what His Word is saying to me, what His will is for me concerning the things I read, the pictures I now see in the Word, in the Spirit.
I know there are monetary blessings also. I tithe and have for years. I love to give to my Lord. I know a lot of people that use to tithe and do not anymore because they received nothing for it. Wow, can you imagine giving to the Lord and do so for an entitlement you think you have coming. To begin with, it is all the Lord's; He only ask for a portion, a small portion. But this in not about tithing, it is about expecting something because you do. The Lord is faithful to return to us all that we give out of our hearts, out of our love for Him. But if you only give to get back, you will be waiting for nothing a long time. The Lord's storehouse is filled, and He is waiting to bless us all with it's contents, but He wants to give these blessings to hearts that respond to Him out of love, out of reverence to Him, complete devotion to Him. Giving because we want to give back for all He has given to us. And when we do, we do not even have to ask, just need to receive; receive His great blessings.
Worshiping the Lord is the same. When we worship the Lord just for Who He is, He is so pleased. We are worshiping Him without a thought to ourselves. It is our hearts desire to praise Him, to bless Him for all He has done for us, for being our Lord God, being our Father.
So many blessings are available to us, when we ask with a loving heart, a heart that wants to receive from the Father above, that heart being so thankful for the things the Lord has done. When we just thank Him expecting nothing but the closeness of His heart, His love, that is when you will feel the blessings flowing into you, all around you. Pray and ask....if you have a need, ask the Father who loves you dearly. If you are ill and need healing, pray and ask. The Lord gives when it is time. My hardest thing to learn was to wait. I still wait, only now, I wait with anticipation for I know the blessing, the answer is coming, in His time, His perfect time.
My inheritance, my part of the Kingdom, from the Father whom I love so much; who loves me and calls me His own, is flowing to me with the Father's love. I can only pray and ask for more.
01-17-12
Father, what a wonderful revelation this is. Now what I thought I would be writing about as earlier you gave me something else, but then tonight as I was reading Your Word, You gave me this precious nugget, this Word that secures my heart.
My life, my blessings have already been declared. The Lord has set aside everything He has for me. I see a giant storage facility that has a room for each of God's children, their blessings intact, just waiting for them. I also see some getting pretty dusty, just waiting there. The Word of God says "You have not because you ask not". I believe this means everything from spiritual blessings to earthly blessings. I did not always get this; I guess I was meant somehow to think that the Lord would just give to me even if I said nothing; afterall, He knows my heart, He knows what I need. Our God still likes to be asked. Just as He likes to be told that He is loved, He also likes to be asked for what we desire, what we need. He does know us better than ourselves, and some things asked for will never be given, the Lord knowing this would be harmful to us, and not something that will be for our good. But my treasures are in that storehouse and He is giving them to me, daily. Everything is not of monetary value, but of a far greater value. I cannot imagine my life without the peace that the Lord has given me, or the pure contentment in Him; and what would I be like without the beautiful joy I have been given. The beauty of these things are that each day, they are applied to me again along with His mercy and His unconditional love. Each day, more comes, without fail, it is given me each day. Set aside from before I was born, all these lovely riches, just for me. And His presence. How I ask daily for more of Him, to be one with Him. I ask for peace, I ask for grace. I ask for His love, for His joy. And I ask for His presence, all the time. I have always had this thing about me, you will never know if you do not ask....they may say no....but the answer may be yes. And I have a yes mentality. I believe if I ask, from my heart that loves Him so much, that the answer will be yes. I am learning to ask for many things.
As I have said before, I was raised in church. I knew all the Bible stories, I knew the books of the Bible, I knew what it said, but that is about the extent of my knowledge then. Even as I grew older and read my Bible, it never seemed to come alive. It was words on a page, beautiful, encouraging words, but those words only stayed in my mind. I could tell you what the Word said about different things, but those words never went into my spirit, into my heart. You see, I never asked for the Word to be opened up for me. I did not seek the Lord for those answers in His Word. I did not get the revelations then as I do now. The difference? I ask, I ask my Lord to show me His Word, to open my eyes and let me see what He is telling me. I seek His face, I get right there and ask Him to let me know His heart, know what His Word is saying to me, what His will is for me concerning the things I read, the pictures I now see in the Word, in the Spirit.
I know there are monetary blessings also. I tithe and have for years. I love to give to my Lord. I know a lot of people that use to tithe and do not anymore because they received nothing for it. Wow, can you imagine giving to the Lord and do so for an entitlement you think you have coming. To begin with, it is all the Lord's; He only ask for a portion, a small portion. But this in not about tithing, it is about expecting something because you do. The Lord is faithful to return to us all that we give out of our hearts, out of our love for Him. But if you only give to get back, you will be waiting for nothing a long time. The Lord's storehouse is filled, and He is waiting to bless us all with it's contents, but He wants to give these blessings to hearts that respond to Him out of love, out of reverence to Him, complete devotion to Him. Giving because we want to give back for all He has given to us. And when we do, we do not even have to ask, just need to receive; receive His great blessings.
Worshiping the Lord is the same. When we worship the Lord just for Who He is, He is so pleased. We are worshiping Him without a thought to ourselves. It is our hearts desire to praise Him, to bless Him for all He has done for us, for being our Lord God, being our Father.
So many blessings are available to us, when we ask with a loving heart, a heart that wants to receive from the Father above, that heart being so thankful for the things the Lord has done. When we just thank Him expecting nothing but the closeness of His heart, His love, that is when you will feel the blessings flowing into you, all around you. Pray and ask....if you have a need, ask the Father who loves you dearly. If you are ill and need healing, pray and ask. The Lord gives when it is time. My hardest thing to learn was to wait. I still wait, only now, I wait with anticipation for I know the blessing, the answer is coming, in His time, His perfect time.
My inheritance, my part of the Kingdom, from the Father whom I love so much; who loves me and calls me His own, is flowing to me with the Father's love. I can only pray and ask for more.
01-17-12
Monday, January 16, 2012
FIGHTING THE DROUGHT
Genesis 7:18 "The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters."
How many times this past year did your area go through extreme drought. There was just no rain. Some areas would get a little rain but never enough. So many people spent a lot of time and money watering their lawns. As the lack of rain became the norm, the frenzy to water lawns became rampart. Even when there was restricted watering, people would be outside late at night on their day with water hoses in hand, standing out there for however long it took to see that their yard was watered; to keep those lawns wet and healthy, adding fertilizer as needed, so the grass would not die. So their lawns would be green and beautiful, not dry and brittle, withered up. People all over the country were praying for rain for drought stricken areas. When was the last time you asked for prayer, or prayed yourself for rain in your spirit. For the Lord to rain down His glory on you, to bring those waters from the River of Life flowing through your life, into your heart and mind, refreshing your spirit.
What are we doing about keeping our spirits, our hearts and minds healthy. Our bodies are the Temple of the Lord, is this not as important as our lawns? Are our spiritual man not worthy of being kept healthy. Our spirits, when watered daily with the Word of God, are kept healthy and strong. We cannot be prepared for attacks from the enemy, or just the day to day cycle of events that bring us down, that wear on our minds, our bodies. Only by the refreshing of the mind in the Word of God can we have those words ready to defend ourselves from the darts of the enemy, from losing our way. When you leave your spirit, your heart, your mind in a dry, drought infused condition, you can easily be caught up in the fear, the confusion of the world and you will begin to wither, to dry up inside, and you will not be able to stand.
I know, you do not have thirty minutes to spend in the Word each day. But, remember how long it took to water the yard on your day? And you did not miss that day did you? Perhaps you don't have thirty minutes, but a short time in the morning, again at bedtime, you would be amazed at the restoration that short reading in the Word gives to your mind and your heart. Your spirit becomes alive inside and begins to rejoice in the Lord, to sing praises that will come up through your mouth and proclaim outloud of your love of the Lord.
I have a little plastic flower thing at work that a lady brought me. It is solar powered and it just dances along as the light hits it. It has one flower on a stem with two leaves. Really kind of cute. But the reason I am telling you this is that the other day I noticed it was just hardly moving, and I knew it did not need a battery so I picked it up and saw that the area where it received the light source was dusty, so I dusted it off and it began to speed up its movement. The Lord showed me that when we allow our spiritual life to get dusty, dry, we slow down. We have reduced the Light source in our spirits. Our minds and spirits, our hearts need the infusion of God's Word to stay moving, to stay healthy. That is why the Lord gave us His Word, to have a visual guide to keep us strong, to have a place we could go when we have no one near us to give us encourgement and help.....it is in the beautiful Word of God.
Watering your lawn is a good thing, especially when you take such pride in it's appearance. But what about the way you appear. Have you noticed your countenance seeming down, your eyes kind of lifeless? When your spirit is dry, you don't have that beauty as before, that glow.
As our spirits are watered daily with the Word of God, when problems arise, the waters of the Word, that beautiful River of Life that pours into your spirits; those waters of the Word will lift you above the circumstances of life; as you are sheltered in the Ark, our Lord Jesus, you are lifted up to Him; your healthy spirit always knows where to go, where to turn when things get rough.
Thank You, Lord for Your River of Life, the waters of the Word, Your precious Word that gives us strength, encouragement and restoration of our minds and hearts, our spirits. Your Word is life to all that will read and drink of its never ending River.
01-16-12
How many times this past year did your area go through extreme drought. There was just no rain. Some areas would get a little rain but never enough. So many people spent a lot of time and money watering their lawns. As the lack of rain became the norm, the frenzy to water lawns became rampart. Even when there was restricted watering, people would be outside late at night on their day with water hoses in hand, standing out there for however long it took to see that their yard was watered; to keep those lawns wet and healthy, adding fertilizer as needed, so the grass would not die. So their lawns would be green and beautiful, not dry and brittle, withered up. People all over the country were praying for rain for drought stricken areas. When was the last time you asked for prayer, or prayed yourself for rain in your spirit. For the Lord to rain down His glory on you, to bring those waters from the River of Life flowing through your life, into your heart and mind, refreshing your spirit.
What are we doing about keeping our spirits, our hearts and minds healthy. Our bodies are the Temple of the Lord, is this not as important as our lawns? Are our spiritual man not worthy of being kept healthy. Our spirits, when watered daily with the Word of God, are kept healthy and strong. We cannot be prepared for attacks from the enemy, or just the day to day cycle of events that bring us down, that wear on our minds, our bodies. Only by the refreshing of the mind in the Word of God can we have those words ready to defend ourselves from the darts of the enemy, from losing our way. When you leave your spirit, your heart, your mind in a dry, drought infused condition, you can easily be caught up in the fear, the confusion of the world and you will begin to wither, to dry up inside, and you will not be able to stand.
I know, you do not have thirty minutes to spend in the Word each day. But, remember how long it took to water the yard on your day? And you did not miss that day did you? Perhaps you don't have thirty minutes, but a short time in the morning, again at bedtime, you would be amazed at the restoration that short reading in the Word gives to your mind and your heart. Your spirit becomes alive inside and begins to rejoice in the Lord, to sing praises that will come up through your mouth and proclaim outloud of your love of the Lord.
I have a little plastic flower thing at work that a lady brought me. It is solar powered and it just dances along as the light hits it. It has one flower on a stem with two leaves. Really kind of cute. But the reason I am telling you this is that the other day I noticed it was just hardly moving, and I knew it did not need a battery so I picked it up and saw that the area where it received the light source was dusty, so I dusted it off and it began to speed up its movement. The Lord showed me that when we allow our spiritual life to get dusty, dry, we slow down. We have reduced the Light source in our spirits. Our minds and spirits, our hearts need the infusion of God's Word to stay moving, to stay healthy. That is why the Lord gave us His Word, to have a visual guide to keep us strong, to have a place we could go when we have no one near us to give us encourgement and help.....it is in the beautiful Word of God.
Watering your lawn is a good thing, especially when you take such pride in it's appearance. But what about the way you appear. Have you noticed your countenance seeming down, your eyes kind of lifeless? When your spirit is dry, you don't have that beauty as before, that glow.
As our spirits are watered daily with the Word of God, when problems arise, the waters of the Word, that beautiful River of Life that pours into your spirits; those waters of the Word will lift you above the circumstances of life; as you are sheltered in the Ark, our Lord Jesus, you are lifted up to Him; your healthy spirit always knows where to go, where to turn when things get rough.
Thank You, Lord for Your River of Life, the waters of the Word, Your precious Word that gives us strength, encouragement and restoration of our minds and hearts, our spirits. Your Word is life to all that will read and drink of its never ending River.
01-16-12
Sunday, January 15, 2012
THE FOOT OF THE CROSS
2 Corinthians 4:8-11 "We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.....always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh."
Surely we know, as we watch the activity of the enemy in this earth, as we see all the hate that is spreading in this earth, we know that a day will come when we will be persecuted for our love of our Lord; for our devotion for Him. Are you ready for this? Can you stand under the pressure today that coworkers, friends, neighbors put on you for being a Christian. Are you a Christian in name only or are you truly in Christ, in Him? If you are truly seeking to be in the Lord, be one of His own, and you are having a difficult time standing for Him in this day, you will never stand when real persecution comes; when sufferings of beatings, true persecution even to death comes. Is this you? If so, take a walk with me.
Walk with me back to the cross; that naked timbered cross, rough, splintery cross that was a beautiful miracle of our Lord Jesus. We are standing before the cross now. See on the one side, hear the thief blaspheming our Lord; now, look on the other side. The thief with the tears of recognition in his eyes, knowing he is deserving of death, but the Lord was not. Hear him ask to be remembered when the Lord comes into His kingdom? Now look at the cross in the middle. Look closely at this cross......if we have committed our lives to Jesus, to our Lord alone, we are hanging on that cross also.
We have given our all to follow Jesus, we have asked Jesus into our hearts and given Him the keys to each door there, for His cleansing, His deliverance of all that is not of Him. We have received the freedom to live in Him, and ask Him to live through us; in us. If you cannot see yourself hanging on that cross with our Savior, then you need to stay at the foot of the cross and ask the Lord to search your heart and expose what is there that is keeping you from being crucified with Him; ask Him to show you the way, the answer, the miracle of the cross.
The miracle of the cross.....this beautiful miracle; the act in which our Savior bore all our sins, all our infirmities; taking upon Himself ever evil act we ever did, every evil thought that would ever enter our mind, all sin then, now and in the future, He bore it all. He gave all so we could have this beautiful relationship with the Father; so we could be free to live in Him, live beautiful, peaceful lives in Him. It is this miracle, this beautiful act of love that will sustain us when persecutions come. It is His strength and His peace that will allow us to stand and proclaim that we are His; it is His joy that will let us look beyond what is being done to us and see that cross, and know that no matter what happens, we can see the end result of all persecution.....eternal life in Him, in Glory.
We are not our own after we are crucified to self, when we have gone to the cross and the Lord has performed this miracle in us; dying to self, living in Him. Old things are gone, the old wine skin has been replaced with a new wine skin that will stretch and conform to the sweet, pure wine of the Spirit that will flow through us. We take on the beauty of the Lord, our contenance will reflect His, and our hearts will be yielded to His will in our lives.
As you stand at the foot of the cross, searching your hearts, seeking the Lord for His touch, His precious touch on your life, to make that difference, give all to Him, all that is within you, surrender to Him. Let Him give you life in Him. It is the only way you will be able to stand in the days to come. If you are afraid, go back to the foot of the cross; if you have doubts of whether you are saved, go back to the foot of the cross. Go there and remember what happened that day, see on that cross, the Lamb of God, the Sacrifice given for our sin; remembr the resurrected Savior that reigns on High, constantly, daily pouring out His mercy and grace upon us, cleansing us each day of all unrighteousness, so we may be made one with the Father. Think on these things; search His Word, the answers are all there.
In Christ, we will not be crushed, we will not be forsaken, we will not be destroyed....We will live, we will win the battle, we will win the war. We will reign with Him on High.
Father, when we feel dismayed, when we struggle, take us, Lord, back to the foot of the cross, for a time of reflection, let us always remember the sacrifice of our Jesus; let us know that this precious miracle, the cleansing of sin from our lives, was for always. No turning back; no turning back. I have decided to follow Jesus...who will go with me.....who will go with me....
Surely we know, as we watch the activity of the enemy in this earth, as we see all the hate that is spreading in this earth, we know that a day will come when we will be persecuted for our love of our Lord; for our devotion for Him. Are you ready for this? Can you stand under the pressure today that coworkers, friends, neighbors put on you for being a Christian. Are you a Christian in name only or are you truly in Christ, in Him? If you are truly seeking to be in the Lord, be one of His own, and you are having a difficult time standing for Him in this day, you will never stand when real persecution comes; when sufferings of beatings, true persecution even to death comes. Is this you? If so, take a walk with me.
Walk with me back to the cross; that naked timbered cross, rough, splintery cross that was a beautiful miracle of our Lord Jesus. We are standing before the cross now. See on the one side, hear the thief blaspheming our Lord; now, look on the other side. The thief with the tears of recognition in his eyes, knowing he is deserving of death, but the Lord was not. Hear him ask to be remembered when the Lord comes into His kingdom? Now look at the cross in the middle. Look closely at this cross......if we have committed our lives to Jesus, to our Lord alone, we are hanging on that cross also.
We have given our all to follow Jesus, we have asked Jesus into our hearts and given Him the keys to each door there, for His cleansing, His deliverance of all that is not of Him. We have received the freedom to live in Him, and ask Him to live through us; in us. If you cannot see yourself hanging on that cross with our Savior, then you need to stay at the foot of the cross and ask the Lord to search your heart and expose what is there that is keeping you from being crucified with Him; ask Him to show you the way, the answer, the miracle of the cross.
The miracle of the cross.....this beautiful miracle; the act in which our Savior bore all our sins, all our infirmities; taking upon Himself ever evil act we ever did, every evil thought that would ever enter our mind, all sin then, now and in the future, He bore it all. He gave all so we could have this beautiful relationship with the Father; so we could be free to live in Him, live beautiful, peaceful lives in Him. It is this miracle, this beautiful act of love that will sustain us when persecutions come. It is His strength and His peace that will allow us to stand and proclaim that we are His; it is His joy that will let us look beyond what is being done to us and see that cross, and know that no matter what happens, we can see the end result of all persecution.....eternal life in Him, in Glory.
We are not our own after we are crucified to self, when we have gone to the cross and the Lord has performed this miracle in us; dying to self, living in Him. Old things are gone, the old wine skin has been replaced with a new wine skin that will stretch and conform to the sweet, pure wine of the Spirit that will flow through us. We take on the beauty of the Lord, our contenance will reflect His, and our hearts will be yielded to His will in our lives.
As you stand at the foot of the cross, searching your hearts, seeking the Lord for His touch, His precious touch on your life, to make that difference, give all to Him, all that is within you, surrender to Him. Let Him give you life in Him. It is the only way you will be able to stand in the days to come. If you are afraid, go back to the foot of the cross; if you have doubts of whether you are saved, go back to the foot of the cross. Go there and remember what happened that day, see on that cross, the Lamb of God, the Sacrifice given for our sin; remembr the resurrected Savior that reigns on High, constantly, daily pouring out His mercy and grace upon us, cleansing us each day of all unrighteousness, so we may be made one with the Father. Think on these things; search His Word, the answers are all there.
In Christ, we will not be crushed, we will not be forsaken, we will not be destroyed....We will live, we will win the battle, we will win the war. We will reign with Him on High.
Father, when we feel dismayed, when we struggle, take us, Lord, back to the foot of the cross, for a time of reflection, let us always remember the sacrifice of our Jesus; let us know that this precious miracle, the cleansing of sin from our lives, was for always. No turning back; no turning back. I have decided to follow Jesus...who will go with me.....who will go with me....
Saturday, January 14, 2012
THE BANQUET TABLE OF THE LORD
Isaiah 55:2 "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance."
I have some books by Jeanne Guyon that she wrote about The Song of Songs, the precious song of the Bride and her Love. As I was reading a section of it late last night, it referenced Isaiah 55:2. When I read the scripture, the Lord began to speak to me concerning this Word, and what He wanted me to know about it. I felt He would have me share this with you.
We spend a lot of money trying to find pleasure, trying to discover something that will satisfy the need we all feel at a time or so, trying to make ourselves feel better about situations. It has never worked for me, what about you? This last year I have been trying to do better about my spending; not always successful, but it is a learning thing and the Lord is working with me about it. But this word from my Lord was not truly about what I was spending in dollars as much as what I was spending in time, in interest, in true dedication. What energy and activity was I spending, investing in, and to what was I receiving from it.
He showed me His Word, my most favorite reading in the world. He showed me that when I read His Word, it was an open invitation to me, to absorb all that this precious Book offers, it was likened to eating at a buffet. You know how a buffet has different sections set up, salads, entrees, sides, desserts? Well, the Lord showed me His Word, an extraordinary guide of everything that I would ever need for my life. There is a wonderful section in Psalms that gives my heart such pleasure as it leads toward the lifting up of my Lord, worshiping Him, offering all my praises to Him, thanksgiving for what He has done and is doing for me. The Gospels give me true revelation into the life of my Lord, the miracles He performed, how to pray, how to live a fulfilled life that does not need sin, does not need the ways of the world to make me happy. Acts gives and gives the workings of the Holy Spirit, direction for our ministries here on earth and continues on through with Paul's wonderful teachings on living in the ways of our Savior. The Old Testament, the Prophets, show us clearly how God was with them, leading them, using them to deliver His messages to a sin-stricken world, what His punishment would be, and how He would restore them if they would just return to Him, worship Him alone. He showed me He uses His children in the same manner today, if they are obedient and listen for His voice.
There is never a time in our life when we cannot find the answers for what is going on in our lives, the answers to healing, heartbreaks, hope, peace, joy. It is all there. O God, my God, You knew everything we would need and supplied it all for us before we were ever born. It has been this way through the generations. Do you believe that the Bible is the Inspired Word of God? Do you get the knowing down in your spirit each time you read the Word of God, new revelation that the Lord is speaking to you, communicating with you on a level you can understand? I realize there are things in the Bible that are hard to understand, but I know when the Word, when certain passages are revealed to me, put in just the manner that my mind can understand, when this happens, it sticks with me, it sinks in deep within my soul, it is etched on my mind for eternity. If all things were understandable at one time, I don't believe anyone could handle all of it at one time. I have seen one verse turn it's meaning to me depending on what situation I was going through. The Word of God brings a satisfication like one cannot imagine if they are not spending time in that beautiful Book.
The Lord showed me I could eat at the Lord's Table. He showed me His Banquet Table was His Word. That as I read His Word, it would be as if I were sitting at a table with Him, with Him reaching over and placing food (parts of His Word) into my mouth, into my spirit. Choice parts, the very best there is, put into me through His direction, by His hand, so I could know just what He wanted to share with me that certain moment. Close your eyes for a moment, see the Lord at a beautiful, filled table with all the delicacies of the earth, see Him picking up a highly valued piece of meat and placing it into your mouth, and now He tells you to chew slowly, to savor each bite of flavor that comes as it dissolves in your mouth and into your body. Can you feel that food going into your body and filling you with strength, it is so tasty you lick your lips to get the last of the savory treat. That, my Lord God showed me was His feeding us His Word as we read it, as we have prayed and asked for His illumination of the scripture to us. We are eating at the Banquet Table of the Lord with the beautiful food that He has prepared for us to eat, as He feeds us bit by bit, as He lets each bite dissolve into our spirit and mind, our hearts receiving the words of His love and grace.
My Jesus, I never want to get up from this Table of Life. Thank You, my Lord, for loving me. Thank You for being with me, for filling me with Your wise and wonderful Word, for the thoughts You have of me, for preparing my mind, my heart to receive this food for life.
I need to here, draw attention, to the section of the Lord's Buffet where the Book of Revelation is placed. A section I will liken to the dessert section, for it is here that the sweetness comes alive. You disagree, I can feel, as you read this. So much is going to happen, a lot of bad things, hard things to come. But look at this as when you see the dessert section, you know if you eat here, you will perhaps gain weight, feel bad from overindulging; so many things cross your mind to keep you from eating here; but look beyond the thoughts of evil and terror that will cause persecution of the Lord's children, look beyond what will befall the earth, and look at the beauty of this Table. Do you see it on the far side? Yes, it is there, what culminates the ending of a grand dinner, the sweet, sweet taste of our King, the revealing of His beautiful Words, "I am coming, I am coming soon."
Eat and be filled. Eat what is good, let your delight in it's abundant fullness, and digest the Word of God. Let your heart long for that beautiful dessert, that sweet, sweet knowledge of our King Jesus, Who is coming, coming soon for me, for you, His Bride.
01-14-12
I have some books by Jeanne Guyon that she wrote about The Song of Songs, the precious song of the Bride and her Love. As I was reading a section of it late last night, it referenced Isaiah 55:2. When I read the scripture, the Lord began to speak to me concerning this Word, and what He wanted me to know about it. I felt He would have me share this with you.
We spend a lot of money trying to find pleasure, trying to discover something that will satisfy the need we all feel at a time or so, trying to make ourselves feel better about situations. It has never worked for me, what about you? This last year I have been trying to do better about my spending; not always successful, but it is a learning thing and the Lord is working with me about it. But this word from my Lord was not truly about what I was spending in dollars as much as what I was spending in time, in interest, in true dedication. What energy and activity was I spending, investing in, and to what was I receiving from it.
He showed me His Word, my most favorite reading in the world. He showed me that when I read His Word, it was an open invitation to me, to absorb all that this precious Book offers, it was likened to eating at a buffet. You know how a buffet has different sections set up, salads, entrees, sides, desserts? Well, the Lord showed me His Word, an extraordinary guide of everything that I would ever need for my life. There is a wonderful section in Psalms that gives my heart such pleasure as it leads toward the lifting up of my Lord, worshiping Him, offering all my praises to Him, thanksgiving for what He has done and is doing for me. The Gospels give me true revelation into the life of my Lord, the miracles He performed, how to pray, how to live a fulfilled life that does not need sin, does not need the ways of the world to make me happy. Acts gives and gives the workings of the Holy Spirit, direction for our ministries here on earth and continues on through with Paul's wonderful teachings on living in the ways of our Savior. The Old Testament, the Prophets, show us clearly how God was with them, leading them, using them to deliver His messages to a sin-stricken world, what His punishment would be, and how He would restore them if they would just return to Him, worship Him alone. He showed me He uses His children in the same manner today, if they are obedient and listen for His voice.
There is never a time in our life when we cannot find the answers for what is going on in our lives, the answers to healing, heartbreaks, hope, peace, joy. It is all there. O God, my God, You knew everything we would need and supplied it all for us before we were ever born. It has been this way through the generations. Do you believe that the Bible is the Inspired Word of God? Do you get the knowing down in your spirit each time you read the Word of God, new revelation that the Lord is speaking to you, communicating with you on a level you can understand? I realize there are things in the Bible that are hard to understand, but I know when the Word, when certain passages are revealed to me, put in just the manner that my mind can understand, when this happens, it sticks with me, it sinks in deep within my soul, it is etched on my mind for eternity. If all things were understandable at one time, I don't believe anyone could handle all of it at one time. I have seen one verse turn it's meaning to me depending on what situation I was going through. The Word of God brings a satisfication like one cannot imagine if they are not spending time in that beautiful Book.
The Lord showed me I could eat at the Lord's Table. He showed me His Banquet Table was His Word. That as I read His Word, it would be as if I were sitting at a table with Him, with Him reaching over and placing food (parts of His Word) into my mouth, into my spirit. Choice parts, the very best there is, put into me through His direction, by His hand, so I could know just what He wanted to share with me that certain moment. Close your eyes for a moment, see the Lord at a beautiful, filled table with all the delicacies of the earth, see Him picking up a highly valued piece of meat and placing it into your mouth, and now He tells you to chew slowly, to savor each bite of flavor that comes as it dissolves in your mouth and into your body. Can you feel that food going into your body and filling you with strength, it is so tasty you lick your lips to get the last of the savory treat. That, my Lord God showed me was His feeding us His Word as we read it, as we have prayed and asked for His illumination of the scripture to us. We are eating at the Banquet Table of the Lord with the beautiful food that He has prepared for us to eat, as He feeds us bit by bit, as He lets each bite dissolve into our spirit and mind, our hearts receiving the words of His love and grace.
My Jesus, I never want to get up from this Table of Life. Thank You, my Lord, for loving me. Thank You for being with me, for filling me with Your wise and wonderful Word, for the thoughts You have of me, for preparing my mind, my heart to receive this food for life.
I need to here, draw attention, to the section of the Lord's Buffet where the Book of Revelation is placed. A section I will liken to the dessert section, for it is here that the sweetness comes alive. You disagree, I can feel, as you read this. So much is going to happen, a lot of bad things, hard things to come. But look at this as when you see the dessert section, you know if you eat here, you will perhaps gain weight, feel bad from overindulging; so many things cross your mind to keep you from eating here; but look beyond the thoughts of evil and terror that will cause persecution of the Lord's children, look beyond what will befall the earth, and look at the beauty of this Table. Do you see it on the far side? Yes, it is there, what culminates the ending of a grand dinner, the sweet, sweet taste of our King, the revealing of His beautiful Words, "I am coming, I am coming soon."
Eat and be filled. Eat what is good, let your delight in it's abundant fullness, and digest the Word of God. Let your heart long for that beautiful dessert, that sweet, sweet knowledge of our King Jesus, Who is coming, coming soon for me, for you, His Bride.
01-14-12
Friday, January 13, 2012
POUR MY LOVE ON YOU
Psalm 9: 1 "I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart, I will tell of Your marvelous works."
Let the words of my song
The words that rise from my heart
The words that have stirred in my spirit
The words that have formed from my adoration of You.
The words that come from my thanksgiving for the things You have done for me
Let these words flow out in a song
A song of pure love, of sweet repose
To You, my King.
Let my love be a song that touches Your heart
Be pleased my Lord
As I pour my love on You.
Your Word has told me of Your great love for me
Your Spirit has made known to me of Your unending faithfulness
Your Presence has touched my very soul
With longing for more of You.
Let me reach Your heart with my worship
Let me touch Your sweet, sweet heart
With the words that come flowing from my heart
With love for only You.
Let me stay with You, my King
Let me stay in Your Presence
Let me know I am Your delight
As I pour my love on You.
Forever and ever, I will worship You alone
My song will rise in the early morning
And be a soothing sound to You at night
Inhabit my heart, let it be Your dwelling place
As I continually seek to behold Your lovely, beautiful face.
My Lord, can You see how much I love You
Search my heart, my soul
Let me sit at Your feet and sing my song
As I pour my love on You.
01-13-12
Let the words of my song
The words that rise from my heart
The words that have stirred in my spirit
The words that have formed from my adoration of You.
The words that come from my thanksgiving for the things You have done for me
Let these words flow out in a song
A song of pure love, of sweet repose
To You, my King.
Let my love be a song that touches Your heart
Be pleased my Lord
As I pour my love on You.
Your Word has told me of Your great love for me
Your Spirit has made known to me of Your unending faithfulness
Your Presence has touched my very soul
With longing for more of You.
Let me reach Your heart with my worship
Let me touch Your sweet, sweet heart
With the words that come flowing from my heart
With love for only You.
Let me stay with You, my King
Let me stay in Your Presence
Let me know I am Your delight
As I pour my love on You.
Forever and ever, I will worship You alone
My song will rise in the early morning
And be a soothing sound to You at night
Inhabit my heart, let it be Your dwelling place
As I continually seek to behold Your lovely, beautiful face.
My Lord, can You see how much I love You
Search my heart, my soul
Let me sit at Your feet and sing my song
As I pour my love on You.
01-13-12
Thursday, January 12, 2012
HE IS COMING !!!
Revelation 1:7-8 "Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End." says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."
As I looked to the sky this morning; I always do this with the anticipation and hope, the desire of my heart, and ask "will this be the day, Father?" Today I felt the Lords excitement and His desire as He looked to the Father to ask, "Will this be the day, the day I can go receive my Bride?" I can feel His excitement building as He waits on the Father, as He waits for that moment in time when He will mount up on that beautiful stallion and gather the saints together. Can you feel the anticipation of the saints in glory as they know the day is drawing near; as they realize that the time is coming nearer and nearer when they will accompany the King of Kings on that glorious day breaking through the clouds.
This morning there were but a few clouds scattered across the sun lit blue sky. The enemy was quick here to tell me that it would not be today as there were no dark clouds, no clouds for Him to come through, but I don't pay attention to him anymore. He is such a liar. If he calls me foolish, I know right off he is trying to distract me from my Lord; from thinking of Him.
I know that my God can darken the sky in a minute; in a single breath it can go from light to complete darkness with clouds hanging over every part of the earth. Black clouds putting dread and fear into the hearts of all that do not know the Lord, and some even that do know Him but have been living a lie. You might wonder about their living a lie, why I used this term. I believe that everyone that has been redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus, but for some reason have turned from Him; they are living a lie. They are living a life that is not meant to be. Their life, once redeemed by the blood of the precious Lamb of God, is in the Lord. But some use their ministry, their gifts, their words to try and impress man, not using them for the Lord's glory; and thus, are living a lie. It is not the life they are to be living. These people will fear the darkness. But the children, the ones of the Lord that are walking in His Light, that are in the midst of His Presence; those that have given their devotion to the Lord and are waiting....praying.....anticipating this day; they will see the dark clouds and begin to rejoice; they will begin to praise His Holy Name, and begin to shout His precious Name....Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
I know I cannot think of that glorious day without tears of joy rising up in my eyes. How beautiful; how very beautiful is my Lord. Can you feel the beauty of His Presence in your spirit? Can you see the beauty of His face in your spirit? Can you smell the fragrance of His love?
Get ready, dear saints of God; children of the Most High. Prepare yourselves, make ready. Prepare the way of the Lord. HE IS COMING....HE IS COMING.....HALLELUJAH TO THE LAMB OF GOD.
As I looked to the sky this morning; I always do this with the anticipation and hope, the desire of my heart, and ask "will this be the day, Father?" Today I felt the Lords excitement and His desire as He looked to the Father to ask, "Will this be the day, the day I can go receive my Bride?" I can feel His excitement building as He waits on the Father, as He waits for that moment in time when He will mount up on that beautiful stallion and gather the saints together. Can you feel the anticipation of the saints in glory as they know the day is drawing near; as they realize that the time is coming nearer and nearer when they will accompany the King of Kings on that glorious day breaking through the clouds.
This morning there were but a few clouds scattered across the sun lit blue sky. The enemy was quick here to tell me that it would not be today as there were no dark clouds, no clouds for Him to come through, but I don't pay attention to him anymore. He is such a liar. If he calls me foolish, I know right off he is trying to distract me from my Lord; from thinking of Him.
I know that my God can darken the sky in a minute; in a single breath it can go from light to complete darkness with clouds hanging over every part of the earth. Black clouds putting dread and fear into the hearts of all that do not know the Lord, and some even that do know Him but have been living a lie. You might wonder about their living a lie, why I used this term. I believe that everyone that has been redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus, but for some reason have turned from Him; they are living a lie. They are living a life that is not meant to be. Their life, once redeemed by the blood of the precious Lamb of God, is in the Lord. But some use their ministry, their gifts, their words to try and impress man, not using them for the Lord's glory; and thus, are living a lie. It is not the life they are to be living. These people will fear the darkness. But the children, the ones of the Lord that are walking in His Light, that are in the midst of His Presence; those that have given their devotion to the Lord and are waiting....praying.....anticipating this day; they will see the dark clouds and begin to rejoice; they will begin to praise His Holy Name, and begin to shout His precious Name....Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
I know I cannot think of that glorious day without tears of joy rising up in my eyes. How beautiful; how very beautiful is my Lord. Can you feel the beauty of His Presence in your spirit? Can you see the beauty of His face in your spirit? Can you smell the fragrance of His love?
Get ready, dear saints of God; children of the Most High. Prepare yourselves, make ready. Prepare the way of the Lord. HE IS COMING....HE IS COMING.....HALLELUJAH TO THE LAMB OF GOD.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
DIMINISHING SPIRIT
1 Thessalonians 5:19 "Do not quench the Spirit."
Father, I pray You will guide me, give me the words I need to make this Yours alone; to bring Light to those You are seeking to reach, wanting to teach. Let me be a vessel for Your Glory alone.
The Lord gave me this word yesterday as I was reading the Bible off the app I have on my phone. I was not sure just where He wanted me to go with it so I looked up the word diminish in the dictionary. Dimish - to make or become less; reduce; decrease. I thought, well, okay, I can see where this may go, but then I looked below the definition and saw the opposite meanings: worship, exalt, lift up. There were more but these seemed to be highlighted in bold. And I understood.
When I go to church, there is such a wonderful expectation of the Presence of the Lord. I walk through the back doors, walk down the aisle and sit second chair, second row, each step an excitement knowing that soon worship will begin and the Lord will make it known that He is in the sanctuary. I am never disappointed, for He comes. Almost as soon as the worship begins to fill the room, you can feel His Presence. There is a beautiful awareness of His Spirit. You can't miss knowing He is there. Worship rises and fills the room, such a freedom of rejoicing in His Presence, crying out to Him, telling Him how much He is loved, praising His goodness, His faithfulness. The Glory of God reigns in that sanctuary.
I have been in churches, where the people are precious, hearts loving the Lord, but there is not worship, there is singing for a few minutes and then on with the program. Now, please understand, I am not saying this to put down any service, I am only being obedient to the Lord. These people, when they leave the service, they are same as when they came in. They feel no different. Perhaps it was lack of expectation on their part, but the Lord is telling me it was the lack of worship. I have been there, I know the feeling when I leave, the grievous feeling as I have felt my spirit just dying inside me. Where, upon leaving a service, one's spirit should be excited, still worshiping, rejoicing in the Lord; instead, it is slowly going down. Where to put the blame, you might say? You might say leadership, but I have seen the pastor worshiping, exhorting the people to praise the Lord, to worship and glorify the Father, to no avail. Some people are just not free; not free of their religious past. They love the Lord but they just cannot break free to openly worship and praise the Lord. The Lord so wants this to be changed. I don't think many recognize what is happening. I guess they have been so use to going home with the same feelings of "well, that was a good service; where are we eating" routines, that they don't notice each time that there is less and less of expectations of the Lord's presence.
I so wish I was not chosen to write these things but I am nothing at all for my Lord if I cannot be obedient to what He tells me to do. If I were to quench this Spirit in me, then I would find my spirit diminishing also. I would slowly begin to lose the knowledge of the Presence of my beautiful Lord if I were to pick and choose what to write from His words to me. You know, in essence, all we have that we can offer to our Holy God, our Creator, our Faithful Father, is our love and our obedience to His call on our life; we truly have nothing else that He desires. You see it is out of our love, out of our obedience to Him that our true praise comes from. We can sing songs all day long but if they are not coming from hearts of love; true, passionate, obedient love for Him, all they are are songs. They will never become worship no matter how loud, how long we sing.
I long to be the child of God that He knows He can use in anyway He choses. I desire to be the one He knows He can call on to give a word to one, or in this fashion to many, and not be worried about it it will make people like me or hate me; or to think I am somewhat off center. I don't care what you think of me.....you know, that takes a lot for me to say that; I can remember when it meant a great deal to me what people thought of me....to the point where that became a god to me. Man more important to me than my Lord God. But no more, thank You, Father for Your mercy; my Lord is the most important thing in my life and it is to Him I owe everything. I may not always get it right, and I don't. But I know if I do what He asks me to do, keep myself out of it, my will becoming diminished and His will being exalted and lifted up then I will be doing what He desires, what pleases Him.
Children of God.....prepare yourselves for church. Leave all your problems at the house when you leave for services, yes...it is easier than you think. Put on beautiful worship music to play in the car on the way, and walk into service with expectation, knowing that when you worship the Lord, He will be in the service with you. Don't pay any attention to what your neighbor next to you is doing on your row, just lift up your voice with words and songs from your heart and love on the Lord. Let yourself become free to worship the Lord. Who are you worrying about? Who might hear you sing off key? You may forget some of the words? Fill it in with words from your heart, it is for the Lord's ears alone. Worship the Lord, exalt Him, lift up the Name of Jesus. Song leader not wanting to go there....don't worry about him or her, let the Lord take care of that. I promise you, when the children of God begin to worship Him in spirit and truth, from hearts filled with love for Him, the ones on the platform will come along. They have been waiting a long time to hear the choir of God's children worship the Lord.
Father, I love You. I pray the spirits of Your children will begin to increase in expectation of visits from You as they begin to worship and adore You. I pray that their spirits will begin to long for Your presence and take You with them as they leave services. No more diminishing spirits. The only thing that will diminish is their will as they become obedient chidren of Your will.
01-11-12
Father, I pray You will guide me, give me the words I need to make this Yours alone; to bring Light to those You are seeking to reach, wanting to teach. Let me be a vessel for Your Glory alone.
The Lord gave me this word yesterday as I was reading the Bible off the app I have on my phone. I was not sure just where He wanted me to go with it so I looked up the word diminish in the dictionary. Dimish - to make or become less; reduce; decrease. I thought, well, okay, I can see where this may go, but then I looked below the definition and saw the opposite meanings: worship, exalt, lift up. There were more but these seemed to be highlighted in bold. And I understood.
When I go to church, there is such a wonderful expectation of the Presence of the Lord. I walk through the back doors, walk down the aisle and sit second chair, second row, each step an excitement knowing that soon worship will begin and the Lord will make it known that He is in the sanctuary. I am never disappointed, for He comes. Almost as soon as the worship begins to fill the room, you can feel His Presence. There is a beautiful awareness of His Spirit. You can't miss knowing He is there. Worship rises and fills the room, such a freedom of rejoicing in His Presence, crying out to Him, telling Him how much He is loved, praising His goodness, His faithfulness. The Glory of God reigns in that sanctuary.
I have been in churches, where the people are precious, hearts loving the Lord, but there is not worship, there is singing for a few minutes and then on with the program. Now, please understand, I am not saying this to put down any service, I am only being obedient to the Lord. These people, when they leave the service, they are same as when they came in. They feel no different. Perhaps it was lack of expectation on their part, but the Lord is telling me it was the lack of worship. I have been there, I know the feeling when I leave, the grievous feeling as I have felt my spirit just dying inside me. Where, upon leaving a service, one's spirit should be excited, still worshiping, rejoicing in the Lord; instead, it is slowly going down. Where to put the blame, you might say? You might say leadership, but I have seen the pastor worshiping, exhorting the people to praise the Lord, to worship and glorify the Father, to no avail. Some people are just not free; not free of their religious past. They love the Lord but they just cannot break free to openly worship and praise the Lord. The Lord so wants this to be changed. I don't think many recognize what is happening. I guess they have been so use to going home with the same feelings of "well, that was a good service; where are we eating" routines, that they don't notice each time that there is less and less of expectations of the Lord's presence.
I so wish I was not chosen to write these things but I am nothing at all for my Lord if I cannot be obedient to what He tells me to do. If I were to quench this Spirit in me, then I would find my spirit diminishing also. I would slowly begin to lose the knowledge of the Presence of my beautiful Lord if I were to pick and choose what to write from His words to me. You know, in essence, all we have that we can offer to our Holy God, our Creator, our Faithful Father, is our love and our obedience to His call on our life; we truly have nothing else that He desires. You see it is out of our love, out of our obedience to Him that our true praise comes from. We can sing songs all day long but if they are not coming from hearts of love; true, passionate, obedient love for Him, all they are are songs. They will never become worship no matter how loud, how long we sing.
I long to be the child of God that He knows He can use in anyway He choses. I desire to be the one He knows He can call on to give a word to one, or in this fashion to many, and not be worried about it it will make people like me or hate me; or to think I am somewhat off center. I don't care what you think of me.....you know, that takes a lot for me to say that; I can remember when it meant a great deal to me what people thought of me....to the point where that became a god to me. Man more important to me than my Lord God. But no more, thank You, Father for Your mercy; my Lord is the most important thing in my life and it is to Him I owe everything. I may not always get it right, and I don't. But I know if I do what He asks me to do, keep myself out of it, my will becoming diminished and His will being exalted and lifted up then I will be doing what He desires, what pleases Him.
Children of God.....prepare yourselves for church. Leave all your problems at the house when you leave for services, yes...it is easier than you think. Put on beautiful worship music to play in the car on the way, and walk into service with expectation, knowing that when you worship the Lord, He will be in the service with you. Don't pay any attention to what your neighbor next to you is doing on your row, just lift up your voice with words and songs from your heart and love on the Lord. Let yourself become free to worship the Lord. Who are you worrying about? Who might hear you sing off key? You may forget some of the words? Fill it in with words from your heart, it is for the Lord's ears alone. Worship the Lord, exalt Him, lift up the Name of Jesus. Song leader not wanting to go there....don't worry about him or her, let the Lord take care of that. I promise you, when the children of God begin to worship Him in spirit and truth, from hearts filled with love for Him, the ones on the platform will come along. They have been waiting a long time to hear the choir of God's children worship the Lord.
Father, I love You. I pray the spirits of Your children will begin to increase in expectation of visits from You as they begin to worship and adore You. I pray that their spirits will begin to long for Your presence and take You with them as they leave services. No more diminishing spirits. The only thing that will diminish is their will as they become obedient chidren of Your will.
01-11-12
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