Matthew 8:22 "But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead"."
The middle of this month brought memories, some sweet, some sad and some rather devastating to my spirit. Only for a time, but nonetheless, it was there. The fourth anniversary of my husband's death, six days later, the anniversary of his burial. The sadness, the grief came over me for a while....then the overwhelming memory of how my Lord carried me, held me and strengthened me. But while I was in this place, the Lord spoke to me and said "Let the dead bury the dead". He began to talk to me about the place I was in and how He did not want me visiting that place again. "Remember the joy" He said, but let the pain go, let the sadness go and to let my spirit forever be freed from the prison cell that the enemy would attempt again and again to lock me in. For ever how short a period it may be, the Lord does not want us there.
As He spoke to me almost two weeks ago about this, and I knew it was something He wanted me to share with you, I just could not write. The Lord would not let it go. He kept speaking those words, "Let the dead bury the dead" at different times of the day, interrupting my thoughts of other things to bring me back to these words, to what He had given me, to what I was to share.
We cannot serve the Lord while we are serving the past. Our past, the things that happened, belong in the past. Now, please, friends, do not misunderstand me. In no terms is this to say you should not grieve the loss of a loved one. This is a pain that comes to everyone on earth at times, and this grief is going to overwhelm us for a good while. But grief of a loved one and living in the past with that grief is two different things. To mourn the loss, to miss that loved one, to have thoughts of them is one of the ways we coupe with loss. But I know I was going to places I did not need to go. I was going into that hospital room, reliving those moments when I said to turn off the respirator, listening to those last grasps for air....this was not healthy. It is not healthy for us, physically or spiritually. And these are the things that the Lord, our God, wants us to run from. Those memories, they are not the ones that give way to memories of the life shared that should be what we think of. Let it go, give those thoughts to the Lord, lay them at His feet and let Him restore your spirit with joy and peace.
When I woke this morning, the Lord once again speaking these words to me, and my determining to write today......the Lord gave me something more. He said "Let the dead bury the dead"....and then He showed me sin, failures, disappointments.....He showed me hurts, anger, fear....He showed me divorce, He showed me lost friendships.....places where we carry guilt from our actions, from our words, from behavior patterns....things we have done, things that cannot be undone....but things He has taken from us, forgiven us for, washed us clean in His redeeming blood.....dead things that need to remain buried. All these things that the enemy uses to throw at us with delight, these things that take us from our mind set on what the Lord has for us, and causes us to momentarily take our eyes off our Jesus. It throws us off the path that is set before us, removes us from usefulness and weighs us down. Let us, dear friends, refrain from going back to those things of our past mistakes, of those words spoken by us or to us in anger, those things that tend to redress us in the old man's clothes. When the enemy comes, sly dog, cloaked in what may appear to be concern, inviting us into his pity party, refuse the invitation with joyful sounds of "By His stripes" and "Washed in the Blood". Begin to praise our Lord, sing to Him songs of love and worship....trust me, you will begin to be lifted up from that pit and satan will not stay around to hear the end of the song. Remember Whose you are.....and What you are.....you are God's beloved.....a child of the King.
Father, I pray that these words reflect the spirit of the message You gave to me. I ask that they reach the eyes of those You intend them to and that they, as I, will leave the grave, and rise up to You, rejoicing in the Light You give, and serve You with all their hearts. In Your strength I walk, in Your Name I pray.
PatsPennings
02-24-13
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
SEAMLESSLY BOUND
John 19:24 "Let us not
tear it", thy said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get
it." This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said,
"They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing."
Casting lots for the beautiful undergarment of Jesus. Made in one piece, woven together top to bottom, seamless. Can you imagine how precious this piece of clothing was? This piece of cloth, so woven that no seams divided the front from the back, the top from the bottom. One continual piece of cloth. And even the soldiers, intent only on satisfying their own greed, knew how special this was. I do not think it was by chance that the one piece of clothing Jesus had that was seamless, without beginning, without end, was the clothing that was the closest to his body.
Casting lots for the beautiful undergarment of Jesus. Made in one piece, woven together top to bottom, seamless. Can you imagine how precious this piece of clothing was? This piece of cloth, so woven that no seams divided the front from the back, the top from the bottom. One continual piece of cloth. And even the soldiers, intent only on satisfying their own greed, knew how special this was. I do not think it was by chance that the one piece of clothing Jesus had that was seamless, without beginning, without end, was the clothing that was the closest to his body.
The Lord had given this to me some
days ago, probably two weeks now, as I read a book where the story was told of
our Savior on the cross, suffering for me….for you, and the soldiers at the
foot of the cross casting lots for His clothing. Each time I walked into the room where that
book lay, the Holy Spirit would bring these words back to mind. At the time, I thought His words would be
about the way we seem to cast lots with our lives, taking chance after chance,
not truly committing to our Lord, not giving our will over to His will, knowing
that He knows what is best for us, but to continue to bet on our lives……
But as I sit here writing I can see
what the Lord intends to show me. This
piece of clothing, the one so thought so priceless by the soldiers that they
did want to tear it, the clothing closest to His body……to His heart…..is us,
dear friends, the Bride. This, the
Spirit is showing me, is how we, the Bride of Christ is, is to become, is to be
received by our Lord. As a cloth, as a
garment worn closest to your body, we want that garment to be of the softest
nature….not to scratch or irritate, but gentle to the feel, soft and warm. This garment should be pliable so that as it’s
one continuous piece, will fit without pulling away uncomfortably, but with
movement it flows easily with us. This
garment in one piece means it should not become unraveled as the threads might
give way with heavy duty work or being tugged at constantly to go a different
way. This garment…..as the one that lay
next to the Savior’s body…..His Bride should reflect herself in like
manner. We should be of the softest
nature, having a gentle, warm feeling for the members of the body, not allowing
ourselves to scratch or irritate others but to be as one with each other. We should be flexible so that when the Lord
moves us one way or the other, we can flow along with each other as needed, His
way, not our own. And we, the Bride, should
be strong, knitted together as one body, not letting the enemy’s piercing words
or pulling separate us from one another.
One continuous piece of cloth….we should be one continuous body, made
into one that will draw our strength, our peace and our joy from the heart of
our Lord, to be so close to His heart, as one body, that we will be as the
priceless undergarment worn by our Jesus.
I realize this may seem strange,
this reference of the Bride to that undergarment, deemed so priceless as to its
unique oneness, but that is exactly what the Bride of Christ should be. Unique to its oneness, that others may see,
and others may feel, that this Bride, this extraordinary beloved Bride of
Christ is a gift, not only to us for being chosen, but the gift to our Lord for
what He has given us. Can we not be One….can
we not become united in our thoughts, in our work for the Lord as He calls us….each
with our own part, knitted together so closely that it is impossible to become
unraveled…..and in our worship…..as one choir, as one voice, in loving worship
and honor of our One Beloved Lord. To be
the closest to Your heart, dear Lord, as One body, seamless bound…..committed forever to You.
Pat'sPennings
02-20-13
Thursday, February 14, 2013
LEARNING TO LIKE WHERE YOU ARE FROM
1 Peter 2:9-10 "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy."
I heard a statement this morning...."you need to learn to like where you are from". Of course the first thing that came to mind is where I was born. I began to think of how, growing up in that midsize town in Louisiana, it never seemed to be where I belonged. I wonder how many of us feel this way as we are growing up. So many times, the young people of a place leave it as soon as they are old enough as it just does not seem to suit them.
Then the Lord began to show me that so many people do not like where they come from because they tend to think of it geographically and not spiritually. It is about location....location....location. And then the thoughts of so many think about station in life. The difference of who our parents were, whether we lived on the "right" side of the tracks or not, if our fathers worked in the field, on the water, or in a building downtown. So many thoughts fly rampant when we think of where we are from. And, so many of us have a strong dislike of what we think.....what we look at.....what we remember.
The same God that supplies for your neighbor supplies for you. The same God that heals your employer, heals you. The same God that metes out favor for the man or woman in the big house or the smaller house....metes out favor for you. The Lord, our Lord, is not a respecter of persons. He sees each of us as He made us.....His child. What we have, what we don't have, is not what interests our Lord. What interests our Lord is that we are His, His chosen.
Look beyond the place of where you think you are from. Look beyond the parents that raised you. Look up to the Lord that breathed breath into you. Look up to the God that lovingly drew you to Himself on a cross so many years ago. See instead a Father that reaches to you in love and tenderness. Feel the love that is poured out on you just as it is being poured out on to someone across the world. Feel the gentleness of a tear being removed as our Lord comforts a widow, an orphan, or a grieving child or parent at the loss of a loved one. Look beyond a map that shows a city and see the Father that adopted each of us into His household, to give us hope and joy, peace and expectation. We did not come from a town, a state, a country.....we did not come from rich or poor parents, good or bad parents....we came from a Father that wants nothing more than to provide the richest life ever offered to anyone. And that life is available to all who call Him Lord, who rejoice in knowing He is our Father.
Dear friends, that same hand that is guiding your brother or sister in the Lord, that same nail scarred hand, that same hand is the one on your shoulder guiding you, with love, with peace, with mercy and grace. Learn the real meaning of where you come from, who holds you in His hand, and you will have the pure joy of knowing exactly where you are going. Where you come from will be a pleasure to remember, and it will make the path you are walking on, bright with anticipation for each day to come.
I come from my Father's heart, His heart of love.....I love where I am from, I love where I am bound for.
Pat's Pennings
02-14-13
I heard a statement this morning...."you need to learn to like where you are from". Of course the first thing that came to mind is where I was born. I began to think of how, growing up in that midsize town in Louisiana, it never seemed to be where I belonged. I wonder how many of us feel this way as we are growing up. So many times, the young people of a place leave it as soon as they are old enough as it just does not seem to suit them.
Then the Lord began to show me that so many people do not like where they come from because they tend to think of it geographically and not spiritually. It is about location....location....location. And then the thoughts of so many think about station in life. The difference of who our parents were, whether we lived on the "right" side of the tracks or not, if our fathers worked in the field, on the water, or in a building downtown. So many thoughts fly rampant when we think of where we are from. And, so many of us have a strong dislike of what we think.....what we look at.....what we remember.
The same God that supplies for your neighbor supplies for you. The same God that heals your employer, heals you. The same God that metes out favor for the man or woman in the big house or the smaller house....metes out favor for you. The Lord, our Lord, is not a respecter of persons. He sees each of us as He made us.....His child. What we have, what we don't have, is not what interests our Lord. What interests our Lord is that we are His, His chosen.
Look beyond the place of where you think you are from. Look beyond the parents that raised you. Look up to the Lord that breathed breath into you. Look up to the God that lovingly drew you to Himself on a cross so many years ago. See instead a Father that reaches to you in love and tenderness. Feel the love that is poured out on you just as it is being poured out on to someone across the world. Feel the gentleness of a tear being removed as our Lord comforts a widow, an orphan, or a grieving child or parent at the loss of a loved one. Look beyond a map that shows a city and see the Father that adopted each of us into His household, to give us hope and joy, peace and expectation. We did not come from a town, a state, a country.....we did not come from rich or poor parents, good or bad parents....we came from a Father that wants nothing more than to provide the richest life ever offered to anyone. And that life is available to all who call Him Lord, who rejoice in knowing He is our Father.
Dear friends, that same hand that is guiding your brother or sister in the Lord, that same nail scarred hand, that same hand is the one on your shoulder guiding you, with love, with peace, with mercy and grace. Learn the real meaning of where you come from, who holds you in His hand, and you will have the pure joy of knowing exactly where you are going. Where you come from will be a pleasure to remember, and it will make the path you are walking on, bright with anticipation for each day to come.
I come from my Father's heart, His heart of love.....I love where I am from, I love where I am bound for.
Pat's Pennings
02-14-13
Saturday, February 9, 2013
THE HANDS THAT BORE THE NAILS
Acts 2:23 "This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross."
Every time I read in a book, or referenced to in the Bible, of my Savior, Jesus, being nailed to the cross, I find myself doing the same thing. Doesn't matter where I am, what I am doing at the time, if I hear or read or see in a movie or television program.....of the nails being driven into my Lord's hands.....my fingers reach for the palm on the other hand and feel there, in the middle. I have to put my hand in the other and feel the smoothness of my palm, where no nail has been driven, no skin broken by misunderstanding, confusion......religion.
My hands will never know the pain felt that day by my Jesus. I will never know the sting of my closest friends running in fear. My brow will never feel the anguish of thorns of a crown crushing in, drawing blood. My side will never know the rush of the flow of watery blood running down when a spear presses into the flesh. No, I will never suffer in the manner that the One who loved me so, suffered in my place.
As I feel the palms of my hands, the only thing I feel is the impression of my Lord's hand where He has held mine day after day as I walked toward the goal He set before me. Sometimes upright, walking boldly.....sometimes, falling, overwhelmed by life....but at all times feeling that hand that holds mine strongly, never letting go, always lifting, drawing upward, gently but firmly.
I will never know the pain of a thorny crown, because when my Savior wore that crown, He gave me His crown of righteousness, His crown of favor, His crown of mercy and grace. A crown that would never be a burden, a painful reflection of someone I could only hope to be, but a crown of life extended by the Giver of life, the Restorer of souls.....a crown of love.
Never would I feel my side being pierced, but instead I receive a piercing, strong and determined, into my heart by the Holy Spirit as I am led to the Master's feet, time and again, to receive an outpouring onto me of His anointing, His blessings and unmerited favor.
Those hands that bore the nails, that bore the pain, the shame.........my sin....those hands are the hands that I reach for each morning when I awake, as He waits to lead me through the day. Those hands, those beautiful hands are the very hands that one day I will kiss as I kneel before my Lord and Savior, Jesus.
Yes, every time I hear, I see, references to the nails that dug deep into my Savior's hands, driving deep to hang Him on a cross to die for my sin.......I know I will reach into the palms of my own hands and remember, as I feel my unblemished palms.....that those nails, but for my God, were meant for me.
02-09-13
Every time I read in a book, or referenced to in the Bible, of my Savior, Jesus, being nailed to the cross, I find myself doing the same thing. Doesn't matter where I am, what I am doing at the time, if I hear or read or see in a movie or television program.....of the nails being driven into my Lord's hands.....my fingers reach for the palm on the other hand and feel there, in the middle. I have to put my hand in the other and feel the smoothness of my palm, where no nail has been driven, no skin broken by misunderstanding, confusion......religion.
My hands will never know the pain felt that day by my Jesus. I will never know the sting of my closest friends running in fear. My brow will never feel the anguish of thorns of a crown crushing in, drawing blood. My side will never know the rush of the flow of watery blood running down when a spear presses into the flesh. No, I will never suffer in the manner that the One who loved me so, suffered in my place.
As I feel the palms of my hands, the only thing I feel is the impression of my Lord's hand where He has held mine day after day as I walked toward the goal He set before me. Sometimes upright, walking boldly.....sometimes, falling, overwhelmed by life....but at all times feeling that hand that holds mine strongly, never letting go, always lifting, drawing upward, gently but firmly.
I will never know the pain of a thorny crown, because when my Savior wore that crown, He gave me His crown of righteousness, His crown of favor, His crown of mercy and grace. A crown that would never be a burden, a painful reflection of someone I could only hope to be, but a crown of life extended by the Giver of life, the Restorer of souls.....a crown of love.
Never would I feel my side being pierced, but instead I receive a piercing, strong and determined, into my heart by the Holy Spirit as I am led to the Master's feet, time and again, to receive an outpouring onto me of His anointing, His blessings and unmerited favor.
Those hands that bore the nails, that bore the pain, the shame.........my sin....those hands are the hands that I reach for each morning when I awake, as He waits to lead me through the day. Those hands, those beautiful hands are the very hands that one day I will kiss as I kneel before my Lord and Savior, Jesus.
Yes, every time I hear, I see, references to the nails that dug deep into my Savior's hands, driving deep to hang Him on a cross to die for my sin.......I know I will reach into the palms of my own hands and remember, as I feel my unblemished palms.....that those nails, but for my God, were meant for me.
02-09-13
Monday, February 4, 2013
I THIRST
John 19:28b "I thirst!"
This morning as I was thinking about the Lord, about my precious Lords' crucifixtion, I heard the words "I thirst" come from deep inside of me. As I began to seek the Lord for what He was telling me, I went to the Word. I find that Jesus made this statement after He took on all our sin, all our shame. After the Father turned from the sin of the world, did Jesus cry out in thirst. I am certain this has occurred to many before it did me, this day, but what a revelation when the Lord shows you something that you did not see, did not understand, did not know where it applied to yourself.
I had always thought it in the natural....thirst. But of course, Jesus would not have been in the human thought process there, in His last moments, worrying about human desire and functions. He was so in the Spirit those last moments, so knowing that His only strength, His last objective was now as the Son of God and not the Son of man.
As soon as the Father turned away, instantly an overwhelming thirst hit our Savior. He desired but one thing at those last moments....His Father. Nothing mattered except that He be embraced, that He be received into the Father. His thirst was not for water but for the deep, satisfying love and warmth of His Father. I realize my words are not those of someone who is a theologian, but my words come from my own thirst and desire for the constant deep, satisfying love and warmth of my Father. Can you not but imagine, think for a moment, of Jesus on the cross, His last moments, knowing that finally His work on earth was complete, knowing that He had done what He was sent to do.....and then as all the sins, all the shame, all the disease, all the filth, everything unclean, despicable came flooding onto Him, as He took them on, removing these things from us, pouring out His righteousness onto the undeserving, but forgiven children of God.....I wonder if He knew ahead of time that when this happened....when all these wretched things came upon Him, as He breathed them into Him.....that the Father, who would not look at sin, could not look upon sin, would turn His back on His Beloved Son for those moments. Can you see the life draining from Jesus as His Spirit began to leave Him, thirsting for the Father, needing at that moment not to wait any longer but to go.....return to where He was full, filled to overflowing with the love and grace of His Father. And then with one last breath.....It Is Finished.
Do you thirst.....have you found that nothing quenches that thirst but the Spirit of God? Do you find when you get distracted, when a time comes when for a moment, you forget what life is, real life is, when the world draws your mind away from Jesus and you fix your thoughts on the world around you... and in a moment....you realize you are thirsty. You are thirsty but you know not for water, not for drink, but for the Fullness to come, overflowing, overfilling your spirit with His. You cannot live without this River of life flowing through you from your head to your toes; you cannot breathe without the sweet aroma of the love of God filling you with grace and His mercy. A thirst that can only be quenched by God's arms around you, holding you dear to His heart; a thirst that can only be satisfied when you are reminded that you are saved, you are sanctified, you are never to thirst again, for you are the Bride of Christ. You are being led beside the River of life where one day you will be lifted up, just as Jesus was, and taken home where our thirst will be no more.
I thirst and I hunger for only You, my Lord. I yield my life to Your will and I wait, I wait to have You quench my thirst; when I will be with You and will thirst no more.
02-04-13
This morning as I was thinking about the Lord, about my precious Lords' crucifixtion, I heard the words "I thirst" come from deep inside of me. As I began to seek the Lord for what He was telling me, I went to the Word. I find that Jesus made this statement after He took on all our sin, all our shame. After the Father turned from the sin of the world, did Jesus cry out in thirst. I am certain this has occurred to many before it did me, this day, but what a revelation when the Lord shows you something that you did not see, did not understand, did not know where it applied to yourself.
I had always thought it in the natural....thirst. But of course, Jesus would not have been in the human thought process there, in His last moments, worrying about human desire and functions. He was so in the Spirit those last moments, so knowing that His only strength, His last objective was now as the Son of God and not the Son of man.
As soon as the Father turned away, instantly an overwhelming thirst hit our Savior. He desired but one thing at those last moments....His Father. Nothing mattered except that He be embraced, that He be received into the Father. His thirst was not for water but for the deep, satisfying love and warmth of His Father. I realize my words are not those of someone who is a theologian, but my words come from my own thirst and desire for the constant deep, satisfying love and warmth of my Father. Can you not but imagine, think for a moment, of Jesus on the cross, His last moments, knowing that finally His work on earth was complete, knowing that He had done what He was sent to do.....and then as all the sins, all the shame, all the disease, all the filth, everything unclean, despicable came flooding onto Him, as He took them on, removing these things from us, pouring out His righteousness onto the undeserving, but forgiven children of God.....I wonder if He knew ahead of time that when this happened....when all these wretched things came upon Him, as He breathed them into Him.....that the Father, who would not look at sin, could not look upon sin, would turn His back on His Beloved Son for those moments. Can you see the life draining from Jesus as His Spirit began to leave Him, thirsting for the Father, needing at that moment not to wait any longer but to go.....return to where He was full, filled to overflowing with the love and grace of His Father. And then with one last breath.....It Is Finished.
Do you thirst.....have you found that nothing quenches that thirst but the Spirit of God? Do you find when you get distracted, when a time comes when for a moment, you forget what life is, real life is, when the world draws your mind away from Jesus and you fix your thoughts on the world around you... and in a moment....you realize you are thirsty. You are thirsty but you know not for water, not for drink, but for the Fullness to come, overflowing, overfilling your spirit with His. You cannot live without this River of life flowing through you from your head to your toes; you cannot breathe without the sweet aroma of the love of God filling you with grace and His mercy. A thirst that can only be quenched by God's arms around you, holding you dear to His heart; a thirst that can only be satisfied when you are reminded that you are saved, you are sanctified, you are never to thirst again, for you are the Bride of Christ. You are being led beside the River of life where one day you will be lifted up, just as Jesus was, and taken home where our thirst will be no more.
I thirst and I hunger for only You, my Lord. I yield my life to Your will and I wait, I wait to have You quench my thirst; when I will be with You and will thirst no more.
02-04-13
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