Psalm 4:6 "Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?" Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord."
So often, he never misses a chance, the enemy just pops thoughts of tomorrow, next week, next month, next year in my mind and question mark after question mark. What will happen, what will you do if....., so many scenerios....but God. I have gotten to where when these thoughts come into my mind, I quickly put them out and call on the Holy Spirit to once again guard my mind from these thoughts. I don't know what will happen tomorrow, much less next week. We all make plans for the future, next week, next month. We make appointments, we set reunions, we plan vacations, it is what we do, it is a natural thing. We pray that all goes the way we would like it to, but we don't have any knowledge of what will happen tomorrow. But God.
I don't know what is going to happen tomorrow, but I know the One who does. My God knows what will happen in my future. He has each moment of each day planned out for each of us. Yes, I know, I at one time questioned, how can it be that God can have plans for each one of His children, so many of us.....especially when so many have a hard time keeping up with the schedules of their two or three children and God has so very many. But He does keep up with each of us. Each detail of our day is planned out to bless us and to glorify His Name. I don't question that fact, I just know in my heart that He is exactly what His Word says He is, and He is what He has shown me, what I have witnessed.
God is El Roi, the God who sees me. Everything I do is seen by my Father. There is never a day that goes by that He is not paying close attention to everything that goes on around me. He is on constant watch to lift me immediately out of harm's way.
Yahweh Shammah, my God is there. Always there when I call on Him, I know He is there. He never leaves us alone, never forsakes us no matter how we behave, He is there. Sometimes I feel Him so close, so very close.
All I know is that my Lord, my Father knows what tomorrow holds for me. It is His vision for my life that I have to follow. I trust in Him. In order to follow, not knowing what the path holds, it is so important to trust completely. You cannot get on a plane to fly somewhere and half way there begin to doubt if the plane can get you to your destination. You got on that plane trusting that it would take you to where you were going. Strange don't you think, that so many people that will trust that plane, will not give their complete trust to our Lord who never lets us down. But then you might say, well, you can see the plane, but you can not see God. Well that is true, you can't see God, but when you love the Lord and have sought Him, have spent time with Him and received His touch on your life.... you know He is with you, you can feel His presence. I don't know how to convince you to trust the Lord for the vision He has for your life...I don't have the words, and it is not my place to do this. The Word of God has the words that tell you of His faithfulness, His promises. The Holy Spirit will lead you in the path, in the vision the Lord has for you if you just submit yourself to Him and release all your cares and worries to Him.
My Adonay, my Lord, my Master. I trust You with all my life. You are so holy, Lord, so holy. There is none like You, Father. When I think of how You care for me, how precious You have shown me that I was in Your sight; as I catch the vision You have for me, I am simply.... there are no words for my feelings right now. I only know that I have never loved You more than at this moment and I know that my love for You will be even greater tomorrow. My love grows for You with each thought of You, with each thought of Your goodness and grace on my life. I worship You, my God. I worship You with love, I worship You with reverence, I worship You with all that is in me. Let me see only You my God, and let Your vision keep me with You always.
03-31-12
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
PERSEVERING PIGIONS
1 Thessalonians 1:4 "Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring."
There are a number of pigeons that stay around the shopping strip where my office is located. Two of these pigeons have made their home in the signage for my office and have been nesting there for months. When I first noticed them, it was a number of months ago. Two of them, male and female, were in the sign, in between the letters and were building a nest. They would fly down and find some twigs and go back. As I would come in and out of my office I could hear them cooing and singing their thanks to the Lord for their provision. After a few weeks I could see the eggs in the nest when I got far enough from it. There was always one of the pigeons there. My boss saw the nest and told me to have it removed and I told him I could not, there were eggs there. So nothing was done and I saw new life emerge from that nest. It wasn't long after that some men came along and knocked the nest out of the sign.
A few weeks ago, these pigeons were back and began to make their nest again. Back and forth, twigs in beaks they continued their work. And yesterday, I noticed twigs all over the sidewalk and realized that the nest had been knocked out of the sign again. All their work, once again destroyed.
How like these pigeons true worshipers are. We stand on faith, we build our hope, our lives on our Rock, our foundation, our Lord. Things happen and we get knocked down. But there is a difference between being knocked down and knocked out. The Lord reaches out His hand and lifts us up and he places us back where we belong....on the Rock of our salvation. He restores our spirits and renews our faith, stronger now because of the trials, stronger because we, once again, have seen, are witnesses to, His great love and His faithfulness. We persevere, not giving up, for we know in Whom we believe, we know that this place, this territory is where the Lord has placed us. Like these pigeons, whose place, whose home is that sign, the place the Lord has given them. So we get up, the Lord brushing us off, cleansing all that grime that the enemy has left on us, and we continue the battle, knowing that this place, this territory is going to be a place of victory for the Lord and we are His army, His mighty army.
Lord, let me be like these precious pigeons. They know the place you have made for them and they will return again and again to rebuild their nest, established in You, never forsaking, never waivering to get the job done, to give birth to new life. Father, let me continually yield to you. Let my life be a light to give new birth to those who are seeking You. Let me be a witness to Your faithfulness. Let me persevere in accomplishing the work you have for me. No matter how many times the enemy knocks me down, I know Your hand will be reaching for mine, Your voice telling me "Arise, my love, come unto Me, I will give you rest, I will restore You, I will set you on my Rock, I will put peace in your soul, I will set your feet to dancing.....Rejoice in Me....My persevering child, My worshiper."
03-30-12
There are a number of pigeons that stay around the shopping strip where my office is located. Two of these pigeons have made their home in the signage for my office and have been nesting there for months. When I first noticed them, it was a number of months ago. Two of them, male and female, were in the sign, in between the letters and were building a nest. They would fly down and find some twigs and go back. As I would come in and out of my office I could hear them cooing and singing their thanks to the Lord for their provision. After a few weeks I could see the eggs in the nest when I got far enough from it. There was always one of the pigeons there. My boss saw the nest and told me to have it removed and I told him I could not, there were eggs there. So nothing was done and I saw new life emerge from that nest. It wasn't long after that some men came along and knocked the nest out of the sign.
A few weeks ago, these pigeons were back and began to make their nest again. Back and forth, twigs in beaks they continued their work. And yesterday, I noticed twigs all over the sidewalk and realized that the nest had been knocked out of the sign again. All their work, once again destroyed.
How like these pigeons true worshipers are. We stand on faith, we build our hope, our lives on our Rock, our foundation, our Lord. Things happen and we get knocked down. But there is a difference between being knocked down and knocked out. The Lord reaches out His hand and lifts us up and he places us back where we belong....on the Rock of our salvation. He restores our spirits and renews our faith, stronger now because of the trials, stronger because we, once again, have seen, are witnesses to, His great love and His faithfulness. We persevere, not giving up, for we know in Whom we believe, we know that this place, this territory is where the Lord has placed us. Like these pigeons, whose place, whose home is that sign, the place the Lord has given them. So we get up, the Lord brushing us off, cleansing all that grime that the enemy has left on us, and we continue the battle, knowing that this place, this territory is going to be a place of victory for the Lord and we are His army, His mighty army.
Lord, let me be like these precious pigeons. They know the place you have made for them and they will return again and again to rebuild their nest, established in You, never forsaking, never waivering to get the job done, to give birth to new life. Father, let me continually yield to you. Let my life be a light to give new birth to those who are seeking You. Let me be a witness to Your faithfulness. Let me persevere in accomplishing the work you have for me. No matter how many times the enemy knocks me down, I know Your hand will be reaching for mine, Your voice telling me "Arise, my love, come unto Me, I will give you rest, I will restore You, I will set you on my Rock, I will put peace in your soul, I will set your feet to dancing.....Rejoice in Me....My persevering child, My worshiper."
03-30-12
Thursday, March 29, 2012
GOD SEEKERS
Isaiah 58:2 "Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching God."
I can remember a time when I thought I knew so much, I thought I was so close to the Lord. I can imagine the Lord getting quite a laugh at that one. I believe He finds His children so funny at times when we think so much of ourselves. I can honestly say, I believe I have come to know that I really do not know much at all. The Lord is smiling at this and I am joining Him.
Each day I know I grow closer to my God, my Father. This I know is a good thing, to recognize that I am growing closer, as the alternative is growing farther apart. Been there, will never go back there. I never want to leave the arms of my Father, ever again. But I want to know Him more. I want to grow closer and closer to Him, to know the desires of His heart, to feel His desires in my spirit, to know that I please Him more and more.
I look for my Lord everywhere and I find Him everywhere. Our Lord is everywhere, if we just look, expecting Him. He is found any place that love abounds, that charity is extended, and that true worship is loosened, given freely, praise flowing up to the Heavens.....He will be there, drinking in the exaltation of His Name. He will be in that place where someone calls out His Name in love and He will be found with His hand extended to that one calling on Him in repentance, seeking His mercy and salvation.
Our Lord is found when one's heart is filled with passion for Him alone, when knowing Him becomes an obsession, the deepest desire of one's heart, He is there. When rejoicing in the miracles that only come from His throne, a new baby's cry or the healing of a loved one that restores life, our God is found.
Seeking the Lord is not a part time thing. The true worshiper seeks the Lord at all times, with all their heart; they will not cease until they know they have entered into His presence, into His court, into His heart. I will never stop loving You my Lord, and I will always seek after You. I want Your fullness in my life; I want to experience wave after wave of the flow of Your Spirit as You draw me to You, as I come into Your presence singing my songs of love, my words of worship that flow from my heart to You. I want to be known as the worshiper that seeks to draw Your eyes down to her, draw Your heart close to hers, that desires to be one with You. I want to be known as a God seeker, Your beloved daughter. I love You so my Lord, I love You so.
03-29-12
I can remember a time when I thought I knew so much, I thought I was so close to the Lord. I can imagine the Lord getting quite a laugh at that one. I believe He finds His children so funny at times when we think so much of ourselves. I can honestly say, I believe I have come to know that I really do not know much at all. The Lord is smiling at this and I am joining Him.
Each day I know I grow closer to my God, my Father. This I know is a good thing, to recognize that I am growing closer, as the alternative is growing farther apart. Been there, will never go back there. I never want to leave the arms of my Father, ever again. But I want to know Him more. I want to grow closer and closer to Him, to know the desires of His heart, to feel His desires in my spirit, to know that I please Him more and more.
I look for my Lord everywhere and I find Him everywhere. Our Lord is everywhere, if we just look, expecting Him. He is found any place that love abounds, that charity is extended, and that true worship is loosened, given freely, praise flowing up to the Heavens.....He will be there, drinking in the exaltation of His Name. He will be in that place where someone calls out His Name in love and He will be found with His hand extended to that one calling on Him in repentance, seeking His mercy and salvation.
Our Lord is found when one's heart is filled with passion for Him alone, when knowing Him becomes an obsession, the deepest desire of one's heart, He is there. When rejoicing in the miracles that only come from His throne, a new baby's cry or the healing of a loved one that restores life, our God is found.
Seeking the Lord is not a part time thing. The true worshiper seeks the Lord at all times, with all their heart; they will not cease until they know they have entered into His presence, into His court, into His heart. I will never stop loving You my Lord, and I will always seek after You. I want Your fullness in my life; I want to experience wave after wave of the flow of Your Spirit as You draw me to You, as I come into Your presence singing my songs of love, my words of worship that flow from my heart to You. I want to be known as the worshiper that seeks to draw Your eyes down to her, draw Your heart close to hers, that desires to be one with You. I want to be known as a God seeker, Your beloved daughter. I love You so my Lord, I love You so.
03-29-12
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
VALLEY OF DECISION
Ezekiel 37:1 "The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones."
Have you ever had a period of time when you felt like you were in a valley, not a lush valley where rivers flow, but a dry place, a place where trials have pushed you further and further down the mountain until you are virtually laying in the bottom of this valley, looking up. I am lying here now looking up. I feel like the enemy's choir has been standing around me singing of my demise, rejoicing over my situation. So many nights now, no true rest, feeling like my pillow is my enemy instead of my friend. But these nights as I lay awake, I am praying, letting the Spirit of my Lord rise up and pray for me, as I don't know what else to say. I am not one to pray over myself, I never have been much for bringing myself before my God to ask for myself. I have always prayed for others, with only asking for myself on occasion. So, I find myself not knowing how to ask for me. I believe one of the enemy's greatest tools is convincing ourselves if we pray for ourselves that we lack faith, that we are telling the Lord that He has failed us, that He is not taking care of us, keeping His promises. And I also believe sometimes pride comes on us, telling us that the Lord knows of our needs, He will supply them. But I realize there is so much I do not know of my Lord's ways. I know He likes us to come to Him with all our needs, to ask, not to assume. And tonight I will be asking, I will be asking for His sweet rest for me.
Questioning my God is something I have not done in years. I refuse to ask my Lord why? I do not know His thoughts, His ways, thought I have been blessed to know His heart on so many occasions. I have asked the Lord to show me His heart, and He has. Seeing my Lord's heart has been very grievous at times, and other times so truly joyful and melodious. But I have not asked Him why I have not slept well, nor why I have had tests and so many trials at this time. And some may find this wrong, but I will not ask Him why. I will instead let His will be done in my life and continue to trust Him in everything.
In this valley, as in ones I have been in before, I know there is but one answer. There is a decision here. No matter how dry it feels, how loud the enemy's shouts get over me, I will exercise my faith and get up. I will not lay here in self pity, a time of "woe is me", but I will still, always, sing praises to my God, my King. I will sing from my heart as I lay here because I know my songs of worship will draw my Lord to me and He will lift me up. He will slay all those rejoicing over my weariness and He will pour His strength into me. His love will surround me and His rich, lush voice will whisper to me, "Arise, my love", as His hand takes mine and draws me to Him. Right now, this moment, I feel my Lord drawing me to His breast, laying my head upon His shoulder and telling me that I will rest this night in Him. My faith is in my God, this is not a hard decision for me. I will always trust my Lord, no matter where I find myself, mountaintop or valley, I trust in God, my God.
As I rise up, I look around me. All of satan's friends have disappeared for at the very sound of my Master's voice, they tremble and hide. But I see bones lying on the dry surface of this valley. When I read the scripture the Lord gave me for this, I could see these bones of those whose decision was not to continue trusting the Lord, they gave up, they simply gave up. So many get tired of trying and trying, of running the race, of walking the narrow road and when things come at them that they cannot control, instead of giving it to the Lord, looking to Him, continuing to trust Him in all things, they just give up and dry up inside. But, friends, it does not have to be this way. Even when you feel you are so dried up, the Lord, our God, will breath fresh life into you. Let your faith arise, let your trust in our Lord draw you up, call on His Name and He will come to you and draw you to Him as He is me. He wills for none of us to fall away. Don't be like I have been, thinking I should not pray for myself. Lift your heart to the Lord, ask Him for your rest, ask the Holy Spirit to flame that faith up within you and remember your first Love. Continue to worship and praise the Lord in all things.
Our valleys can be a learning ground. The Lord has things to teach us, to bring us to a better understanding of His ways, His will. I can see that as I submit to Him, holding on to Him with faith, trusting Him, that I learn more and am drawn closer to Him. Valleys do not have to be a frightening experience if we just remember that we are not alone there, the Lord is with us, and He will bring us through to the other side, we will be walking up the mountainside with Him as He teaches us, as He draws us to His side with His love and faithfulness.
I have decided to trust my Lord in all things. I have learned that my God is so faithful, He loves me so much and He has nothing but blessings and His very best in store for me. In God I trust, in my Father I trust. Pappa, I trust You in all things.
03-28-12
Have you ever had a period of time when you felt like you were in a valley, not a lush valley where rivers flow, but a dry place, a place where trials have pushed you further and further down the mountain until you are virtually laying in the bottom of this valley, looking up. I am lying here now looking up. I feel like the enemy's choir has been standing around me singing of my demise, rejoicing over my situation. So many nights now, no true rest, feeling like my pillow is my enemy instead of my friend. But these nights as I lay awake, I am praying, letting the Spirit of my Lord rise up and pray for me, as I don't know what else to say. I am not one to pray over myself, I never have been much for bringing myself before my God to ask for myself. I have always prayed for others, with only asking for myself on occasion. So, I find myself not knowing how to ask for me. I believe one of the enemy's greatest tools is convincing ourselves if we pray for ourselves that we lack faith, that we are telling the Lord that He has failed us, that He is not taking care of us, keeping His promises. And I also believe sometimes pride comes on us, telling us that the Lord knows of our needs, He will supply them. But I realize there is so much I do not know of my Lord's ways. I know He likes us to come to Him with all our needs, to ask, not to assume. And tonight I will be asking, I will be asking for His sweet rest for me.
Questioning my God is something I have not done in years. I refuse to ask my Lord why? I do not know His thoughts, His ways, thought I have been blessed to know His heart on so many occasions. I have asked the Lord to show me His heart, and He has. Seeing my Lord's heart has been very grievous at times, and other times so truly joyful and melodious. But I have not asked Him why I have not slept well, nor why I have had tests and so many trials at this time. And some may find this wrong, but I will not ask Him why. I will instead let His will be done in my life and continue to trust Him in everything.
In this valley, as in ones I have been in before, I know there is but one answer. There is a decision here. No matter how dry it feels, how loud the enemy's shouts get over me, I will exercise my faith and get up. I will not lay here in self pity, a time of "woe is me", but I will still, always, sing praises to my God, my King. I will sing from my heart as I lay here because I know my songs of worship will draw my Lord to me and He will lift me up. He will slay all those rejoicing over my weariness and He will pour His strength into me. His love will surround me and His rich, lush voice will whisper to me, "Arise, my love", as His hand takes mine and draws me to Him. Right now, this moment, I feel my Lord drawing me to His breast, laying my head upon His shoulder and telling me that I will rest this night in Him. My faith is in my God, this is not a hard decision for me. I will always trust my Lord, no matter where I find myself, mountaintop or valley, I trust in God, my God.
As I rise up, I look around me. All of satan's friends have disappeared for at the very sound of my Master's voice, they tremble and hide. But I see bones lying on the dry surface of this valley. When I read the scripture the Lord gave me for this, I could see these bones of those whose decision was not to continue trusting the Lord, they gave up, they simply gave up. So many get tired of trying and trying, of running the race, of walking the narrow road and when things come at them that they cannot control, instead of giving it to the Lord, looking to Him, continuing to trust Him in all things, they just give up and dry up inside. But, friends, it does not have to be this way. Even when you feel you are so dried up, the Lord, our God, will breath fresh life into you. Let your faith arise, let your trust in our Lord draw you up, call on His Name and He will come to you and draw you to Him as He is me. He wills for none of us to fall away. Don't be like I have been, thinking I should not pray for myself. Lift your heart to the Lord, ask Him for your rest, ask the Holy Spirit to flame that faith up within you and remember your first Love. Continue to worship and praise the Lord in all things.
Our valleys can be a learning ground. The Lord has things to teach us, to bring us to a better understanding of His ways, His will. I can see that as I submit to Him, holding on to Him with faith, trusting Him, that I learn more and am drawn closer to Him. Valleys do not have to be a frightening experience if we just remember that we are not alone there, the Lord is with us, and He will bring us through to the other side, we will be walking up the mountainside with Him as He teaches us, as He draws us to His side with His love and faithfulness.
I have decided to trust my Lord in all things. I have learned that my God is so faithful, He loves me so much and He has nothing but blessings and His very best in store for me. In God I trust, in my Father I trust. Pappa, I trust You in all things.
03-28-12
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
PERCEIVED EXPECTATIONS
John 7:24 "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment."
Have you had a good day today? I pray it was blessed. This morning as I was reading the Word, spending a little time with the Father, not first thing as it was rushed, had an appointment, but afterwards when there was time to visit with Him. I was thinking of some friends and what was expected of them. Or rather, let me say, what is perceived expectation.
So many of us live under the burden of perceived expectations. We were raised with the idea that we were to behave just as was expected, without waivering. First our parents who had the responsibility of bringing up to be accepted into society with grace and love. They were tasked with the job of making sure we knew how to behave, how to act and how to work hard and be successful. There is nothing wrong with that, we all do that with our own children as parents want their children to be loved and accepted, and successful.
After childhood, when we are grown, we, most of us, get married and again live under perceived expectations. Our spouses have certain expectations of us, but to be fair, so do we. But this still can become a burden as we try to live up to what someone expects of us. Our jobs, our churches, our friends, all have expectations of us, and we of them.
The worse offender of this however, is ourselves. We, due to the continued life of expectations, are hardest on ourselves, as we begin to judge ourselves on the quality of how we fulfill these expectations that others have on us and now that we put on ourselves. What a nightmare we can make for ourselves trying to keep up with this, until sometimes it is only the appearance of ones self while the inner self is just a shell of what it should be.
Thank You, Lord. This morning the Lord showed me that He has no perceived expectations of me or of you. He accepts us just as we are, warts and all. In all our imperfection, He loves us, He accepts us. Our God does not expect us to be anything other than His creation, and there is nothing that He wants us to be but that. Just who we are in Him. We can be tired, we can be silly, we can do or not do, we are still loved by our Father. There is but one thing He asks of us, He asks us to love Him with all our hearts....that is it. See, in loving with our whole heart, we will desire to spend as much time with Him as we can, and that delights our Lord so. When we love the Lord with all our hearts, we will fear Him reverently, and we will follow His commands as that is what you do when you love so much. So He just asks for His love to be returned. He expects nothing more as He knows in our love we will give all, in our true, deep love for Him.
The Lord wants us to let go of all the perceived expectations that are hindering us from giving our time to Him. He wants us to stop being so busy doing what everyone else expects us to do and just give ourselves to Him. When those around us see how filled with peace and joy we are from our time with the Lord, they will only desire to have what we have, all other expectations gone. If they are not, the Lord will take care of those things. Do what the Lord draws you to and He will make all roads straight and smooth. He will keep you in perfect harmony with the world as you are deep in Him. He will change your circumstances to harmonize with the place He has set you. He makes everything come to agreement with His plan for you, for me.
How great is our God. No expectations of us, just desiring of our love and our devotion to Him. Thank You Lord, for Your precious love, for Your peace and joy that you freely give us. With You, we can expect beauty for ashes, joy for sorrow, and peace for unrest. Our expectations of You will always be true as Your promises are forever. Precious Lord, my wonderful God, thank You.
03-27-12
Have you had a good day today? I pray it was blessed. This morning as I was reading the Word, spending a little time with the Father, not first thing as it was rushed, had an appointment, but afterwards when there was time to visit with Him. I was thinking of some friends and what was expected of them. Or rather, let me say, what is perceived expectation.
So many of us live under the burden of perceived expectations. We were raised with the idea that we were to behave just as was expected, without waivering. First our parents who had the responsibility of bringing up to be accepted into society with grace and love. They were tasked with the job of making sure we knew how to behave, how to act and how to work hard and be successful. There is nothing wrong with that, we all do that with our own children as parents want their children to be loved and accepted, and successful.
After childhood, when we are grown, we, most of us, get married and again live under perceived expectations. Our spouses have certain expectations of us, but to be fair, so do we. But this still can become a burden as we try to live up to what someone expects of us. Our jobs, our churches, our friends, all have expectations of us, and we of them.
The worse offender of this however, is ourselves. We, due to the continued life of expectations, are hardest on ourselves, as we begin to judge ourselves on the quality of how we fulfill these expectations that others have on us and now that we put on ourselves. What a nightmare we can make for ourselves trying to keep up with this, until sometimes it is only the appearance of ones self while the inner self is just a shell of what it should be.
Thank You, Lord. This morning the Lord showed me that He has no perceived expectations of me or of you. He accepts us just as we are, warts and all. In all our imperfection, He loves us, He accepts us. Our God does not expect us to be anything other than His creation, and there is nothing that He wants us to be but that. Just who we are in Him. We can be tired, we can be silly, we can do or not do, we are still loved by our Father. There is but one thing He asks of us, He asks us to love Him with all our hearts....that is it. See, in loving with our whole heart, we will desire to spend as much time with Him as we can, and that delights our Lord so. When we love the Lord with all our hearts, we will fear Him reverently, and we will follow His commands as that is what you do when you love so much. So He just asks for His love to be returned. He expects nothing more as He knows in our love we will give all, in our true, deep love for Him.
The Lord wants us to let go of all the perceived expectations that are hindering us from giving our time to Him. He wants us to stop being so busy doing what everyone else expects us to do and just give ourselves to Him. When those around us see how filled with peace and joy we are from our time with the Lord, they will only desire to have what we have, all other expectations gone. If they are not, the Lord will take care of those things. Do what the Lord draws you to and He will make all roads straight and smooth. He will keep you in perfect harmony with the world as you are deep in Him. He will change your circumstances to harmonize with the place He has set you. He makes everything come to agreement with His plan for you, for me.
How great is our God. No expectations of us, just desiring of our love and our devotion to Him. Thank You Lord, for Your precious love, for Your peace and joy that you freely give us. With You, we can expect beauty for ashes, joy for sorrow, and peace for unrest. Our expectations of You will always be true as Your promises are forever. Precious Lord, my wonderful God, thank You.
03-27-12
Monday, March 26, 2012
THE GIFT
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death,but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
I was reading a book this morning, early, at the start of my day, and was reading about the "gifts of the spirit". I was thinking about this, and began to think of the birth of my Savior, how I believed it to be the greatest gift we have ever received. I have felt this for such a long time, and never felt another thought. This morning, however, as I was thinking on this, the Lord spoke into my spirit and told me that the birth of my Savior was not the gift, but the promise of the gift and Jesus' death was the gift, the real gift. I don't know how you respond to things like this, but I was so taken back by this fact and as I thought about it, it is so true.
When Jesus was born, He came to earth as a sign (how a sign is perceived depends upon what is intended or expressed) of God's intent to restore His children to Himself. He wanted to have a relationship with His children so deeply that He sent His only Son down to earth to bring salvation to us. The promise of salvation came with Jesus. But not until His death, the crucifixion of our Lord, was the gift manifested. When Jesus died, descended into hell and rose victorious, conquering death, and breaking all chains that would bind us in sin, releasing us from the fear infested bonds of the enemy, of our thoughts, and He gave to us the gift of God, eternal life.
That precious gift is available to all that come to a saving knowledge of our Lord, Jesus Christ. To all that recognize His death, His resurrection and His presence in the Throne Room of God, seated at the right hand of the Father. Eternal life is ours, no one can take it from us. The price was paid in full at Calvary and just as no one can separate us from the love of God, no one can take away the gift of God, eternal life.
Lord, I thank You for revealing the truth of Your Word to me. Things I have thought for years are being shattered by the truth revealed by the Holy Spirit as I read Your Word and study. I ask Father, that You continue to put aside all the notions I grew up with, learned in religion, taken for granted that what I thought was true, and make known to me the unfabricated, total truth of Your Word. Let me know, reveal to me, the secrets contained in those beautiful words You inspired so long ago. Those precious words have never changed as Your Word is true and You never change, You are always the same and Your Word will endure forever.
I love You my God, I love You so much. Your Promise, Your Son, how I love You Jesus, given so freely to all Your children making possible for Your Gift to bring us back to You. Your Gift, eternal life.
03-26-12
I was reading a book this morning, early, at the start of my day, and was reading about the "gifts of the spirit". I was thinking about this, and began to think of the birth of my Savior, how I believed it to be the greatest gift we have ever received. I have felt this for such a long time, and never felt another thought. This morning, however, as I was thinking on this, the Lord spoke into my spirit and told me that the birth of my Savior was not the gift, but the promise of the gift and Jesus' death was the gift, the real gift. I don't know how you respond to things like this, but I was so taken back by this fact and as I thought about it, it is so true.
When Jesus was born, He came to earth as a sign (how a sign is perceived depends upon what is intended or expressed) of God's intent to restore His children to Himself. He wanted to have a relationship with His children so deeply that He sent His only Son down to earth to bring salvation to us. The promise of salvation came with Jesus. But not until His death, the crucifixion of our Lord, was the gift manifested. When Jesus died, descended into hell and rose victorious, conquering death, and breaking all chains that would bind us in sin, releasing us from the fear infested bonds of the enemy, of our thoughts, and He gave to us the gift of God, eternal life.
That precious gift is available to all that come to a saving knowledge of our Lord, Jesus Christ. To all that recognize His death, His resurrection and His presence in the Throne Room of God, seated at the right hand of the Father. Eternal life is ours, no one can take it from us. The price was paid in full at Calvary and just as no one can separate us from the love of God, no one can take away the gift of God, eternal life.
Lord, I thank You for revealing the truth of Your Word to me. Things I have thought for years are being shattered by the truth revealed by the Holy Spirit as I read Your Word and study. I ask Father, that You continue to put aside all the notions I grew up with, learned in religion, taken for granted that what I thought was true, and make known to me the unfabricated, total truth of Your Word. Let me know, reveal to me, the secrets contained in those beautiful words You inspired so long ago. Those precious words have never changed as Your Word is true and You never change, You are always the same and Your Word will endure forever.
I love You my God, I love You so much. Your Promise, Your Son, how I love You Jesus, given so freely to all Your children making possible for Your Gift to bring us back to You. Your Gift, eternal life.
03-26-12
Sunday, March 25, 2012
I'M PART OF THE WHOLE
1 Corinthians 12:20 "As it is, there are many parts, but one body."
I am precious in His sight. My Father loves me, loves me passionately. He made me with a real purpose in mind. I was not just by chance. I will live to fulfil His plan for me.
No matter what others think of me, what I have in the past thought of myself, I am precious in the sight of my Father. He has gone to extreme lengths to make sure I could come to Him, abide in Him and He in me. There is no way that the Lord God, my Father, will let anything come between me and Him. He loves me, He has always loved me, and He always will. The love He feels for me would surprise so many as they do not understand this kind of love. I was made with a special purpose, a real divine plan, set apart for just this time in my life to follow the will of my Lord and He will see that all His plans for me for completed before I stand before Him in Heaven.
Now, my friends, read that and apply that statement to yourself. It is applicable to each of us. For every child of God that has come to Him, been drawn to Him by the Holy Spirit, it is applicable. Each of us has a purpose in this earth. We are each a part of the whole, which is the body of Christ. We need to understand that we have each, our own purpose. No matter what we feel we would like to do, if it is not the purpose for which the Lord made us, it will not work. We have to completely submit to God's will for our lives, and then we can fit in the body where we were designed to fit.
How beautiful it is when we fit together so perfectly. When we come together in unity, each of us sliding in next to the other, fit perfectly as pieces of a puzzle with the love of our Lord gluing us together, we make one beautiful body, one Holy body, one body befitting our place in Jesus. Jesus left us with instructions just how we were to become what was set in motion for our lives. No matter what we do, it is important to take care of the body. If we truly love like the Lord tells us to, then we will make sure the rest of the body is lifted up daily, prayed for, and loved with the love of God. We will not be shunning parts of the body when they do something we don't understand, or if they fail to live up to our expectations. We must remember if a part of the body is sick, we need to take care of that part and do everything in our power to bring health back to it. The Word tells us if one part of the body suffers, we all suffer. So in order to keep healthy, we must do what it takes to bring restoration to that part that is suffering. Love, kindness, understanding, patience. Whatever the Lord brings us to we must do. Not for self, but for the complete body which is in Christ Jesus.
I delight in being a part of the body of Christ. Doesn't the thought of being a part of the most beautiful plan of creation thrill you? What a wonderful God we have, to make such a plan and let us be a part of it. He does not need us to fulfill His plan for mankind, He wants us to be a part. We are precious to Him and He wants to include us in on His plans. Don't understand what your part is? Seek the Lord, wait on Him, spend time with Him....He will love to have you with Him and He wants to share His plans with you, with us all. Give your heart, your mind, your will to the Lord for His use and experience the wonderful placement of yourself in the body. You will be welcomed by all of us who love the Lord and are waiting to love you.
Father, I believe in You. I trust Your plan for my life and I walk in faith each day, according to Your Word, knowing that You will never let go of me. Knowing that You have just the right placement for me in the body of Christ, and knowing with Your love, You will glue me in and never let me go. I will join in with my brothers and sisters, join in the body of Christ, where I belong.....thank You, Father, thank You with all my love.
03-25-12
I am precious in His sight. My Father loves me, loves me passionately. He made me with a real purpose in mind. I was not just by chance. I will live to fulfil His plan for me.
No matter what others think of me, what I have in the past thought of myself, I am precious in the sight of my Father. He has gone to extreme lengths to make sure I could come to Him, abide in Him and He in me. There is no way that the Lord God, my Father, will let anything come between me and Him. He loves me, He has always loved me, and He always will. The love He feels for me would surprise so many as they do not understand this kind of love. I was made with a special purpose, a real divine plan, set apart for just this time in my life to follow the will of my Lord and He will see that all His plans for me for completed before I stand before Him in Heaven.
Now, my friends, read that and apply that statement to yourself. It is applicable to each of us. For every child of God that has come to Him, been drawn to Him by the Holy Spirit, it is applicable. Each of us has a purpose in this earth. We are each a part of the whole, which is the body of Christ. We need to understand that we have each, our own purpose. No matter what we feel we would like to do, if it is not the purpose for which the Lord made us, it will not work. We have to completely submit to God's will for our lives, and then we can fit in the body where we were designed to fit.
How beautiful it is when we fit together so perfectly. When we come together in unity, each of us sliding in next to the other, fit perfectly as pieces of a puzzle with the love of our Lord gluing us together, we make one beautiful body, one Holy body, one body befitting our place in Jesus. Jesus left us with instructions just how we were to become what was set in motion for our lives. No matter what we do, it is important to take care of the body. If we truly love like the Lord tells us to, then we will make sure the rest of the body is lifted up daily, prayed for, and loved with the love of God. We will not be shunning parts of the body when they do something we don't understand, or if they fail to live up to our expectations. We must remember if a part of the body is sick, we need to take care of that part and do everything in our power to bring health back to it. The Word tells us if one part of the body suffers, we all suffer. So in order to keep healthy, we must do what it takes to bring restoration to that part that is suffering. Love, kindness, understanding, patience. Whatever the Lord brings us to we must do. Not for self, but for the complete body which is in Christ Jesus.
I delight in being a part of the body of Christ. Doesn't the thought of being a part of the most beautiful plan of creation thrill you? What a wonderful God we have, to make such a plan and let us be a part of it. He does not need us to fulfill His plan for mankind, He wants us to be a part. We are precious to Him and He wants to include us in on His plans. Don't understand what your part is? Seek the Lord, wait on Him, spend time with Him....He will love to have you with Him and He wants to share His plans with you, with us all. Give your heart, your mind, your will to the Lord for His use and experience the wonderful placement of yourself in the body. You will be welcomed by all of us who love the Lord and are waiting to love you.
Father, I believe in You. I trust Your plan for my life and I walk in faith each day, according to Your Word, knowing that You will never let go of me. Knowing that You have just the right placement for me in the body of Christ, and knowing with Your love, You will glue me in and never let me go. I will join in with my brothers and sisters, join in the body of Christ, where I belong.....thank You, Father, thank You with all my love.
03-25-12
Saturday, March 24, 2012
THERE IS NO "I" IN JESUS
John 6:38 "For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me."
This has been a nice late afternoon for me. I sat down and read a new book, only 80 pages, but it was so heart touching. I guess you might say I read and cried myself through the 80 pages, and will probably read it again tomorrow. The book tells of John the Baptist, Jesus and our God. And this will not be about the book. I just mentioned it as I came away from the reading with one thing residing in my spirit. There is no "I" in Jesus.
Jesus never made any reference to Himself in the things He did on earth. It was all done, from His birth to His death at the will of His Father, our God, and to glorify the Father. All for His Father, nothing was done to draw the spotlight to Himself. He never promoted Himself, it was all His God that was the reason behind everything done. To do the will of His Father, to bring glory to His Father and to do things that pleased His Father.
We are the children of God, the precious, beloved children of God. Yes, I know, it is so hard for us to think of ourselves, our carnal natured selves, as precious and beloved. We know we are the children of God but it is time to put facts into our spirits. Our carnal nature has been redeemed, yes, there will still be times we fail, that we sin, but we have One who we can come to, who will forgive us, cleanse us in His blood that still flows over us with His mercy and grace and because of His grace, we are righteous before our Father, our God. Our Lord God loves us with a passion that would put the great romantics to shame in this world. I don't even think there has been a true definition for passion, the way the Lord loves us. We are precious in His sight as He sees us through the blood of His Beloved Son, He only sees pure and innocent when He sees us, His precious, beloved children.
There is no "I" in Jesus. There was not for Him and there should not be for us. Everything we do should be done with only One in mind, that we do in the Name of Jesus for our God. We worship our Father, we give our lives for the One who gave us life. In our role in the Lord's ministry, whether you are a pastor, worship leader, teacher, secretary, bus driver, cook, our role is to glorify the Lord with all that is in us. Nothing we do should be done with the thought of "look what I did". Nothing done should cause us to wonder what kind of impact we made on someone, rather what the Lord has done through us to impact this persons life. When we minister, if yielded to the Lord, it is the Holy Spirit that anoints what we do, what we say, and touches the people being ministered to. When we sing, when we worship, when we pray, when we write, when we teach, no matter what it is we are doing, if we have surrendered to the Lord for His use then it is He who is glorified, not us, and that should be our desire. To see the Lord lifted up and praised for His wisdom, His goodness, His love.
Yes, I know it is so human to wonder if we make an impact on someones life. The enemy stirs me up when I write sometimes to wonder if people agree with what I said, or what they thought. And the reality of it is, it doesn't matter what people think of what I write. I write what the Lord gives me, I give my writings to Him for His glory, for His use to touch people. Last night when I finished writing I reread my blog to check for spelling and could not see anything special in what I wrote. Sometimes the Lord shows me how He will use something, and more times than not, He doesn't. Sometimes I look at it and wonder if it should even be posted, but yes, I know it is intended to go out. But last night, I saw nothing in what I had written. Today, I looked at it and had to read it twice more. From the time I read last night to reading it today, it was changed. Not in the words that were written but the meaning to me. I read what the Lord intended. It was for His glory, and I was not allowed to see it as such until I realized, once again, that it is all about my God, not me. There is no "I" in Jesus. It is to glorify my Lord only.
I believe when we begin to think of ourselves in what office, so to speak, that we have in the Lord's work, we lose the malleability that the Lord has in us. When we give all we have, every bit of ourselves into His hands and lets Him mold us in a continuous fashion we continue to give everything to Him. When we become stiff in our thinking, that we are doing something special for Him, or that is us that are special, we lose that ability to be molded into His design, His plan. It is what He does through us, His anointing on us as we give our talents, our gifts to Him that is what makes everything work for His kingdom. He gives the talents, the gifts, His anointing causes these to work together with all the other talents and gifts on the earth that glorify Him and cause Heaven to come to earth, that brings our Father to us, to pour Himself on us, His presence, His glory flooding our souls.
No "I" in Jesus, as Jesus was all about doing the Father's work, we should always be all about doing the work Jesus left for us to do, in His Name, for the Father. He gave us the example, He gave us the tools needed, and He gave us access to the Father through His blood.
All that I am, Lord, I give to You. It is only You that should ever be glorified, praised and honored by my life. Let me join with Your children Lord, on this earth, to worship You and be part of that shining light that spotlights You, our God, our Father, the Creator of all heaven and earth. Our reason. One reason ........You.
03-24-12
This has been a nice late afternoon for me. I sat down and read a new book, only 80 pages, but it was so heart touching. I guess you might say I read and cried myself through the 80 pages, and will probably read it again tomorrow. The book tells of John the Baptist, Jesus and our God. And this will not be about the book. I just mentioned it as I came away from the reading with one thing residing in my spirit. There is no "I" in Jesus.
Jesus never made any reference to Himself in the things He did on earth. It was all done, from His birth to His death at the will of His Father, our God, and to glorify the Father. All for His Father, nothing was done to draw the spotlight to Himself. He never promoted Himself, it was all His God that was the reason behind everything done. To do the will of His Father, to bring glory to His Father and to do things that pleased His Father.
We are the children of God, the precious, beloved children of God. Yes, I know, it is so hard for us to think of ourselves, our carnal natured selves, as precious and beloved. We know we are the children of God but it is time to put facts into our spirits. Our carnal nature has been redeemed, yes, there will still be times we fail, that we sin, but we have One who we can come to, who will forgive us, cleanse us in His blood that still flows over us with His mercy and grace and because of His grace, we are righteous before our Father, our God. Our Lord God loves us with a passion that would put the great romantics to shame in this world. I don't even think there has been a true definition for passion, the way the Lord loves us. We are precious in His sight as He sees us through the blood of His Beloved Son, He only sees pure and innocent when He sees us, His precious, beloved children.
There is no "I" in Jesus. There was not for Him and there should not be for us. Everything we do should be done with only One in mind, that we do in the Name of Jesus for our God. We worship our Father, we give our lives for the One who gave us life. In our role in the Lord's ministry, whether you are a pastor, worship leader, teacher, secretary, bus driver, cook, our role is to glorify the Lord with all that is in us. Nothing we do should be done with the thought of "look what I did". Nothing done should cause us to wonder what kind of impact we made on someone, rather what the Lord has done through us to impact this persons life. When we minister, if yielded to the Lord, it is the Holy Spirit that anoints what we do, what we say, and touches the people being ministered to. When we sing, when we worship, when we pray, when we write, when we teach, no matter what it is we are doing, if we have surrendered to the Lord for His use then it is He who is glorified, not us, and that should be our desire. To see the Lord lifted up and praised for His wisdom, His goodness, His love.
Yes, I know it is so human to wonder if we make an impact on someones life. The enemy stirs me up when I write sometimes to wonder if people agree with what I said, or what they thought. And the reality of it is, it doesn't matter what people think of what I write. I write what the Lord gives me, I give my writings to Him for His glory, for His use to touch people. Last night when I finished writing I reread my blog to check for spelling and could not see anything special in what I wrote. Sometimes the Lord shows me how He will use something, and more times than not, He doesn't. Sometimes I look at it and wonder if it should even be posted, but yes, I know it is intended to go out. But last night, I saw nothing in what I had written. Today, I looked at it and had to read it twice more. From the time I read last night to reading it today, it was changed. Not in the words that were written but the meaning to me. I read what the Lord intended. It was for His glory, and I was not allowed to see it as such until I realized, once again, that it is all about my God, not me. There is no "I" in Jesus. It is to glorify my Lord only.
I believe when we begin to think of ourselves in what office, so to speak, that we have in the Lord's work, we lose the malleability that the Lord has in us. When we give all we have, every bit of ourselves into His hands and lets Him mold us in a continuous fashion we continue to give everything to Him. When we become stiff in our thinking, that we are doing something special for Him, or that is us that are special, we lose that ability to be molded into His design, His plan. It is what He does through us, His anointing on us as we give our talents, our gifts to Him that is what makes everything work for His kingdom. He gives the talents, the gifts, His anointing causes these to work together with all the other talents and gifts on the earth that glorify Him and cause Heaven to come to earth, that brings our Father to us, to pour Himself on us, His presence, His glory flooding our souls.
No "I" in Jesus, as Jesus was all about doing the Father's work, we should always be all about doing the work Jesus left for us to do, in His Name, for the Father. He gave us the example, He gave us the tools needed, and He gave us access to the Father through His blood.
All that I am, Lord, I give to You. It is only You that should ever be glorified, praised and honored by my life. Let me join with Your children Lord, on this earth, to worship You and be part of that shining light that spotlights You, our God, our Father, the Creator of all heaven and earth. Our reason. One reason ........You.
03-24-12
Friday, March 23, 2012
A RESTORING GOD
Isaiah 41:18 "I will open rivers in desolate heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water."
The Lord will take the plain and the lowly, the ones seen as insignificant by the world, or the fallen men and women of God who society has shunned; those brought low by their sins and mistakes, by circumstances of which sometimes they had no control. He will restore and lift up. He will take and flow through them like rivers in a desert, like rain in a drought.
The words of God will come flowing out of stammering mouths, healings will be released from old wrinkled hands and from the mouths of His children will flow His words of salvation and forgiveness. Who better to be used by God than His children that have fallen, that have had sin puncture their hearts, to tell of God's great mercy, His grace and forgiveness, His great love. Those that have never been down the road of deception by the enemy, who have not falled prey to the constant badgering of the voices that keep telling them it is too late.....and know that it is never too late with God, never too late to fall at His feet, repetitive of their sins and be restored. These battle scared children of God can testify to the Lord's tender mercies.
God will use the least to be His spokesperson and those who think they are great, He will bring low. He will use the true and faithful in heart to witness to His children. No matter what has occurred in their past, it is forgiven and the Lord will use all for His glory. Theirs will no more be poor in spirit for the Lord's spirit will flow through those that truly love and seek Him.
God is a restorer. That is why Jesus came, a sacrifice to take our sin so we could once again come to the Father, to be with Him as His own, unashamed of our past mistakes, totally restored to Him. He became a bridge between us and the Father, connecting us where before was desolation, wilderness, a dry land. Restoration, precious reunion with the Father, His river of life once again flowing through all of us that truly have learned the grace, the mercy, the restoration and the precious love of God.
03-23-12
The Lord will take the plain and the lowly, the ones seen as insignificant by the world, or the fallen men and women of God who society has shunned; those brought low by their sins and mistakes, by circumstances of which sometimes they had no control. He will restore and lift up. He will take and flow through them like rivers in a desert, like rain in a drought.
The words of God will come flowing out of stammering mouths, healings will be released from old wrinkled hands and from the mouths of His children will flow His words of salvation and forgiveness. Who better to be used by God than His children that have fallen, that have had sin puncture their hearts, to tell of God's great mercy, His grace and forgiveness, His great love. Those that have never been down the road of deception by the enemy, who have not falled prey to the constant badgering of the voices that keep telling them it is too late.....and know that it is never too late with God, never too late to fall at His feet, repetitive of their sins and be restored. These battle scared children of God can testify to the Lord's tender mercies.
God will use the least to be His spokesperson and those who think they are great, He will bring low. He will use the true and faithful in heart to witness to His children. No matter what has occurred in their past, it is forgiven and the Lord will use all for His glory. Theirs will no more be poor in spirit for the Lord's spirit will flow through those that truly love and seek Him.
God is a restorer. That is why Jesus came, a sacrifice to take our sin so we could once again come to the Father, to be with Him as His own, unashamed of our past mistakes, totally restored to Him. He became a bridge between us and the Father, connecting us where before was desolation, wilderness, a dry land. Restoration, precious reunion with the Father, His river of life once again flowing through all of us that truly have learned the grace, the mercy, the restoration and the precious love of God.
03-23-12
Thursday, March 22, 2012
LET THE WORSHIPERS ARISE
Psalm 95:1 "Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation."
It is becoming very clear to me, the more I study, the more I read about true worship, that the time is now to worship our God. It has always been what we were to do, we were made to worship God, our first and foremost reason for being. The very facts presented as to why we should worship should have us up first thing in the morning to late at night worshiping our Lord. I realize sometimes my blogs might seem redundant but the message must be received into the spirits of all that read them.
God loves us. With a passion that would surprise all and shock so many He loves us. He has always loved us, He will never stop loving us. There is nothing we can do, even those rejecting Him are loved by Him. God sent His Son to die for our sins so we could be united with Him in love, so we could have such a beautiful, intimate relationship with Him. We are His children and He loves us so much.
God wants to bless us. Because of His great love for us, our Father wants to bless us with everything needed to live an abundant life. In His Word, the Lord assures us of these blessings to those that worship Him and obey His laws. And there are only two since the coming of Jesus; love the Lord with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. Obeying Him grants you the keys to the storehouses of the Lord, there for your asking......but you must ask with faith, believing that what you ask will be given.
Our Lord delights in our worship, in our praise. Is it so much to ask in return for His great love for us, for His blessings that flow continually to us....to receive praise, to receive honor, to receive love? I believe it is such a small request that the Lord makes of us, He could ask so much more and I would be so happy to give it to Him, but all He asks of me, of you, is to love Him, honor Him and worship Him. To sing Him a new song from your heart makes His heart so joyful. I believe the Lord cries with passionate joy when He hears a new song of love being sung from our hearts. Tears of joy......this saddens me that such would cause my God, my Pappa to cry. But He desires our love and worship so much, that these new songs bring tears of joy, that His children are worshiping Him so dearly, He cries with joy. Oh, Pappa, I love You so much.
Pappa, I delight in singing my heart's songs to You. I worship You with my whole heart, Lord, not only in the songs that I sing to You, but in living my life for You. Worship is more than songs, it is a life style devoted to You alone. It is the way we should live each day of our life, in constant, devoted, worship to our God. You, Lord, You alone are worthy of all the worship of the earth.
It is time for all worshipers to arise and come before the Lord proclaiming His worthiness, His glory, His Holiness in song and complete worship. In new songs from our hearts, in our devotion to Him, in our daily walk we should reflect an attitude of beautiful worship unto our Lord, unto our Father whose delight is in us, His children.
Let the worshipers arise, let them proclaim a new song unto the Lord from the depths of their hearts, let their praise bring shouts from the earth, from the east to the west, from the north to the south, until all the earth's voices are rising up in unity as one voice unto the Lord, glorifying Him, worshiping Him alone. Arise, lovers of the Lord; arise, sing unto our God.
03-22-12
It is becoming very clear to me, the more I study, the more I read about true worship, that the time is now to worship our God. It has always been what we were to do, we were made to worship God, our first and foremost reason for being. The very facts presented as to why we should worship should have us up first thing in the morning to late at night worshiping our Lord. I realize sometimes my blogs might seem redundant but the message must be received into the spirits of all that read them.
God loves us. With a passion that would surprise all and shock so many He loves us. He has always loved us, He will never stop loving us. There is nothing we can do, even those rejecting Him are loved by Him. God sent His Son to die for our sins so we could be united with Him in love, so we could have such a beautiful, intimate relationship with Him. We are His children and He loves us so much.
God wants to bless us. Because of His great love for us, our Father wants to bless us with everything needed to live an abundant life. In His Word, the Lord assures us of these blessings to those that worship Him and obey His laws. And there are only two since the coming of Jesus; love the Lord with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. Obeying Him grants you the keys to the storehouses of the Lord, there for your asking......but you must ask with faith, believing that what you ask will be given.
Our Lord delights in our worship, in our praise. Is it so much to ask in return for His great love for us, for His blessings that flow continually to us....to receive praise, to receive honor, to receive love? I believe it is such a small request that the Lord makes of us, He could ask so much more and I would be so happy to give it to Him, but all He asks of me, of you, is to love Him, honor Him and worship Him. To sing Him a new song from your heart makes His heart so joyful. I believe the Lord cries with passionate joy when He hears a new song of love being sung from our hearts. Tears of joy......this saddens me that such would cause my God, my Pappa to cry. But He desires our love and worship so much, that these new songs bring tears of joy, that His children are worshiping Him so dearly, He cries with joy. Oh, Pappa, I love You so much.
Pappa, I delight in singing my heart's songs to You. I worship You with my whole heart, Lord, not only in the songs that I sing to You, but in living my life for You. Worship is more than songs, it is a life style devoted to You alone. It is the way we should live each day of our life, in constant, devoted, worship to our God. You, Lord, You alone are worthy of all the worship of the earth.
It is time for all worshipers to arise and come before the Lord proclaiming His worthiness, His glory, His Holiness in song and complete worship. In new songs from our hearts, in our devotion to Him, in our daily walk we should reflect an attitude of beautiful worship unto our Lord, unto our Father whose delight is in us, His children.
Let the worshipers arise, let them proclaim a new song unto the Lord from the depths of their hearts, let their praise bring shouts from the earth, from the east to the west, from the north to the south, until all the earth's voices are rising up in unity as one voice unto the Lord, glorifying Him, worshiping Him alone. Arise, lovers of the Lord; arise, sing unto our God.
03-22-12
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
ALWAYS, HE HAS LOVED US
Ephesians 1:4 "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight."
From the very beginning God knew He would let nothing stand in the way of having His desire...a true intimate relationship with His children. My Lord God always knew he would have me desiring to sit at His feet, to adore Him, to be set apart as His worshiper; to sing songs of love to Him as He holds my eyes fixed solidly on Him.
A long time Martha personality, now conformed, heart's desire overriding what I once was, now having Mary's heart and dedicated to my Lord God.
The key to all we do, to our complete understanding, comes from realizing how much God loves us. Thank You, Father. If we look at ourselves, what we were when the Lord touched our hearts, transforming us from destitute to redeemed, all because of His great love for us. There is nothing we could do to obtain any forgiveness for ourselves, no amount of sacrifice, prayer, definitely not money or looks, could have made the difference....it is all because of the great love of God. All for love, the boundless love of God for a world of sinners....for me....for you. Had He not loved us, all the repenting we could have done would be for naught. Had He not loved us, He would never have let His Son, His Beloved, be crucified; Jesus would have never left Heaven.
In the eyes of the world, and so often ourselves, we feel we can never be good enough to deserve this love. But God; how I love You Lord; God knew we would feel this way. He has thrown our sins so far away, recalls them no more; He knows the way the enemy deals with us. But God pours more and more love on us, each day no matter what we do, on our worse days, His love is consuming us, drawing us, giving us that renewing spirit, that restored heart. We can run and jump in His arms; never will there be a day He folds His arms to refuse one adoring Him, desiring to run to Him, to be held in His arms. The Lord does not care if we feel we deserve His love, He just wants us to accept His love. He desires us to accept this beautiful gift; freely given and He wants us to freely accept His love.
My Lord, my Father, my heart is so full of love for you the words rise up in me all day long and keep flowing to You, "I love You; I love You; I love You". I will never return to what I was. I am not satisfied in what I am, I want to be more and more like Jesus each day. I love to give You praise, I desire to be so wrapped in your arms that no one will see me and not see You. I want to live my life so Your presence flows from my being, so Your glory will fall on whoever comes near me. I want You living inside me in such a way that I cease to be me and truly become one with you.
And it began with love, the love, the desire You had for me, Lord, so long ago. Your love, Your heart for me and now it is my heart, one with Your heart....in love.
03-21-12
From the very beginning God knew He would let nothing stand in the way of having His desire...a true intimate relationship with His children. My Lord God always knew he would have me desiring to sit at His feet, to adore Him, to be set apart as His worshiper; to sing songs of love to Him as He holds my eyes fixed solidly on Him.
A long time Martha personality, now conformed, heart's desire overriding what I once was, now having Mary's heart and dedicated to my Lord God.
The key to all we do, to our complete understanding, comes from realizing how much God loves us. Thank You, Father. If we look at ourselves, what we were when the Lord touched our hearts, transforming us from destitute to redeemed, all because of His great love for us. There is nothing we could do to obtain any forgiveness for ourselves, no amount of sacrifice, prayer, definitely not money or looks, could have made the difference....it is all because of the great love of God. All for love, the boundless love of God for a world of sinners....for me....for you. Had He not loved us, all the repenting we could have done would be for naught. Had He not loved us, He would never have let His Son, His Beloved, be crucified; Jesus would have never left Heaven.
In the eyes of the world, and so often ourselves, we feel we can never be good enough to deserve this love. But God; how I love You Lord; God knew we would feel this way. He has thrown our sins so far away, recalls them no more; He knows the way the enemy deals with us. But God pours more and more love on us, each day no matter what we do, on our worse days, His love is consuming us, drawing us, giving us that renewing spirit, that restored heart. We can run and jump in His arms; never will there be a day He folds His arms to refuse one adoring Him, desiring to run to Him, to be held in His arms. The Lord does not care if we feel we deserve His love, He just wants us to accept His love. He desires us to accept this beautiful gift; freely given and He wants us to freely accept His love.
My Lord, my Father, my heart is so full of love for you the words rise up in me all day long and keep flowing to You, "I love You; I love You; I love You". I will never return to what I was. I am not satisfied in what I am, I want to be more and more like Jesus each day. I love to give You praise, I desire to be so wrapped in your arms that no one will see me and not see You. I want to live my life so Your presence flows from my being, so Your glory will fall on whoever comes near me. I want You living inside me in such a way that I cease to be me and truly become one with you.
And it began with love, the love, the desire You had for me, Lord, so long ago. Your love, Your heart for me and now it is my heart, one with Your heart....in love.
03-21-12
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
BEARING THE NAME OF THE KING
1 Peter 4:16 "However if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name."
We are called Christians. We bear the name of Christ when we become born again, receiving the Spirit of God, being adopted into the family of God, we are called Christians. Our name reflects the One whose likeness, whose qualities we desire. We are to desire to be Christ like, to develop our character like the character of Jesus. We want to walk in His footsteps, living and serving one another as He did, loving as He did, and following the will of our Father.
What happens when you run into a problem? What happens when you fail to live up to what YOU think you should be as a Christian, or what others think you should be. Does your head fall, do you hang your head in shame, do you believe all the bad press you hear about yourself? This can make you really begin to doubt our faith, doubt your Christian walk....sin is like that. We all fall short at times of the glory of our Lord. We all fail to measure up at times....but whose measure are we weighing in at? If we set a standard for ourselves, we will never measure up to it. We all tend to think we should be so perfect to receive the love and blessings of the Lord. We try, I believe, to set our standard to what anothers standard is, or what someone else thinks our standard should be. There is a standard set by God for everyone that bears the Name of our King. His standard is "Love the Lord with all your heart, and love no one above Him" and Love your neighbor as yourself". That is the standard. If you truly love the Lord with all your heart, should you sin, should you fail in your walk, forgiveness is there for a repetitive heart. The Lord does not ask more than we can give, and we all can give Him the love of our hearts. We can love our neighbor with the love of the Lord. He gives grace and more grace to meet the needs we have to love each other. When you truly love the Lord, you are not going to intentionally go out and sin, your thoughts will not be on sin but on living for the Lord. And when we do fail, our God is there, to reach down and lift up our heads, tell us He loves us.....see, the Lord is rooting for us, He is pulling for us, giving us encouragement to fight the good fight, to win the race. Jesus knows what we face on earth, He knows it is a hard road to walk and He is there telling the Father what we face. When our hearts show the love we have for Him, when our spirits are remorseful when we sin, when we fail, it is that very heart that draws the Lord's forgiveness. Our shame is not in the sin that we have forgiveness for, the shame will be in the way we feel about the Name we bear. If, when we sin, we ask forgiveness, put our head up high, yes, that is the Lords hand you feel under your chin lifting it up; but lift your head and let all see the glory shine that is on your face, proud to be a Christian, not perfect, but each day, striving to be more like Jesus.
Father, I love that I bear the Name of my King. I love that You have given me the name of Christian. I ask, Holy Spirit, that You draw me close to my Lord, that I can live within the standards set for me by my Father, my Lord, and You and not the standards I would have set on me by the world. The enemy tries to tell me that I should be what everyone expects, what everyone else is, but I know I am only to be what You would have me to be. You have set my course, You have set the standards for me and I will walk in it. Nothing can come between me and You, my Lord; I know You have me in Your hands. I know you love me. I proudly bear the Name of my King, Jesus Christ. I know I am who You would have me be.
03-20-12
We are called Christians. We bear the name of Christ when we become born again, receiving the Spirit of God, being adopted into the family of God, we are called Christians. Our name reflects the One whose likeness, whose qualities we desire. We are to desire to be Christ like, to develop our character like the character of Jesus. We want to walk in His footsteps, living and serving one another as He did, loving as He did, and following the will of our Father.
What happens when you run into a problem? What happens when you fail to live up to what YOU think you should be as a Christian, or what others think you should be. Does your head fall, do you hang your head in shame, do you believe all the bad press you hear about yourself? This can make you really begin to doubt our faith, doubt your Christian walk....sin is like that. We all fall short at times of the glory of our Lord. We all fail to measure up at times....but whose measure are we weighing in at? If we set a standard for ourselves, we will never measure up to it. We all tend to think we should be so perfect to receive the love and blessings of the Lord. We try, I believe, to set our standard to what anothers standard is, or what someone else thinks our standard should be. There is a standard set by God for everyone that bears the Name of our King. His standard is "Love the Lord with all your heart, and love no one above Him" and Love your neighbor as yourself". That is the standard. If you truly love the Lord with all your heart, should you sin, should you fail in your walk, forgiveness is there for a repetitive heart. The Lord does not ask more than we can give, and we all can give Him the love of our hearts. We can love our neighbor with the love of the Lord. He gives grace and more grace to meet the needs we have to love each other. When you truly love the Lord, you are not going to intentionally go out and sin, your thoughts will not be on sin but on living for the Lord. And when we do fail, our God is there, to reach down and lift up our heads, tell us He loves us.....see, the Lord is rooting for us, He is pulling for us, giving us encouragement to fight the good fight, to win the race. Jesus knows what we face on earth, He knows it is a hard road to walk and He is there telling the Father what we face. When our hearts show the love we have for Him, when our spirits are remorseful when we sin, when we fail, it is that very heart that draws the Lord's forgiveness. Our shame is not in the sin that we have forgiveness for, the shame will be in the way we feel about the Name we bear. If, when we sin, we ask forgiveness, put our head up high, yes, that is the Lords hand you feel under your chin lifting it up; but lift your head and let all see the glory shine that is on your face, proud to be a Christian, not perfect, but each day, striving to be more like Jesus.
Father, I love that I bear the Name of my King. I love that You have given me the name of Christian. I ask, Holy Spirit, that You draw me close to my Lord, that I can live within the standards set for me by my Father, my Lord, and You and not the standards I would have set on me by the world. The enemy tries to tell me that I should be what everyone expects, what everyone else is, but I know I am only to be what You would have me to be. You have set my course, You have set the standards for me and I will walk in it. Nothing can come between me and You, my Lord; I know You have me in Your hands. I know you love me. I proudly bear the Name of my King, Jesus Christ. I know I am who You would have me be.
03-20-12
Monday, March 19, 2012
THOSE THAT TRUST RESIDE IN PEACE
James 1:6 "But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."
I watched a flag this morning, high on a pole as the wind whipped it one way and then another. Just beating it, tearing at it. A high wind preceding the storm that was coming. It is here now, pouring rain, a real big light and sound show. I can remember a time a little over a year ago I would have been so fretful, so nervous. How different I am today. How different it is when you give your whole heart to the Lord and learn to trust Him in everything. What a peace He gives when you learn to trust Him completely. Faith rises up within you, always but even more at times like this, knowing that no matter what the storm brings, what it does, you are safe in the Father. He has me, right in His hand, holding me so close that there is not an ounce of fear in me of the storm, just peace and the love I can feel the Lord pouring over me right now.
But I know some Christians, friends, that are still trapped by fearful emotions. The enemy uses those emotions to literally beat them up, toss them about, one way and another, just like that flag on the pole in the wind. And the enemy holds them up just like that, on display, their fear, high so all can see, their fear and uncertainly on public display.
Satan never quits. Just as he lied to Eve in the garden, played on her emotions telling her that the Lord simply did not want her to be smart, and was she sure that was what the Lord said to her. He uses the same words with people today, especially Christians, when he sees a crack in their armor, a doubt, a fear, he will begin to pound them. "Are you sure you are safe? Do you think you may need to hide? Will God really protect you? Do you think He really cares? If He cared, why do you think He made you go through this?" So many verbal attacks until some let the doubt enter in, they are fearful, begin to doubt their faith. Oh, my friends, this should not be.
When doubt arises, go to the Word of God, drench yourself in the Word, until this knowledge gets into your spirit, into your heart. Why allow yourself to be a target of the enemy, to give him leverage in you when the answers are in the Word of God. When the answer lies in studying the Word so that it resides in you, where the answers are readily available to you, where you have the ammunition to fire back at the enemy when he attacks your faith, your trust in God. Be aggressive in your studying the Word, know it is fuel for the passionate fire that the Holy Spirit keeps flaming inside you for the Lord, for God. Do your part to keep yourself ready and armed, you know the enemy just waits for an opportunity to sneak in.
Why do you doubt, when the Lord reminds you so many times in His Word, His love is unfailing, His love is unshakable, His love is unconditional, His love has been given to you since before you were born, He loved you, He loved me. His love, precious is His love. He will never leave you, never forsake you. There is nothing that the Lord would not do for His children that love Him, that trust Him. I consider trusting the Lord....I know it pleases my Father for me to trust Him, it pleases Him considerably, but look what I get in return for trusting my God. I get complete peace in Him in all situations, like this storm, and He pours joy into me, His own joy He gives to me. If you are going to say you trust the Lord, do so. Do not let words be echos only. Resounding words mean nothing without the heart to back them up. Let your heart trust the Lord, let your mind know that you can trust Him in all things, and let the Holy Spirit confirm this to you each day, as you read the Word of God for those important lessons of faith that the Lord put there to show us we can trust Him.
Lord, I thank You for my peace tonight, for my peace each day in You. I love You so much, my Father, so much. There is never a time I do not trust You, for You have proven faithful time after time. Time after time. In the storm I will not be tossed to and fro, I will remain steadfast, standing on the Rock where I will not fall, standing in faith, trusting You in all.
03-19-12
I watched a flag this morning, high on a pole as the wind whipped it one way and then another. Just beating it, tearing at it. A high wind preceding the storm that was coming. It is here now, pouring rain, a real big light and sound show. I can remember a time a little over a year ago I would have been so fretful, so nervous. How different I am today. How different it is when you give your whole heart to the Lord and learn to trust Him in everything. What a peace He gives when you learn to trust Him completely. Faith rises up within you, always but even more at times like this, knowing that no matter what the storm brings, what it does, you are safe in the Father. He has me, right in His hand, holding me so close that there is not an ounce of fear in me of the storm, just peace and the love I can feel the Lord pouring over me right now.
But I know some Christians, friends, that are still trapped by fearful emotions. The enemy uses those emotions to literally beat them up, toss them about, one way and another, just like that flag on the pole in the wind. And the enemy holds them up just like that, on display, their fear, high so all can see, their fear and uncertainly on public display.
Satan never quits. Just as he lied to Eve in the garden, played on her emotions telling her that the Lord simply did not want her to be smart, and was she sure that was what the Lord said to her. He uses the same words with people today, especially Christians, when he sees a crack in their armor, a doubt, a fear, he will begin to pound them. "Are you sure you are safe? Do you think you may need to hide? Will God really protect you? Do you think He really cares? If He cared, why do you think He made you go through this?" So many verbal attacks until some let the doubt enter in, they are fearful, begin to doubt their faith. Oh, my friends, this should not be.
When doubt arises, go to the Word of God, drench yourself in the Word, until this knowledge gets into your spirit, into your heart. Why allow yourself to be a target of the enemy, to give him leverage in you when the answers are in the Word of God. When the answer lies in studying the Word so that it resides in you, where the answers are readily available to you, where you have the ammunition to fire back at the enemy when he attacks your faith, your trust in God. Be aggressive in your studying the Word, know it is fuel for the passionate fire that the Holy Spirit keeps flaming inside you for the Lord, for God. Do your part to keep yourself ready and armed, you know the enemy just waits for an opportunity to sneak in.
Why do you doubt, when the Lord reminds you so many times in His Word, His love is unfailing, His love is unshakable, His love is unconditional, His love has been given to you since before you were born, He loved you, He loved me. His love, precious is His love. He will never leave you, never forsake you. There is nothing that the Lord would not do for His children that love Him, that trust Him. I consider trusting the Lord....I know it pleases my Father for me to trust Him, it pleases Him considerably, but look what I get in return for trusting my God. I get complete peace in Him in all situations, like this storm, and He pours joy into me, His own joy He gives to me. If you are going to say you trust the Lord, do so. Do not let words be echos only. Resounding words mean nothing without the heart to back them up. Let your heart trust the Lord, let your mind know that you can trust Him in all things, and let the Holy Spirit confirm this to you each day, as you read the Word of God for those important lessons of faith that the Lord put there to show us we can trust Him.
Lord, I thank You for my peace tonight, for my peace each day in You. I love You so much, my Father, so much. There is never a time I do not trust You, for You have proven faithful time after time. Time after time. In the storm I will not be tossed to and fro, I will remain steadfast, standing on the Rock where I will not fall, standing in faith, trusting You in all.
03-19-12
Sunday, March 18, 2012
WHEN YOU WANT MORE
Psalm 42:2 "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?"
More of You, Lord, I want so much more. Teach me Holy Spirit, teach me the things of my God. Teach me the ways of my Lord. Instruct me each day in the ways that are pleasing to the Lord, to my God. What are the secrets I so desire to learn....
There are no secrets to pleasing God. All the "secrets" are written, inspired by our Father, and written in His Word so we would know just how to please Him.
Love - Mark 12:33 "To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." The first and most important way to please our God is to love Him above all else, with everything that is within you. Nothing above Him, nothing before Him, just love the Lord with all that is in you. Love your neighbor. This pleases the Lord above all else.
Seek - Matthew 6:33 "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness..." The Lord is always with us, but He wants you to diligently seek Him. To desire to go deeper in Him each day, never being satisfied with yesterdays filling but wanting to be totally filled each day with His glory, His power and His presence. Each day, fresh in the Lord, always wanting more and more of Him.
Worship - Luke 4:8 "Jesus answered, "It is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only." This touches my heart so much. Worship the Lord, in doing so, serve Him only. Do not worship the Lord one day, the next finding value in things not of Him, but serve the Lord only. Give unto Him all your worship. Glorify His Name each day, let nothing come between you and worshiping the Lord. This is why we were created, to worship God, to sing of His goodness, to sing praises unto His Holy Name, to draw Him to us with our sweet words of love flowing upwards from our spirits, so pleasing the fragrance of our songs of love.
Heart - Jeremiah 17:10a "I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind.." For the Lord searches the hearts of His children, especially more so those that are desiring to draw near to Him, nearer and nearer. He looks to find anything that is hindering the relationship, to see if indeed it is He that is held so dear there, in the heart of those He wants to dwell within.
The teachings of the Holy Spirit, the instruction He gives to us, those of us, that want so much more that the day before, so much more of our God, are vital to us. Our Lord has made everything available to us, for He so desires that we come to Him with our whole heart, worshiping Him with the new songs that rise out of our souls, leaping into our spirits, springing out of our mouths to make known to all that our God is our Beloved, our Creator that we want to be with, that we want to spend time with, that we desire to make His abode in our hearts.
I seek You my God, I seek to know You more each day. I need You, I need to know that You are near me at all times. When I call, I need to hear that sweet whisper, "Yes, child, I am here". Lord, You are all I will ever desire, all I will ever need. You give me such joy knowing that I can come to You as I have sought You, I have found You, I have surrendered all of me into Your hands. I love You with all that is in me, and I always will. You are my God, my everything.
03-18-12
More of You, Lord, I want so much more. Teach me Holy Spirit, teach me the things of my God. Teach me the ways of my Lord. Instruct me each day in the ways that are pleasing to the Lord, to my God. What are the secrets I so desire to learn....
There are no secrets to pleasing God. All the "secrets" are written, inspired by our Father, and written in His Word so we would know just how to please Him.
Love - Mark 12:33 "To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." The first and most important way to please our God is to love Him above all else, with everything that is within you. Nothing above Him, nothing before Him, just love the Lord with all that is in you. Love your neighbor. This pleases the Lord above all else.
Seek - Matthew 6:33 "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness..." The Lord is always with us, but He wants you to diligently seek Him. To desire to go deeper in Him each day, never being satisfied with yesterdays filling but wanting to be totally filled each day with His glory, His power and His presence. Each day, fresh in the Lord, always wanting more and more of Him.
Worship - Luke 4:8 "Jesus answered, "It is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only." This touches my heart so much. Worship the Lord, in doing so, serve Him only. Do not worship the Lord one day, the next finding value in things not of Him, but serve the Lord only. Give unto Him all your worship. Glorify His Name each day, let nothing come between you and worshiping the Lord. This is why we were created, to worship God, to sing of His goodness, to sing praises unto His Holy Name, to draw Him to us with our sweet words of love flowing upwards from our spirits, so pleasing the fragrance of our songs of love.
Heart - Jeremiah 17:10a "I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind.." For the Lord searches the hearts of His children, especially more so those that are desiring to draw near to Him, nearer and nearer. He looks to find anything that is hindering the relationship, to see if indeed it is He that is held so dear there, in the heart of those He wants to dwell within.
The teachings of the Holy Spirit, the instruction He gives to us, those of us, that want so much more that the day before, so much more of our God, are vital to us. Our Lord has made everything available to us, for He so desires that we come to Him with our whole heart, worshiping Him with the new songs that rise out of our souls, leaping into our spirits, springing out of our mouths to make known to all that our God is our Beloved, our Creator that we want to be with, that we want to spend time with, that we desire to make His abode in our hearts.
I seek You my God, I seek to know You more each day. I need You, I need to know that You are near me at all times. When I call, I need to hear that sweet whisper, "Yes, child, I am here". Lord, You are all I will ever desire, all I will ever need. You give me such joy knowing that I can come to You as I have sought You, I have found You, I have surrendered all of me into Your hands. I love You with all that is in me, and I always will. You are my God, my everything.
03-18-12
Saturday, March 17, 2012
BE AS OF THE WORD THAT IS IN YOU
Ezekiel 3:3 "Then he said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it." So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth."
"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15
Your Word, Lord, is our direction, our light, it is the guidebook for how we are to conduct ourselves, what we are to seek and what we should keep away from. It is the very essence of sitting at Your feet and having You teach us all things. You gave instruction for the writing of Your Word so we would always have the answers we need for each of life's situations. As we study Your Word, as Your Word becomes so embedded into our spirits, it should then be what comes from us, what directs our behavior and actions.
When we become filled with the Word of God, it should be the Word of God that comes from us, it should be the manner in which we conduct ourselves. Our lives should be a walking testimony of the Word of God. I am not saying that we will be perfect, no, there is but One who walked this earth in perfection, but I am saying we should be living the Word. We should no longer be acting in such a manner that would cause a young Christian to fall or to cause one to wonder why a Christian acts the way they are seeing. I know we all have seen people speak the Word and act in a different manner. We all have probably done it a time or two ourselves, forgive us, Lord. And there will be times in tiredness or stress when we will fail, but we know to immediately repent and ask forgiveness of the Lord and continue on our walk with humility. I believe sometimes this happens as we can tend to get puffed up and it is not us that is holy, but it is the Word of God in us.
Our lives should be one of a consistency. We should not be any different at work than we are at church. Nor should we be any different with our families and friends than we are with the pastors of our churches. Do you get what I am saying. We, if we have the Word of God within us, filling our spirit man, should never be saying things that are contrary to what the Lord would have us speak, or even thinking thoughts that are not pleasing to Him. If we have the Word of God in our hearts, then the Word of God should be coming from our mouths, all the time. Truth, love, mercy, grace should be flowing from us if this is what is in us. And if we say we are filled with the Word of God, then this is in us. When we are born again in Christ, then we are filled with His Holy Spirit, thus we are filled with His Word. As we study the Word of God, it enters our spirits, resides in our hearts and should be what comes from our mouths.
Father, fill us with Your grace, Lord, to be the same each day, the same around all peoples, the same before men as we are before You. Lord, let us not boast of anything but only of You. Give us the power of Your Word to fulfill the plans You have for each of our lives. Let us speak with the boldness of the Word that is in our spirits, our hearts. Let us be united together by the bounty of Your Word, the fullness of Your love and the sweetness of Your peace. Let us not make You, ever, Lord, ashamed of the way we speak, or the way in which we act. Let us always be as of the Word that is in us. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer. In Jesus Name, Amen.
03-17-12
"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15
Your Word, Lord, is our direction, our light, it is the guidebook for how we are to conduct ourselves, what we are to seek and what we should keep away from. It is the very essence of sitting at Your feet and having You teach us all things. You gave instruction for the writing of Your Word so we would always have the answers we need for each of life's situations. As we study Your Word, as Your Word becomes so embedded into our spirits, it should then be what comes from us, what directs our behavior and actions.
When we become filled with the Word of God, it should be the Word of God that comes from us, it should be the manner in which we conduct ourselves. Our lives should be a walking testimony of the Word of God. I am not saying that we will be perfect, no, there is but One who walked this earth in perfection, but I am saying we should be living the Word. We should no longer be acting in such a manner that would cause a young Christian to fall or to cause one to wonder why a Christian acts the way they are seeing. I know we all have seen people speak the Word and act in a different manner. We all have probably done it a time or two ourselves, forgive us, Lord. And there will be times in tiredness or stress when we will fail, but we know to immediately repent and ask forgiveness of the Lord and continue on our walk with humility. I believe sometimes this happens as we can tend to get puffed up and it is not us that is holy, but it is the Word of God in us.
Our lives should be one of a consistency. We should not be any different at work than we are at church. Nor should we be any different with our families and friends than we are with the pastors of our churches. Do you get what I am saying. We, if we have the Word of God within us, filling our spirit man, should never be saying things that are contrary to what the Lord would have us speak, or even thinking thoughts that are not pleasing to Him. If we have the Word of God in our hearts, then the Word of God should be coming from our mouths, all the time. Truth, love, mercy, grace should be flowing from us if this is what is in us. And if we say we are filled with the Word of God, then this is in us. When we are born again in Christ, then we are filled with His Holy Spirit, thus we are filled with His Word. As we study the Word of God, it enters our spirits, resides in our hearts and should be what comes from our mouths.
Father, fill us with Your grace, Lord, to be the same each day, the same around all peoples, the same before men as we are before You. Lord, let us not boast of anything but only of You. Give us the power of Your Word to fulfill the plans You have for each of our lives. Let us speak with the boldness of the Word that is in our spirits, our hearts. Let us be united together by the bounty of Your Word, the fullness of Your love and the sweetness of Your peace. Let us not make You, ever, Lord, ashamed of the way we speak, or the way in which we act. Let us always be as of the Word that is in us. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer. In Jesus Name, Amen.
03-17-12
Friday, March 16, 2012
WAIT, THE LORD SAID, WAIT
Psalm 40:1 "I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry."
This day has been so strange, Father. There have been so many things You have said to me, none of them seeming to flow together, just a sort of hodge podge of things. I really am not sure what to make of it, so I am going to do as You told me....."Wait".
As I was driving to the bank this afternoon and thinking of all the things You had told me....the things about the Easter bunny vs the Lamb of God, the Easter egg and new life in You, new Easter clothes and Your clothing us in righteousness, even the candy and Your sweet joy You so freely give us; all these things, I know now will have to be for another day.
You showed me the responsibility of a new "born again" Christian, the things that we are responsible for if we truly want to follow You, be One with You; so many things You spoke to me today. But nothing seemed to flow, nothing seemed to complete itself in my spirit. So as I was saying about driving to the bank, I was asking You about these things and all I heard from You was "Wait". Immediately, out came the words from deep within my spirit, "Yes, Lord, I will wait on You". Right away, it seemed like a flow of beautiful love went right through me and I felt Your arms close around me. That quickly You responded to me, as I was willing to wait on You.
Friends, I think so often when the Lord tells us to "wait" on Him, to wait for His words, His instruction, I believe He is met with "But God, I need to know now; I need it now; I am in a hurry; It has to be now". I believe sometimes the Lord needs to be sure if we are willing to wait, then He can know we will do what He says, when He answers us. If we can't wait, why would He think we are going to heed His words, follow His direction, do what He tells us to do. I think if the Lord were to answer us quickly each time, some would look at our God as a supplier that fills orders without looking at the real need. Some needs are only seen in the heart. Some people ask and want to test the Lord to see if He is what He says He is. Our supplier. But Father needs to identify the need before He mets the demand. What is "needed".....and here, I need to say there is a difference between need and want. Sometimes we ask for a want and call it a need. Our Lord knows the difference. Because He loves us, He will give to us that which will be good for us, not harmful. Sometimes we ask for things that are potentially harmful. He knows the difference, even when we do not.
But today, my Father, my Beloved Lord, told me to "Wait". I know there is more to what He was telling me today that He wants me to know before I write, I also think He gives it to me as I can understand it, as I can absorb it into my spirit. So He asked me to "wait" and because of my quick response to agree to do what He asked of me, I got a very special hug from Him. I will take that every day of the week. Whatever my Lord asks of me, I will do. He said "wait" and that my friends, is good enough for me. I know I will be truly blessed when the explanations of this day come, and knowing my Father, so will you.
03-16-12
This day has been so strange, Father. There have been so many things You have said to me, none of them seeming to flow together, just a sort of hodge podge of things. I really am not sure what to make of it, so I am going to do as You told me....."Wait".
As I was driving to the bank this afternoon and thinking of all the things You had told me....the things about the Easter bunny vs the Lamb of God, the Easter egg and new life in You, new Easter clothes and Your clothing us in righteousness, even the candy and Your sweet joy You so freely give us; all these things, I know now will have to be for another day.
You showed me the responsibility of a new "born again" Christian, the things that we are responsible for if we truly want to follow You, be One with You; so many things You spoke to me today. But nothing seemed to flow, nothing seemed to complete itself in my spirit. So as I was saying about driving to the bank, I was asking You about these things and all I heard from You was "Wait". Immediately, out came the words from deep within my spirit, "Yes, Lord, I will wait on You". Right away, it seemed like a flow of beautiful love went right through me and I felt Your arms close around me. That quickly You responded to me, as I was willing to wait on You.
Friends, I think so often when the Lord tells us to "wait" on Him, to wait for His words, His instruction, I believe He is met with "But God, I need to know now; I need it now; I am in a hurry; It has to be now". I believe sometimes the Lord needs to be sure if we are willing to wait, then He can know we will do what He says, when He answers us. If we can't wait, why would He think we are going to heed His words, follow His direction, do what He tells us to do. I think if the Lord were to answer us quickly each time, some would look at our God as a supplier that fills orders without looking at the real need. Some needs are only seen in the heart. Some people ask and want to test the Lord to see if He is what He says He is. Our supplier. But Father needs to identify the need before He mets the demand. What is "needed".....and here, I need to say there is a difference between need and want. Sometimes we ask for a want and call it a need. Our Lord knows the difference. Because He loves us, He will give to us that which will be good for us, not harmful. Sometimes we ask for things that are potentially harmful. He knows the difference, even when we do not.
But today, my Father, my Beloved Lord, told me to "Wait". I know there is more to what He was telling me today that He wants me to know before I write, I also think He gives it to me as I can understand it, as I can absorb it into my spirit. So He asked me to "wait" and because of my quick response to agree to do what He asked of me, I got a very special hug from Him. I will take that every day of the week. Whatever my Lord asks of me, I will do. He said "wait" and that my friends, is good enough for me. I know I will be truly blessed when the explanations of this day come, and knowing my Father, so will you.
03-16-12
Thursday, March 15, 2012
A VISIT WITH MY FATHER
1 John 3:2 "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."
Father, can we talk a while? There are some things I would like to say to You. Do You mind if I come up on Your lap? Thank You. Now that is better. I just want to be close to You while we talk. You like that too? I am so glad. Here with You is my favorite place to be.
What did I want to tell You? Well, now that I am here, so close to You, those things just seem to have left my mind. They don't seem to matter. In fact, I am not sure what the problem was, it just seems to have disappeared. Funny how just being in Your presence makes everything so much better.
You get lonesome? You wish all Your children would would desire to come and talk to You? I don't know why it is Lord. I love to talk to You. I am sure they do also, perhaps they don't feel they can just come and talk to You. I think the enemy makes them feel that they just can't because they, perhaps have sinned, or they feel not worthy. Yes, Father, I know Jesus died for their sins just like He did mine. They are cleansed by His blood, they can come to You anytime. Yes, Father, I will tell them. I will witness of Your love and mercy.
Father.....Pappa, I remember one of the things I wanted to tell You. I cannot help crying, so close to You. Oh, You caught my tears on Your finger. You catch all the tears of Your children? Why, Pappa, why do You do that? Because their tears are precious to You...they touch Your heart? You hate to see Your children hurting and sad? Oh, Pappa, You are so gentle and kind. That's what I wanted to tell You. I love You so much because You are so gentle and so kind. You are so good to me. Do You know, Pappa, how very much it means to me to be able to come to You and visit like this? I don't know how to tell You what it means to know that I can come and climb up here on Your lap anytime I want to . You always have time for me. You are never too busy to talk to me, to listen to me. You always make me feel like You have all the time in the world to spend with me. You love to spend time with me? Oh thank You, Pappa, that makes me so happy. But Pappa, You are God....You get lonely for Your children? Yes, Pappa, I will tell them. Pappa, You are crying....why are You crying, Pappa? I've touched Your heart? Oh Pappa, I will always be here loving You. You are my life, You are everything to me. I look forward all day to the time I can come home and be with You like this. Look Pappa, I've caught one of Your tears....look Pappa, I see love in Your tear....such love, sweet precious love. Thank You for Your love.
Well, Pappa, I guess I had best go and tell the others now that You would like a visit from them, a little of their time. What? Oh, yes, Pappa, You know I will be back soon. I love to be with You. Well, thank You Pappa for holding me, for letting me love with You a while. I will see You real soon.
03-15-12
Father, can we talk a while? There are some things I would like to say to You. Do You mind if I come up on Your lap? Thank You. Now that is better. I just want to be close to You while we talk. You like that too? I am so glad. Here with You is my favorite place to be.
What did I want to tell You? Well, now that I am here, so close to You, those things just seem to have left my mind. They don't seem to matter. In fact, I am not sure what the problem was, it just seems to have disappeared. Funny how just being in Your presence makes everything so much better.
You get lonesome? You wish all Your children would would desire to come and talk to You? I don't know why it is Lord. I love to talk to You. I am sure they do also, perhaps they don't feel they can just come and talk to You. I think the enemy makes them feel that they just can't because they, perhaps have sinned, or they feel not worthy. Yes, Father, I know Jesus died for their sins just like He did mine. They are cleansed by His blood, they can come to You anytime. Yes, Father, I will tell them. I will witness of Your love and mercy.
Father.....Pappa, I remember one of the things I wanted to tell You. I cannot help crying, so close to You. Oh, You caught my tears on Your finger. You catch all the tears of Your children? Why, Pappa, why do You do that? Because their tears are precious to You...they touch Your heart? You hate to see Your children hurting and sad? Oh, Pappa, You are so gentle and kind. That's what I wanted to tell You. I love You so much because You are so gentle and so kind. You are so good to me. Do You know, Pappa, how very much it means to me to be able to come to You and visit like this? I don't know how to tell You what it means to know that I can come and climb up here on Your lap anytime I want to . You always have time for me. You are never too busy to talk to me, to listen to me. You always make me feel like You have all the time in the world to spend with me. You love to spend time with me? Oh thank You, Pappa, that makes me so happy. But Pappa, You are God....You get lonely for Your children? Yes, Pappa, I will tell them. Pappa, You are crying....why are You crying, Pappa? I've touched Your heart? Oh Pappa, I will always be here loving You. You are my life, You are everything to me. I look forward all day to the time I can come home and be with You like this. Look Pappa, I've caught one of Your tears....look Pappa, I see love in Your tear....such love, sweet precious love. Thank You for Your love.
Well, Pappa, I guess I had best go and tell the others now that You would like a visit from them, a little of their time. What? Oh, yes, Pappa, You know I will be back soon. I love to be with You. Well, thank You Pappa for holding me, for letting me love with You a while. I will see You real soon.
03-15-12
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
CAMP WISDOM
Colossians 2:2-3 "My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
Have you been to camp lately? I haven't and was a little surprised as I looked up at the highway sign and read a familiar name, one I see daily, Camp Wisdom. The Lord spoke to me clearly and said, "all My children need to attend this camp".
I know we all, especially as we get up in age, think we have a lot of wisdom, but I have found that I only have begun to know the wisdom of the Lord. What I have realized is that for the first part of my intimate walk with the Lord, He spent a lot of time unlearning me of the things I thought were His Word, His ways. Those things I learned through religion, and in the world. Our ways are not His ways. We can only assume to know His ways until, unless, we call on Him and submit to Him completely. Until that time we will never truly gain wisdom and knowledge.
Seek - Wait - Find are the words the Lord gave to me concerning the wisdom camp.
We must seek the Lord with all our hearts, putting aside all thoughts of self, our own desires and wants and completely dedicate ourselves to knowing the Lord. I looked up the definitions for wisdom and knowledge in Webster's and this is what I found, it was so interesting. One of the definitions for knowledge was "the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association". One for wisdom was "the ability to discern inner qualities and relationships". To gain knowledge we must be familiar with that person through experience with them or association with them. Wisdom is to be able to discern, to know their inner qualities through an experience or association with them. So in order to gain knowledge or wisdom of our God, we must spend time with Him, quality time. So it is of utmost importance that we seek the Lord, without reservation, without thought to anything but seeking Him, desiring to be with Him, to learn from His own heart what He is like, who He truly is.
Wait - here is where so many of us lose the battle; we seek and then we are to wait. Wait on the Lord for His perfect time. As we wait on Him, for those words from His heart to instruct us in His ways, He develops us in ways that we need in order to truly serve Him. We need to be willing to wait on the Lord no matter how long something takes. The Lord has reasons for having us wait different times, some things will come to us right away, some things take a good while, but the Lord's time is perfect. He knows what we need, what we can handle and just what it will take for us to get His will into our spirits, into our hearts. So we wait, and as we wait, He shows us more and more of His love, His sweet joy and His beautiful peace, we learn more of His heart.
The day comes, the glorious day comes, when we Find what we have longed for. The wisdom comes flooding into us as we find that we have become so close to the Creator of our lives, the Lover of our souls, that we can feel His heart beating as one with ours. We find that with this new wisdom, knowledge pours into us as we read His Word, as we minister to others, discernment comes from the Lord as to their true needs, and love pours through us to them. Our prayers become strengthened, and effective. Our beautiful prayer language flows from us constantly as we know that the Holy Spirit is communicating in a direct line straight to the Father's throne. We can feel the flow of language between the Spirit and the Father and the answers flow down to us, giving us the mercy and grace we were seeking, the results that we prayed for.
Knowledge and wisdom comes from a true, deep, honest relationship with the Lord, our Father, when we seek to know Him, to know His heart, to commit ourselves to Him to have His will done in our life. When we desire to spent time with Him, giving Him all our love, worshiping Him for just Who He is, our Beloved Father.
You are wondering if this camp is expensive? No, the tuition has been paid in full. Our Savior paid the price at Calvary, completely, when He shed His blood to redeem us and give us access to the Father, to have this beautiful relationship with Him. There is a complete road map available to all that wish to attend.......the Word of God gives all the directions, all the encouragement to keep on the right road, and it tells of the rewards of finding wisdom and knowledge of our God.
03-14-12
Have you been to camp lately? I haven't and was a little surprised as I looked up at the highway sign and read a familiar name, one I see daily, Camp Wisdom. The Lord spoke to me clearly and said, "all My children need to attend this camp".
I know we all, especially as we get up in age, think we have a lot of wisdom, but I have found that I only have begun to know the wisdom of the Lord. What I have realized is that for the first part of my intimate walk with the Lord, He spent a lot of time unlearning me of the things I thought were His Word, His ways. Those things I learned through religion, and in the world. Our ways are not His ways. We can only assume to know His ways until, unless, we call on Him and submit to Him completely. Until that time we will never truly gain wisdom and knowledge.
Seek - Wait - Find are the words the Lord gave to me concerning the wisdom camp.
We must seek the Lord with all our hearts, putting aside all thoughts of self, our own desires and wants and completely dedicate ourselves to knowing the Lord. I looked up the definitions for wisdom and knowledge in Webster's and this is what I found, it was so interesting. One of the definitions for knowledge was "the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association". One for wisdom was "the ability to discern inner qualities and relationships". To gain knowledge we must be familiar with that person through experience with them or association with them. Wisdom is to be able to discern, to know their inner qualities through an experience or association with them. So in order to gain knowledge or wisdom of our God, we must spend time with Him, quality time. So it is of utmost importance that we seek the Lord, without reservation, without thought to anything but seeking Him, desiring to be with Him, to learn from His own heart what He is like, who He truly is.
Wait - here is where so many of us lose the battle; we seek and then we are to wait. Wait on the Lord for His perfect time. As we wait on Him, for those words from His heart to instruct us in His ways, He develops us in ways that we need in order to truly serve Him. We need to be willing to wait on the Lord no matter how long something takes. The Lord has reasons for having us wait different times, some things will come to us right away, some things take a good while, but the Lord's time is perfect. He knows what we need, what we can handle and just what it will take for us to get His will into our spirits, into our hearts. So we wait, and as we wait, He shows us more and more of His love, His sweet joy and His beautiful peace, we learn more of His heart.
The day comes, the glorious day comes, when we Find what we have longed for. The wisdom comes flooding into us as we find that we have become so close to the Creator of our lives, the Lover of our souls, that we can feel His heart beating as one with ours. We find that with this new wisdom, knowledge pours into us as we read His Word, as we minister to others, discernment comes from the Lord as to their true needs, and love pours through us to them. Our prayers become strengthened, and effective. Our beautiful prayer language flows from us constantly as we know that the Holy Spirit is communicating in a direct line straight to the Father's throne. We can feel the flow of language between the Spirit and the Father and the answers flow down to us, giving us the mercy and grace we were seeking, the results that we prayed for.
Knowledge and wisdom comes from a true, deep, honest relationship with the Lord, our Father, when we seek to know Him, to know His heart, to commit ourselves to Him to have His will done in our life. When we desire to spent time with Him, giving Him all our love, worshiping Him for just Who He is, our Beloved Father.
You are wondering if this camp is expensive? No, the tuition has been paid in full. Our Savior paid the price at Calvary, completely, when He shed His blood to redeem us and give us access to the Father, to have this beautiful relationship with Him. There is a complete road map available to all that wish to attend.......the Word of God gives all the directions, all the encouragement to keep on the right road, and it tells of the rewards of finding wisdom and knowledge of our God.
03-14-12
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
THERE REALLY IS.....NO PLACE LIKE HOME
John 14:23 "Jesus replied, "if anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."
This evening on the way home from work, I was talking with the Lord and asking if there was something special He had for me to write tonight. There is always something He has for me, He just gives it to me at different times. Sometimes I have it in the morning, sometimes later in the day, and sometimes I sit at my computer and wait on Him in the evenings. I never know when He will tell me what to write, I just trust Him and He always gives it to me in His timing. Tonight, though, as I was driving, and asking if He had something for me, all I heard was "home". I just thought it was because I was on my way home and was anxious to get home and relax, rest in the sanctuary the Lord has made for me.
And now, I know it is still "home" that He was telling me. The blessing of "home", there is really no place like home. I believe that everyone at one time or another complains about their home. There may not be enough room, you get tired of the struggle to keep it up, or the bills that come in concerning the home, and you just air it out.....that you are tired of "home". Or the family might be having relationship struggles.....I know this can make you want to run away from home. I can remember a time or four that these thoughts crossed my mind. Such thoughts can drive us so far from the teachings of the Lord.
When we make our Lord God a priority in our homes, when He is the first thought in securing the home, the first thought in moving into the home, and the first thought each day in the home, then "home" becomes a place of refuge, a place of precious love. The peace that the Name of Jesus brings into a home is unlike anything known to man. Picture yourself on the bank of a river, feet dangling in the water, the sweet sounds of birds in the trees, quietly singing, and the gentle sounds of the water moving through some rocks.....peace, peace, peace. You say your home is not like this. I can imagine it is not, mine wasn't before either. It took a lot of effort on my part to see the beauty, the opportunity that a home could be, adding to the peace in my life.
What changed, you ask? The first thing that changed was my attitude. Attitude has a lot to do with how we see things in our daily life. Whereas before I tried to do things in my own power, and when they did not work, my attitude was not great. It has nothing to do with the way I love the Lord, I told myself. Try that one and see if the Lord lets you rest that night. Usually when my attitude would not be what the Lord expected from me, we talked about it at night.....sometimes all night. The Holy Spirit would begin His work about the time I went to bed and usually by the time I got up, the work was complete in that area. I spent a lot of nights with the Holy Spirit dealing with attitude.
But the thing is, once I saw what was happening, how I was trying to do things my way, in my power, in my manner, once I let go and let God, things began to change. My home became my sanctuary. My home became a place of refuge that the Lord had provided me. It doesn't matter if you have a big house, a small house, a one room apartment....if it is where you live, it is your home. When you let the Lord preside over your place of residence, it becomes a real home. A real home where you can be the kind of person that the Lord made you to be; a wife, mother, father, husband, or if you are single, widowed as I am, or if you have roommates, this house will be a home because you have learned the most important fact in establishing a home......God first, God ruling in your home.
Where the Lord is, when He is the Lord of your heart, that is where home is. You can spend a couple nights at a friends, in a motel, or in a pitched tent, if the Lord is there in residence with you, if He is given authority over you, then you are home. Loving the Lord, giving yourself to the Lord, this will establish the real home. The Lord will establish Himself in you, His Holy Spirit will make His home with you and you will be at home no matter where you are.
Thank You, Lord, for making Your home with me. Let me always be mindful of the blessings You have given me, for the home you have established for me....my sanctuary with You, my refuge in You. Never let me forget, my precious Lord, that wherever I am, and loving You as I do, I know You will be there also, and that makes it a home. And there is no place.....like "home".
03-13-12
This evening on the way home from work, I was talking with the Lord and asking if there was something special He had for me to write tonight. There is always something He has for me, He just gives it to me at different times. Sometimes I have it in the morning, sometimes later in the day, and sometimes I sit at my computer and wait on Him in the evenings. I never know when He will tell me what to write, I just trust Him and He always gives it to me in His timing. Tonight, though, as I was driving, and asking if He had something for me, all I heard was "home". I just thought it was because I was on my way home and was anxious to get home and relax, rest in the sanctuary the Lord has made for me.
And now, I know it is still "home" that He was telling me. The blessing of "home", there is really no place like home. I believe that everyone at one time or another complains about their home. There may not be enough room, you get tired of the struggle to keep it up, or the bills that come in concerning the home, and you just air it out.....that you are tired of "home". Or the family might be having relationship struggles.....I know this can make you want to run away from home. I can remember a time or four that these thoughts crossed my mind. Such thoughts can drive us so far from the teachings of the Lord.
When we make our Lord God a priority in our homes, when He is the first thought in securing the home, the first thought in moving into the home, and the first thought each day in the home, then "home" becomes a place of refuge, a place of precious love. The peace that the Name of Jesus brings into a home is unlike anything known to man. Picture yourself on the bank of a river, feet dangling in the water, the sweet sounds of birds in the trees, quietly singing, and the gentle sounds of the water moving through some rocks.....peace, peace, peace. You say your home is not like this. I can imagine it is not, mine wasn't before either. It took a lot of effort on my part to see the beauty, the opportunity that a home could be, adding to the peace in my life.
What changed, you ask? The first thing that changed was my attitude. Attitude has a lot to do with how we see things in our daily life. Whereas before I tried to do things in my own power, and when they did not work, my attitude was not great. It has nothing to do with the way I love the Lord, I told myself. Try that one and see if the Lord lets you rest that night. Usually when my attitude would not be what the Lord expected from me, we talked about it at night.....sometimes all night. The Holy Spirit would begin His work about the time I went to bed and usually by the time I got up, the work was complete in that area. I spent a lot of nights with the Holy Spirit dealing with attitude.
But the thing is, once I saw what was happening, how I was trying to do things my way, in my power, in my manner, once I let go and let God, things began to change. My home became my sanctuary. My home became a place of refuge that the Lord had provided me. It doesn't matter if you have a big house, a small house, a one room apartment....if it is where you live, it is your home. When you let the Lord preside over your place of residence, it becomes a real home. A real home where you can be the kind of person that the Lord made you to be; a wife, mother, father, husband, or if you are single, widowed as I am, or if you have roommates, this house will be a home because you have learned the most important fact in establishing a home......God first, God ruling in your home.
Where the Lord is, when He is the Lord of your heart, that is where home is. You can spend a couple nights at a friends, in a motel, or in a pitched tent, if the Lord is there in residence with you, if He is given authority over you, then you are home. Loving the Lord, giving yourself to the Lord, this will establish the real home. The Lord will establish Himself in you, His Holy Spirit will make His home with you and you will be at home no matter where you are.
Thank You, Lord, for making Your home with me. Let me always be mindful of the blessings You have given me, for the home you have established for me....my sanctuary with You, my refuge in You. Never let me forget, my precious Lord, that wherever I am, and loving You as I do, I know You will be there also, and that makes it a home. And there is no place.....like "home".
03-13-12
Monday, March 12, 2012
HEAVEN'S SWEET RAIN
Hosea 10:12 "Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you."
The trees, grass....they have it right. Notice how all the blades of grass stand tall, how the trees stretch their branches to the heavens. In worship position at all times. Making their sweet songs as the wind blows through the air moving, shaking, softly bringing forth the gentle noises that we cannot hear but the Creator hears them. All things were made to worship the Lord. The trees, the grass, they know from whom their life comes from. There is never any doubt with them. They know that without the mercy of the Lord to rain down on them, they will dry up and die. Without the Lord to lay it on the hearts of His children to water them, they die. So they stay in their worship position day and night, never giving up, no matter how dry things seem for them at times.
A lesson for us? I would think so. Even in dry seasons, the Lord is working on our behalf. Waiting perhaps, to see if we will still worship Him, if we will still lift our hands up to Him and praise Him. So often, the children of God want to give up. They hold in there for so long and then it seems like it becomes too much. I can see in my past where I have done that, learned a hard lesson in doing so, so difficult to think I was so very self centered that I could not see the real work the Lord was trying to do in me. So the work took longer than it should have. How gracious our Father is, not to just knock us down and forget about us when we take this kind of path, the road most traveled when things begin to get difficult. This road is usually filled with the children of God who have decided that things were too hard, they were tired of getting knocked down by the enemy....which comes in all fashions.....family, friends, work, and sadly, church. The other road, the one not quite so filled, those children who have been on the other road at one time, but learned that a road less traveled, the hard road in the beginning is the preferred road as they, as I, have found that this road in only rough in the beginning. Once on this road, once the struggles begin to be conquered, your faith intensifies and the road gets easier as you begin to see Father's plan for you, and you realize that He never leaves you to the enemy. He is always there to shield you. Hard road....but so worth the journey.
I believe I got a little off course there, but the Lord wanted that inserted here. I always go with what He says, for this is for Him, by Him, I am only His vessel. So whomever that is for, don't quit, stay on the road that the Lord has you on. He will lead you through all things.
Our worship to the Lord should be going forth in all seasons. Like the trees, the grass, our hands should be lifted up to the Lord, as we know where the rain of the Spirit comes from. We sing, Let it Rain, Let it Rain, but are we in position to receive the rain of the Spirit of God? Are our hands lifted up, are our hearts open wide, are we watching for what the Lord wants to show us? I sing, I lift my hands to You, my Lord, in worship, to glorify You alone. I bring my heart to You and lift it high for You to see the love that pours from it for You. I want to feel that Spiritual rain fall on me, day, night, always.
I am reminded of the fir trees up north, that their branches actually are weighed down. From the constant snows in the winter there, the limbs are downward. It is as though the water, the rains coming down in the cold and turning into snow have saturated them until they can no longer hold them up to the sky. Father, let me be so saturated with Your Spirit that I can not hold my arms up, that I can feel You weighing on every part of me, the heaviness of Your blessed presence falling all over me until I don't feel me anymore, only You. My desire is to feel only You, so heavily on me that I can do nothing but lay before You and tell You how much I love You. I love You so much my Lord.
Your sweet rain, Father, rain on Your children who are waiting on You this night. Lord, rain down Your Spirit, Your beautiful presence on them and fill them with peace, joy, and if needed, Lord, Your healing mercy. Rain down, my glorious Father, rain down. Rain so until all are saturated with Your love, Your touch that they will never desire anything but to continue with You, no matter how dry the season may be, no matter how tired one gets of the battle, rain down until their shield of faith becomes lifted high again. Rain down, my Beloved, rain down.
03-12-12
The trees, grass....they have it right. Notice how all the blades of grass stand tall, how the trees stretch their branches to the heavens. In worship position at all times. Making their sweet songs as the wind blows through the air moving, shaking, softly bringing forth the gentle noises that we cannot hear but the Creator hears them. All things were made to worship the Lord. The trees, the grass, they know from whom their life comes from. There is never any doubt with them. They know that without the mercy of the Lord to rain down on them, they will dry up and die. Without the Lord to lay it on the hearts of His children to water them, they die. So they stay in their worship position day and night, never giving up, no matter how dry things seem for them at times.
A lesson for us? I would think so. Even in dry seasons, the Lord is working on our behalf. Waiting perhaps, to see if we will still worship Him, if we will still lift our hands up to Him and praise Him. So often, the children of God want to give up. They hold in there for so long and then it seems like it becomes too much. I can see in my past where I have done that, learned a hard lesson in doing so, so difficult to think I was so very self centered that I could not see the real work the Lord was trying to do in me. So the work took longer than it should have. How gracious our Father is, not to just knock us down and forget about us when we take this kind of path, the road most traveled when things begin to get difficult. This road is usually filled with the children of God who have decided that things were too hard, they were tired of getting knocked down by the enemy....which comes in all fashions.....family, friends, work, and sadly, church. The other road, the one not quite so filled, those children who have been on the other road at one time, but learned that a road less traveled, the hard road in the beginning is the preferred road as they, as I, have found that this road in only rough in the beginning. Once on this road, once the struggles begin to be conquered, your faith intensifies and the road gets easier as you begin to see Father's plan for you, and you realize that He never leaves you to the enemy. He is always there to shield you. Hard road....but so worth the journey.
I believe I got a little off course there, but the Lord wanted that inserted here. I always go with what He says, for this is for Him, by Him, I am only His vessel. So whomever that is for, don't quit, stay on the road that the Lord has you on. He will lead you through all things.
Our worship to the Lord should be going forth in all seasons. Like the trees, the grass, our hands should be lifted up to the Lord, as we know where the rain of the Spirit comes from. We sing, Let it Rain, Let it Rain, but are we in position to receive the rain of the Spirit of God? Are our hands lifted up, are our hearts open wide, are we watching for what the Lord wants to show us? I sing, I lift my hands to You, my Lord, in worship, to glorify You alone. I bring my heart to You and lift it high for You to see the love that pours from it for You. I want to feel that Spiritual rain fall on me, day, night, always.
I am reminded of the fir trees up north, that their branches actually are weighed down. From the constant snows in the winter there, the limbs are downward. It is as though the water, the rains coming down in the cold and turning into snow have saturated them until they can no longer hold them up to the sky. Father, let me be so saturated with Your Spirit that I can not hold my arms up, that I can feel You weighing on every part of me, the heaviness of Your blessed presence falling all over me until I don't feel me anymore, only You. My desire is to feel only You, so heavily on me that I can do nothing but lay before You and tell You how much I love You. I love You so much my Lord.
Your sweet rain, Father, rain on Your children who are waiting on You this night. Lord, rain down Your Spirit, Your beautiful presence on them and fill them with peace, joy, and if needed, Lord, Your healing mercy. Rain down, my glorious Father, rain down. Rain so until all are saturated with Your love, Your touch that they will never desire anything but to continue with You, no matter how dry the season may be, no matter how tired one gets of the battle, rain down until their shield of faith becomes lifted high again. Rain down, my Beloved, rain down.
03-12-12
Sunday, March 11, 2012
THE CHANGING TIMES
Romans 13:11 "And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now that when we first believed."
Waking up this morning, laying in the bed, just wanting to have that little extra time to rest, I remembered, the time had changed. Daylight Savings Time, lost an hour, I think it moves ahead about 2 in the morning if I remember correctly. As I lay in the bed, I began to think of how man has manipulated so much in our world, not the least of which is time. I can almost hear the Lord laughing at this, twice a year when it happens, springing forward, falling back. Our God looks down at the antics of this earth, it's inhabitants and just smiles.
There is nothing we can actually do to move or delay time. It is nice, I have to agree, especially for people that work, to be able to get home before dark. For younger folks, they have time to go out and have sports activities, yard work, just relaxing in the light of the day. For people my age, it represents getting to drive home in the daylight and not the dark all the time. Sorry, but I am so practical these days, and I would much rather drive in light than in dark.....live that way also. But time really does not change. We just move the clocks differently and not everyone does this.
I seem to be rambling now. I believe it is because I keep hearing different things from the Lord right now. I am waiting to see which direction I am going in. I never want to get ahead of God. Father, I ask that You bring to this writing exactly what it is that You would have presented tonight. If it is not of You, it has no place here. Thank You, Father.
Before time began, the Lord knew just where we would be at this day, this month, this year in our walk with Him. I believe that time is moving at a pace so much faster than it once did. Do you notice that each day begins to blend into the next day, the hours do not seem as long as they once did, the days seem to go by, the months rushing so quickly. It was just the first of January and now it is the middle of March. There is not much time left, I believe, for us to just live our lifes in a quiet, leisurely manner. The time is growing short and there are so many on the earth that are still not knowing our Lord. They might have heard of Jesus, but do not know Him. So many of the people that we encounter on a daily basis do not know Him as their Savior. We see these people every day and yet, we just smile and walk on by. It is time that we step up and do what the Lord has called all His children to do. We were made to worship the Lord, and one of the ways we can worship Him is to be witnesses of Him. God's goodness to His children should be shared. We should be telling others of the love and mercy of our Lord. When we see someone that is so obviously having a bad day, having a difficult time, that is the time we should begin to pray, ask the Lord for His power and strength, to speak to that one in His name.
A lady came into my office the other day and she was having such a bad day. I talked to her for a few minutes about how I could help her and she said "You are a Christian aren't you?" I told her I was and she asked if I would pray for her. She did not have to ask twice. I took her hands in mine and began to pray for her. She needed the Lord and she needed Him then, not later in the day. Time is now to pray and to lead others to the Lord. That time never changes, that time is now, present, this minute.
Times are changing quickly. The enemy is pushing his agendas ahead, using all his wiles to confuse people, to make them believe that a little is enough, that just knowing who Jesus is, believing that they are okay with that. The worlds ways now, pushing ahead with its sexual, lustful agendas, forcing such on young children, trying to cover up the obvious with cartoon characters, but it is there. TV sitcoms try to make acceptance of what is wrong, right. The disturbing thing is that so many, Christians included, watch them and think they are just funny. The message, whether you know it or not, goes into your spirits, and resides there, until before you realize it, you will think nothing of it yourself. Time to look at what the Lord says in His Word. Time to look at what is going on. Time is changing, but children of God are not suppose to. We are to be just like our Lord, the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Faithful, trusting, believing in what our Lord has set as His rules for righteous living.
Jesus is coming soon. The condition of this world is a great indicator. If you read the Word, you know that the time is short. We have a lot of work to do. Man can move time as he wills, but our God has the time set in place, and no manipulations of man can change the time of our God. I am so blessed that my time is set in God's hands and He holds me close to Him. Nothing will surprise me, as the Lord instructs His children, the children that seek His face continually, will not be surprised when the time comes. Thank You, my Lord, that my life, my time in in You. You set time in place. You are the Keeper of the time that truly matters to me, eternity.
03-11-12
Waking up this morning, laying in the bed, just wanting to have that little extra time to rest, I remembered, the time had changed. Daylight Savings Time, lost an hour, I think it moves ahead about 2 in the morning if I remember correctly. As I lay in the bed, I began to think of how man has manipulated so much in our world, not the least of which is time. I can almost hear the Lord laughing at this, twice a year when it happens, springing forward, falling back. Our God looks down at the antics of this earth, it's inhabitants and just smiles.
There is nothing we can actually do to move or delay time. It is nice, I have to agree, especially for people that work, to be able to get home before dark. For younger folks, they have time to go out and have sports activities, yard work, just relaxing in the light of the day. For people my age, it represents getting to drive home in the daylight and not the dark all the time. Sorry, but I am so practical these days, and I would much rather drive in light than in dark.....live that way also. But time really does not change. We just move the clocks differently and not everyone does this.
I seem to be rambling now. I believe it is because I keep hearing different things from the Lord right now. I am waiting to see which direction I am going in. I never want to get ahead of God. Father, I ask that You bring to this writing exactly what it is that You would have presented tonight. If it is not of You, it has no place here. Thank You, Father.
Before time began, the Lord knew just where we would be at this day, this month, this year in our walk with Him. I believe that time is moving at a pace so much faster than it once did. Do you notice that each day begins to blend into the next day, the hours do not seem as long as they once did, the days seem to go by, the months rushing so quickly. It was just the first of January and now it is the middle of March. There is not much time left, I believe, for us to just live our lifes in a quiet, leisurely manner. The time is growing short and there are so many on the earth that are still not knowing our Lord. They might have heard of Jesus, but do not know Him. So many of the people that we encounter on a daily basis do not know Him as their Savior. We see these people every day and yet, we just smile and walk on by. It is time that we step up and do what the Lord has called all His children to do. We were made to worship the Lord, and one of the ways we can worship Him is to be witnesses of Him. God's goodness to His children should be shared. We should be telling others of the love and mercy of our Lord. When we see someone that is so obviously having a bad day, having a difficult time, that is the time we should begin to pray, ask the Lord for His power and strength, to speak to that one in His name.
A lady came into my office the other day and she was having such a bad day. I talked to her for a few minutes about how I could help her and she said "You are a Christian aren't you?" I told her I was and she asked if I would pray for her. She did not have to ask twice. I took her hands in mine and began to pray for her. She needed the Lord and she needed Him then, not later in the day. Time is now to pray and to lead others to the Lord. That time never changes, that time is now, present, this minute.
Times are changing quickly. The enemy is pushing his agendas ahead, using all his wiles to confuse people, to make them believe that a little is enough, that just knowing who Jesus is, believing that they are okay with that. The worlds ways now, pushing ahead with its sexual, lustful agendas, forcing such on young children, trying to cover up the obvious with cartoon characters, but it is there. TV sitcoms try to make acceptance of what is wrong, right. The disturbing thing is that so many, Christians included, watch them and think they are just funny. The message, whether you know it or not, goes into your spirits, and resides there, until before you realize it, you will think nothing of it yourself. Time to look at what the Lord says in His Word. Time to look at what is going on. Time is changing, but children of God are not suppose to. We are to be just like our Lord, the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Faithful, trusting, believing in what our Lord has set as His rules for righteous living.
Jesus is coming soon. The condition of this world is a great indicator. If you read the Word, you know that the time is short. We have a lot of work to do. Man can move time as he wills, but our God has the time set in place, and no manipulations of man can change the time of our God. I am so blessed that my time is set in God's hands and He holds me close to Him. Nothing will surprise me, as the Lord instructs His children, the children that seek His face continually, will not be surprised when the time comes. Thank You, my Lord, that my life, my time in in You. You set time in place. You are the Keeper of the time that truly matters to me, eternity.
03-11-12
Saturday, March 10, 2012
NO ELIMINATIONS IN THE KINGDOM
Romans 3:23 "....for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God"
I watch a number of programs, mostly cooking type shows, where someone is always eliminated for not being quite good enough, or falling short of the talent of the other contestants. I am so happy I am not judging these shows, as the ones I think should go are usually not the ones that get eliminated. See, there are people that are so good at what they do, so much more qualified in their field than I, they see the things that I overlook in the offerings of the contestants. But, eventually, someone gets cut, chopped, eliminated.
The wonderous grace of our Lord, of our God, secures a place for all of us in His kingdom. No one is left out. We all can come to Him with our various styles, thoughts, talents and there is a place for each of us. Each of us has a talent, a gift that we have been given before we were born. It is there inside of us. It will lay dormant, however, until we surrender our lives to the Lord and look to Him for His will for our lives. Once we let the Lord take control of our hearts, giving all to Him, those gifts begin to open up inside us and start to produce what the Lord intended. There is no choosing one over the other, saying one gift is better than the other, as each gift, each talent is designed for that one child of God. The gifts I have been given, my talents may fall short of someone elses talent. There talent, their gift, demands their heart. Mine is suited to me alone. Our Lord, our Creator, knows what will suit each of us. He will not give a talent to someone that will not be able to enjoy the gift, to appreciated the uniqueness of it for them. Not all of us are suited for each talent. I do not know if I could prophesy as some of the annointed people of the Lord. I know there are times that the Lord gives me a word for someone, and I am faithful to give that word, but I have never felt like this was a special gift to me. I could be wrong, but the Holy Spirit would have to truly show me that.
It is like a basketball player would not exactly be a good horse jockey. Two different ends of the scale. Each of us has been made, designed by the Lord, to perform the work He has equipped us to do. There are some works that we are all equipped to do. Love the Lord with all your heart and soul. Love one another. And one that leaps up high on the scale......WORSHIP the Lord with all that is within you. These are for all of us. But to some....teachers, pastors, evangelists, prophets, apostles. Each a gift, each a talent given. There are so many more gifts that the Lord gives to us all.
Talent......remember the story of the master that gave his servants talents, five, two and one. The one with five and the one with two produced. The one with only one talent hid his, in fear he hid his talent. This is typical of some of God's children today. In fear of different things...fear of man, fear of failure, fear of ....yes, even fear of God, they hide the gift, the talent that the Lord gives them. And there it lays inside of them, dormant, useless, wasted. And they grow embittered, never realizing their potential, looking at others with envy of their talents and gifts, while letting theirs go silent.
Father, this is going so much deeper than I thought when beginning. I know there are reasons You have me write things, I pray this is understood by Your children.
The beginning of this writing tells of those eliminated for not being as good as the next person. But in the Kingdom of God, none of His children are eliminated, all are given grace to begin again. The Lord, our Father, wants that none of us fall short of His glory. He sent His Son, our Savior, to secure our position with Him, as His children. When your children fall short, disappoint you..... even though you are disappointed in what they did, you still fold them into your arms and give them that love, that no matter what, they are your child and you love them. Grace redeems them with you, just as the Lord's grace, His mercy redeems us to Him. He gives us another chance to let Him develop that talent in you, so you can be used to glorify Him, to use those special talents and gifts designed for just you to bless His children, to bless Him.
There is no elimination.....no cuts.....all are the best. There is a perfection in each of us that was placed there by our Creator. Open your hearts, surrender yourself to the will of our God and let Him bring out the very best in you.
03-10-12
I watch a number of programs, mostly cooking type shows, where someone is always eliminated for not being quite good enough, or falling short of the talent of the other contestants. I am so happy I am not judging these shows, as the ones I think should go are usually not the ones that get eliminated. See, there are people that are so good at what they do, so much more qualified in their field than I, they see the things that I overlook in the offerings of the contestants. But, eventually, someone gets cut, chopped, eliminated.
The wonderous grace of our Lord, of our God, secures a place for all of us in His kingdom. No one is left out. We all can come to Him with our various styles, thoughts, talents and there is a place for each of us. Each of us has a talent, a gift that we have been given before we were born. It is there inside of us. It will lay dormant, however, until we surrender our lives to the Lord and look to Him for His will for our lives. Once we let the Lord take control of our hearts, giving all to Him, those gifts begin to open up inside us and start to produce what the Lord intended. There is no choosing one over the other, saying one gift is better than the other, as each gift, each talent is designed for that one child of God. The gifts I have been given, my talents may fall short of someone elses talent. There talent, their gift, demands their heart. Mine is suited to me alone. Our Lord, our Creator, knows what will suit each of us. He will not give a talent to someone that will not be able to enjoy the gift, to appreciated the uniqueness of it for them. Not all of us are suited for each talent. I do not know if I could prophesy as some of the annointed people of the Lord. I know there are times that the Lord gives me a word for someone, and I am faithful to give that word, but I have never felt like this was a special gift to me. I could be wrong, but the Holy Spirit would have to truly show me that.
It is like a basketball player would not exactly be a good horse jockey. Two different ends of the scale. Each of us has been made, designed by the Lord, to perform the work He has equipped us to do. There are some works that we are all equipped to do. Love the Lord with all your heart and soul. Love one another. And one that leaps up high on the scale......WORSHIP the Lord with all that is within you. These are for all of us. But to some....teachers, pastors, evangelists, prophets, apostles. Each a gift, each a talent given. There are so many more gifts that the Lord gives to us all.
Talent......remember the story of the master that gave his servants talents, five, two and one. The one with five and the one with two produced. The one with only one talent hid his, in fear he hid his talent. This is typical of some of God's children today. In fear of different things...fear of man, fear of failure, fear of ....yes, even fear of God, they hide the gift, the talent that the Lord gives them. And there it lays inside of them, dormant, useless, wasted. And they grow embittered, never realizing their potential, looking at others with envy of their talents and gifts, while letting theirs go silent.
Father, this is going so much deeper than I thought when beginning. I know there are reasons You have me write things, I pray this is understood by Your children.
The beginning of this writing tells of those eliminated for not being as good as the next person. But in the Kingdom of God, none of His children are eliminated, all are given grace to begin again. The Lord, our Father, wants that none of us fall short of His glory. He sent His Son, our Savior, to secure our position with Him, as His children. When your children fall short, disappoint you..... even though you are disappointed in what they did, you still fold them into your arms and give them that love, that no matter what, they are your child and you love them. Grace redeems them with you, just as the Lord's grace, His mercy redeems us to Him. He gives us another chance to let Him develop that talent in you, so you can be used to glorify Him, to use those special talents and gifts designed for just you to bless His children, to bless Him.
There is no elimination.....no cuts.....all are the best. There is a perfection in each of us that was placed there by our Creator. Open your hearts, surrender yourself to the will of our God and let Him bring out the very best in you.
03-10-12
Friday, March 9, 2012
HOLY SPIRIT FIRE
Romans 5:5 "Now hope does not disappoint, because of the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."
Burn in me Holy Spirit, Burn in me. Everywhere you look, you hear people....ministers, evangelists, teachers, worship leaders taking about FIRE! Fire....burning fire.
I have given a lot of thought to this these past few months and sadly to say have let the subject sit on the back burner, no pun intended, but I just kept pushing it aside. But I have found that it would not leave me alone but has been stirring up in me, like a flickering flame. You know when you leave something alone for a good while, a lot of times it will either die down or begin to really take hold of you.
Such is this fire, this Holy Spirit fire. This is the work, I believe, of the Holy Spirit in God's children as they seek the Lord. I believe in the heart of a believer that is seeking to go deeper in the Lord, the Holy Spirit will keep that flame burning. When trials come, distractions of work, family, life in general, when the things of the world would cause your time alone with God to diminish, the Holy Spirit will not let that desire, that flame go out. He keeps the embers hot and refuels you with the strength of the Lord, refreshing your spirit and draws you back with the warmth of that fire....that fire of your first love, and begins to fan that flame with a fresh burning desire for the things of the Lord, for your time you are desiring to have with God, your Father.
The Holy Spirit will produce a bright flame in your spirit to show the love, the goodness of the Lord to all those around you. The fire inside of you will cause your countenance to glow from inside of you to the outside, your appearance will radiate the love of God and your desire for Him.
As I am writing this, I am realizing how very tired I am. No day off this week and none for next week or two except Sundays. But as I am thinking how tired I am, I can feel the Holy Spirit fanning those embers that have still a flicker in them. When you love the Lord deeply, even weariness, problems, whatever your circumstances are, the flame of the love for your Lord God never goes out. It may not be the blazing fire that you would desire to be burning constantly, but our Father knows there will be times as this. He looks beyond that flicker to the desire of the heart. That is when His Holy Spirit begins His work in us, restoring, refreshing, reminding us how much the Father loves us, how His goodness and mercy has poured out on us. When you begin to think on these things, you can feel that flicker begin to stir up into a mighty flame as our hearts are filled with love and thanksgiving to the Lord.
I know there is so much more to the Fire message that everyone is teaching, and I love the message. But this is what the fire of the Holy Spirit fed to my spirit today. One more way the Holy Spirit teaches me of the love of my Lord and draws from me, my adoration of Him.
God is so good to me. I love Him so much. I thank You Holy Spirit for wooing me, drawing me back to the sweet, tender side of my God. I can feel the warmth of Your fiery love for me Lord, it is stirring up the fire in my heart for You, the fire of my spirit burning high until the two flames of our love become as one fire, a blazing hot fire....inextinguishable.
03-09-12
Burn in me Holy Spirit, Burn in me. Everywhere you look, you hear people....ministers, evangelists, teachers, worship leaders taking about FIRE! Fire....burning fire.
I have given a lot of thought to this these past few months and sadly to say have let the subject sit on the back burner, no pun intended, but I just kept pushing it aside. But I have found that it would not leave me alone but has been stirring up in me, like a flickering flame. You know when you leave something alone for a good while, a lot of times it will either die down or begin to really take hold of you.
Such is this fire, this Holy Spirit fire. This is the work, I believe, of the Holy Spirit in God's children as they seek the Lord. I believe in the heart of a believer that is seeking to go deeper in the Lord, the Holy Spirit will keep that flame burning. When trials come, distractions of work, family, life in general, when the things of the world would cause your time alone with God to diminish, the Holy Spirit will not let that desire, that flame go out. He keeps the embers hot and refuels you with the strength of the Lord, refreshing your spirit and draws you back with the warmth of that fire....that fire of your first love, and begins to fan that flame with a fresh burning desire for the things of the Lord, for your time you are desiring to have with God, your Father.
The Holy Spirit will produce a bright flame in your spirit to show the love, the goodness of the Lord to all those around you. The fire inside of you will cause your countenance to glow from inside of you to the outside, your appearance will radiate the love of God and your desire for Him.
As I am writing this, I am realizing how very tired I am. No day off this week and none for next week or two except Sundays. But as I am thinking how tired I am, I can feel the Holy Spirit fanning those embers that have still a flicker in them. When you love the Lord deeply, even weariness, problems, whatever your circumstances are, the flame of the love for your Lord God never goes out. It may not be the blazing fire that you would desire to be burning constantly, but our Father knows there will be times as this. He looks beyond that flicker to the desire of the heart. That is when His Holy Spirit begins His work in us, restoring, refreshing, reminding us how much the Father loves us, how His goodness and mercy has poured out on us. When you begin to think on these things, you can feel that flicker begin to stir up into a mighty flame as our hearts are filled with love and thanksgiving to the Lord.
I know there is so much more to the Fire message that everyone is teaching, and I love the message. But this is what the fire of the Holy Spirit fed to my spirit today. One more way the Holy Spirit teaches me of the love of my Lord and draws from me, my adoration of Him.
God is so good to me. I love Him so much. I thank You Holy Spirit for wooing me, drawing me back to the sweet, tender side of my God. I can feel the warmth of Your fiery love for me Lord, it is stirring up the fire in my heart for You, the fire of my spirit burning high until the two flames of our love become as one fire, a blazing hot fire....inextinguishable.
03-09-12
Thursday, March 8, 2012
HEART TO WORSHIP
John 4:23 "But the hour is coming, and now is; when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him."
Worship, true worship, is a matter of the heart. When the heart gets involved in a matter, there is depth to it, an honesty in it, an urgency about it. The heart produces a special balance to the body, a type of chemical balance, to the body and the mind. It doesn't matter what your mind tells you, what your mind thinks, the heart has been known so many times to over rule the mind, especially on matters of love, on matters of desire.
Remember when you fell in love, it did not matter what anyone told you, did not matter what you thought, your heart ruled. This is what a true worshipers heart does now. It doesn't matter what the circumstances look like, what words the enemy tells your mind, your heart knows better. This love that I hold for my Lord, for my God, overshadows all things that are present or to come.
A true desire of the heart to worship the Lord will over rule what the mind says. If your mind says things are not going well, you are sick or oppressed, the enemy is telling you that if the Lord loved you, that you would not be going through these things....but a heart that loves the Lord God passionately will ignore all the things of the mind, of the body, as it has an overwhelming desire to worship God, has to worship the Lord.
David, King David.....what an example of worship he was. A heart that loved the Lord with all his being. No matter what his circumstances were....exiled, chased by the wild, crazy king, his own son wanting to destroy him, possibility of losing his throne....he still loved the Lord and worshiped Him. His heart overflowed with love for God, his heart had to worship Him.
Our circumstances, no matter how severe, how painful.....if our heart is filled with passionate, pure love for our God, then the only thing you will be able to do is worship Him. The afflictions that come, from the enemy or self imposed will never cause the love in my heart for my Lord to cease. In fact, these afflictions cause me to love Him even more as they cause me to realize that without Him, I could not get through the day, through one minute. He has brought me through so much, without His hand on me I cannot imagine what my life would be. I know it would not be a life of peace, joy, contentment.
My Beloved Lord. How I love to worship Him. Waking up in the morning, my heart full of love and thanksgiving for His goodness to me, my heart begins to worship and my spirit lifts the words from my heart and they flow out to Him. No words have been made to truly express my God's love for me nor my love for Him. You can use all the words that Webster has in his dictionary, but they are so inadequate to describe the depth of such a love that the Lord has for us, or that I, and you, have for Him, the true worshipers of our Lord.
I have a heart to worship my God. All that I do, all that I am, I give to Him in a form of worship. Worship is not just singing to the Lord songs of love and thanksgiving. True worship of the heart is a lifestyle, a life that is dedicated to giving to the Lord all that you have, a life that reflects His love and mercy to others that they too, will love Him with every part of themselves and have a heart to worship the Lord, our God, our Father.
03-08-12
Worship, true worship, is a matter of the heart. When the heart gets involved in a matter, there is depth to it, an honesty in it, an urgency about it. The heart produces a special balance to the body, a type of chemical balance, to the body and the mind. It doesn't matter what your mind tells you, what your mind thinks, the heart has been known so many times to over rule the mind, especially on matters of love, on matters of desire.
Remember when you fell in love, it did not matter what anyone told you, did not matter what you thought, your heart ruled. This is what a true worshipers heart does now. It doesn't matter what the circumstances look like, what words the enemy tells your mind, your heart knows better. This love that I hold for my Lord, for my God, overshadows all things that are present or to come.
A true desire of the heart to worship the Lord will over rule what the mind says. If your mind says things are not going well, you are sick or oppressed, the enemy is telling you that if the Lord loved you, that you would not be going through these things....but a heart that loves the Lord God passionately will ignore all the things of the mind, of the body, as it has an overwhelming desire to worship God, has to worship the Lord.
David, King David.....what an example of worship he was. A heart that loved the Lord with all his being. No matter what his circumstances were....exiled, chased by the wild, crazy king, his own son wanting to destroy him, possibility of losing his throne....he still loved the Lord and worshiped Him. His heart overflowed with love for God, his heart had to worship Him.
Our circumstances, no matter how severe, how painful.....if our heart is filled with passionate, pure love for our God, then the only thing you will be able to do is worship Him. The afflictions that come, from the enemy or self imposed will never cause the love in my heart for my Lord to cease. In fact, these afflictions cause me to love Him even more as they cause me to realize that without Him, I could not get through the day, through one minute. He has brought me through so much, without His hand on me I cannot imagine what my life would be. I know it would not be a life of peace, joy, contentment.
My Beloved Lord. How I love to worship Him. Waking up in the morning, my heart full of love and thanksgiving for His goodness to me, my heart begins to worship and my spirit lifts the words from my heart and they flow out to Him. No words have been made to truly express my God's love for me nor my love for Him. You can use all the words that Webster has in his dictionary, but they are so inadequate to describe the depth of such a love that the Lord has for us, or that I, and you, have for Him, the true worshipers of our Lord.
I have a heart to worship my God. All that I do, all that I am, I give to Him in a form of worship. Worship is not just singing to the Lord songs of love and thanksgiving. True worship of the heart is a lifestyle, a life that is dedicated to giving to the Lord all that you have, a life that reflects His love and mercy to others that they too, will love Him with every part of themselves and have a heart to worship the Lord, our God, our Father.
03-08-12
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
THE WEDDING
Revelation 19:7 "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready."
What will I see
When I walk down the aisle
Will I see excitement in Your eyes
Will I see that beautiful smile?
The smile I have so longed to see
For so long only in my dreams
Is now a reality
Despite the enemy's schemes.
The music is playing
So beautiful the sound
The angels singing Hosanna
As the children dance around.
I see Him now, my Heavenly Father
Waiting to pronounce us bride and groom
The long awaited marriage feast
Will begin very soon.
Never to part, forever as one
Eternity has been planned for such a time as this
I can hardly breath
As I close my eyes for my Bridegrooms' kiss.
On my finger you have placed
A symbol of your love, a solid gold ring
Strong, secure, unbreakable, unending
The joining together of the bride and her King.
In the throne room of our God
The King and His bride will spend their days
The King forever worshiped and adored
By the bride singing her songs of love and praise.
03-07-12
What will I see
When I walk down the aisle
Will I see excitement in Your eyes
Will I see that beautiful smile?
The smile I have so longed to see
For so long only in my dreams
Is now a reality
Despite the enemy's schemes.
The music is playing
So beautiful the sound
The angels singing Hosanna
As the children dance around.
I see Him now, my Heavenly Father
Waiting to pronounce us bride and groom
The long awaited marriage feast
Will begin very soon.
Never to part, forever as one
Eternity has been planned for such a time as this
I can hardly breath
As I close my eyes for my Bridegrooms' kiss.
On my finger you have placed
A symbol of your love, a solid gold ring
Strong, secure, unbreakable, unending
The joining together of the bride and her King.
In the throne room of our God
The King and His bride will spend their days
The King forever worshiped and adored
By the bride singing her songs of love and praise.
03-07-12
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
MIRROR, MIRROR
1 Corinthians 13:12 "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known."
I have learned, slowly, but still learned to accept the will of the Lord for my life. I would like to say I never question anymore, and it is rare, but on occasion I do ask of the Father, "what does it all mean?" As I look back over my life, mirrors have had so many meanings.
When I was a teenager, mirrors held a reflection of how I thought others perceived me. What I saw is what I thought they saw. This is so very foolish, I came to realize in later years, as we seldom see what others even think, much less see. We are so critical of ourselves. We can be stick thin and see fatness. We can have one blemish on our face and see a mountain when a little bump is. I can remember school pictures one day and as I passed by the mirror I saw this huge red spot on my face and did not want to go to school. It was probably the size of a pin head but I saw what I saw.
As I got older, and the path I walked was not one I am proud of, mirrors became almost an enemy to me. As my life took turns that are difficult to even think about, mirrors beheld an image that was hard for me to look at. Disgusted with what I saw, I could hardly look at my reflection. But grace....the beautiful grace of my God. Being raised in church, this was a difficult time for me. For a while it did not bother me as I was wallowing in self righteous, indignation of the things that had been done to me and self pity for what seemed I could not control. But God, through the Holy Spirit gave me a garment and told me to put it on. It was a Belt of Truth. I had to put it on and become truthful with myself and most of all with the Lord. Truthful in who I had become with the help of the enemy who was so good to point out the treatment I had been exposed of and help me to feel sorry for myself; to make me feel like I was helpless in this situation and that I had no choice in the matter. But the truth shall set you free. The Lord told me a first truth....before I had to face myself....He told me that He loved me and that nothing I had done, or would ever do, would change that. He would always love me. Then He wanted me to face all the facts of who I thought I was and who I really was. I was not this failure that had no choice, I was His child and He could and would help me in all things.
In the worse of times, there is grace, there is Light. I remember once flying from New Orleans back home to Lake Charles (this is going way back) and the weather was terrible. Our flight was delayed leaving for over two hours and we had to land in Baton Rouge and stay there for awhile. When we finally flew out the storm raged over us until the pilot got us above the clouds, above the storm. I was so surprised, the sun was shining up there and there was no storm. We had risen above our circumstances, above the storm.
As the Lord was giving me this today, He brought that back to my memory. He wanted me to know that there is nothing in the mirrors of my life that reflects a storm that our Lord cannot bring light to, that He cannot clear the dimness with His oil of forgiveness and His balm of healing to your heart. His grace and mercy can clear the darkness that we see in any reflection we may see in the mirror and make it a clear, Son-lite reflection of His love. We do not have to remain behind a darkened image of ourselves when Jesus has come to redeem us from all darkness, to bring us into His light. Those things reflected by the mirror that are disturbing to us, hindering us from breaking free of the past, are only what we see. We need to look closer and see the reflection that our Lord God is showing us. Righteous, sanctified, beautiful in Him. We are the children of God and our reflection shows His likeness.
The gratitude in my heart for the mercy and grace, for the love of my Lord overwhelms me at times. He has been so good to me. Can you see now.....the knowledge of what our Lord wants to show us, wants us to remember....what was once the reflection, so dim, so dark, so heartbreaking for me, for you, now is the beautiful image of me....of you.....in Him. Lovely, precious in His sight, so worthy of His love and affection. My God, who I was is gone. Who I am in You will never leave me, as You will always be holding my hand, always whispering Your love to me, always calling me to "Come away, my beloved, come away with Me".
03-06-12
I have learned, slowly, but still learned to accept the will of the Lord for my life. I would like to say I never question anymore, and it is rare, but on occasion I do ask of the Father, "what does it all mean?" As I look back over my life, mirrors have had so many meanings.
When I was a teenager, mirrors held a reflection of how I thought others perceived me. What I saw is what I thought they saw. This is so very foolish, I came to realize in later years, as we seldom see what others even think, much less see. We are so critical of ourselves. We can be stick thin and see fatness. We can have one blemish on our face and see a mountain when a little bump is. I can remember school pictures one day and as I passed by the mirror I saw this huge red spot on my face and did not want to go to school. It was probably the size of a pin head but I saw what I saw.
As I got older, and the path I walked was not one I am proud of, mirrors became almost an enemy to me. As my life took turns that are difficult to even think about, mirrors beheld an image that was hard for me to look at. Disgusted with what I saw, I could hardly look at my reflection. But grace....the beautiful grace of my God. Being raised in church, this was a difficult time for me. For a while it did not bother me as I was wallowing in self righteous, indignation of the things that had been done to me and self pity for what seemed I could not control. But God, through the Holy Spirit gave me a garment and told me to put it on. It was a Belt of Truth. I had to put it on and become truthful with myself and most of all with the Lord. Truthful in who I had become with the help of the enemy who was so good to point out the treatment I had been exposed of and help me to feel sorry for myself; to make me feel like I was helpless in this situation and that I had no choice in the matter. But the truth shall set you free. The Lord told me a first truth....before I had to face myself....He told me that He loved me and that nothing I had done, or would ever do, would change that. He would always love me. Then He wanted me to face all the facts of who I thought I was and who I really was. I was not this failure that had no choice, I was His child and He could and would help me in all things.
In the worse of times, there is grace, there is Light. I remember once flying from New Orleans back home to Lake Charles (this is going way back) and the weather was terrible. Our flight was delayed leaving for over two hours and we had to land in Baton Rouge and stay there for awhile. When we finally flew out the storm raged over us until the pilot got us above the clouds, above the storm. I was so surprised, the sun was shining up there and there was no storm. We had risen above our circumstances, above the storm.
As the Lord was giving me this today, He brought that back to my memory. He wanted me to know that there is nothing in the mirrors of my life that reflects a storm that our Lord cannot bring light to, that He cannot clear the dimness with His oil of forgiveness and His balm of healing to your heart. His grace and mercy can clear the darkness that we see in any reflection we may see in the mirror and make it a clear, Son-lite reflection of His love. We do not have to remain behind a darkened image of ourselves when Jesus has come to redeem us from all darkness, to bring us into His light. Those things reflected by the mirror that are disturbing to us, hindering us from breaking free of the past, are only what we see. We need to look closer and see the reflection that our Lord God is showing us. Righteous, sanctified, beautiful in Him. We are the children of God and our reflection shows His likeness.
The gratitude in my heart for the mercy and grace, for the love of my Lord overwhelms me at times. He has been so good to me. Can you see now.....the knowledge of what our Lord wants to show us, wants us to remember....what was once the reflection, so dim, so dark, so heartbreaking for me, for you, now is the beautiful image of me....of you.....in Him. Lovely, precious in His sight, so worthy of His love and affection. My God, who I was is gone. Who I am in You will never leave me, as You will always be holding my hand, always whispering Your love to me, always calling me to "Come away, my beloved, come away with Me".
03-06-12
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