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Cough Drop Hesed and Michael Card, 21Sep

A light-hearted story but a real witness to the Lord’s timing and comfort and compassion thru others!

Massive massive coughing fit, I couldn’t get out my chair, my path was blocked from my seat, I sat back down, I was stuck… so embarrassing, so I prayed to stifle the cough, it got worse. I prayed harder, got tears in my eyes and the Lord answered in His own way… I stared intently at my “WATCH FOR GOD” Vacation Bible School bracelet in hope for help, deep prayer – and IMMEDIATELY a woman passed a yellow cough drop to me, RIGHT OVER THE BRACELET WORDS…

Less than 5 seconds from my fierce prayer of mercy, was an answer and act of Hesed – mercy – an action verb of loving kindness. Cough drop Hesed, no gesture is too small when it comes in God’s timing… the miracle was NOT the cough drop, as much as it was the TIMING….  10 seconds later, Michael Card himself stops his presentation and gives me a cough drop – more loving kindness… My experiencing the truth of the “Watch for God” bracelet is yet another witness that YES, God is real, God uses His people, God is a God of mercy, and where does my help come from? It comes from the Lord!

I did get outside, Michael Card handing me a cough drop caused me to stand and at that moment I saw the gap in the chairs where I had an exit path, I became unstuck due to that mercy, and as soon as I got outside – in the grounds of the stone church with a warm heart, I started crying intensely – not JUST from my cough embarrassment, but my realization AGAIN of the mercy of God… God is a God of loving kindness and forgiveness. We are to fear the Lord, but we are to feel the Lord’s LOVE.

God is a God of the big and small. MORE overwhelming than tears of embarrassment were my tears for His reminder that He is in charge.

When we ask for help, the Lord does not always give an answer in our time, but ALWAYS HE GIVES HIMSELF… Hesed is a verb, an action, a gift, exchanging Jesus’s life for ours… We live because God wants us forever.

So now, as my words flow like those tears, I am blessed to tell all of you of this littlest mercy miracle in the timing, the moving of the cloud of the Lord’s presence into my view… The miracle of comfort so that we can give comfort others (2nd Corinthians 1:3-4)… This woman comforted me, Michael Card comforted me… I could imagine how others may have been annoyed, but these two put an act of mercy into action.

I chatted later with the woman, her name is Charlotte, she said she’s a mom, could see me struggling and she could see me not able to get out from the blockade of chairs, and it was her last coughdrop. As she watched my angst, she was waiting for the right timing to share it with me…. yup… the Lord’s timing… my eyes filled with watching the action then filled with tears to wash that feeling into my heart, forever… Jesus is the forgiveness that washes us clean by washing us thru our tears as He collects them in His Hands.

I believe in the Lord. 

I know that He cannot help but give us mercy, comfort, and love.

I believe that the Lord is a God of Mercy.

I believe in Mercy.

I know HESED is the only way He can show us how much He loves us.

Michael Card says when we show Hesed, it often hurts us, just like God’s Hesed was tough on Him too. Either way, we show this loving kindness out of His spirit moving thru us.

We were made in His image so that He can love us.

Michael Card says that we resonate with His Heart.

Hesed is the Lord’s Way in every Way.

Especially in The Way – They gift of us Jesus to save us.

Amen, Amen and Amen

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Michael Card conference HESED part 1

“Michael Card is your guy” – that’s an apt description that a friend said of me…. and it’s true… how very blessed I am to meet Michael Card. singer and writer, for the 4th time.  Michael Card’s song Come to the Cradle is “my awakening song”… I love his books in the “Biblical Imagination” series… I appreciate and benefit from his nerdiness. I gave him my blog address on a business card with a mention that 50 of the 700 were inspired by what he wrote…

He showed me nerdy bloody photos of the removal of a squamous cell carcinoma on top of his head, like my Dad’s cured cancer on his neck, but not as developed. They caught and removed it early. Nerd, I loved his openness… I told him God put a hole in His head to fit more words in.

Michael is such a people person and loves to teach, a Jesus junkie like me, he started at age 14. This conference is about “Hesed”, God’s mercy, lovingkindness… so far we are learning about the 250 mentions of hesed, how the context of words are so important, how Greek vs Hebrew language differs in many words vs fewer deep words, and how Moses transformed in his understanding of a fierce God to be feared on the mountain to actually meeting God face to face and then understanding the hesed mercy of God… the slow to anger God… we are seeing how the whole bible is about the life journeys from obedience thru life’s wanderings in the desert into an intimacy with the Lord… that’s us and that’s the journey thru the bible.  God does His work on us in our wilderness, Jesus retreats and takes time in the wilderness retreats, we like Moses shine with glowing faces after wilderness experiences and meeting face to face with the Lord.  Beautiful message…

Michael said the name Michael is actually a question “who is like God?”

He spoke of language, we Americans think like the Greek language, in nouns, wanting to explain things in nouns… the Hebrew language is verb based, actions, deep words – 500 words conveying deep understanding vs 5000 Greek descriptive words – the apostles learned to understand God in a deeper way – the kingdom of God is both a noun and a verb. Likewise, “hesed” is not one meaning, but used 250 times in the Hebrew bible… hesed, mercy, loving kindness…

Michael Card taught that Jesus LIVES the bible, the reason Jesus wrote in the sand for the woman about to be stoned was that He was fulfilling Deuteronomy or Jeremiah scripture, He kept writing until the older then younger men understood the connection to scripture and walked away… gave time for them to understand forgiveness…

Hesed – God’s loving kindness – mercy… He walks with us in our wilderness until we have an intimate relationship with Him… He spoke about Moses seeing the face of God, and about how the Lord does His work on us when we are in our wilderness… (Moses people, Jesus retreats, Jesus develops His Sonship in the wilderness,  we are in our wilderness when God has most impact on us)… Michael spoke about God is still a corrective old testament God but now with loving kindness of forgiveness – our sins are still real,  God still is strict and corrective and yet our sins are paid for by Jesus who takes the brutal punishment… God is a gentle slow to anger God, the Bible and our lives are for learning and engaging…

The guilty don’t go unpunished, but Jesus intervenes for us… Suffering is a form of engagement – our questions are engagement… Jesus asks 317 questions, only answers 3. Sometimes the most loving thing is to not answer.

He witnessed about a few tragedies in his family’s life and the witness of that person who survives is uniquely qualified to speak into the lives of others who have suffered…

That’s also why Jesus understands all our sufferings, nothing we experience has not been experienced by Jesus. The 10 commandments times were conditional laws, too easily broken.  The life with Jesus is unconditional Hesed, mercy, loving kindness…

Jesus, it all points to Jesus.

Amen!

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Prayer Rail or Bed Rail, Get on Track with the Lord, 17SEP

I have to admit that kneeling at my bed rail has become most effective quiet time these days… I never did it before our “Acts 29” book reading and Pastor’s call to fasting and prayer. Most of my quiet time with the Lord has been in my Subaru…  it’s all good….

Time alone with the Lord is beneficial when one can listen alone without world distractions.

Time alone with the Lord is beneficial when I listen and not just spew my day thru my head, as I am my own distraction…

Anytime we give up our burdens to the Lord is beneficial – then we are free – and we simply can praise and listen…

I have to admit that the Lord has spoken to me most intensely lately in these kneeling moments.

My new church is encouraging people to come up to the prayer rail, even in the middle of the sermon or a song, yet I found myself most STILL and pensive these last 2 Sundays standing ALONE in the kitchen listening to the Pastor’s sermon on the speaker. He spoke of bearing fruit EXACTLY when I was noticing the kitchen theme of lemons all over the place. I mentioned this to the woman who came in a little later. I said my favorite phrase: “when life hands you lemons make lemonade, even if you bring your own sugar”. She replied: “keep going in life, even if you don’t have sugar”… Hmmmm, that was an apt reply to me… That resonated with me…  That is so true…

At the prayer rail that particular day I was distracted, but in the kitchen? I was quiet and pensive – that’s when the Holy Spirit moved in on me.

Kitchen or not, we are all blessed with the opportunities for ACTIVE worship… any chance to discuss the Lord and His Word is an opportunity for active worship… I waited for the pastor, but he has so many sheep to tend, so I moved back towards the kitchen. That’s when the Holy Spirit used me to share with the leader of children’s ministry a science experiment that caused a partial awakening moment for me teaching a Sunday school – Jesus as a catalyst. She was so amazed as she said she needed a Holy Spirit bump right then for her lesson – had one part and I told her the rest – well, wow, I am humbled to be used by the Holy Spirit by being bumped out of pastor’s line and into the flock.

The best listening conversation I had last Sunday was with a smiling survivor of breast cancer who said: “I don’t know how anyone gets thru life without knowing the comfort of the Lord.”  I noticed that she had smiled thru the whole praise music set with the glow of the Holy Spirit, she usually does.  During and after her breast cancer, she has been living the abundant life, so should we. Our conversations with another faith friend became a deep sigh of collective prayers for the lost souls – if only they would have open ears and hearts for the Lord, they would be comforted. The Lord comforts us then amplifies our joy. We wish all could hear Him.

In quiet time, like at the bed rail or prayer rail, the Lord can mute us as the speaker. He wishes for us to listen… My brain still races at times (lots of times) but at least I am practicing to slow it… You have to stop being caught up in your racing in order to be caught up in His plan.

Worship is so very personal, no wonder the Lord wants our full attention…

At the bed rail, I asked the Lord to help me decide how I am going to use my praise microphones for the rest of the day… and He helped me pick apart all the mishmash of audio clips that filled my head at the end of the day. I need Him to help me sort my loose ends…

We are His sheep and we know His voice. The Lord wants to direct us so that when we re-enter the world, we are ready to demonstrate the ABUNDANT LIFE that we have been gifted. Just like when we are fasting, we are to put a smile on our face to show His spirit thru us. Just like lemons without sugar – we are to be living lessons of perseverance – we still have fruit to be shared with the world – this time we don’t add sugar, we just add Spirit.

Prayers and praise – we are to make God known.  Prayers and praise – we are to apply our instructions from Him and not abandon them at the rail…

Prayers and praise – worship at the rails keep us on track…. We lay down our lives so the Lord can keep us on track. Then, we are to pick up ourselves and live for His purpose.

On track… All aboard for the abundant life! Get on track, stay on track – full steam ahead!

Amen

 

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Matthew 6

Prayer

“…when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.’

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Fasting

“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

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John 10

Jesus said:  “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.

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EXPRESS – “Stay on the Path”, 12SEP

EXPRESS – I was zipping under the Turnpike EZpass monitors while I had been stressing – I had been praying – I had been singing – I had not been “being still”…

Keith Green was singing “Stay on the path” thru my supernatural YouTube radio…

I often wonder why I feel so compelled to write and share my blogs – including this piece – is it brokenness? – is it to keep talking when no one is around? – is it holy thoughts that I am wanting to help simply to repair my own brokenness? – is it just jibber jabber out of my head? And am I inflicting people with sharing my experiences? I will never think that I am wrong to think – or that I am wrong to write – but how about the sharing?

EXPRESS – I zipped under the EZpass sign and started LAUGHING OUT LOUD at the sign… for the first time ever I re-interpreted this sign’s text to an alternate meaning – a message that I needed right then – God says “EXPRESS” !!! Wow He sent that message FAST!!!!!  EXPRESS! You have to EXPRESS the amazements and love of the Lord when you are an expressive personality…  not many understand my personality, but God does…

EXPRESS is not always an easy lane – it is a fast lane but it comes with a cost – and yet it is a directive – God says: “EXPRESS”…  I am an extrovert expressive sanguine personality just trying to comply with the Lord taking over my head… is it easy? it risks alienating the exact people I am trying to reach – is that tough as an extrovert? You betcha!!! Is there a purpose? there has to be – there has to be…

I questioned, and God sent me a one-line message today: “EXPRESS“…

Yes, I am probably so compelled to write and share my blogs out of the brokenness in me – our brokenness is what God wants to utilize for His purposes – and ALSO that I (and God) wish others to know the joy and comfort and direction that the Lord brings – yes all that… a dear friend speaks of an ‘Audience of One’ – meaning just focus on pleasing God not man..,

Do you know singer Keith Green? Keith Green would understand me – and he would keep singing his song to me, to all of us: “Stay on the Path”  https://youtu.be/eGlLS24kYaI … Keith Green was an expressive’s EXPRESSIVE… (and you got to love that hair)

Keith sings: “Yes ,I am gonna Thank You, Thank You Lord!”

Yup… I am an EXPRESSive… I am going to “Stay on the Path”…

Thanks for the peptalk, Lord…

Thanks for the sign…

Thanks for letting me share…

Thank you for letting me be me – for YOU!

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Covering your tracks is LESS important than your feet making new ones, 08SEP

Wow, another tidbit from scripture that I did not know about, found in Matthew, where our scribe to the life of Jesus tells us that the guards who had been stunned with fear at the angel (assuming they also saw the disappearance of Jesus from the tomb) were BRIBED to tell the world that Jesus’s disciples stole his dead body instead of them being allowed to be witness to the truth…

Yeah…

We don’t know if the guards believed in the Resurrection or not from this passage, but we do know that the authorities tried to cover up the tracks, used money as an incentive to try to rewrite HISstory, to spin what happened into their own reality. It’s hard to put money over angels, but they tried anyway…

I once heard, in a friend’s sermon, a speculation that the stone being rolled back was probably for show because Jesus seriously wouldn’t have needed to physically walk out… but since the women and the world needed to see that stone rolled away, and needed to imagine and see the divine truth, that the stone was rolled…

I truthfully love that angels exist!

Jesus was back on His feet! I look at the contrast between the women who went scurrying away on their fast feet, compared to the fainting of the guards who fell off their feet… The disciples, also on their feet, had to scurry to Galilee to meet the Risen Christ. Scholars say that journey would have taken them a week!

The last scripture written in Matthew as instructions to the disciples (and us) is the GREAT COMMISSION – we are to use our feet (and everything we have) to spread the GOOD NEWS… Jesus came to save us all from our sins, give us eternal life! Now, that’s a feat!

Scurrying women’s and disciples’ feet…

The crucifixion’s defeat – Jesus on His feet…

Oh Easter’s gift of Salvation, a marvelous feat…

Don’t worry about covering your tracks, just make NEW tracks, walk to the future, your future, and help increase the Kingdom, Hand over Foot!

Amen and Amen!

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Matthew 28

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

The Guards’ Report

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

The Great Commission

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

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On the Seventh Day, God Ate a Magnum Ice Cream Bar AND Corn on the Cob, 08SEP

I want to start earnestly returning to my witness that the Lord awakened me to change MANY aspects of my life, to correct my path moving forward, to understand that I was not in charge of me – HE IS IN CHARGE OF ME, if I let Him be.  God dreams bigger than we do. So, 4 1/2 years ago, my mental focus and internal conversations with Him led me to Jesus, THEN my physical dramatic change of losing 70 pounds over the course of 9 months was a direct result of my focus on HIM. The changes were SIMULTANEOUS. A new exercise focus gave me stress reduction, and then came my crucial change of eating habits (and thus weight loss). All were all powered by my focus on HIM… Plus I got new friends to compare notes with… I do believe that was ON PURPOSE – so the Lord reminds me to give HIM all the praise and glory!!! I can take no credit for the focus of anything that “I put my mind to”…. that all belongs to the Lord… give credit where credit is due.

WHY? BECAUSE HE WANTS EVERYONE TO KNOW HIM! He uses us for His messengers.

I want everyone (YOU) to know that YOU can call on the LORD to help you lose weight, break bad habits, and live healthier – YOU can do it – if I can do it (and do it again) then you can too.

Call on the Lord and there is no better focusing power. NONE.

Our compliance helps our follow thru.

We all know that the mountain that has to move is us, WE OURSELVES ARE OUR OWN MOUNTAIN.

“Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen.”

Yes, the Lord moves mountains – I was and am that mountain that the Lord wants to move.

This mountain means anything holding us back.

Yes, realizing my body was a temple was coupled with my awakening – BOTH started the same week – BOTH took months to see results – BOTH were well worth the time: HIS time and mine.

If the Lord doesn’t build the house, the builders are working for nothing.
If the Lord doesn’t guard the city, the guards are watching for nothing. (Psalm 127)

Focus is good.  All good things come from the Lord (James 1:17)

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

My weight was holding me back.  I realized I had my grandmother’s body before I was 30 years old and she had a stroke at age 60… My cousin Mike died at 52. I had gestational diabetes too…

I lost 70lbs because of the Lord over the course of 9 months – He gave this to me to be a witness to HIM –

I believe that I am to teach, to encourage, to plant seeds in people – that their faith can be their focus.

So, with shoulder surgery and life, I forgot my focus and lost my exercise, and then those carbs snuck back in. I forgot to teach what I was taught, until the Holy Spirit intervened (again) thru the urging of a dear friend… So, it’s time for me to refocus. And re-share…

And on my renewed healthy eating plan, carb snacking is allowed on the SEVENTH DAY. Yes, I can indulge in some carbs that I restrict the rest of the week. This 7^th day I had delicious corn on the cob, a perfect peach, and half a Magnum ice cream bar.

Today I am back to a 6 day regime of low carbohydrates…. Healthy foods are easy to find. Foods are for feeding the temple. I am also trying to pick walking back up to reduce stress… The Lord gives focus and great substitute foods and redirection… the Lord is good, the Lord is GREAT!

I am the mountain the Lord needs to move…

They say when the Lord wants to move a mountain, sometimes He hands you the shovel…

Move with me, won’t you?

Find your focus by finding your faith.

Be His

BE WELL

I believe in you.

God loves you and I do too!

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I will share the ketogenic eating plan too – which may work better with men –  my original weight loss was not ketogenic but low carb high protein – anything low carb is best!  https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/ketogenic-diet-101

As always check with your doctor and all that jazz! 

BELIEVE and look for the tools… Find that the Holy Spirit moves the right motivations and motivators to you. Be real and Be true. Be sustainable. The Lord loves you enough to provide for you! The Lord never changes – the primary sustainable motivator!

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. James 1:17-18

I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.
Rescue me from my enemies, Lord, for I hide myself in you.
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground. For your name’s sake, Lord, preserve my life; in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble. Psalm 148

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Prepare for Rain, 07SEP

They always say watch out for what you wish for…

God wants to pour out His love on us.

He finds ways to seep love to your soul, even when you are not looking.

He will also cast into the fire all the fruitless branches of your life.

That means more flow of His love to the rest of you.

Prepare for rain.

From the movie “Facing the Giants”:

“I heard a story about two farmers who desperately needed rain. And both of them prayed for rain, but only one of them went out and prepared his fields to receive it. Which one do you think trusted God to send the rain?” Well, the one prepared his fields for it. Which one are you? Mr. Bridges, the seasoned adviser, continued to instruct the football coach in need of awakening his team, developing leaders and skills, letting the Lord grow the faith:

“God will send the rain when He’s ready. You need to prepare your field to receive it.”

Everything in our lives is subject to being blessed by the Lord, so get ready…

Everyone in our lives can experience renewed faith, so encourage them…

Every field can be watered if it’s ready, and prepared.

Every rainbow is different than another, and personal.

Every blessing will come in His time and perpetuate.

Prepare your own fields for rain.

God won’t send rain to wash-out your faith, only to grow it….

Prepare your soul for soaking.

Prepare your faith for fanning.

Prepare your eyes for opening.

Prepare your heart for healing.

Prepare your life for living.

Prepare your spirit for sharing.

Prepare your love for letting lose.

Prepare your fields for rain, the Lord wants to grow something out of you.

Amen

 

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I marvel at how the Lord aligns scriptures and us – the bible is so big and yet the same scriptures are placed in the same sightlines for us thru different avenues – that is because all roads lead to the Lord when we pick up on His clues…

Isaiah 58: THE LORD WILL GUIDE YOU ALWAYS!

“Shout it aloud, do not hold back.

Raise your voice like a trumpet.

Declare to my people their rebellion

and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.

2 For day after day they seek me out;

they seem eager to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that does what is right

and has not forsaken the commands of its God.

They ask me for just decisions

and seem eager for God to come near them.

3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,

‘and you have not seen it?

Why have we humbled ourselves,

and you have not noticed?’

 

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please

and exploit all your workers.

4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,

and in striking each other with wicked fists.

You cannot fast as you do today

and expect your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,

only a day for people to humble themselves?

Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed

and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?

Is that what you call a fast,

a day acceptable to the Lord?

 

6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

    and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

    and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry

    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness[a] will go before you,

and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;

you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

 

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,

with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,

then your light will rise in the darkness,

and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The Lord will guide you always;

he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land

and will strengthen your frame.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring whose waters never fail.

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins

and will raise up the age-old foundations;

you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,

Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

 

13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

and from doing as you please on my holy day,

if you call the Sabbath a delight

and the Lord’s holy day honorable,

and if you honor it by not going your own way

and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

14 then you will find your joy in the Lord,

and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land

and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

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Capture HIS-story, 05Sep

Crazy dream!!! I woke up suddenly, instantly and completely.

In my power nap’s dream I was swerving in my Subaru and about to smash full speed into the middle barrier on the highway – instantly I awoke never so startled and calm at the same time knowing it was a dream!

Instantly, my eyes locked across the room on this inflatable thunder stick: “CAPTURE HISTORY” –  It was a noise maker from the inaugural season of the Overwatch video game league…  But instantly I read history as HIS-STORY.

You can say I think about God too much or not enough… All I know is that I don’t know how or when I will meet my maker – all I know is that for the last five years I have been obsessed with trying to make sense of my path on His plan… He wants me to tell His-Story. I want to tell His-story. I want Him to be known in the minutia as well as the whole.

He wants us to live our story which is His story…

I want to finish posting any backlog of my writings before I hit that wall… whew…

I want to help spread the Good News always…

His story, not mine…

How beautiful…

Grace’s feet are Angel’s wings now…

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” 2 Peter 3

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Spirit-Confidence not self-confidence – Trickle Effect, 04SEP

“Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him” Jeremiah 17:7

So chapter 2 of the Book of Acts tells of Peter preaching and converting 3000 people all at once.  I actually prayed that EXACT thing when I awakened. I stood at our local 911 memorial knowing that in 2 months I had gone from disbelief in Jesus to 100% believing… and I held the 911 steel, representing 3000 people who died, and prayerfully were saved by God, and I asked the Lord: “Can I possibly preach like Peter to convince 3000 people to follow Jesus? Can I?”

I asked – then I backtracked in fear and lack of self-confidence… Did I ask too ambitiously? I don’t know…  I don’t know how, when, and if I could do that…. None of this is for me to know… I know I could talk to 3000 people – that is not out of my self-confidence – but would I be given the opportunity to reach 3000 all at once or maybe a few at a time?… ONLY GOD KNOWS…

Maybe I have the opportunity but it is up to me to seize it.

We are all on God’s strengthening “steering committee”…  it’s God’s Spirit not ours anyway – but it’s our navigation to use our skills to mature His Kingdom at the same time we are maturing ourselves…

Truth – we don’t need self-confidence, we NEED SPIRIT-CONFIDENCE !!!

What I do know is that the Lord turns around INDIVIDUAL HEARTS, one at a time… A TRICKLE EFFECT… the Holy Spirit seeping in… Singular faith conversations between two people will have Jesus present and the Holy Spirit is simply waiting to permeate the conversation. We have to invite the Holy Spirit to use us to speak for furthering His greater plan.

Sometimes Jesus comes in floods (like for me) but ALWAYS He flows… He knows the Way…

We need to let the Living Water keep seeping into our own lives…. Let us all want to be dripping wet with faith….

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Trickle Effect, 05SEP2015 – #257 edited https://debbieupper.wordpress.com/2016/12/23/email-with-professor-about-trickle-effect-05sep-257/

It interests me how Jesus truly didn’t want to be considered a sideshow attraction… He wanted people to dig deep within themselves, He wanted individual conversions…. And even though miracles also worked to convince folks, in the retelling of the events,  Jesus’s intent in miracles was simply showing MERCY not magic – simple kindness to deserving believers who were in bad straights…. He could have done flamboyant pre-advertised miracles with grandeur, but He didn’t… It was all about the faith of the person asking for mercy. Jesus said it’s our faith that changes lives – our lives – others too…

Thinking about our modern avenues of trying to spread the Gospel to the masses, we wonder: “What is the best way to reach people?”  God could have waited and sent Jesus in our day and age, when mass media would have spread (or squashed) His message like wildfire… But He didn’t…

God choose a trickle effect of spreading the Good News…

Some try a big scale approach. Some present directed philosophical pinpoints of information… Think of the debate people had with free education when it started, questioning if it is better to water down education for the masses, for more to understand at the same time? or keep education at high level for only a few?… I think with faith, God wants the trickle effect – big and small….  Yes, even at mega churches there is the trickle effect – it might be the person sitting next to you, with whom you can discuss the message’s meaning, where conversations about Jesus occur, and wheels start turning – where God becomes REAL to you.

The Way knows the Way to connect… the Holy Spirit in action…

God wants us to come to Him – one by one – by our own realization that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life!

AMEN

Stay tuned… The Way has a Way with Winning the Wayward…

From Mark 7:36-37  Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.  People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

From John 14:10-12, 27 (NIV)

“… The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these…”

“…the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

From Acts 2: 14-

Peter Addresses the Crowd

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him:

“‘I saw the Lord always before me.  Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’

“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said: “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

The Fellowship of the Believers

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

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Acts 12/16 – Broken Chains, 03SEP

The Acts 12 and 16 scriptures remind us that the Lord breaks the chains around us and on us. Chains of addiction, chains of indecisiveness, or anything holding us back from living His path for us.

Back in 2017 I was breaking scar tissue in my shoulder after rotator cuff repair and remembering we are to walk away from these chains that Jesus already broke for us… we are to be free… live free…  remain free…

Step out of your chains. You are released.

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Broken Chains, 12Sept 2017

https://debbieupper.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/broken-chains-12sept-490/

I knew I had to write about broken chains while popping adhesions of scar tissue in my shoulder during physical therapy… So, many parallels to the release of us from the weight of chains, of life-stress holding us down… The adhesions popped with active stretching after my post-op inactivity laid down a rare case of tremendous scar tissue. These were painful powerful releases of my shoulder’s mobility from chains… I heard many pop over the course of four months… yes, I heard them as powerful as I felt them… so when the doctor said there was no choice, time for more surgery, I REJOICED because I needed this opportunity to improve from only 70% mobility, my doctor says I am too young to not achieve 100%… It will be a precise calculated cut of tissue… Second surgery is the price I gladly pay for my shoulder freedom.

Release…

Can you imagine what a tremendous visual it is for God breaking our physical, mental, emotional chains in order to be free?…  God calms our hearts, cheers our hearts, cleanses our hearts…

God paid the price by sending Jesus to do this for us! Jesus is a ransom for our bondage. We are able to walk past the gates of our prisons. Jesus lets us break free of the chains of the world crushing in on us, radically freeing us from the chains of sin. God frees us with a Savior!

Jesus came to free EVERYONE.

God broke our restrictive chains, but it is up to us to realize that we are free to live in His LIGHT… GRACE is not something we deserve but we are gifted this freedom because God LOVES us!

It’s a process… It’s walking forward… It’s following stepping stones to the LIGHT… The path is narrow but it is sure… Look for the lighted stepping stones… even take a step in JOY.

Step out of your chains. You are released.

At our women’s retreat, my beautiful spiritual friend spoke about these chains being broken –  BUT WE NEED TO LIFT THEM OFF... I can see her doing the movements of removing chains… We have to stand up to shake them off.

Step out of your chains. You are released.

Keep walking in the LIGHT to new life… Forever…  Keep walking away from your chains.

There’s a praise song “Love Came Down” “LOVE broke thru the darkness, now I can finally see, Paid the price for my freedom, No more chains on me…and the Savior came, and He took the blame, changed everything… ”

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Here are two scripture stories about being released from prison chains:

Acts 12 NIV

Peter’s Miraculous Escape From Prison

It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

8 Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.

11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”

12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”

15 “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”

16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place.

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Acts 16

Paul and Silas in Prison

16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken.

At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

35 When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” 36 The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.”

37 But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”

38 The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. 39 They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. 40 After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left.

 

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Acts 10: That Avoid Favoritism Scripture… 02SEP

Peter spoke of a  great vision in Acts 10, details give us strong imagery…. So often we also get strong images, get a lightning bolt of scripture even populating our brains. This happened to me with the favoritism scripture… The Acts 10 story about Peter reminds us we are not supposed to show favoritism in whom we share faith with, be with, share with and especially not show favoritism in extending grace and forgiveness!!!!

I want to share the time when God sent a lightning bolt of scripture into my head, no denying that God’s Word comes to help us – and this time forced me to listen… we have a powerful GOD! We are under HIS wing…

I had these beautiful handmade cards made by a woman at church for me to send special people, and I was going to hold them back for certain people… So one day, instead of sending one nice card to a woman whom comes randomly twice a year to our church (for many reasons I am not so certain are spiritual),   I thought I could just send a plain old card because who knows if she would really appreciate it… Then just like a lightning bolt, the James scripture about favoritism shot immediately to the front of my brain… Yeah, I apologized to God, and I sent a most beautiful scriptural card to her, how dare I show favoritism…

One of my dear friends always says: “don’t judge people who sin differently than you do”…

The “favoritism forbidden” scripture in James pertains to how we forgive people!!! Who are we to show favoritism in our forgiveness???… “Love your neighbor as yourself”!!! Yes, love and forgive all God’s children… That’s tough sometimes, so we ask the HOLY SPIRIT to move us into compassion and ask Jesus’s love to intervene. We ask to be emptied of our begrudging ways, our focus on our needs… It’s mercy we need to show, no matter how much it hurts… This can be tough to do, but it’s the right thing to do…

If we have an interest in faith building, then we are to not tear down the foundation… If we have an interest in sharing the Word, then we must let the Word shine thru us.  We always can try to be like Peter and even in uncomfortable new situations, understand that the Lord wants us to be with believers and pre-believers as God needs us to be.

They have received the Holy Spirit just as much as we have.

We can drop favoritism and focus on faith…

Amen

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James 2:1

“Favoritism Forbidden
My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.  Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in.  If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

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Acts 10

Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Then Peter said, “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”  So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

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A Prayer for the Family of Baby Grace, 30AUG

Thought I would share this devotion prayer with you that I wrote and shared with a family who had precious few moments with their baby. The prognosis was dim, but the LOVE was as bright the Light could ever be.

One day, the day after the baby lived and then passed, I sat in the car ready to go to work and I was thinking about those precious few minutes that baby Grace had on earth and I saw a photo of LOVE being poured out to her while anointing her for her trip to heaven…. So, I got back got out of my car, and told my 18-year-old daughter (who had been a preemie) that I changed my mind to stay home from work most of that day and we would finish all the preparation for her college trip for the next day. So, through the reminder of Baby Grace’s precious moments and my witness of beautiful love poured out to them, I have been tremendously reminded to juggle my hectic schedule with the much MORE important love of God’s gift of family – and my time with them and them with me…

God gifted precious few minutes for an outpouring our love to baby Grace and baby Grace was gifted the few minutes on earth to be blessed with having an outpouring of love to her. God wanted to show her, show her family, and us “how deep and wide His love is” by giving her love of family. Time, even if short, was heaven on earth… LOVE never ends…

Here’s the devotion:

FAMILY is a gift FOREVER for whom you can pour out your LOVE.

LOVE is a gift for the giving.

LOVE the Lord and LOVE one another.

GRACE is a gift of LOVE.

GRACE is a gift from GOD.

GRACE is a gift of endless LOVE, under all circumstances and surpassing all understanding.

GRACE is a gift of FORGIVENESS for all.

GRACE is a gift of LOVE ETERNAL…

ETERNAL LOVE is FOREVER because of the gift of GRACE.

GRACE IS LOVE.

LOVE IS GRACE.

LOVE is in EVERYONE whom GOD LOVES.

LOVE is GOD.

GOD LOVES EVERYONE.

GOD LOVES YOU.

GOD LOVES GRACE.

LOVE GRACE.

GRACE LOVES YOU.

Amen

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See Nothing to See Everything, 26AUG

I couldn’t see well yesterday after the eye doctor’s drops, fittingly my Acts 9 scriptures and writings were nearly finished before the appointment… of course Acts 9 is about God using blindness so that Saul/Paul could see ONLY the Lord. Of course it was about seeing, of course…

Saul had to learn to trust the Lord to see. We all do.

I had to trust the eye doctor. Especially since I get sick to my stomach whenever I go. I have to trust him touching my eyes and knowing I will become out of commission for hours. I want to avoid these visits, but I am compelled to go, I have rare narrow angles (maybe 5% of the population) where my iris is pushed forward and bunched up like a squished rug – I attached a photo. This could block the drainage, and cause pressure and glaucoma.  So far so good! But I “have to keep an eye on it”.

Fittingly, as I don’t have time to sit down and read right now, Bible Gateway online with David Suchet has superbly reading the bible out loud while I drive or while I take a walk… I don’t use my eyes but my ears to get just as close to my Lord.

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/suchet/nivuk/Acts.9  Give a listen!

Acts 9 is the story of blindness – both spiritual blindness and human blindness – and the use of blindness as a tool to finally see… it is a story about ruthless Saul, who hunted anyone following “the Way” and how he becomes Paul, one of the most prolific bible writers…  Saul is blinded during a conversation with the Lord on the road to Damascus- “he opened his eyes and he saw nothing” – which means he knew he was supposed to see – he knew there was nothing – he knew that he didn’t know what had happened. Then the Lord led him to healing – the blindness caused Saul to be in the need to be led…

We too should realize that we need to be led – by the Lord Himself.

It is EARTHSHATTERING to have the Lord Himself hunt you down for a conversation… it is better to listen before it gets to a crisis… to listen ahead of time knowing the Lord will send others help you, give you warnings, give you encouragement. Just know it is the Lord and the Lord alone who calls your name, moves your spirit…

Do you hear Him calling? Listen for the whisper.

When the scales dropped from Saul’s eyes due to the work of Ananias, Saul knew that the Lord changed him. He was blinded so that He could see. And now Saul, who became Paul, only wanted to know the Lord MORE.

We surely want to know the Lord better! To see! To feel! To ask for our scales to be shed… to become a disciple like Apostle Paul, if the Lord can forgive him, He can and does forgive us! You have to trust the Lord to give up yourself….

Look at the trust that Ananias gave the Lord – to risk death by approaching Saul/Paul – yet in doing so he impacted all future Christians gaining new life in Christ…. Amazing trust! Ananias trusted the Lord with his life for that task. A fool for Christ.

Look at the trust by Jesus’s followers – tremendous trust and forgiveness on their part to accept this ruthless man Saul changed into Paul, but they did!!!… fools for Christ.

If we trust the Lord, we will get a whole new life. It is not always an easy one, for Saul/Paul or us…

Jesus promised suffering and yet Paul counted it all as a gain – to know the presence of God – to know his purpose. Paul’s passion never wavered, as he always felt like he had not yet obtained the glory he kept working… When Saul was called, nothing else mattered, NOTHING, except trusting the Lord… Paul later had such suffering in prison, such thorns in his side, he said it taught Paul to be humble… Yes, Paul wrote from prison to inspire, teach, praise, warn, and be whom the Spirit led him to be…

All of us have a calling to move from our Saul to our Paul… Thorns of persecution for being “fools” don’t matter…

Others may see nothing – we see with our faith…

Others may see a fool – we see Salvation…

We know salvation…

Trust and you will know nothing else.

It is wise to be a fool for Christ.

Amen

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Paul writes in Corinthians 4:

He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.

Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich!

We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ!

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JESUS is Proof – We are Not to Tarnish, 25Aug

I pieced this together few days ago thinking about my Dad’s love of coins – and read Michael Card’s commentary on the women at the tomb Easter morning…

Anyone called into His service becomes Proof of Him shining thru us.

Risen Jesus is the Proof.

We think of a proof coin as untarnished and pure, and oh so shiny!!!! Then what about us? We are coined in His image – are we as shiny? pure?

As humans we easily forget how amazing it is to be called by God for His service – and we begin to tarnish, like silver, become dull with our shine, in need of help…

As we enter the world, the messy world, our Proof coins get opened we become handled coins, sometimes scuffed up, sometimes lost, sometimes found… Our human ways can beget human flaws…

But the shine is still there. It really does simply need shining and it just really needs elbow grease…  Elbow grease means we put in the work to share the Word.

If we forget that our blessings are for His service, then we become dull… Is there proof of love in everything we do? – all my work, all my education, all my fun stuff, all my singing, all my friends, all my amazing adventures, all my life adventures – everything – all my “I happened to be in the right place at the right time”?

The truth is the right time came before the right place, before I even came to be – because the right timing for me – for us – for Him is HIS time…. and now we must parlay that into HIS SERVICE. His time to shine thru our service.

To make a difference in the world, we have to be out in the world and SHINE HIS LOVE. There is nothing compared to seeing the evidence proof, witness of TODAY’S Jesus… The women who entered the tomb witnessed the evidence for a risen Christ – but it was not proof until they saw HIM. We have God’s love in us, but we are not proof of the Risen Christ until we shine it.

God made us in His image – Jesus looks like us… We look like Jesus and we can be like Jesus and therefore we have the ability to be Proof of His Love.

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A HEAD OF MY ENEMY, 24AUG

I’m glad to set this devotion down, out of my head. Because I have been thinking about it for weeks…

It is related to a favorite praise song – Defender.

The Defender lyrics speak of God knowing what is best for us and speak about Him going to win our war before we even know He’s gone.

And the lyrics talk about him bringing us the head of our enemy…. So, before you say that is archaic and grotesque and awful, or even if it is figurative – let me tell you my take on it – YES, God will bring you a head of your enemy because most of the time your enemy is your own HEAD. A HEAD of my enemy is me getting AHEAD of myself…

A HEAD of my enemy is me getting AHEAD of myself… 

I do it all the time, I get ahead of myself!!!!

I over think things and I think of things that I should just give up to God.

I need to pray to focus on the Holy Spirit to move me and even keep me still… We all need to focus on the fulfillment of the Holy Spirit’s needs, not ours. I have to stop running to catch up.

I have to be still enough to be caught…

A great sermon reminder this past week was: “what if you are asking for a specific thing but God wants to give you something EVEN BIGGER?”… Therefore, give up your own agenda and let the Lord bring you what He knows you need and He will bless you even more …

Yes…

Defender – You go before I know –

The lyrics ring so very very true and also are telling of the old testament story of Jehoshaphat – God went ahead of him, won His war. Jehoshaphat was told to send out praise singers ahead…  To let God fight your battles and win THE war also rings true for the story of Deborah of the book of Judges, as she told Barak that God had already done the work, all he had to do was fulfill his duty – be the Lord’s…

Us too…

Be the Lords…

Amen

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Defender

You go before I know

That You’ve gone to win my war

You come back with the head of my enemy

You come back and You call it my victory

—

You go before I know

That You’ve gone to win my war

Your love becomes my greatest defense

It leads me from the dry wilderness

 —

All I did was praise

All I did was worship

All I did was bow down

All I did was stay still

—

Hallelujah, You have saved me

So much better Your way

Hallelujah, great Defender

So much better Your way

—

You know before I do

Where my heart can seek to find Your truth

Your mercy is the shade I’m living in

You restore my faith and hope again

—

All I did was praise

All I did was worship

All I did was bow down

All I did was stay still

—

Hallelujah, You have saved me

So much better this way

Hallelujah, great Defender

So much better this way

Hallelujah, You have saved me

So much better Your way

Hallelujah, great Defender

So much better Your way

—

When I thought I lost me

You knew where I left me

You reintroduced me to Your love

You picked up all my pieces

Put me back together

You are the defender of my heart

—

When I thought I lost me

You knew where I left me

You reintroduced me to Your love

You picked up all my pieces

Put me back together

You are the defender of my heart

—

Hallelujah, You have saved me

So much better this way

Hallelujah, great Defender

So much better Your way

Hallelujah, You have saved me

So much better this way

Hallelujah, great Defender

So much better Your way

—

All I did was praise

All I need to do is worship

Lord I will just bow down

I’m just gonna stay still

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Blue papers, 18AUG

Well at church today we had a powerful service with a call to prayer for 50 days and fasting for 21…  I have lots of things that I could fast from – food and other – we were given blue strips of papers to think about what is on OUR AGENDA vs GOD’S AGENDA – but I didn’t have a blue paper, so I just stuck my nametag up in the pile at the end of prayer at the rail – I gave up my nametag – the Lord knows my name and I probably was vainly wearing it anyway to want people to know me….  And besides, I struggled with it during the service as it kept coming off getting stuck in my long hair while singing…  So I saw this calling to fasting as a good time to acknowledge a prideful desire to be known in my new church is that PRIDEFULNESS that I should just give up to the Lord – and as for meeting people, guess what? the Lord is handling me meeting new people PLENTY FINE  – He always does…

I have been so blessed to be welcomed into that church with a wall of friendliness just like the wall of voices that hit me when we started singing… wow those people sing!!! I am the newest member of the band – I fit in as if God had that in mind, hmmmm…

Why? Why give up my agenda? Why am I called to be in a band? To raise my voice in praise? To make disciples – that is the paramount reason to be in a church and out from a church – to make disciples. This congregation’s taglines are “to know God, to make Him known, to live the Abundant Life, and to be an authentic Christian community” – all to make new disciples. People forget our existence is to help new folks follow the Lord – church is not about the music or the munchies – not about what you get out of the service but what you put into the worship – it is for us to find the direction and strength and gain ideas to GET THE WORD OUT – it is for us to get spiritual feeding and then go out and feed – “BE THE CHURCH” as my previous pastor “PJ” used to say – meaning to go out from the doors and work thru the Holy Spirit thru the Great Commission make new disciples for the Kingdom!!!

If you want to work on the Great Commission then you have to figure out how – what skills – and where – ACTUALLY YOU DON’T HAVE TO FIGURE THAT OUT – JUST ASK GOD – HE ALREADY KNOWS YOUR SKILLS – YOU DON’T GET UNLESS YOU ASK!

Blue papers or not, I personally should give up lots of things – but what really zapped me well in this sermon was the fasting for boldness – for exercising demons out – Matthew 17 – for having faith – that is powerful fasting for a certain reason – “Because your faith is much too small. What I’m about to tell you is true. If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, it is enough. You can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there.’ And it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

A month of prayer couldn’t come at a better time!!!

A month of fasting? well – as for food – it is time to get myself back into better shape – better health – I pray to increase the chances of God moving my mountain by moving myself first – that is a good mountain to move!

OK – I am ready to start the book of Acts… from the first verses it looks like a good read! I hope we can journey together if I “get my Acts” together LOL…

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Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach ² until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.³ After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. ⁴ On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. ⁵ For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with^[b] the Holy Spirit.”

⁶ Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷ He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁹ After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

¹⁰ They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ¹¹ “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

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Note – I am now only 6 weeks behind posting – this post was 6 weeks ago and I am pleased that the Lord broke my fast by making me write – I also have been catching up backlogs – AND praying – AND seeing differences in both the boldness that I am praying for AND I have lost weight – yeah – my fast from excessive carbs was perfect timing and not only did I get encouragement from my church band family, I got a plan. Not only did I get a plan, I got purpose once again from the Lord – and He is moving the mountain that is me – in 6 weeks low carb I have lost some weight, noticeably…  My prayer is to tell people that indeed God is alive – and He has tremendous strength to impart to each of us… All you have to do is be OPEN to His plan. Amen!

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Our Shepherds Feed, We Sheep are Loved, 17AUG

I’m in the book of Ezekiel these days – He is a prophet – I had never read it until now but wow, it is chuck full of teaching and prophecy and correction and direction for the wandering people of Israel and for us…

In summary, the book, like the whole bible, tells the story of how God loves us, restores our path, brings us (collectively the whole world) once again to WHOLENESS thru our Messiah, Jesus, and we will complete our journeys with Him into a new place called: “THE LORD IS THERE”…

I haven’t read it all, it’s a lot… but a blessed gift of 2 videos help cover the whole book:

https://youtu.be/R-CIPu1nko8

https://youtu.be/SDeCWW_Bnyw

Specifically reading Ezekiel 34, we are reminded that GOD LOVES US…  Ezekiel warns shepherds that they must take care of their flock… that rulers, who are supposed to be shepherds, will be judged for how they take care of their sheep over themselves…

…and it reminds the sheep, us as sheep, that they will be sought out by God – we will be searched out – both the lean sheep and those who are over-indulgers – GOD WILL FIND US – God will lovingly hunt us down for correction AND compassion (Psalm 139 style). He is our Shepherd.

‘For thus says the Lord God: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. 

“You are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God,” says the Lord God.

THANK GOD!!!!

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Psalm 139 (NIV)

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1 You have searched me, Lord,

and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue

you, Lord, know it completely.

5 You hem me in behind and before,

and you lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,  I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!  How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them,  they would outnumber the grains of sand — when I awake, I am still with you.

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Ezekiel 34  (NKJV)

Irresponsible Shepherds

34 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 3 You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. 6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them.”

7 ‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 “As I live,” says the Lord God, “surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock”— 9 therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord! 10 Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them.”

God, the True Shepherd

11 ‘For thus says the Lord God: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down,” says the Lord God. 16 “I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment.”

17 ‘And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats. 18 Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture—and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet? 19 And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet.”

20 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: “Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. 21 Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad, 22 therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23 I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

25 “I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. 26 I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing. 27 Then the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. They shall be safe in their land; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 28 And they shall no longer be a prey for the nations, nor shall beasts of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid. 29 I will raise up for them a garden of renown, and they shall no longer be consumed with hunger in the land, nor bear the shame of the Gentiles anymore. 30 Thus they shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are My people,” says the Lord God.’

31 “You are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God,” says the Lord God.

 

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God’s Peace Transcends All Understanding, 14Aug

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4)

We cannot comprehend the Lord’s peace completely but we surely can experience it… we often ask for worldly things and experiences and yet Jesus is much better… Peace beyond understanding, is anything more valuable than that?… We are directed to ask (and it is achievable to receive) the highest level of peace by attempting to be the most humble and letting the Lord take over. Letting God take control. Yes, this is hard to give up loyalty to the world – to think that we have it all together – to think that our plans are better than His – yet He knows better when we don’t – GRACE is the gift to get us back on track – Grace gives us back to God. Jesus ransomed us so that we will return to peace…

Peace beyond understanding is better than the world…

I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold.

I’d rather have Jesus than riches untold. 

“You don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.  And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.” (James 4)

I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause. 

I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause.  

“They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.” (James 4)

He’s fairer than lilies of rarest bloom.

He’s sweeter than honey from out the comb.

It is only by the Spirit that we call out to the Spirit – Grace is looking for us so that we may continue to serve God. God’s love is immeasurable – His peace is beyond understanding. Grace is forgiveness.

Forgiveness is a way forward for God…

Forever is the journey and the destination…

Peace is God’s plan – for Him – for you – for Him.

Amen

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I’d Rather Have Jesus

George Beverly Shea  https://youtu.be/oHg-o2eGzM4

Selah

I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold.

I’d rather be His than have riches untold.

I’d rather have Jesus than houses or land.

I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand.

 —

Than to be the king of a vast domain 

or be held in sins dread sway.

I’d rather have Jesus than anything

This world affords today.

 —

I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause.

I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause.

I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame.

I’d rather be true to His holy name.

 —

Than to be the king of a vast domain 

or be held in sins dread sway.

I’d rather have Jesus than anything

This world affords today. 

 —

He’s fairer than lilies of rarest bloom.

He’s sweeter than honey from out the comb.

He’s all that my hungering spirit needs.

I’d rather have Jesus and let Him lead, 

 —

Than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sins dread sway.

I’d rather have Jesus than anything 

This world affords today.

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Thank you God, for Red Letters, Spirit and Truth, 12AUG

I woke up singing: “Thank you God, for Red Letters – and the ground began to shake” in my head, the verse by Crowder, which I sang yesterday in church. This resonates so clearly today as well – our Spirit loves to sing praises – that is the truth – the spirit and the truth – “Thank you God for Red Letters” – the speaking words of Jesus…

I can feel the ground shake. I can because it did. It shook under me and shook apart my pride and self-centeredness, that is why God works so hard to shake the faulty ground that we stand on in each of us… We must worship in Spirit and Truth.

At fellowship and refreshment time, I discussed this Red Letters song with 4 kind souls – 4 kingdom women. We liked the song but we didn’t know what the color red in the Red Letters reference was all about. We thought it was the blood of Jesus – or the sign above His cross, turns out the song artist meant the RED WORDS in a special bible he saw at his grandmother’s church – the “Red Bible” – indicating the speaking words of Jesus to standout and change hearts. By asking my question, I learned. If we ask the Lord questions, He will gush living water responses to us and thru us…

Jesus is the strong living water to wear our mountains down into sculpted servants, called to go out to the fields to harvest for the Kingdom. Singing is a great way that the Lord can puts words of Spirit in our hearts… The spirit wants to be known. Our singing carries us out into the fields of harvest, ready to work.

Jesus told the Samaritan woman that we are to worship in Spirit and in Truth…. The Samaritan Woman left her water flasks and picked up Kingdom water instead. She became the conduit to intrigue others with her witness so that they would ask their own questions. Jesus visited with them all – as He was there to do “the work of the one who sent me”. So are we. God directs the flow of our witness. What can be way more powerful than a general gush of faith is God’s channeled focused movement of Living Water – Word and Witness and Winning Hearts. God wants to pump witness water into His Kingdom… He does…

Worshiping in Spirit and Truth, that’s where we worship best, and that causes us to share…. the scriptures of the Words of Jesus will be the only thing that will change hearts… we are but directed channels of His Word.

Thank you God for Red Letters.

Thank you Lord for moving the mountain of me.

Thank you God for Spirit and Truth.

Thank you Lord for doing the work – and now for sending us into YOUR Harvest.

Amen

(PS The Lord is so faithful to allow me to stand and sing WITHOUT screaming at the top of my lungs like that Samaritan woman running up and down the street, telling everyone that she met the promised Messiah, because I still have that scream inside of me… ONLY God understands the intensity of our internal conversation screams… OUR reverberations of His Spirit surely shake us, shake our ground. And like the Samaritan people – they had to see and hear Jesus for themselves – so do we – we need to hear those red letters and feel the shake)

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John 4

The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

The Whitened Harvest

²⁷ And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”

²⁸ The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, ²⁹ “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” ³⁰ Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

³¹ In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”

³² But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

³³ Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”

³⁴ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! ³⁶ And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. ³⁷ For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

The Savior of the World

³⁹ And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. ⁴¹ And many more believed because of His own word.

⁴² Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

 

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The Lord is There, “Overview: Ezekiel 1-33” on YouTube…

Well this is cool, I should read the whole chapter myself but this is a great overview of the book of Ezekiel, everything he went through and the whole vision of heaven and Earth together – wow God’s chariot!!!…. and the new Israel after the people get new hearts to love, and of the messiah and the re- gardening… return to Eden. but more importantly a new garden where God returns us to Him…

The new garden is called “The Lord is there”…

Cool

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Part 1

https://youtu.be/R-CIPu1nko8

Part 2

https://youtu.be/SDeCWW_Bnyw

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Kick Off Your Shoes in Church, Get Comfortable with Christ, 08AUG

Get comfortable with Christ, He wants to serve you, so that we can serve the Lord together.

I am a scribe, now I have to tell you this “no shoes” story about the amazing moving of the Holy Spirit!!

I felt so blessed to be at VBS last night in the city, at a Worship Center where the Pastors are so welcoming…. I came because I love the Lord so much, want to encourage others and be encouraged myself that VBS is alive as a ministry. At this church, His Good News is lived there, not just preached but lived and shared. They are energized with the Holy Spirit… How could I pass up one more “VBS-fix” for the end of the summer…

Traffic said an hour and a half drive due to accidents – ugh – but I left work early, took back roads past multimillion dollar homes on “the mainline”,  a hot bed of money, to get to this old old city church which has a hot bed of SPIRIT – not money but SPIRIT. Do you think it is crazy to drive an hour and a half? I knew it was OK – especially after I watched the VBS “kidvid” video of a boy living in Africa, His name is “Fortune” and he walks an hour and a half to school every day – and back…  His mom is in a wheelchair, yet look at me, I am mobile, I am in a Subaru searching for the spirit – no, I’m not crazy at all…. I am energized to want to feel the Holy Spirit.

I LOVE to hear the ROAR of God’s LOVE…

I raced into VBS late, took a moment before getting into the sanctuary and I noticed the bathrooms are really really nice, a good creature comfort for us in America, and of course very important in a very high trafficked and alive church… Then in the sanctuary, I found the Savannah tribe… Actually, they found me. See, my last VBS this summer I was ALSO in the Savannah tribe – we are giraffes reaching out for a spiritual feeding!

As I was going up and down the decorated stairs of this very old church, narrow steps, chasing the Savannah crew and the Zion crew, I was praying that I would not trip. I had my big boots on, great for my orthotics and knees, NOT for navigating stairs… I wish I had taken my shoes off!

Funny thought, see, taking off your shoes in church is my theme of my week…

Not wearing shoes gets criticism in some “proper” churches, but in this worship center church it became the symbol of the real live Holy Spirit in the house…

In Jesus’s time – taking ones shoes off was normal – even blessed… In bible adventures, we heard this evening the story of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples – a strong visual act of our Servant’s service. And barefoot earlier this week, I practice a praise band song that was authored by a man who never wore shoes when he preached – no shoes on Holy ground, he once said…  Plus Jesus washing the disciples feet causes me to remember a wedding washing ceremony between friends as blessed bride and groom, which was probably the MOST beautiful act of wedded love that I have ever seen, promising to serve one another as Christ served us. We are to be servants to where the Spirit leads us – servants to each other.

At the end of the night, I sat at the back of the sanctuary with one of the Pastors and Pastor J told me his great “no shoe story” involving his wife, Pastor D…

He told me after we sat for a moment and marveled at the teenagers AND local college student missionaries visiting and serving the Lord as guides – these were miracle gifts from God to help staff this VBS. I watched one dedicated student assigned to one escapee-type child, I was blessed to witness paraclete protection and presence in action. I told Pastor that my now college-aged daughter, was in church at age 4 and had no shoes on. Someone complained to me. I laughed it off, said “She’s 4!!! You are lucky she has clothes on!!”… That was truly judging of me as a mom and her as a child – and my daughter remembers the story to this day and it makes this mom’s heart ache for that scar. We should make children AND teens comfortable in church… We should show forgiveness and mercy.

At that point, Pastor J was chomping at the bit to tell me his shoe story… About ten years ago they took a $100,000 broken down church,  revitalizing it – but ONLY enough to NOT divert money from serving the people, it is not about the building, the building is ONLY a tool… They worked hard to prep the church, they just didn’t have time to upgrade the bathrooms before a big event with a guest famous evangelist… He came early to prep to preach, his wife stayed back at the hotel settling in for the 3-day event… Pastor J told me that Pastor D started preaching and she kicked her shoes off – comfortable  with Christ…. The evangelist called his wife immediately and said to come right over – this place is the real deal. They had been to so many church events and he knew the Holy Spirit was alive here...

During the set up for the event, Pastor J had apologized to the evangelist for not finishing the bathroom upgrade in time for the event… at the end of this spirit-moving weekend, the evangelist preached that he knew there was $20,000 in the room to make that bathroom renovation happen. HE EVEN KNEW THE NAME OF THE PERSON with the money.  Pastor J was stunned, thought “is this hocus pocus?” Nope, the evangelist spoke HIS OWN NAME. The evangelist himself donated $20,000 of his own money to renovate the bathrooms in this spirit-driven church… WOW…

It was because that evangelist saw how when Pastor D’s shoes came off He witnessed a true moment of her being COMFORTABLE WITH CHRIST – she was ready to emphatically share the Good News. The global church grows when Christ is shared…

We should be worrying about the salvation of spiritual souls not shoe soles…

We need to get back to the heart of worship – it is about Jesus and nothing else… Jesus understands our trials, our hopes and our pain. We teach love, we are to be that forgiving love, that servant love. Jesus would ask us to take our shoes off to wash our feet. We are the recipients of His service, His daily bread… He died for us, He lives for us… He serves… He heals… So should we.

Don’t worry about anything else, get comfortable with Christ…

Amen

PS – On the way home I drove barefoot, as I often do, and I thought of the POWERFUL preaching teaching in the Bible Adventures station – how Jesus died for our sins. He was brutality beaten, whipped, spit on, mocked, nailed to the cross for humiliating death… “My Jesus! They did this to My Jesus!” – our teacher exclaimed – oh how passionate, the kids paid attention! And so did the grandmas! She reminded us that not only did Jesus know this was going to happen, He warned His disciples, He asked for them to stay awake and then He was forgotten at the Garden of Gethsemane. After Jesus was arrested, they scattered, they were gone, they left Jesus hanging – just like when our friends betray us, scatter and go… Jesus understands! Jesus know ALL our pain. Jesus is Lord and “the Lord is close to the brokenhearted”.

Jesus knew His death was coming and still chose to proceed at His Father’s command, BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU AND ME. Jesus knew His Father’s plan to reunite all of us with Him. Jesus’s death for our lives…. roll the stone away… Jesus ROSE – “when life is sad, God is Good”

The kids won prizes and candy for being quizzed about the story… We have all won LIFE, without even trying… Now that is a servant for you – Jesus saves…

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John 13:1-17 (NIV)

Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.  After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.”  For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

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Itching and Scratching to Share, 07AUG

Christmas the Crab loves exploring – he is even going to a picnic Saturday to reconnect with the people he met on a retreat! Christmas the Crab is always itching and scratching, ever since Christmas in July, to get out of the aquarium to see our fellow creatures in Christ! Me too!!!!! Christmas loves looking outside (like Snowy, the cat does). They dream of exploring the world… Me too!!!

See, like Christmas, we all have the Holy Spirit itching and scratching to get out of us! The Holy Spirit wants to be known to the world, show that we are alive in Christ thru Christ… and that we were placed in the world to make a difference and connect…

It’s a tough world out there, so put on your shell armor of God, just like the crab does, but don’t fail to peek out from the shell to see how you can help spread the Good News…. Keep crawling…  Keep walking… Keep sharing…

Often miracles fall right into our hands – we should share them….

Use your skills, experiences, and story to tell how God chose you to send His message…. sometimes God drops hints from the sky, big and little. Sometimes God drops hermit crabs into the middle of the campground woods in October, for us to find and rescue. God always and especially wants us to find simple ways to share His wonders…

Always, we can show the miracle of a Risen Christ shining thru us – be the hands, feet, mouth, claws, and feelers for sharing God’s gifted skills to us…

Keep itching and scratching to share the Good News…

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Deeply Rooted Thru Faith, 05AUG

We say that we can “put our roots down deep”…  We can become “deeply rooted in our communities”…

But tree roots are actually NOT deep, are they? Tree roots are wide but not deep… that’s how our faith, not our physical supports, also need to be, soul anchoring is how we become stable and strong… not tossed and turned in the wind… Sometimes “deep rooted fear” plagues us, yet our human roots won’t save us in a storm as much as our faith does and wants to… Like jars of clay, we are hard pressed on all sides with challenges, and so our internal spirit takes over where the gap in our human strengthening falls short… Deep rooted fear is darkness, but the LIGHT of the Spirit wins every time.

The giant old-aged trees that tumble in a windstorm will rip the earth wide open, exposing the root shallowness… wide roots, not deep. So, we too must reach out to fellow believers and pre-believers to witness to the Lord’s strength supporting our lives.  Our wide roots, our wide faith reaching endlessly into every crevice of our lives, here and forever… our shallowness disappears, and His power displayed, we can faithfully spread our wings wide, like the crown of branches on the tree. We can bear fruit by being planted by His nurturing stream (like in Psalm 1).

We know it is by God, not us, that we ensure our futures. But if we lose our faith – lose our way – we are likely to fall. Yet when we nestle our branches into His Vine, then we will be fine. Apart from our Lord, our branches will wither, die and be cast into the fire (as in John 15). With Him, we bear fruit, we are gently pruned by our Vinedresser to bear more.

So then, consider another issue, the issue of a root canal to repair a cavity in our own creature… visibly the tooth may be cracked, so carefully the root structures are preserved, and the canal is widened as the dying nerve is removed – an apt analogy for us too. Leave the human anchor intact as a shell, but clean it up, remove the frayed and decayed elements, repair the damage and also deepen the well for good faith to take hold. Then, Crown it….

Crown our root – hmmm, that’s what Jesus did for us too… His Resurrection Crowning His Glory, for He and we now have victory over death.

A cracked tooth will be replaced with a crown. Our humanness, our surface life can now being filled by a wellness from our soul. Our root is shallow, but our souls are called to go deep. Our tree is then called to bear even more fruit… and even though our trees will eventually fall, and our earthly time will finish, our lives will be preserved with a Crown… His Crown… because our roots were established NOT in this World but in His Kingdom.

Our Lives Preserved…

His Reign Forever…

Amen

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I’m NOT in charge, but I made a Splash, 01AUG

I stood up at my company’s managers meeting and extolled the importance of participation in our company carnival,  which is today, I encouraged involvement and reminded all of them, 60 plus people, that I was excited about knowing every one of them because we ARE family… I tried so hard to not be emotional about it, but that’s OK, because they all know me, and they knew what my message was going to be an emotional appeal as soon as I walked up there.

If anything, I bet some were amazed or even embarrassed for me to risk emotion for the sake of a dunk tank event, but just like sliding off the seat to splash into the water, once you are in motion there’s nothing you can do but to continue – and yes, you can even appreciate the opportunity… I appreciated this opportunity, I had no fear for God was PUSHING ME just like He pushed the plunger of life and SPLASH I was in the tank.

No one else in that room could or would have the history that I do to extol participation for fun and crucially for team building. It was me. See, even though it could be considered someone else’s job to motivate our people, God picked me.

I appreciate also, that I am no longer in charge of this event.  I used to be, now there is a team. I show up and I do work very hard, but it’s not my job to command anything.  I try to see where work needs to be done and do it.

NOT being in charge is humbling, but it’s OK!!! Actually it’s GOOD. Actually this is EXACTLY what my Dad’s advice has been – when you see a need, work it… then get others involved,  step back and let them go with it, you’ve done a good thing… you increased engagement and leadership…

Not in charge… but ever present…

And, that’s a life message too.  I’m humbled to say that I am not in charge of my life. I thought I was, and I participate FULLY, but now I realize that God is in charge.

We walk thru life and if we are knowing of our spiritual connectedness, then we know God has us as a piece of His puzzle.  If we give up our hopes and dreams of being the boss of our destiny, we find His ways are above ours. His plan for us beyond our wildest dreams. His salvation as our safety net? I mean we even get to cheat death… Doesn’t that make you relieved? God’s got this.

My comfort zone is now not very comfortable anymore. How about yours? Does God push us out of our comfort zones? You bet. I can’t rest on my laurels. I cannot be a slacker. I can rest assured (and be assured of rest) but I cannot be idle. I fear the Lord enough to know that He needs me and is going to work me until He doesn’t.  I best show up.

I’m NOT in charge, it’s humbling, but it’s OK!!! Actually, it’s GOOD. Actually, this is EXACTLY what my Lord’s advice has been – when you see a need, work it… then get others involved, step back and let them go with it, you’ve done a good thing… you increased engagement and leadership… You are building the Kingdom…

God is in charge. God will handle things big picture regardless of my abilities, efforts, or lack thereof.  If I don’t accept my role, He will find someone else to do the job (Ask Moses and Joshua). I will appreciate too that I got an extra day to dodge a bullet and extol the reasons to find joy in our journey… I get to extol His greatness and His power and that He is my boss above all earthly bosses. He has taken the pressure off…

I used to be the boss of today, I’m not anymore, but I expect that God will work me hard today. I best show up. I best wear good shoes. I best come ready to hear what my ultimate boss is needing me to do to achieve His goal.  I best be His…

Smile, it’s God’s Carnival!

Find Joy in the Journey…

God picked you!

Make a SPLASH!

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A Garden to Tend, 26JULY

I found the quiet rooftop garden at the hotel to finish a writing… A nicely dressed lady, who maybe never left the bar from the night before, was still sleeping on a bench. I am glad she had great weather and good rest, no roof garden visitor disturbed her for hours… that was nice of them – that was a gift to continue her sleep….

There are SO many people in NYC, in the world, who are sleeping in faith – not just sleeping in exhaustion. Thankfully many are awake – many are curious – that is why in the church and out on the rooftops of the world we are asked to witness and asked to teach so that EVERYONE with ears that MIGHT hear… the curious, the hopeful…. truly if God moves us to act, we are to tend the soil, and yield a crop so NEW seeds can be sown…

We personally need good watering to maintain our faith and get back out to tend the crop. Did I shout the Good News from the roof top? Not today. But by tending my writings I hope I did tend to my own little farm crop to get some fold increase for the Kingdom. We all have unique ways to serve, You have an unique understanding and sharing style, I do too…

We are to teach, process, be human, process, know, teach, show Christ, sometimes explain ourselves, sometimes not, and always talk it out with Him… We are to show others that we care enough to help them process… just like Philip and the Ethiopian.

Just like a flat communion wafer of Jesus’s body, we have to rehydrate the Word and re-nurture a changing audience. The Word does not change but:

For this people’s heart has become calloused;

    they hardly hear with their ears,

    and they have closed their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

    hear with their ears,

    understand with their hearts

and turn, and I would heal them.’

Yes, Jesus heals… THAT IS THE GOOD NEWS! Keep spreading this hope.

Keep tending the garden – wake up the sleepers – let the Lord be known.

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Rehydrate the Word, 26JUL

A flat communion wafer was held and beautifully illuminated above my head this morning then placed into my hands, destined for my feeding. I wish I had a photo – but I surely have another vivid memory.

I remember my childhood – more vivid memories of that particular communion wafer taste of my youth, it was so cardboard like and yet I still savor that taste. Thankfully now I savor the Savior.

That memory, like the wafer, was pressed and processed into my mind. Even if they have strict recommendations about taking communion in a Catholic church, I thought how nobody there would know how many confessions I have missed in 30 plus years. So, I did take communion this day… Most people did… No one stopped me (I figured Jesus was not too keen on man-made rules anyway).

I wanted Jesus for real. I took communion because I want to share in Him – the living Christ…  “Lord I am not worthy, but only say the Word and I shall be healed”. Jesus said the Word. Jesus is the Word.

Just like the dried flat wafer, we have to REHYDRATE the Word, give it fresh new life, change the shape of our lives, heal and grow to be re-nurtured and to be fed.

Our sharing is contingent on our own nourishment – we must take in Jesus to apply Jesus…

Jesus as the Word does not change – but our spirits are appreciative of being re-hydrated. It is our own application of Living Water that makes the flat pages of the Word in the bible become real.

Jesus is Rehydrated, Re-Living, Resurrected and Real…

We become Re-born when Jesus becomes Real to us.

Really.

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Where NOBODY Knows Your Name, 26JULY

I was so thankful for an alternative spiritual morning.  I was glad to wake early, walk and hoped to get spiritually fed. It’s Friday of vacation, so I made my way to a fancy church – a BIG one – Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, NYC… I’ve been in big churches in Europe, there’s lots of gawking over gold… Everyone is a guest, NOBODY knows your name.

Well, Somebody here knows, God knows…

What caught everyone’s attention was a random presence of a perceived “troublemaker” – caught security’s attention right away as he came up late with arms flailing up and a pre-defensive stance. Loud talking, he exclaimed “So what if I am late!” The priest looked out, said OK, then continued. He was OK, it was OK… Nobody knew his name but people knew his presence… It seemed OK so I nestled in for a message.

Actually I heard THREE half-hour masses this morning, LOL, 7 AM was 30 min, 730 was 22 minutes, 8 AM was 19 minutes,  hmmm..  Now the 7 AM had a beautiful singer, hymns I actually knew… the others had no hymns,  that’s quite the 11 minute difference… I had plenty of time to sit and think while others dashed to work. My daughter was still sleeping in the hotel 10 minutes away, I pondered my position…

So after the first mass, I moved to the side chapel, still within earshot, but in a corner where I could write.  The chapel of Mary of Guadalupe. Beautifully displayed is my favorite painting of Mary, this image simply sticks with me…

Scriptures were PERFECT – one old testament- one new – covering old covenant and new covenant….. Exodus “I am the Lord Your God” 10 commandments and the Parable of the Sower – MY FAVORITE!!! I was the DRY soil kind of soul – I did however put the seeds in my pocket, the evil one didn’t get them all, I simply spouted late, God FLOODED me… I bloomed… COOL…

At 7 AM I sang and then there was NO sermon, HUH? WAIT WHAT? Oh, rats, only half hour masses before work, I see, in and out… I did learn that Saints Joachim and Anne are not names in the Bible, but assigned Saint names to Mary’s parents, as Jesus’s grandparents… prayers are said to Anne for fertility… A sentence but no sermon, at 7 or 8, I was sad…

Yet at 730, THERE WAS, the priest made no mention of the fertility but explained the scripture, YAY!!! Kingdom fertility, Good Soil…

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalm 119:103

The 730 priest’s mini sermon was a five minute explanation of the seed sowing scripture!!! I loved it…

He explained that Jesus took His disciples aside to explain that parable because they were His friends and so they too could process and understand (me too! I ask Jesus questions too!)… Then the Priest explained we should want this Good Seed planted in us, nurture it, so we too can go be the people that Jesus wants us to be…

“What kind of a seed will we sow today?

Is our heart open to receive the seed?”

Oh, I was HAPPY with a personal mini-sermon… The prayer of Saint Patrick posted on the altar rail (photo attached) includes being Christ to everyone you meet… Jesus explained to His disciples that not everyone understands the Good News, you might have to explain it… LET THOSE WHO HAVE EARS HEAR!

Jesus needed His disciples to understand deeply, in order to teach this… US TOO… Jesus needs us too…

Jesus said:

“the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

We know that for the lost, for us all, that indeed SOMEONE DOES KNOW OUR NAME!

JESUS DOES.

We know that in the world that it seems that nobody knows Your name, Lord, but we do and so we will tell of Your Love!

JESUS LOVES US.

JESUS LOVES ME.

JESUS LOVES YOU!

JESUS KNOWS YOU.

AMEN!

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St Patrick’s prayer for us to EMULATE Jesus:

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

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Matthew 13, Jesus said:

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;

though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;

you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.

15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;

they hardly hear with their ears,

and they have closed their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

hear with their ears,

understand with their hearts

and turn, and I would heal them.’

16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

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Exodus 20:1-20

And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

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Thirst, Christmas in July, 25JUL

Christmas the Crab finally has emerged from a month rest, a hibernation of sorts. He disappeared long enough to make you worry that he was not going to re-emerge…

He did. I didn’t worry too awfully because he did the same last July… but still… was he ever going to come back up? It was like…, waiting for Christmas! (LOL)

Today. I heard that familiar clunk of his shell against the food and water dishes. Whew! Hooray! Today of all days for Christmas the Crab to emerge is 7/25, Christmas in July…. (not making this up, really!!!…)

Thirst.

Christmas is thirsty…

Hermit crabs carry water in their shells in addition to using it for protection.  Christmas stretched his limbs out, scooped in the new water. Thank God for water. Stockpile it for later too.

Thirst.

A Living Water kind of thirst…

My friend came over to learn about a new sewing project – making dresses for Africa for our missionaries to deliver.  Gifts are always appreciated, hope is delivered just as much as gifts. In addition to the dresses and shorts, our missionaries are working to satisfy the THIRST of the people – teaching so that NEW people may hear about forever living, about salvation thru Jesus Christ, our LIVING WATER.  Perhaps they have heard about Jesus, but maybe not. Perhaps their thirst for knowledge will be sparked.

THIRST.

How can we help? We can be missionaries from home, we can be mission-minded sewers for helping the sowers of the Word… Making these dresses is going to be a great hands-on project for my friend and myself, joining a few dozen others. Many hands make LIGHT work. Sewing is super therapeutic, our hands are busy, eyes focused, ears happy with the roar of the stitches and our minds decompress… whew… we thirst for rest too… for help while working thru life… Sewing is good.

Helping is good.

Hope is good.

Knowing that we can make a difference all while quietly decompressing is golden…

Visualizing our handiwork to travel across borders makes my heart smile.

Knowing the Word of Jesus is spread makes my spirit leap for joy!

Thirst. See, we all thirst to be productive, to make a difference and to know it matters.  Granted dresses might be sourced elsewhere but within these dresses we have stitched personalized prayers for the recipients. We send a visual reminder that strangers across the globe really do care about them.  We pray for them to help them make a difference in their own worlds and simply to live better. Our prayers are for them to feel like Christmas morning with a new outfit. More importantly, we hope that with the teachings of the missionaries that they continue to know not just the Christmas morning feeling but the Christmas forever feeling – to know the gift of the Lord Jesus, to understand that He quenches the deepest thirst.

We thirst, and Jesus quenches…

We travel, and Jesus delivers…

We sew and sow, for Jesus IS the present.

Thirst.

Jesus thirst.

No better time to reach for Living Water than Christmas in July…. Reach out for Jesus, ask for His gift, He is willing to share!!!

Christmas the Crab has emerged to reach and refill with the life-sustaining water. We too thirst, and Jesus’s Living Water is all we really need… What a gift!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Amen

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John 7:37-39 (NLT)

Jesus Promises Living Water

On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me!  Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”  (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him.

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John 4 (NIV)

Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman

4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

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Dance People Dance – VBS Confetti Canons, 22JUL

A friend told me he tailored his sales presentations to his specific clients’ needs and that WOWED THEM – won his company a gazillion dollars in business…

Isn’t that what God does too? Tailor our blessings, and be understanding of our needs, and show us plans that will win us to Him? Whether corrective steps or simple changes, AWARENESS is surely what God wants from us. And even better, FAITH is what God requires when we have no clue…

I’m sure that this is EXACTLY what God is doing for you and for me… herding His sheep, tailoring His sales pitch until we finally understand His Message.  Surely, He could go harsh on us. Surely, we should fear the Lord with awe. Therefore if He needs us spreading His JOY, isn’t that also still a command?

God is so powerful and effective and good that He Himself is both in charge of us and also wanting to convince us of His plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11)… He is all knowing of every hair on our heads, He is all knowing of what will motivate us… He is allowing us to heal from our pain, to taste His Joy, to move forward, and He wants us to share our stories…

I believe that 100%…

This is yet another reason why I smile during the summer Vacation Bible School weeks. I got multiple opportunities this year. I love to watch people enjoying life and setting aside their ongoing pain for His plan… I love to see JOY eclipse life’s JUNK… Not ignoring the pain, eclipsing it by knowing the Abundant Life…

God ordains our steps.  Today at my new Praise band singing gig for the Lord, I watched vacation bible schoolers dance effortlessly for the Lord! And I watched grownups drop their worries and dance knowingly for appreciation of the good that the Lord has provided them. And I watched some parents be hesitant to dance and yet be very thankful their kids had a good VBS week. And I watched some staunch no nonsense church members stand dead still (but they watched).  As for me? I sang sang sang, I did hand motions while holding the microphone, I did twirls best I could without cord tangles. And I danced while watching God’s people dance…

I did ALSO take some quiet time today, and seeing a little Jesus doll sitting, smiling, amongst tie-dye coffee filter flowers almost made me cry, this photo still does,  I had to take a photo of my feelings… I feel so blessed to have a child-like wonder of the Lord… with a wisdom that I must work for Him… with a knowledge that God is all good but still does major reality checks on us.

Childlike wonder, yes, but I know that it is NOT childlike knowledge we are being instructed with… it’s the deepest most intense feeling to know Jesus – to walk with Him. To be carried by Him.

(after not knowing Him in me for 45 years – this feeling is still INTENSE, and I am RELIEVED to talk about Jesus… a relief to know there are people who also know Jesus, with whom I can chat with… with whom I can dance with…)

I loved partaking in this repeat VBS celebration service (DURING the church service!) And at the luncheon, because these children of God share the same joy with us that God shares with them. Joy that we came to be together – children learning from the Father of how to be welcoming to each other and their neighbors…

And how did the celebration end? WITH CONFETTI CANONS!!!! 

WOW!!! I never saw that coming!!! I felt like I died and went to Heaven! I watched from the praise band vantage point into the faces of God’s people and they rejoiced!!!

At the end of our earthly roads is an open call into Heaven… Jesus walks with us each step, Jesus triggers the confetti canon as He and you step together into our Father’s heavenly place… it means you made it HOME…. maybe there is an internally very quiet moment of a heavenly breath catching when earthly breathing ceases… and then WOW, I am certain there is no feeling that I could explain that would equate to how Heaven will be. Therefore on our journey, we choose whether we dance, hesitate, stand staunchly still with Jesus, but as so as long as we believe, reach for Jesus’s hand, there is a place reserved for us. There are many rooms in Heaven.  There are many styles of sharing the JOY of Jesus.  Presence is needed in every case…

My friend in my band told me after the VBS celebration: “I don’t care if I looked silly dancing – I would have looked MORE silly NOT dancing”. TRUTH!

You know what? I KNOW the Lord has a place for me in Heaven – I would look MORE silly NOT dancing my JOY for Him EVERYDAY…  TRUTH!

Praise the Lord… Today is a new day WITH HIM… So take a moment to dance with Jesus, TODAY!

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Where Do I Fit? a One Sheep VBS Moment, 20JUL

Ah, my friend caught a precious VBS moment in a photo…

VBS is not just about fun, it is having faith that God needs you to be present where He places you.

Where do I fit?

The most important scanning of a new situation is to see where you plug in and where you can make a difference and to discern why God put you there that day.

I was NEW there – not the leader like I was in my old church – but I did NOT feel that weird in a new Vacation Bible School church because I figured I could be helpful, somewhere…  I did wonder how I could contribute, I wondered how God would use me and I made myself available for His plan. That morning I saw random needs: I folded t-shirts and I placed nametags on people who didn’t think they needed them – they did… A former (you could say ’emeritus’ VBS director ALWAYS scans the scene…

In the opening session for one particular day, middle of the week, God made it SO clear of His answer to my question of “why am I here?” The answer came in one sheep – I noticed seven-year old Jayson pouting on the floor, 2 rows back from the well-behaved 16 five-year olds that I was assigned to…. I saw him not participating, disgruntled, ANGRY at Grandma and the world…. No, I never met him – but knew what an angry 7year old’s “HMMPFFF!!!!” was all about…

The five-year olds were fine with 6 leaders present, so I was able to break away and down I sat, on the ground in the sanctuary… Eye to eye… Really it didn’t matter what I said to Jayson. I just tried to listen.  And then… in a flash Jayson took off!!! Running down the side!!! I ran!!! Yes I ran!!!…. I  yelled “Catch him!” but three adults were totally oblivious, they did not… I caught him just at the back door – and I was thankful!!!…

WHEW!

“God, this is why I am here today”… “Thank you Lord that You enabled me to be aware, to run, to catch, to be present…”

That afternoon and the next day I stood guard watching him in the pews, he was much better, doing the singing, he was OK for his Grandma. I even saw him chatting with a friend.

See, that’s what working for God is all about – it is about being present, aware, asking the Lord: “where do I fit?” – It is NOT “what’s in this for me?” – We are to ask: “What’s my role – where can I be the servant?”…

Running AT camp is where God used me this year – I was NOT running a camp (as the leader) but running AT camp… “Where do I fit, Lord?” EXACTLY where You placed me.

There’s no better week than VBS week… NONE…

Thank You Lord for VBS sheep! I am one of them – thank You for catching me too…

Amen

     

714

VBS Friday – a GOOD FRIDAY – a JOY of Eternity with Jesus, 19JUL

Today at Vacation Bible School we explored (and tasted) the salty and sweetness of life…

The prayers during the staff meeting were for us to be impactful in sharing the Good News – for us to be helping the children bring the HOPE that they learn to home. The campers LOVED the stories – I did too!

Life has salty rough times and sweet good times – but because of Jesus, we can give up our worries and burdens to Him – we placed stones at the cross to symbolize our burdens that we carry around – our burdens which we try to give to Him for freedom by the power of the cross and empty tomb… His pain for our gain.

JOY is for now AND JOY is for LIFE eternal. Jesus’s empty tomb was SO intriguing to these 5 year olds that they jumped up from their seats to peek in… We too can be curious about life and about the miracle of Jesus – we can take life in stride – we can look for JOY…

JOY – HOW ABOUT FILLING 35 WATER BALLOONS AT ONCE! VBS IS AWESOME!

One last observation from this VBS week: This was a gift from God for me to be involved – a gift for me to be able to help – this was a journey of healing and a focus of new direction… The Lord KNEW I needed this – the Lord also urged me forward, to see the needs, to keep helping to spread this Good News that changes lives…. Jesus changes lives – people don’t know to look for Him. I see so many loose ends and places that I can be of service… I see a lifetime of work… I see JOY in my journey… We all can. We can all learn – teach – encourage – support… at bare minimum we can BE PRESENT.

Little Joshua, who led us into the Promise Land in yesterday’s bible story, had not “high fived” me all week during the music video routines – even one time he completely “dissed me”. WELL TODAY, he came over to me to give me a high five – I thought: “YAY, I MADE IT TO THE PROMISE LAND!”

When Life is Good, God is Good!

The TRUTH is, we all have made it to the Promise land and more – IF ONLY we accept the invitation. Jesus made our way to be FREE from our salty burdenings of life – into the sweetest of PEACE forever… Life will be bumpy for sure –  but we have to know our roles here are only temporary, and we need to do our part, not fear, and share the Joy…. trust me, that JOY is far better than VBS water balloons – this JOY is FOREVER!

Thanks for journeying thru VBS with me… Can’t wait to see where and how God calls me into VBS next year!

AMEN!

713

Stay Out of the Pits, VBS Sheep Get the Green Flag, 19JUL

OH, the VBS SMILES – especially at day 3 VBS as I watched a camper SHINE while he was watching the live action skit.

Let me tell you how GOOD GOD IS – about how this day 3 VBS bible point came to life for me: “When life changes, God is good”.

My VBS friend is also a number one youth race car driver, that has been his passion FOREVER, his parents pour their energy into preparation. The ONLY activity that pulls him away from the track is VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL… Well, he was so very excited about ROAR as a potential theme, but I wanted to go with retro Power Lab instead – but as our church’s VBS got cancelled, we were welcomed into another church’s VBS… Guess what? Their theme was: ROAR… (I hear giggling from the angels watching us) … ROAR…

Oh this camper’s SMILE – the HOLY SPIRIT poured out of his smile and oh that GLOW…  ROAR…

“When life changes, God is good”…

And here is the bible story: Moses and his people were in the desert wandering and wandering and the people complained, and it got them nowhere… ACTUALLY, all that complaining extended their time spent in the desert, oops… And Moses ended up overreacting and that prevented him from getting to the promised land… the people were in the pits…

Yet God did provide everything that the people needed… So, they got manna and they got quail and they got clean drinking water – and Moses led them thru change… God took care of them…

I am the witness to God’s Hand taking care of all of us when our VBS cancelled, and I promised that I would work to find a VBS that this child of God and his mom and I could do together… and wow, it was just one mile down the street… that was good ROAR of the Lord, huh?

It is my humbling witness that the 5 MOST vocal supporters of picking Roar, all got to participate in Roar… I puzzle at how things worked out so amazingly, but I do NOT doubt the ALL-POWERFUL HAND of GOD acting in this very moment… one sheep, actually many sheep, and again the demonstration of the Lord knowing EVERY HAIR on our blessed heads… I too needed Roar, for the bible messages about Moses’s trials, I did not know that months ago, but I BELIEVE IT NOW!

Thank you, Lord, that I got to see our camper’s smile, his mom’s comfort, our helpers help… They got the green flag into Roar… They kept their VBS hope alive and that kept them from being stuck in the pits… I believe that obedience to the Lord’s guidance gave me a major realization that I had to move forward when I could not change where I was – the Lord got me out of the pits too, in life and in repair – and that then allowed me to arrive here – to see that VBS smile – to see these children of God smile…

Lord, I barely scratch the surface of how you take care of us, of so MANY sheep.  But You do – that I BELIEVE.

All joy and praise to You Lord. You gives us ALL the green flag to keep racing – FOREVER…

712

NEVER Fail to Give the Reason – As VBS Draws to a Close, 18Jul

I am guilty of this – I often omit the name of Jesus and talk about God in generalities to people… It’s a hang-up that many of us have, we don’t want to offend, or we don’t know how it will be received… Jesus is the reason for our salvation, our future with God.  Even one sign language symbol for Jesus (in a song for VBS) is a rip open of a curtain – the thick heavy temple curtain tore when Jesus died…. no longer was there a barrier between us and God…. JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO GOD.

There is an amazing ministry opportunity of VBS. See, in this sesame street generation (me included) singing and dancing, bible buddies and real action portrayals of bible stories are teaching vehicles. VBS makes it easy and fun to get these bible truths and stories to the children who then bring them directly home. In VBS, it is easy to talk about Jesus – because we tell great stories – plus it’s the bible stories and messages that need reinforcement in those who have heard them – over and over. It’s the bible stories about Jesus that are new and fresh each time when applied to the current circumstances you find yourself in.

One of the past themes that got me SO EXCITED was Power Lab. It had 5 stories relating directly to Jesus. Yes, the science theme was so cool, and I have sentimentality for my first VBS and because I am a scientist. I discovered, at my first VBS, that VBS was not bible thumping but praise raising! Even as un-awakened as I was 12 years ago, I was excited about these stories about Jesus…

So, let me share my sentimental first VBS set of stories – Jesus Healing Lepers, Jesus giving sight to a blind man, Peter and Jesus walking on water, Jesus saving us by His death and Resurrection, and Jesus asking God to send us the Power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and always… What a nice progression of Jesus healing us, awakening our eyes, calling us out in faith, making the path sure, and giving us His power to share the Good News as truth…

Yes, these bible stories thrilled me and still do… See, I too am Peter – walking out on that water and having faith that Jesus will hold me when I listen to Him – when I sink (and you know that I do and will), Jesus is there – it only takes me reaching up my hand to grab His. We all venture out in faith, we try to keep walking – yet when we sink we can be caught if we look to Him – when Jesus reclaims us into the Kingdom, we are NEVER ever lost – remember that veil is torn – even our sins cannot keep us from salvation in that reaching hand of Jesus…. GRAB IT…

Ah, but VBS lasts only a short long week… lightning in a bottle.     After VBS week, there are 51 more weeks to serve… maybe not as fun, but just as open for fulfilling our calling – sharing faith…

So, what are our next adventures with the Lord? We are called to climb out of our boats of comfortability… We will have rough seas, but we can hang-on… At minimum, I pray to never fail to give the reason for my calm boat – my rescue of choppy waters – and my saving Savior – JESUS.

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1 Peter 1:3

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.For if you possess these qualities and continue to grow in them, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever lacks these traits is nearsighted to the point of blindness, having forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Therefore, brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you practice these things you will never stumble, and you will receive a lavish reception into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Therefore, I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have

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(Group Publishing’s POWER LAB five stories, 2008)

711

I am a Sponge!!! 17JUL

My favorite EXCLAMATION of the VBS week was from 5-year old Joshua, echoed by the other boys, just after water games at Vacation Bible School: “I am a sponge!!!”

They were only slightly drenched from the water game, “Drip, Drip, Squeeze” – like “Duck, Duck, Goose” but with a wet sponge. The Bible Point was “When Life is Scary, God is Good”…

“I AM A SPONGE”, Joshua held his arms out and showed the world his wet shirt… I realized instantly the truth that little kids ARE sponges, they are soaking up learning so very much and so very fast… they are sponges and they naturally crave to be fed…

That’s us too, yes, any and all of us who crave knowledge are sponges, who hunger for it… We want to be learning the world, when we learn about the Lord and His ways, we want to know MORE… Oh, how blessed to CRAVE having tasted and seen…

“Like newborn babies, CRAVE pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

The nice thing about being a sponge is that you can carry the information you learn, and you can drip it many different places, teach, share, love, and you can go back to the bucket and absorb more…

“Coincidentally”, I have recently been learning about Moses from a recent sermon that struck a deep chord within me. I found myself so very much looking forward to the VBS Bible lesson, learning about the plagues…  I crave spiritual milk, I crave teaching, I am a sponge!!!! Moses was taught what to do by the Lord – He questioned and doubted – he saw the consequences when he and his people overreacted and were not grateful – he and his people saw relief when protected from plagues – including the most precious Passover saving – Moses was the hands, feet and mouth of the Lord – to help his/His people – we can be too…

Moses was led so that he could lead – I understand that – IMMENSELY!

The kids in the “Drip, Drip, Squeeze” game eventually realized that it was not so scary to get wet and run, we laughed, even the leader ran and wiped-out, but he still laughed… I was not afraid of water games – put my phone to the side and sat in the circle… When God is in control, we don’t have to fear.  When God is in control we don’t have to miss out on the amazing opportunities that He presents in front of us.

Now that we have tasted what is good, WE WANT TO BE A SPONGE!

“When Life changes, God is Good!”  is today’s Bible message…. 100% of the time life changes, we have all been thru many changes!!!  And because of the Lord, we crave to know what spiritual milk flavor is next… we crave to know what JOY comes out of a world of unknown… Since I work for the Lord, and we all work for the Lord, we can participate in life without fear… (remembering a past VBS tagline: “When you worry, Jesus RESCUES!”)

We have the Abundant Life of Forever Salvation bought by Jesus’ death and resurrection – that’s why it’s OK to walk thru the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23), because we are to keep walking…

Moses kept walking in the desert… the people got cranky, the Lord promised the best, but the road there was rough… the people had a hard time believing…. do we? Did the Lord take care of them? He did! Has the Lord restored us to hope before? Yes, He has. Will He hold us safe forever? Yes, He will.

Let’s be sponges for what God is teaching us today!

Because of Jesus, our future is secured… let’s go teach the others about Jesus too… “proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light!”

Bring your bucket of Living Water stories, there are lots and lots of sponges out there waiting to soak it all up!

Amen!

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1 Peter 2

Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: “See, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.” To you who believe, then, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word—and to this they were appointed.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

710

Life gets Wild, God is Good. We Need to Take the LONGVIEW, 15JUL

Life gets a little WILD sometimes, Well all the time… So, when life changes, God is still good. What a blessed morning I had at Vacation Bible School with a dear child who has been recovering very well from her double liver transplants… giving her mom a great relief to know she was OK at VBS – this was my honor and privilege to let her mom rest assured…

At Vacation Bible school we learned about Moses and his people – in the dessert – “When life is unfair”, “When life is scary”, “When life is good”, “When life changes”, “When life is sad” – God is still good…

You see, God owns the LONGVIEW…  The people wandering the desert could not comprehend God’s plans and often we cannot comprehend…  But when God promises He will take care of us, He really will…  We need to take the LONGVIEW as well…  We may have many wild moments but in the long haul we are going to be all right!

Our excited 5 year old VBS-er went thru many life changes last year but this year she is an energetic and a wonderful child excited for life!!!  A new liver and a new life!!!  God is good! We also will go thru many changes – but the saving grace of God is His gift of Jesus to us – to make sure we will also be ALL RIGHT – Heaven is our home – life on this earth gets wild – but keep walking my friends – keep walking…

 

709

The “Tongues” of Vacation Bible School, 15JUL

You can say that I’m stretching this scripture too far, but I don’t think so… God knows what I mean… and Vacation Bible School-ers know what I mean… The language and emotion of Vacation Bible School is like a “tongue” in that some people get it and others don’t…. So in some small way, it’s up to me to explain what the appeal and purpose of Vacation Bible School is for others, for education and edification of the church…

I could show you photos of VBS-ers, but unless I explain that the GLOW on their faces is from the Holy Spirit, how will you and the rest of the world know that GOD has a plan to use the energy, joy, thrill, and study of HIS children and teenagers to change the rest of the world….

I’m serious!!! Some may think VBS is all fun and games, but this is SERIOUS WORK for the LORD.  JESUS SAID LET THE LITTLE CHILDREN COME TO ME. And that includes the parents, grandparents, neighbors too… see VBS is fun, but it’s most importantly for the FAITH.

I once saw a 5-year-old so EXCITEDLY explaining to his Grandma all the bible buddies and messages – I was touched by the Grandma’s AWE… I was amazed by the Lord’s timing that allowed me to be edified and know He was building me up so I could keep working to do the seed planting work that I do… I needed that too – God’s timing was just right that I saw both the impact of VBS and also the TRUTH that if we are to share the Word with the children, we need our community focus…

A wheelchair-bound special man in our congregation is always THRILLED to wear his VBS T-shirt and support the campers and staff in prayers…. I felt those prayers too, I did. “There are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning.” Clapping and smiles and JOY overflowing is the ACTION of a Spirit that can NOT be denied. Prayers are purposeful. I have another wheelchair-bound friend in a nursing home, Joe, who wears His VBS bracelet everyday…

Recently I drove carefully, but easily, into an impoverished neighborhood. Why? To deliver VBS supplies of course…. I put my ARMOR of God on,  and went to see the oasis of God’s church growing in this real neighborhood, growing the peace in spirit… From hula-hoops to brown craft paper,  trash to treasures of a whole overflowing preschool craft closet – there was nothing more important that I could have flowed and delivered than HOPE… I am not the source – just the conduit – to bring HOPE… the prayer is that the unbelievers will see and say “God is really among you!”

It was not hard for me, I have a Subaru… it was not hard for me to carry stuff in the summer heat or recruit others into helping me carry stuff…. the only hard thing was parallel parking – but it’s a Subaru – you can climb curbs if you have too… Just sayin’…

The surprise of the pastors and hope from the onlookers was NOT for me to see, but for me to EXPLAIN to others… I easily accomplished filling and emptying the cargo area of stuff – but the strength, courage, grace, and time schedules are all a gift from the Lord… He’s got work for us to do, grab your Subaru and go. You can fit a lot of stuff in your Subaru, but it’s nothing compared to the capacity of seeds stored in your heart for spreading… your own glow is purposeful for the Lord to shine, to show up all over your face… VBS does that…

The Pastors and I have connected on Facebook – “Faithbook” – this is a tool – understanding that God Himself empowers us to use tools is priceless… we build disciples with the gifts and tools God gives us…

So today I will help at another church, not running the camp but being present and I will help a 5yr old miracle, survivor of 2 liver transplants,  actually she’s amazingly good to go, I’m really simply helping her mom, who is very ill, by being a relief that her child will be OK. GOD HIMSELF opened this window of opportunity for me to be a servant, helping one sheep is as precious as the 99… I tell you this NOT because I am special, I am not, but because this is the mission of VBS, make disciples and reinforce HOPE that servants are made by God for HIS plan and MOVED by God in HIS timing…

And the teenagers, where else do teenagers get up before noon in the summer? For VBS of course…

VBS is lightning in a bottle, you are only allowed to hold it for a short time. It is a privilege to work for the Lord, we should never forget that… is it a luxury to do VBS, YES! It’s a luxury to sing and dance in air conditioning, to eat cookies, to make crafts. It is a luxury that we don’t have to send these teenagers out to scrounge up food for the family,  work the cotton gins and industrial age equipment with tiny hands, let alone send teenagers to fight wars… we live in luxury,  therefore we risk complacency, we sin in situations of failing to use our resources… fear is no substitute for faith… step out in faith and you will find that God actually made the path of stepping stones. Step up. God has a plan.

Vacation Bible School is seeing teens shouting “Jesus Rescues” – then remembering that affirmation years later when they are in a bind.

Vacation Bible School is also comforting a secretly weeping crying mom who heard the bible messages from the back of the room at the wrap up session and felt them touching and HEALING her broken heart.

Vacation Bible School is for a Grandma handing over 20 bucks to buy pizza for the teens and knowing that the Lord Himself allows her that generosity, the gift of providing…

Vacation Bible School is for the pastor who brings a leaf blower into the fellowship hall to deal with the glitter situation… and for a director who smiles and cries at EVERY single speck of glitter knowing the JOY of camp, remembering and memorializing the friend whose glittering faith will never be diminished.

Vacation Bible School is for RAISING DISCIPLES.

Vacation Bible School is camp. Ooey gooey glue and glitter, dancing, learning,  singing,  living… learning… camp…

If you can feel the energy of kids RUNNING IN CHURCH, then you only have a glimpse of how God needs these kids to bring the bible messages home and to the world…

If you stop to read the scriptures glued to messes of mishmash handful of old crafts, you have experienced spirit-flowing from camp back to you.

I bet those kids speak in explained tongues of Spiritual flows that their parents understand, don’t they? Those parents will hang on EVERY word…  Vacation Bible School is for the Spirit to Spread…

Tap into that energy, interpret the “tongues” of VBS-children from age 3 to 103 and GROW your faith that God indeed has a plan to grow His kingdom, one child at a time…

Have fun…

Have faith…

Save me some glitter…

AMEN

1 Corinthians 14: 6 Now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction? 7 Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as the pipe or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes? 8 Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? 9 So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air. 10 Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning.  11 If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker is a foreigner to me.12 So it is with you. Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.

13 For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. 16 Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer, say “Amen” to your thanksgiving,since they do not know what you are saying?17 You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified.

18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.

20 Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. 21 In the Law it is written:

“With other tongues and through the lips of foreigners, I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.”

22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24 But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, 25 as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

708

Some Fields are Blooming Now, Other Fields are Dry, 13Jul

There is a new praise band song that I sing that reminds us: “we work the fields of souls, together you and I…. Some fields are blooming now, other fields are dry…. ”

VBS season at my old church is now all dry, and we all move on to fresh soil, new blooming fields, to work for the Lord…

I was blessed to distribute some of a MASSIVE volume of excess materials to new blooming fields. Pay it forward. The bulk of excess went to 7 different places: some VBS and Sunday school programs, growing churches, a nursing home, two schools and even a children’s hospital… Much was from my dear friend Miss Bonnie, I could see her smiling down from Heaven as I hauled her buckets of crafts which included leftover supplies from when she taught my own children oh so many years ago. I spilled some glitter in my car, surely Miss Bonnie laughed at that…

I too haul my own self to new places… I myself am helping at multiple different VBS’s this summer in some small capacity with sharing materials, sharing presence, and of course prayers… turns out I know like 5 local VBS directors or more, and I also know how to make carpet tube trees at 6AM… Jesus was a carpenter, so can we be…

“We work the field of souls, together you and I, some fields are blooming now…. ” (this is a lyric from my new band’s song set)

And blooming they are – that’s why we are to look forward to our jobs that the Lord is laying out for us – look for the light, listen for the songs, follow the smell for the saving aroma of Christ – shake the sand and glitter from our sandals where we don’t fit it – and Follow Him… the un-chartered fields mean we have to see the need BEFORE we set the seed, and nurture the crops. The fields won’t bloom unless we remember to mature the seeds we planted…

Every time I bit my tongue and downplayed my own thorns these past 2 weeks, and INSTEAD spoke of God’s abundance for us, I was working the fields… every time I was comforted by a friend, they were working the fields too… God comforts us so that we can comfort others…

The Lord has work for us to do, that’s our job to keep looking forward and plowing forward… go make disciples means go find the people who need to hear the Good News… take nothing with you, just the Living Word… Don’t worry, there are dollar stores everywhere, glitter can be re-found…

Don’t worry and work the fields of souls and know that we will be VERY BUSY – there is a harvest of people out there, HUNGRY for HOPE….

God never promised that we would be walking thru a rose garden in life, however HIS path leads eternal… “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me”…. Psalm 23… Just keep walking… the Lord is with you!!!

It’s good to remind our friends to keep walking too…

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PS, the glitter is travelling too, you never can get rid of the glitter, can you?…

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PPS – God occasionally gives us an echo back, we don’t need to hear praise, however we like to know God is working…. and He is… oh my tears flowed after I read an email today from a VBS family last year – a child reminded her Grandma that JESUS RESCUES… I “adopted” these 3 grandkids and grandma for the week because the Lord knew I needed them just as much as they needed VBS – and all I did was share the Word, give them rides, buy some pizza and ice cream – a big banana split… And do what I could do..

We need to help the ministry of VBS seed itself…

Shipwrecked, rescued by Jesus!

TRUTH 

707

Bee Me Bee His, 08JUL

A passage in “Accidental Saints” calls us reformed candle wax. When brought to the warm LIGHT of Christ – we are melted in order to be made anew… and then we are able to be shining His Light thru our renewed selves…

These thoughts always remind me that we are worker bees for the Lord…

I certainly am as busy as a bee, and my name Deborah, in Hebrew, means Bee… Bee-ing a Debbie is as blessed as I can bee. Bees collect pollen and go back to the hive to make honey and wax… How blessed I am now to witness that we are wax melted by Christ – for the purpose re-creating, re-pollinating, re-vining… We all work for God in our own special ways, this is intensely unfathomable…  Yet we must simply keep working…

Working for God is all the buzz, you know…

For my near 50 years on this Earth, I have been recollecting the spiritual pollen materials that God has placed in my sight. Even some stuck to me when I was not looking. We all have this opportunity for collecting and stockpiling, bee-ing an opportunist for a new creation as we take and make His many gifts into wax as fuel in order to burn His Light, to shine to all. He Himself recreates us – as it is not us who does the reforming, we are His clay, His wax, His children…  Likewise, we can process His resources into honey to share His love so sweetly. In our own special way, we are able to tell of His love, joyfully sing His praises. We can bee His bees…

Bee-ing still for a moment, I let my tears flow, because I can feel blessings again and again for realizing I work for the Lord. God made us able to work for Him forever… oh, how blessed that we get to experience and tell of His love…

As God is Re-Vining His Garden, I’m just Bee-ing me… actually no, I am Bee-ing His… a bee can not help but bee beckoned to work the fields where His love blooms…

Bee-lieve in the Lord.

Bee still in His Service.

Bee His, Eternally Bee.

Bee.

Amen

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“We will work the field of souls, together you and I“…

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“We expose ourselves to God’s light and it warms us, melts us – melts our resistances, our schemes, our pride… Then we are poured back into another form that still bears the marks of how we got there… Then we become something that can bear light again…   Jesus’s power reforms our wax to shine HIS LIGHT”….

From Accidental Saints…

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2nd Corinthians 5

  For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.

  So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

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Dazzling LIGHT from the Lord’s Fireworks 06JUL

I was driving home thru a wild thunder storm last Tuesday – I had just had the most marvelous evening at my praise band practice – a new church and new band for me –  new friends, fun, faith, fellowship, flutes, flowing, fabulous…

And then the church lost electricity! But no one was mad or scared – we were safe and sound in a seasoned building from the 1800’s – we admired the power in the storm, checked cell phones for radars… We were in the red zone…

We were all right.

So, no worries, this old church had seen these storms before, our leader was not deterred and grabbed a battery music stand light and we gathered around the piano to practice the last song with acoustic accompaniment… I held my cellphone as the light for our piano player… But really the Light was holding all of us! How BLESSED – the Light of Jesus set forth to guide us, His Spirit to flow thru us, His comfort to hold us. We have become like His flashlights to share His light into the world’s darkness… We are but a glimmer of His lightening, if we chose to flash it.

My drive home was long, an hour thru the storm, but it flew by in a FLASH, because I was watching some brilliant ball lightning dance across the sky.  I actually drove south back into the red zone of the storm before driving East and North up thru the city and beyond…

The flashes of lightning was so brilliant that I knew I was to recount this moment to remind all of us that when we are in the darkest worst storms there are exquisitely beautiful brilliant flashes of power, just like the most elaborate Light of the Lord. When we are surrounded by our most dark and dangerously awful life storms, the LIGHT OF THE LORD SHINES the most brilliantly – the LOVE OF THE LORD feels the strongest – and the surprise of how His Love reaches us – spectacularly and specifically directed to us, to heal us, is unfathomable… every hair on our heads is known…

As I drove north, the brilliant lights of the brotherly love skyscrapers dazzled my eyes, That’s the LOVE OF THE LORD shone through our fellowship with others. Philos – Philadelphia – LOVE, Brotherly LOVE is LOVE from the Lord shining thru us. We can embrace it and we can share it.  Oh, what opportunities abound… we don’t need to shock, only shine…

On the last bit of my drive, near home, there were flashes from neighborhood fireworks, oh how fun! See, the storm had passed, now neighbors were re-emerging into the backyards. They sensed safety and longed to celebrate. Fireworks were displayed for all to see.

Turning into my driveway, my home is all lit up, my children are lively, my journey not done but changed in direction once again as I put my “mom hat” on… “Storm? What storm?” Not even the cat was afraid… Home, the Lord comforted me knowing that they were all right…

We are all right.

Jesus is never absent in our storms of life. Jesus wants to change our pain into passion. Jesus is our Light in the darkness – and reminds us that our home is heavenly, and we are no longer adrift in the storm.  Light pulls us home.

The missions in life, that the Lord has given us, we can therefore embrace with passion. We know that challenges are ever-present. We know to put on the armor of God. We can walk into the red zones and be the healing light.

Those brilliant displays of Your Power Lord, we are in awe. Power for all to see.

“Don’t tell the Lord how big your storms are – Tell the storm how big and powerful your Lord is. ”

Lord, You are the most dazzling Light in our darkness.

You are the Power. The darkness tries to hide… “it trembles at Your sight…”

Because of You, Lord, we know everything will be all right.

Amen

705

Freedom Isn’t Even Freedom, 04Jul

We love saying we are free in America, don’t we?. And it’s true that we are uber blessed to live in America, live the American dream and have so many freedoms not afforded to the world’s populations.  BLESSED!

We also remember the phrase: “Freedom isn’t Free” knowing, but barely knowing, how intensely sacrificing our soldiers have fought for us to have the lifestyles that we are accustomed to.  Likewise, in all free countries we will never completely understand how amazingly BLESSED we are for our ancestors sacrifice. And oppressed countries as well, those who fight and have fought for freedom pay heavy prices, endanger and sacrifice their own lives for the sake of those who come after them. My immigrant great-grandparents even left their whole lives behind to give me my future. Sacrifice.

So, freedom for me, for mankind, is earned thru blood, sweat and tears. Sound familiar? Whose blood, sweat and tears have been sacrificed to bring us into ETERNAL freedom? You know this – ETERNAL FREEDOM IS FROM JESUS.

Jesus was ransomed. Jesus sacrificed and was sacrificed for each and every one of us. Jesus lived day to day by praying and living by His Father’s instructions. So should we. Jesus showed obedience… Light came into the world. Follow the Light. We should live as the servants of our Father, like Jesus. Find Light in darkness. We should realize the level of sacrifice we can and must make to follow our Lord. We are His!

“For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.”

My life phrase should not be “I need freedom to be me!” should it? My personal phrase should be: “I am the servant of the Lord” – “Live as God’s slaves”  – ask Mary, ask Paul, ask anyone who drops their nets and follows Jesus if they regretted their decision to Follow Jesus – NEVER.  It is not easy to sacrifice what we are called to sacrifice but if you have “tasted and seen of the sweetest of Loves” (a song lyric streaming thru my ears) then you know servant life is the only choice.  Complete obedience – NO LUKEWARM FAITH. You must trust that the Lord Himself has your best interests at heart even when you can’t fathom reasons. You must also accept and embrace your humanness and mistake-sin-prone ways and REACH FOR JESUS.

“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1Peter 2

I know I can personally witness to this “hunted down by the Lord for my own good” feeling, a Psalm 139 existence, that Freedom isn’t Freedom… Faith means Following.  “I am the handmaiden of the Lord”…. Oh yes, I see it, I have been picked up and moved by the Lord in unbelievable ways… especially recently… If I forget that I work FOR HIM, He will remind me.  I have seen situations go down that I have no control over, but HE DOES.  We all work for the Lord, are blessed servants/slaves to His Plan.

PEOPLE WORK THRU THE SPIRIT even if they don’t know it.

I have seen situations where I have been picked up by my ears and transported into life experiences – I have lived the VBS theme “Shipwrecked Rescued by Jesus” over and over – I have seen myself transported in hyper-speed like Philip called to paraclete-alongside to teach and baptize the Ethiopian along the road, then INSTANTLY be transported by God into another place. ZAPPED OUT of one scene and into another. Yeah, that’s me. I work for the Lord.  Therefore, I best learn to buckle up, get ready for the ride of my life. PUT MY LIFE LAST, HIS LIFE MISSION FIRST: to work to bring all to eternal life. SERVE

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Postscript – SERVE.

While writing this, I am up at my childhood home. My Dad is declining in health but still commands respect and has points to make. His slowed processing from his strokes make him upset when he can’t get a word in edgewise in our VERY talkative family.  He came into a break of the dinner conversation with a story that seemingly didn’t fit the current conversation (strokes do that, steal the quickness of processing  – Plus we are REALLY talkative, hard for ANYONE to get in a word edgewise)…  My Dad retold a story that made him chuckle – at the end, my brother asked what prompted that story at that time (seemingly out of place) my Dad pointed to me. I got it. My brother understood only that my Dad wanted to relate a church story knowing about my devotion to church work. Late to conversation but spot on to my processing, I understood what the Spirit was telling me (and retelling me) deep in my soul at that very moment. My faith, my work, my non-freedom, my servant role, my gratitude to how the Lord uses me, ALL that rolled into a small detail within the story my Dad told…. I could see the connection.

Here is the story that connects: my Dad in life and in his volunteer work for the Lions Club (motto is WE SERVE) knows/knew many people. Howard, was a Lion from Long Island, fellow volunteer,  gregarious man, loved and loving, was a great friend to my father.  Jovial, larger than life, fun, giving. He and his family were camping near the camp that is a Lion’s work project. My father already started laughing at the thought of his dear friend. Howard was Jewish and called my Dad “Saint James”. So, one summer my father needed a minister for the Lions camp worship service.  Howard mentions: “my camp neighbor is a priest or retired priest, but he doesn’t have vestments to wear”. My father in all his connections locates and borrows vestments in a slim compact case and carries them to the Lions camp and hands them to Howard. A third Lion, Tony Renzi, shockingly says: where did you get those! My father and Howard start pulling his chain about my father having been a Monseigneur before getting married. (Pause for my father’s rolling laughter). The story is so funny to my father, one would have to know the characters to understand the laughter, but I KNEW the connection the Spirit had made with me at that very moment  – in that box – in that small box.

See, I have heard the story many times. It is the part where my father describes how compact and unique these vestments were. That’s it. That’s my connection – in my church work I remind people that we are called to serve in singing and dance and teaching children, in leading worship, dinners and committees, IN JOY!!! We are personally NOT having to serve in foxholes, with bullets flying, mortars crumbling lives and at battle fronts.  (Actually, many traditional and new warzones still exist but we are in a first-world cushioned life). We get the joy in living because of the sacrifices of our battle-brave warriors.

AND eternally-minded, we are to serve ALREADY knowing WE ARE FREE from death.  Christ, ransomed for us, has given us His life in exchange for ours. Therefore, we give ours in honor and sacrifice for His. We must continue to run the good race.

My Dad pointed to me, that story was relating to me. I needed to hear my own advice – to remember the intense JOY in how I get to serve the Lord and the opportunities that I am given. It was a story retold for me – deeply – much much further than even my Dad could know… but the Spirit does see in and thru my head heart soul. The Spirit flowing inside my exhausted self knew I needed to rehear how blessed I was to be in His service with the gifts He gave me and the knowledge of how to use them. My gift to Him in that moment was presence.  My gift to my Dad and Mom and my family was to bring my children back up North to connect over dinner and monopoly and fireworks.  To be the meat in the logistical sandwich generation of children and aging parents. To recognize the opportunity… To be the opportunist He has made me… To serve…

Our Father, our all-knowing Father is pointing to us. Are we ready to hear what He is saying? Where are the opportunities to serve? What obstacles is He asking us to find tactful ways thru? Are we ready to serve Him and His mission in thick and thin? Our challenges in serving are definitely NOT as grueling as jumping into and out of foxholes. How could we even compare our stress of organizing music and singing, children’s activities, church services and small groups to jumping into foxholes. We don’t know how BLESSED we are with our “first-world problems”… Yes, we have serious issues, plagues of our time, but we have to HUMBLY put it ALL into perspective and SERVE. So yes, in addition, we need to do what we can in teaching others to find their own chariots, their own paraclete moments, their own mission fields. These activities and war-fronts and joy-fronts will change. God stays the same. We must change and allow God to zap us like paraclete Philip into the new scenes. Go ahead, ask Moses if it was easy moving a nation of people. It is NOT always easy work is it? But God is there. It is still our duty to serve Him. Moses picked up a snake, by its tail no less. So surely, we can pick up the work that God commands us to do. We can even move away from our comfort zones into compliance with His Plan. 

Our freedom is not freedom and our service to Him is required. Thank the warriors for our future. Thank Jesus for being the Way the Truth the Life. Thankfully we can be living our lives for Him.

Snap in your seatbelts, my paraclete friends, God has us on the move.

Find and pack your service tools for travel. Hold onto Him. It is time for us to GO SERVE.

Amen

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12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. John 3

704

VBS CEO Moses, Give up your Staff, it’s His Staff Anyway, 02JUL

A MAJOR processing devotion to how God changed my role – how He is using me NOW, and about me leaving my old role as the VBS CEO, as I let it go…

Over and over I’m being reminded that I am handing my VBS staff over to be the Lord’s staff, which they already were and are… just like some kids and volunteers (including me) are going over to an Africa VBS theme experience at a friend’s church next week – the perfect tag line for all of us is: “When life changes, God is good”

I had a $2 African photo box sitting unused ever since springtime. How fitting that now the few VBS core volunteers, who had fought for a “Roar” theme over “Power Lab” theme, are all now going to be able to go serve in a ROAR VBS! Yeah, hilarious Lord…

They are changing locations for their children’s ministry focus. I got to help coordinate to get them to a personal “Promise land” VBS theme of the year. You parted the seas and I pointed my staff in that direction. Actually Your staff, Lord, Your staff not mine.

“When life is unfair, God is good”…

“When life is scary, God is good”…

“When life changes, God is good”…

“When life is sad, God is good”…

“When life is good, God is good”…

How blessed… I am calmly watching my team dissipate into the future as if I was a retiring CEO. I had to close my company, lay them off and lay myself off too…

I feel to be the retired CEO of this VBS, I was the transition leader for just until You Lord made way and I settled the loose ends, finished my cleaning and moved ahead… I moved on because You assured me Lord that everybody will be OK. I am OK.

But Moses, I’m in tears now realizing that GOD HIMSELF made me realize that I am just like Moses….. that’s why a recent Moses sermon really touched me… It really did – Moses had to give up control of his walking stick staff to God’s needs for it… Moses had to move his/His people – I too move to where the Lord is calling me. Like Moses at the end, I will stop and rest and know God loves me and see everyone move on…

So don’t worry about me, He found me a place to rest. I’m uber blessed to rest, learn, SING. I know God pulled me to where I am… Oh, my shock is that I get to feel His peace in where I am today. Peace.

Now I am watching HIS people go into their future – to serve HIM!

It is a shockingly accurate description in scripture of how God knows EVERY hair on our heads – He knows how to shock me too – I wrote this title: “VBS CEO Moses, give up your staff” – and then GASPED at the wordplay of the word STAFF – I give up my VBS people staff – Moses gives up his staff to be HIS staff, the physical stick – and that’s the crux of the sermon I just heard – WOW. Yes, scripture that “sticks with you” is meant for you to find how it pertains to your own situation…  oh…. amazing…

I myself have future opportunities galore, I’m first going to be sewing dresses for Africa, another skill that the Lord gifted me – I have a serger, a sewing machine, a skill to share, and yet another gifted decompression opportunity while I remain busy as a bee… Perfect Lord…

I’m always on YOUR STAFF, Lord. Ready to bee me.

703

Indubitably, I’m Still the Bee –  02JUL

A VERY fitting sermon to me. An emeritus pastor delivered a sermon about Moses in my new church – I sat in the very very back – I sat there knowing that this sermon was speaking directly to me – that I was supposed to be there – at that EXACT moment – in a new church – in a new adventure – in HIS service… I had just sung in my new praise band. I had my phone in my hand (shut off) when the minister said: “What did the Lord give you to serve Him?” – yes, it totally reminded me of the gifts that the Lord bestowed on little ole me to be a campaigner for Him. My new singing, my confidence and how I share thru my phone – these are gifts for His glory – He uses me for my writing, my encouragement, my connections.  I totally felt that I was supposed to hear that sermon about Moses (and his stick) and have it “stick with me”.

“WHAT’S IN YOUR HAND?”   You are supposed to be using your gifts…

As I sat there, I knew that I became like Moses this past week, watching his walking staff become His Staff – meaning the Lord used the physical wooden staff as a tool for showing His miracles to convince Moses’s people. As I am now ending my time as CEO of VBS, I see my VBS staff leaving, dispersing, now a “walking staff” to be His staff, as they always were and will be… I am His worker bee too.

I buzz along to new places too, I love that I am singing in this new church!!! How blessed…. God moved me swiftly for Him to use my many gifts, singing being only one of the skills He gifted me… I get to learn and listen and heal…. and hear others SING… and just BE… BEE… I saw how God aligned many events to get me here (oh, what a story)… I did have to take bold steps of my own, but He made my stepping stones clear, more clear as I prayed… God is “constant in the trial and the change” just like the lyrics I sang… When life changes, God is good. Indubitably!

A new band and new church and me…. a new chapter, but me as the same BEE… my name Debbie means bee… I am older and wiser…. I am a bee ready to learn His new roles for me… Indubitably…

702

Not Legions of Angels, Not Swords, Just Jesus, 01JUL

What do we need to fulfill God’s ultimate eternal life plan for us? Just Jesus.  Nothing more than love Jesus. Also if we try to be like Him we will help others realize that too.

What about just getting thru life just for today? Piecemeal, minute by minute living? Focus or fractured living? Even the times that we are forgetting that we are already saved? Well, we still need Jesus…

Jesus cried out to stop the apostles from fighting against His arrest in the Gesemene Garden that night. Jesus knew what they were forgetting about Him being handed over and Jesus said: “Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?  But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” Matthew 26

Jesus ultimately knew  God’s plan and could have stopped complying and not accepted His role.  He could have asked for legions of angels – He could have shown more power than we could ever imagine… but instead Jesus accepted… Jesus was true as the truth… Jesus is our perfect role model… He knew the scriptures were to be fulfilled because He Himself was the fulfillment.  In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…

So now, in our angst moments, can we also call upon 12 legions of angels? Yes, I suppose so! Jesus certainly said that we can call upon the Father, His Father, Our Father. Would Jesus call upon 12 legions of angels now for us? I would have to believe that answer is YES, Jesus could – and I would expect that since the Spirit intercedes for us, God would send them… but guess what? Jesus asked the father to send us all the Holy Spirit!!! I am sure that Jesus can call upon people in the here and now to come together for us to make our way and to bless us with a path for our future.

Jesus wants us walking in the path to our future with Him.

Amen

701

Never Tire of Doing What is Good, 24JUN

Mother Theresa said: “never tire of doing what is good.”

Praying for your strength today:

“May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.” – “Encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”

2 Thessalonians 2-3 (NIV)

Stand Firm

But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as first fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

Request for Prayer

As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.

Warning Against Idleness

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat.

And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.

Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed. Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer.

Final Greetings

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

700

Be Sticky-Note-Worthy for the Lord, 23JUN

Did you ever take a moment for yourself and know if you didn’t take this moment you would regret it later?

Yes – and so I took a very important moment, for me and for the Lord, to say Yes. I became sticky-note-worthy for Him to move me around.

I saw a devotion video that explained you cannot say No to some things unless you say YES to bigger things – to faith-fulfillment things – to the things that the Lord wants you to do… The video recounted reaching for the big seashell. What if your hands are full of little itty bitty seashells, which might be nice, but a big seashell comes along that you want? In order to grab it, you have to put down your little seashells… You have to say YES to the opportunities that the Lord says: “Don’t pass up!”

I thought about my opportunity to possibly sing in my new praise band – and I took it – I get to sing once again – in HIS service – in HIS Spirit – adding my voice – it is work but so is everything that means so much…. And the work is worth it, knowing that it will all work out…  You have to say YES to working out where your faith is taking you…  You have to say YES to faith…. Perhaps the big seashell of faith will help me carryout the little things I need to carry in life too. Yes it will. Yes, pick up your faith and your faith will pick up you.

My name is written on a sticky note for the band sound board…  I am on a sticky note – no need for the permanent label – I am but a traveler in this world – not of this world but in it – and I am worthy enough for the Lord to keep me in this world one more day – one more song – one more chance to praise…  I am on a sticky note and the Lord may take me where HE needs me…

I am blessed to be sticky-note-worthy for HIM!

699

The Heavy Sigh from Jesus, 20Jun

We tend to only look for what we already know, Jesus’s disciples only partially understood what Jesus was trying to teach them – and didn’t understand for the longest time.  They witnessed miracles (due to Jesus’s compassion on the human condition of hunger and sickness) but for the longest time they could NOT compute the BIGGER connection that Jesus was the Messiah, the people’s Savior. The disciples could relate to Him as teacher but they did not yet understand that He wrote the book, He was the book, He is the Word….

Partially understanding is where our faith lies too… and we have to discover our faith by ourselves… we who are blind cannot fully see… our Spirit is wanting to come out and connect…

The layered stories in the Mark 8 scriptures recount the disciples’ knowledge block – they also forgot so quickly about the clear miracles of sharing the bread and fish, which they themselves participated in – so how could they piece together that there is final victory over death? Jesus had victory and Jesus gives victory. It takes FOREVER for everyone to catch up – but one day everyone will…  Whether they currently desire to share in it or not – we pray that everyone who is blind will see, will understand… So when Jesus has compassion on a blind man’s gradual gain of sight – that’s our story too – we are partially blind, partially we see…. We only know what we know… the veil is torn but we need to physically push the curtain aside to see.

We are just like the disciples who remembered the mechanics of picking up the leftover bread – 12 baskets – 7 baskets – but they forgot the miracle.  The disciples fretted later, when sitting in the boat, that they had no bread. Jesus also was telling them about future trouble – but the disciples saw only the trouble at hand… It is as if they only grasped knowledge in bread loaf sized increments. Partial sight… Not ready to open their eyes fully to the fullness of Christ…

The next story in Mark 8 (scriptures below), we see Jesus heals a blind man – surely it could have been complete healing instantly, so why were their only increments of partial sight? Why are we only partially seeing? Jesus in many scriptures tells his flock that it’s their own faith that heals them (like the woman touching the fringe of His robe). So, was this blind man who received partial sight restoration at first (people looked like walking trees) only partially believing? Or was he only looking for familiar details of the world that he could remember? Partial belief, partially understanding… Not looking big picture (that’s us too)…. He was told to NOT go into the village. Was Jesus afraid of the sideshow attraction that he might get and throngs of people would make a mad rush (as biblical scholar Michael Card suggests) – likely this is the case because that happened a lot. I also personally think that the formerly blind man had to be told to NOT go because the crowds would simply focusing on the sight and not the bigger picture of SALVATION.  They and we look at mechanics of miracles and NOT that the Messiah who Himself is a present miracle.

BIG SIGH!

I get that Jesus, I do…

Get back in the boat Jesus, it is a tough crowd… Pharisees wanted a sign, they were not satisfied, never will be…  We won’t collectively either – we won’t collectively be together until we really are. Big Sigh Jesus, it takes time, we are as a body of Christ wandering in the desert – we need to get all parts of peoples to Your Promise land – Your promise fulfillment…

We have tasted your goodness – yet we also can’t imagine HOW AMAZING it will be to see ALL the glory we have yet to experience. We have partially tasted – we have partially seen. We like disciples in training are working on the greater wisdom.

If you truly believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will thirst for more information – but simply know that information is not as powerful as SIMPLE TOTAL FAITH.

Seeing is:

Not about gaining the world – but about gaining wisdom.

Not about the world – but the Way.

Not about loafs – but about being led.

Not about seeing signs – but about seeing Salvation.

Not about the sideshows – but about the Savior.

Not about mechanics – but about miracles.

Not even about miracles – but about the Messiah – about the Messenger of the Message…

 

It’s about the Message…

Jesus came to humanly connect, bringing Heaven down to us…

This is the Good News…

Jesus came to give us victory over death…

We thank God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

 

Jesus, the boat will pick us up to travel with you – the world will eventually bow to your greatness. We will keep paddling – we will help spread the Good News of You!

AMEN

---

Mark 8

Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat.  If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”

His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”

“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.

“Seven,” they replied.

He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. About four thousand were present. After he had sent them away, he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.

The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”

They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”

Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” “Twelve,” they replied.

“And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” They answered, “Seven.”

He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”

He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”

Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”

---

1st Corinthians 15

There is a physical body. So there is also a spiritual body. As the Scriptures say, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” But the last Adam is a life-giving spirit. The spiritual man did not come first. It was the physical man that came first; then came the spiritual. The first man came from the dust of the earth. The second man came from heaven. All people belong to the earth. They are like that first man of earth. But those who belong to heaven are like that man of heaven. We were made like that man of earth, so we will also be made like that man of heaven.

I tell you this, brothers and sisters: Our bodies of flesh and blood cannot have a part in God’s kingdom. Something that will ruin cannot have a part in something that never ruins. But listen, I tell you this secret: We will not all die, but we will all be changed. It will only take the time of a second. We will be changed as quickly as an eye blinks. This will happen when the last trumpet blows. The trumpet will blow and those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we will all be changed. This body that ruins must clothe itself with something that will never ruin. And this body that dies must clothe itself with something that will never die. So this body that ruins will clothe itself with that which never ruins. And this body that dies will clothe itself with that which never dies. When this happens, the Scriptures will be made true:

“Death is swallowed in victory.”

“O death, where is your victory?    Where is your power to hurt?”

Death’s power to hurt is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But we thank God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

698

Jesus Justification, 18JUN

Justification or Jesus? Only Jesus needs to be the answer…

Would Jesus walk miles and miles for ministry? Oh yeah, He did…. I can too…

Would Jesus talk to strangers about God? Oh yeah, He did… I can too…

Would the strangers be strange to Jesus? No, He knew them all… I need to remember that too…

Would Jesus have understood discouragement, danger, the devil? Yes – and Jesus defeated them all… He still does… I need to remember that too…

Does Jesus justify the Journey? Your journey? My journey? YES – because Jesus is the Journey, the Way, the Truth, the Life.

Jesus justifies it all. Jesus justifies you. Jesus justifies me.

Jesus says keep moving with the Spirit, no extra justification needed…

Thank You, Jesus.

697

Practice Patience in Prayer, 19JUN

How long did it take Cleopas and his friend to walk to Emmaus? If they were walking from Jerusalem, then some bible scholars say it would have taken about 2 hours – then after their amazement of a Risen Jesus being personally revealed to them as their walking companion then dinner partner, they traveled right back – I bet they RAN all the way or at least speed-walked… bible scholars say that running that distance would still have taken at least an hour…

I think about my hour-long commute – or any hour-long drive that I have – I actually really do appreciate them now!  I used to think an hour was lost time from my day – but I realize now that it is found time for me to ponder the mysteries of Christ and the world, the Word and the Way…. and how I fit… My processing commute is my walk to Emmaus every day, and I sing thru it, all the time… I stopped minding my time commitment to driving as soon as I awakened – 4 years ago now – the drive was necessary time for me to be alone with my thoughts and the Lord. Now I often think about my walk with the Lord and often my RUN to tell the others that I have beholden Jesus Himself in Truth… If Emmaus/Jerusalem, commuting by foot, was an hour or two time, then mine can be too… I bet those walking commutes also were filled with songs to fill the time… the key to any journey is not “passing the time” but FILLING THE TIME! Even long drives are faith opportunities… Fill your life with faith and prayer and praise…

The two walking to Emmaus were discussing all the news of the day from Jerusalem – BIG NEWS – then Jesus Himself came alongside and asked (knowingly) what happened… So, while they were recounting the story as news, Jesus, who IS the TRUTH, explained how all the news was truthfully fulfilled scripture… they heard it from the Source, but it still had to filter it into their understanding of reality… doubters and debaters were discipled… it was when Jesus broke the bread that they recognized Him… then He disappeared… and they rushed back to tell the others… (Luke 24)

They were ponderers and talking thru their faith – we can be too…

Doubters and Debaters today are STILL being discipled… I was one – are you one too?

Think of the time Jesus spent recounting the whole scriptures from Moses to the present time – explaining fulfillment – is that not what Jesus is still doing today with EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US?

The Truth is: Jesus takes the time to help us individually discover the Truth in our faith… Jesus takes the time to walk with us, talk, teach, sit down, ask questions of us, answer questions thru His Word – the scriptures – and be real… Jesus never waivers in His Love for us because He is the definition of Love – patient and kind, persevering for His flock… “My sheep know My voice – I give them Eternal Life – no man shall pluck them out of My Hand” (John 10)…

The human reality is this: We need to take the time to walk, pray, ponder… We can do this anywhere… how more calm we are when we talk out our news of the day with the Lord and with fellow travelers – and oh how awesome that we find out the answers come to us! Patiently pondering pays off…

Taking time in prayer means we need to be ready to WAIT for the answer rather than scramble to our quickest conclusion – if we pray on it, sleep on it, then often the answer comes to us. Jesus knows our internal steps as much as our external ones – He walks with us in our own paths – in our hearts – our souls – our minds…

Be Still and let Jesus help you sort out what may have been be-bopping around in your brain…

Instead of “interference” – listen for your “inner voice”…

Recently, I was sitting in a leadership training room and the concept of “interference” (jumbled brain distractions) was used as a stumbling block to getting things done…   I sat there quietly to only hear my inner voice say: trade “interference” for “inner-voicing” – take the time to think – not interference but inner-voicing gives you the Truth to know what to do… (and that voice also says to not sweat the small stuff)

Walk thru thoughts, like singing, gives me time to think – because singing pulls away the part of my brain that could be muddling up my inner voice… driving and walking gives me time to think too… Being Still gives me ideas that pop like popcorn or float in like a breeze, or sound like a whisper… When I feel stress, I know I should take time to wait… to talk it out – walk it out – pray it out – LISTEN…

Talk it out to take it in…

Walk it out to wait it out…

Pray it out to pray it IN…

Then RUN to tell the Good News to those who are waiting to hear… you yourself may have the piece of their puzzle, that God needs you to drop into their internal conversation… if they are practicing patience in prayer too, then you may be able to plant a witnessing seed that God whispered to you for you to share…

How amazing – these two friends were talking when walking to Emmaus – and they had time with the Lord because of their discussions – they changed from faces downcast to doubts cast away. We can too – we can see the Light – we can feel the walk – we can know the rest of the story… We are saved…

Keep Practicing Patience in Prayer…

Keep walking…

Keep singing…

Keep the Faith…

Keep Sharing…

AMEN

PS: Walk by Faith not by sight (2nd Corinthians 5:7)

---

 

Luke 24:13-35 (NIV)

On the Road to Emmaus

¹³ Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles^[a] from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. ¹⁵ As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; ¹⁶ but they were kept from recognizing him.

¹⁷ He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. ¹⁸ One of them, named Cleopas,asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

¹⁹ “What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. ²⁰ The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹ but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. ²² In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning ²³ but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. ²⁴ Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

²⁵ He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

²⁸ As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. ²⁹ But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

³⁰ When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. ³² They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

³³ They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together ³⁴ and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” ³⁵ Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

 

 

Blessings Come Thru Raindrops, 15Jun

Blessings come thru raindrops. Step out into the rain.

“Maybe our blessings come thru raindrops” – this a good fitting lyric from a spiritual song by Laura Story to remind us that “this is not our home” – that trials of life will remind us that we are ONLY VISITORS here on earth… we are apostles to our faith, we are saints in transition, traveling demonstrations of our devotion… We belong to the heavens… Therefore, thru it all, we should remember trials in life are inevitable. We are to have HOPE and FAITH that we can survive the trials. We will surely have tears along the way, and we can count on that ultimate healing from the Lord…

Just like we can choose JOY (or not), we can choose to step thru the raindrops or sing in the rain while life moves on… Life moves fast – life moves even if we don’t…

So today, how much better are we for knowing the Lord has a home for us when we “finish the race”. We are blessed. Our blessings come thru raindrops.

Think how when we step into the world, that we are to know our JOY in the Lord – we are to take our energy from His comfort.

It’s not worth worrying about future trials of life, don’t ignore them but just deal with them in the present, and choose JOY whenever possible… Rather than complaining about things not under our control – we can TRY to deal, move on…

Have I figured this all out? NO!!! Not even the Apostle Paul felt like he had achieved this state of being OK with the directive… But he did look to the future by being present in his situation and knowing NOT to have his mind set on: “earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control...” Philippians 3

THE RAINDROPS of life are ushering us into the future… God gave us this future so that today we can choose to step out in faith…

Amen

——–

“Blessings” by Laura Story

https://youtu.be/XQan9L3yXjc

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not our home

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise

---

Paul writes in Philippians 4:

The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. … And the God of peace will be with you….

… I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

---

Paul in Philippians 3:

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.  For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.  But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

696

Blessings Come Thru Raindrops, 15Jun

Blessings come thru raindrops. Step out into the rain and finish the race.

WOW… the skies opened up – what a DELUGE!!!

It had been a wonderful graduation ceremony, then the announcer said we could meet our graduates in the parking lot where the arena’s underground tunnel spills out… 5000 people were there for 350 graduates, oh yeah, get ready for that crush of the crowd!!!… In hindsight, the tunnel exit was like our graduates were figuratively birthed from the underground earth and pushed out into the world once again – now that the protective cushiony world of high school was done – don’t let the door (or diploma) hit you in the ‘you know what’ on your way into the world – and oh yeah, GOOD LUCK finding your people!

BUT, oh the mood changed so quickly from joy to geez… the skies had opened up with such a downpour, a DELUGE, and there was NOWERE to go but pushed into the parking lots to get SOAKED… Yup, sounds like life… the turn of events can make or break individual moments, feast or famine… This was only rain, so hopefully we will laugh this off later – and with the graduates WHOLE lives in front of them,  how could they not?

With our WHOLE lives in front of us, how could we not? We must laugh off the rain…

“Maybe our blessings come thru raindrops” – this a good fitting lyric from a spiritual song by Laura Story to remind us that “this is not our home” – that these trials of life will remind us that we are ONLY VISITORS here on earth… we are apostles to our faith, we are saints in transition, traveling demonstrations of our devotion… We belong to the heavens… Therefore, thru it all, we should remember trials in life are inevitable. We are to have HOPE and FAITH that we can survive the trials. We will surely have tears along the way, and we can count on that ultimately healing from the Lord…

Just like we can choose JOY or not, we can choose to step thru the raindrops or sing in the rain while life moves on… Life moves fast – life moves even if we don’t…

Not surprisingly, before the graduation ceremony was done, my phone stumbled upon the scripture verses teaching us that we don’t know the hour or day that the end will come to this world… So, we are to be ready, to strengthen our hearts, to be working for God all the time. I choose at that moment to think about the rain, I had no choice to step out into the rain, I had to step into the puddles – it was my only option.  I was glad I had been a camping girl scout, I was ok with rain knowing that the warm car was ahead of me. (My daughter was in the same predicament, except in heels… Thank God she had been a camping scout too, she was more concerned about finding her friends than the rain anyway). We would survive. I knew that even before stepping into the deluge. So with a sigh and direction to find my child, I gave my keys to my son and my mom and I stepped out.

So today, how much better are we for knowing the Lord has a home for us when we “finish the race”. We are blessed. Our blessings come thru raindrops.

Think how when we step into the world, that we are to know our JOY in the Lord – we are to take our energy from His comfort. There will always an opportunity to act, an opportunity to pray, an opportunity to be present, an opportunity to be part of the future… We will also remember that we had an opportunity to be present in what will become the past memories and life experiences of our collective children.

FOR SAKE OF THE FUTURE, BE PRESENT IN THEIR PAST…

It’s a blessing to realize that it’s not worth worrying about future trials of life, don’t ignore them but just deal with them in the present, and choose JOY whenever possible… Rather than complaining about things not under our control – we can TRY to deal, move on…

Have I figured this all out? NO!!! Not even the Apostle Paul felt like he had achieved this state of being OK with the directive… But he did look to the future by being present in his situation and knowing NOT to have his mind set on: “earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control...” Phil 3:20-21

THE RAINDROPS of life are ushering us into the future… God gave us this future so that today we can choose to step out in faith…

Amen

——–

“Blessings” by Laura Story

https://youtu.be/XQan9L3yXjc

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not our home

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise

---

Paul writes in Philippians 4:

The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. … And the God of peace will be with you….

… I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

---

Paul in Philippians 3:

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.  For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.  But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

695

Different Pond, but God NEVER lets you feel like a fish out of water. 11JUN

Well, Wow! A friend invited me to sing WITH their church’s praise band!!!! And YES, the director invited me too – they found room for me!

WOW!!!! Sure it was boldness of my willingness to try but it was His timing for sure – blessed how the Holy Spirit does that!! On Pentecost too…

This is an email recount of my singing, I have to say something or I would explode in retro excitement.

I understand how this is HUGE to me, but just another mini adjustment movement for our all-knowing Lord… He knows to use our weaknesses AND our strengths for His purposes…

Seeing the Lord overlap old situations with new situations – it’s a case study of myself being hopefully led, not simply me wandering. It is knowing where and how I am best to be fed not just from my human wants but from craving spiritual milk… I am ok realizing that it might be both – I ask the Lord to use me either way… I THANK THE LORD… I KNOW that I need focus, guidance and strength… I know that He will provide…

Wow, so on this particular Pentecost Sunday I was actually too busy to stop to say big wows – I was too busy trying to keep up with the Holy Spirit who was running the show… In actuality, so many of the people in the world don’t comprehend how Earth-shattering it is to watch the Holy Spirit move… when I wonder if I am moving with the Spirit flowing or only due to my human eagerness of the world,  I try to ask the Lord to show me His fruit gained by the situation  – He has not disappointed me so far!

SO on this morning, I left really early 7 am to get there at 8 am in time for practice – JUST IN CASE there was the possibility to sing… and if not, I would just get the chance to hear the amazing band…  I just felt so peace-filled driving there, that already told me something…. I went inside, and the band director said: “there’s a microphone with your name on it”, like he has been saying to me every time he has seen me… Well, yes, turns out someone was missing and really there WAS an extra microphone! So, I sang, I praised with the sweetest of folks, shoulder to shoulder… it was good to give support as a substitute singer and a full praiser… I knew one song, never heard the 2 others songs, the director said “we have 20 minutes”,  LOL…. and yeah, I learned them real quick!!!! And wouldn’t you know that previously on Holy Thursday, when I had the opportunity to serve communion at that church, that I looked at that music stand and realized it would feel normal to sing standing at it…. Yes, 3 months later how amazing this easy assimilation was!!!  I slipped right in and never felt out of place, it felt like the most natural thing ever. I got to sing and sway… our blended end notes sounded great… I got to watch the guest sermonist walk the sanctuary, praying… and visually pray for him as he walked…

As practices go, I had a few off notes, the band had a few tweaks, so we hashed them out because I know the deep reasoning for us to play well is for wanting to serve the Lord with excellence… I enjoyed every minute of singing AND meeting the band and internally watching how the day went down – how God got me there… I was WIDE awake and registering it all… there was little time to chat in the moment, but after I chatted with band and the sound techs and thanked them… I felt so blessed to sing…

So, yeah… cool…

Amazing sermon, a tremendous meaty sermon, about the Holy Spirit being a person and being God… a great message for me and for everyone… Yes, a great church… a great day… and it was only noon, haha… Sure, the realities of busy life invaded the rest of the day, but I remembered that singing was my oasis of praise – a spiritual springboard into the week…

I’m grateful that a nice lady said, as I excitedly told her I was going to sing: “Just let me pray for your feet to stay on the ground” – of course, I must have exuded the joy… I got hugs from three women whom I’ve met a few times, it was both so welcoming and a relief to share my joy…

The freaky thing was that it was NOT freaky at all…. it felt SO NATURAL… that’s SO amazing… now that’s the Holy Spirit moving you and you being OK with it…

I really do thank the Holy Spirit for being such the strong beam of LIGHT in the dark, attracting my moth-ness… I thank God for feeling the REAL THING – real light and the truth of healing… I thank God for putting me in His sights and knowing where to place me when he needs me someplace…. God speeds up or slows down the system when it’s clicking into proper place…

Singing was so awesome for me that nobody could understand that level of joy except the Holy Spirit Himself… AND I GOT TO DANCE MY PRAISE…

I realize only He, our Lord, understands the high inner zeal volumes, just as much as He understands our low whispers for help….  I am appreciative if/when He regulates me at HIS sound board so that I blend with the zeal of all His creation.

Being a praise band groupie that I am, LOL, I am appreciative that this is a BIG band – I appreciate that even if I was placed in a new pond, I never ever felt like I was a fish out of water…

I can’t wait to sing again, but in His time,  not mine… (I am on the schedule for this Sunday but it does not mean there will be room for me but regardless, I will get to practice the songs and praise in the service.

Between services my friend, who originally invited me, slid into the pew next to me and was happy to see me happy – to see how I finally accepted the offer to sing… and to me it is feeling both the PUSH of the Holy Spirit that drives me and feeling my human joy to be included, it’s all mixed in. Honestly, I was just going with the flow – the Spirit doesn’t care if you are ready to move or not – the Spirit can take over… Surely my boldness is not all me… I’m still learning this new me… I appreciated such peace knowing that I was in the right place today –  I tried really hard to keep up with how the Spirit was moving – WHEW!

Like I said, this was completely a new different pond, but I NEVER felt like a fish out of water…

Blessed…

Blessed…

Blessed…

Holy Smokes Holy Spirit…

Blessed!!!

 

 

 

 

694

I met our Holy Spirit, 09Jun

I met a Holy Spirit man, met him before, actually he has introduced himself to me four times, didn’t know that I knew him. He simply wanted me to feel welcome.

A Holy Spirit man with an enthusiastic Spirit.

I met a Holy Spirit man, he shared laughs and chattered with me even though I was a stranger. He couldn’t remember me, but he didn’t want me to feel alone in the conversation.

A man with a bold Holy Spirit.

I met a Holy Spirit man, he heard that I didn’t have something that I needed, so he willingly shared his extra with me.

A man with a giving Holy Spirit.

I met a Holy Spirit man, he waved hello to me from a distance. He waved goodbye to me from closeness. He may not remember me next week. He simply wanted to be friendly.

A man with an open flow of Holy Spirit.

When we meet a man filled by the complexity of compassion, led by a gentle bold giving welcoming enthusiastic spirit – we have met a holy spirit – THE Holy Spirit.

Will I meet this man again for the fifth first time? I hope so.

I know that the Spirit in this man knows the spirit in me. Our small talk is simple,  our spirit talk is complexly connectional.

I love meeting the Holy Spirit, again and again.

Don’t you?

My segment of Spirit felt your segment of Spirit making your head nod “yes”…

The Holy Spirit already is One with itself…

Simply Spirit…

Simply True…

692B

ALIGNMENT, 03JunB

Alignment with the Lord’s purposes is MUCH easier when we put on the Armor of God, not only can we be protected, but we also can be moved with a God-magnetic-pull on our God-Armor-metal.  We can let Him move us. Think about those metallic bingo chips lifted and moved by the metallic wand. Do you ever feel God placed you in step with His purposes which were not solely yours? Click click click – get ready to be moved… His guidance for our steps… the right place at the right time… but then be ready to move again… click click click, clear the board it’s time for a new round of life…

We can trust His Will and free our spiritual brains to realize how we can make a difference for Him, simply by emptying our agendas… that is tough many times but it is worth it… meanwhile we can feel the blessing…

Not every task is easy. Not every step is known to us. The Armor of God is good and purposeful. We must have TRUST that His plan is being put in place…

Our spiritual cups are more easily filled if we allow ourselves to be aligned just right under His flow… It is impossible to pour out of an empty cup… Alignment is brought to you by Jesus. Imagine Jesus lining you right up to where you need to be… HE KNOWS!!!

Our souls are fed by knowing His ways are better than our ways,  His thoughts better and higher than ours…

Alignment with Jesus is for serving God…

Embrace His Way.

Amen

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From Isaiah 58

The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
Those from among you
Shall build the old waste places;
You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,
The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.

---

From Isaiah 50

“The Lord God has given Me
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak
A word in season to him who is weary.”

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From Isaiah 55

Seek the Lord while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

“For you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace…”

693

Devotion in a Car Wash. 04Jun

I sat in a powerful automatic car wash and I knew there had to be devotion in that experience – somewhere… It was already formulating AUTOmatically in my head and when I saw the last sign to “DRY-N-SHINE” – AUTOmatically I knew that was God’s message today and always… He wants us to SHINE HIS LOVE!

My car wasn’t awful dirty but certainly it could have been cleaner… (what am I saying?  My peanut shell crumbs and life dust go on and on, purple bird poop from parking under trees was nothing compared to the inside explosion of who knows what!)…. Likewise I deceive myself into thinking that my life my soul are not as awful as I could imagine (What am I saying?  My sins of omission alone and self righteousness go on and on, and oh the mistakes, the human oaf I am, yeah it’s ALL inside that needs cleansing, bird poop of the soul…) …. Because of me being lost and found, despite of all of our humaness, the Lord finds ways for us to cleanse, to find His Way – Living Water in a car wash – a soul-soaking cycle for SAVING.

Every car is dirty, every soul is a sinner – all sin is equal – all soul-saving means savouring the Savior.

Inside the wash, my car was on a single track, I had to put it in neutral and let the machine do its work automatically. In life we can look for the narrow but sure path – and we have to actually put our agendas in neutral and let the Spirit take over. Let Jesus do His work – automatically the Spirit pulls us, DON’T even think about putting it back in gear…

Inside, the car was dry, warm and dark! While the whirling bristles and flashing lights outside were like lightning and thunder, I felt the calm in the storms. Under God’s wings we are safe and sound – even if we see the enemies about – even if we hear the roar of earthquakes – calmness will help us hear the whispers of the Lord.

The car got not just one, but many many swirling brushes – many many slapping flaps…  One round of clean up is never enough, nor is it sufficient if you skip the hidden areas… Likewise sin and life require lifting the dirt under the dirt… our Savior understands and comes to clean continuously…

Actually, I really wasn’t worried about how the outside looked at all, I really wanted the unlimited time to vacuum and to sort my car on the inside. Jesus doesn’t worry about the outside of you either, Jesus wants to look inside. God wants you to feel beautiful. GOD LOVES YOU!

Is it easier to start cleaning the car ahead of time – yes vacuum the soul too… first you can take out the big chunks out by hand – bottles under seats and logs from eyes…

At the vacuum stations, my red car neighbors were arguing about scratches, on the gas cover. Sadly by arguing, they missed the joy of having 99.99% of their car shiny and clean… I stood grateful for realizing that my life scratches, most of which are of my own doing, car AND soul… My dents are like Mader’s tow truck dents from the movie Cars, they are my memories… my tears, my thorns are my humility reminders… my smiles are in that car too… my joy is measured in miles… Eternally smiles and joy are in the Lord, as eventually we will leave the body shop of this world into a freeing forever after.

And at the end of the car wash what sign is it that I see illuminated? “SHINE!” Car buffing came included with this ultimate wash package. SHINE! Guess what? Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to each of us at Pentecost and forevermore so that we can SHINE. We are sent out into the world, driving to wherever His SHINE is needed.  His LOVE flows miles and miles.  “DRIVE” is the motto for a red Pentecostal Subaru – “Feel the LOVE” Subaru and Salvation…

You know this shining up of my car did not cost me anything today!!!… I texted and got a free wash – a top of the line wash for FREE!!!… (yeah sure now they have my number)… You know what? OUR choice to follow Jesus is FREE-ing and doesn’t cost us anything either but it does cost us our own lives. Jesus has got our number and He will forever be pinging us to find us. We can hand our lives over in exchange for His, because He gave His life in exchange for ours – FOREVER… Free washes, free salvation, the owner of our souls already paid…

Of course it is not my boast to SHINE – it’s NOT of my own doing – it’s not even going to prevent me from having new sins, life is life, we mess up.  However, the ability to shine is going to give me a chance to heal and to tell others of my healing by the Body and Soul Shop of the Spirit.  It is in humbling gratitude that we know the splashes of mud will come, we are bound to repeat our need to be cleansed, we will have remorse, and when we repent we will be forgiven, re-cleaned, souls refreshed.

So take your mud and your scratches, those in your car and in your life and keep driving forward – for you are now commissioned – you are cleansed by the Living Water- it’s time to for you to DRY-N-SHINE!

AMEN!

GO!

692

ALIGNMENT – A Sunday Tired is a Good Tired, 03Jun

“The Lord God has given Me
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak
A word in season to him who is weary.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear
To hear as the learned.
The Lord God has opened My ear;
And I was not rebellious,
Nor did I turn away.”

Isaiah 50

How blessed I felt, even as exhausted as I was… to try my best to serve the Lord this past Sunday – 4 church events/services – plus home life… the body gets tired, but my fuel was not my own, no way it could have been to keep going…. Then again, it’s not surprising how the Lord provides energy and efforts. Regardless of our motivation, the Lord’s strength is what shines…

I felt His strength Sunday – on route to my 2nd activity, which was an unknown situation in the city, I seemed to know it would be OK, I had faith…. First driving to a sketchy portion of the city could be nerve-wracking, but the Lord provided a last minute presence of a friend to chat with the whole time… I turned to my friend before we got out of the car, to an unknown church situation, in an unknown neighborhood, that this was why we put on the Armor of God.  When we arrived, it was clearly the place we were blessed to be in… the prayer of protection became a praise of participation… we delivered excess craft supplies for their children’s services and VBS. I knew that the Lord was alive and incredibly active in these areas – hope in a Holy Spirit  – the Light that shines like noonday in the darkness can NOT be denied... After our delivery of supplies, we caught a portion of their 2-hour bilingual spirit-filled service… oh how we were the ones blessed…

The pastors knew we were coming and called us out and welcomed us. They preached that our presence was a testimony to the TRUTH that the Lord was ALIGNING His kingdom… alignment of us with the sharing of blessings for all His people… that He is moving all things and ALL OF US for His purposes.

Actually, it was not hard work that we had done, multiple people worked with sorting and purging excesses of 15 years of donations and I was blessed to be the messenger, knowing that God had put the right place in front of me… the cleaning and sorting work was slightly time consuming but not hard, and extremely necessary… And the Lord clued us in on knowing the greater need in a growing section of His kingdom, it was easy to give the materials away – the blessings of our excess. It is the legacy of God’s work in these craft supplies, many donated by a good friend,  who had passed away… She lived to teach children about the Love of Jesus, and thru her couponing and clearance shopping we had TONS to deliver Robin Hood style to many areas that she would have visited if she could… to help God’s children is a blessed path – since there are always NEW children to teach, new spirit to tap into… I know that now she is smiling at these moments… She would say “You go girl!”

I felt the alignment to the Lord’s service even stepping out of the car as the church was rocking with amazing music that the sleepy whole block could hear…

The pastor preached during the offering that the Lord provides – trust and you will be provided for –  YES, YES that’s true!

The pastor preached about the intrinsic Glory of God never separated from God. Amen!

The people poured out their thankfulness to us, but it was me who felt the hunger of my spirit which was blessed to be placed where He needed me at that moment. ALIGNMENT…

Our spiritual cups are more easily filled if we allow ourselves to be aligned just right under His flow…

The pastor preached about how God changes our paths – often… oh yeah – AMEN to that!

Alignment is MUCH easier when we put on the Armor of God, because then we can be moved with a God-magnetic-pull on our God-Armor-metal.  We can let Him move us. Think about those metallic bingo chips lifted and moved by the metallic wand. Do you ever feel God placed you in step with His purposes which were not solely yours? Click click click – get ready to be moved… His guidance for our steps… the right place at the right time… but then be ready to move again… click click click, clear the board it’s time for a new round of life…

We can trust His Will and free our spiritual brains to realize how we can make a difference for Him, simply by emptying our agendas… that is tough many times but it is worth it… meanwhile we can feel the blessing…

Not every task is easy like this. Not every step is known to us. The Armor of God is good and purposeful. The trust that we must have is that His plan is being put in place…

I was given additional hope in an unusual usual normal way. The little girl in the pew in front of me wanted attention to play. I realized in the clamor of loud praises, of a church filled with moms and children, that the whisper of the Lord was for me to entertain a little girl so that the mom could absorb the message…  this mom was very devoted to her daughter and knew that she needed to have her cup filled as well… was I in that EXACT situation only a short long 15 teen years ago? Yes! A wonderful stately gentleman entertained my daughter, so I could hear the message those days in church… years apart, both peekaboo moments brought to you by God’s Alignment… Am I still in that same position? YES, I need my cup filled too – it is impossible to pour out of an empty cup… Alignment is brought to you by Jesus. Imagine Jesus lining you right up to where you need to be… HE KNOWS!!!

Our souls are fed by knowing His ways are better than our ways,  His thoughts better and higher than ours…

Serving God…

From Isaiah 58:10-

If you extend your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the afflicted soul,
Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
And your darkness shall be as the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
Those from among you
Shall build the old waste places;
You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,
The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.

If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,
From doing your pleasure on My holy day,
And call the Sabbath a delight,
The holy day of the Lord honorable,
And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,
Nor finding your own pleasure,
Nor speaking your own words,
Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord;
And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,
And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

 

A Sunday tired is a good tired…

Amen!!!

 

Isaiah 55

Seek the Lord while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the Lord,
And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

“For you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills
Shall break forth into singing before you,
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree,
And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;
And it shall be to the Lord for a name,
For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

691

Imperfect Us – Perfected by Grace, 16May

I appreciate the voice of JOY flowing thru Keith Green at the Speed of the Spirit when He shares the LOVE of Jesus – WOW… Thank God for YouTube, even after his tragic death in a plane crash, you can still feel Keith’s Spirit living on thru the Spirit leaping out of the screen and His lyrics. They are alive because you process it is thru Your Spirit.

Keith Green had a “Saul to Paul transformation”, therefore I know that he would understand my faith and energy… Keith Green was/is called to burn bright… I’m so appreciative of the lyrics and the life and enthusiastic love of live musical messages, they are so NOT the polished studio feeds but Keith talking to the crowd in RAW films with SO MUCH raw energy… 

The lyrics of two songs speak to me today, which were written to encourage all of us to be faithful when stumbling blocks show up – when our faith seems to fade. (lyrics below)…

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A wonderful writer and Pastor, Pierre Eade, has shared a message about the canonization of the bible – and how a very strong God used very imperfect men to accomplish this task – and like all imperfect men, like Peter, God uses us to feed His sheep. God uses our imperfections… God gives us grace… let’s stay on the path…

From Pastor Pierre’s 13 page paper: “As we survey the lives of the seven characters discussed in this paper, we see how God used imperfect men in the formation of the canon. Peter had denied the Lord three times. Luke was a non-Jew and also not an Apostle. Paul had once persecuted the church. When Marcion couldn’t convince the church of his devious doctrines, he started his own church. Tertullian did not receive the title of “saint” because of his rough and at times abrasive character.  Athanasius had a “fiery and stubborn personality.”  The study of the formation of the New Testament shows that an omnipotent and all wise God is able to use the events of human history and the workings of fallible creatures to perform a good and perfect work.”

PDF at

http://www.christiangrowthnetwork.com/Canon_of_the_New_Testament_Pierre_Eade.pdf

http://www.christiangrowthnetwork.com/canon_of_the_new_testament_scholarly.html

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Please read the Keith Green lyrics and listen…

“Keith Green – Stay on the path” on YouTube

https://youtu.be/eGlLS24kYaI

Stay on the Path

When you first find your self you want to run and tell
All the world of your joy and harmony inside
But the hardest thing is to live what you will say
And you find your truth, slipping quietly away if not used…
So you stumble but try to reach out once again
Something urges you on, ’cause you now tasted light.

And the path goes on – getting steeper all the time.
But with each new step you are strengthened in your climb towards your goal
To make all things whole

So you think you’re aware, well the works never done, stay on the path
But if you were once there, well don’t give up now, stay on the path
If you work on yourself, then your on the path, your on the path
But if someone needs help, then do all you can, and you’re on the path.

You will never receive, more than you can use
And we’re tested to see how much we’ve really learned
And you feel your goal is to reach the highest plains
But you’re so, you’re so alone and you find the growing pains, hard to transcend.
But you will, you will in the end

So you think you’re aware, well the works never done, just stay on the path
And If you were once there, well don’t give up now, stay on the path
If you work on yourself, then you are right on, right on your path
But if someone needs help, then just do all you can, keep on your path

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“Keith Green – Grace by Which I Stand” on YouTube

https://youtu.be/60T4c3MPrXE

Grace By Which I Stand 

Lord, the feelings are not the same,
I guess I’m older, I guess I’ve changed.
And how I wish it had been explained, that as you’re growing you must remember,
That nothing lasts, except the grace of God, by which I stand, in Jesus.
I know that I would surely fall away, except for grace, by which I’m saved.

Lord, I remember that special way,
I vowed to serve you, when it was brand new.
But like Peter, I can’t even watch and pray, one hour with you,
And I bet, I could deny you too.
But nothing lasts, except the grace of God, by which I stand, in Jesus.
I’m sure that my whole life would waste away, except for grace, by which I’m saved.
But nothing lasts, except the grace of God, by which I stand, in Jesus.
I know that I would surely fall away, except for grace, by which I’m saved.

——

From Pastor Pierre’s 13 page paper: “As we survey the lives of the seven characters discussed in this paper, we see how God used imperfect men in the formation of the canon. Peter had denied the Lord three times. Luke was a non-Jew and also not an Apostle. Paul had once persecuted the church. When Marcion couldn’t convince the church of his devious doctrines, he started his own church. Tertullian did not receive the title of “saint” because of his rough and at times abrasive character.  Athanasius had a “fiery and stubborn personality.”

The study of the formation of the New Testament shows that an omnipotent and all wise God is able to use the events of human history and the workings of fallible creatures to perform a good and perfect work.”

PDF at

http://www.christiangrowthnetwork.com/Canon_of_the_New_Testament_Pierre_Eade.pdf

http://www.christiangrowthnetwork.com/canon_of_the_new_testament_scholarly.html

 

Forgiveness is hard. Forgive anyway.

Forgiveness is Divine. Forgive the Jesus Way.

Forgiveness is Easy. Forgive as Jesus did, it is the ONLY WAY.

Forgiveness is because of His LOVE, Hooray!

LOVE is the WAY. Forgive today!

Forgive because LOVE never fails. No way!

Forgive because Jesus is THE WAY!

BE JESUS TODAY!

690

Forgiveness is Hard, 13May

Forgiveness is HARD.

We still have to forgive.

To not forgive makes it harder.

Let the Lord do His work.

We have to “Be Still” to watch Jesus ask the Father to forgive someone over our grudges and anger. Jesus asks forgiveness for us too. Likewise for others, we must watch Jesus at work, we must be like Jesus in our efforts to forgive… if we know this truth and still we don’t forgive, He won’t forgive us. But “He knows our frame, He remembers we are dust.” Don’t harden your hearts to His Love.

Forgiveness is hard. Forgiveness is Divine.  Forgiveness is the only way. Jesus is the Way.

Is forgiveness easy for Jesus? No, He died for our forgiveness, died for multitudes who didn’t and don’t even know their sin. And Jesus puts in the time to walk us thru our transgressions, to walk with those who realize sin but only a fraction. Jesus chooses to also walk with those who don’t even know that they are sinful. Then Jesus stands by, probably in tears, when their distance from Him grows, so many don’t know how to reach to Him. Oh, can you even begin to feel His Joy when we do realize and reach?

Jesus is working thru us RIGHT NOW, we are called to actively forgive others with His Spirit and reduce the distance between them and LOVE – between us and LOVE. Is it easy? No, but it IS Divine – FROM GOD. His Joy grows when we apply what we are taught – when we forgive others. (When we forgive ourselves too)…

Is forgiveness easy for God? No, in human terms it seems not, God sacrifice of His Son. God did NOT take an easy road to forgive – He took the long road, took the high road of forgiveness in order to recover all of His scattered children. God is still looking for so many of us who don’t know to Be Still and realize this greatest opportunity to accept forgiveness…

God knows that great pain of loss. God knows that great JOY of regaining His children’s LOVE. God will keep working on us. His LOVE is patient, kind, protecting, trusting, hopeful, persevering…

God knows to send the Shepard to call His sheep. God’s Love never fails.

Forgiveness is a command.

Forgive those who knew what they did.

Forgive those who have no clue.

Forgive yourself too.

Amen

 

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Bible verses on forgiveness (thank you Google)
Luke 6:35-36 – But LOVE your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Proverbs 10:12 – Hatred stirs old quarrels, but LOVE overlooks insults.

Psalm 103:10-14 – He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.  As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

Psalm 103: 1-5 – Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things  so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

1 Timothy 1:15-16 – Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

Luke 23:34 – As he hung on the cross – “And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Ephesians 4:31-32 – Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.

Mark 11:25 – And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Colossians 3:13 – Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Romans 12:18-21 – If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave I to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.  To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Matthew 5:39-41 – But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also; if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well, and if someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two.

Proverbs 17:9 – Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends.

Luke 6:35-36 -But LOVE your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Proverbs 10:12 – Hatred stirs old quarrels, but LOVE overlooks insults.

Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

 

689

Surely I Can, 12MAY

If truck drivers can drive for a living, Surely I can live to drive where the Lord takes me.

If people can sing for their supper, Surely I can hunger to sing for Jesus.

If I can eat my fill, Surely I can be fed by the Spirit.

If I can show up like a bad penny, Surely God can make me useful.

If I can be served, Surely I can serve.

If I can be idle, Surely I can be NOT.

If I can be forgetful, Surely I can be forgiven.

If I can be forgiven, Surely I can forgive.

If I can be lost, Surely I can be FOUND.

If I can be led astray, Surely I can be led back by Jesus.

If I can be human (and I am), Surely I can be saved by Jesus (and WE are!).

If I can love, Surely I can BE LOVED.

If I can be LOVED, Surely I can LOVE.

Surely I can BE STILL, and Still Be Me.

Surely I can.

If God can make me into me, Surely I can remember to be that, to be me…

Surely I can be His, because I am, I am His.

Surely, I can ANYTHING, because of  HIM, the great “I AM”.

Amen

688

Jesus adds Life! Have Jesus and a Smile

It is fabulous to see the smiles of Joy on our friends…

I wrote about having Jesus and a Smile for one of my smiley-est friends and former Pastor when he moved to another blessed church family! Borrowing from the slogan of one of his favorite beverages, Coca-cola.

“Coke adds Life. Have a Coke and a Smile!”,  reworked slogan:

“Jesus adds Life! Have Jesus and a Smile!

Joy adds life! Have Joy and a Smile!”

Yes Joy. Jesus Joy.

Fruit of the Spirit flowing Joy.

Jesus Joy with extra to spare.

We should all be singing a new song: “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.  I’d like to share the WORD of GOD, He’s perfect company.”

“Jesus: the Real Thing…”

Keep smiling!  Keep sharing, share JOY and JOY will share with you…

Thank God from whom all blessings flow…

——————

“Coca-Cola ‘Smile’ Commercial (Bob Hope, 1979)” on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/iBtoo4cD0Y8

Classic Coca-Cola song”

https://youtu.be/1VM2eLhvsSM

687

POP, that’s what often happens in my brain when a writing revelation comes to me, it’s just “POPS”. This one sounds familiar – all love IS from God. It reveals itself in a new deeper way. (My job is to get my head out of the way.)

LOVE IS FROM GOD

Sounds familiar, but I DON’T always acknowledge that God is the source -completely – without boasting about my own love. Love does not boast. No. I love to share love, but we are to remember all aspects of Love are not from me sharing my own love, love IS from God. Our job is be reflective of HIS Love.

Love is not for me to direct where I decide where my love should go, because I can suffer from favoritism and sentimentality. Our job is to see LOVE at work and join in.

I am called to witness Love. And I need to NOT mess up the flow. We are to participate in His Love.

LOVE

Is patient

Is kind

Does not envy

Does not boast

Is not easily angered

Always protects

Always trusts

Always hopes

Always perseveres

LOVE NEVER FAILS 

1 Corinthians 13

LOVE NEVER FAILS.

I can think of many ways that I thought that I was in charge of His love for aspects of my life, NO, I am NOT.

I am the participant, not even the co-pilot, I am along for the ride. I am to share His love unconditionally as He shares with me. I thought I was protecting, but He is doing that. I thought I was trusting, but He is showing me opportunities to comply. I hope and I persevere but actually I am to realize His strength, not mine. I pray to NOT mess up His Love, but actually LOVE NEVER FAILS.

I love to feel God’s LOVE and I love to LOVE God.  I realize this too is under His direction. I am simply a bead on His Heartstrings woven into His net. If I can be still, I can witness more. I am in awe of how God loves us, I am in tears for when He shares glimpses of this plan, His Love, His Forever and His Now.

I have to remember to give credit where credit is due. God want ALL the credit.

God longs for us to LIVE in His LOVE.

GOD IS LOVE !

LOVE IS FROM GOD !!

LOVE DOES NOT FAIL !!!

Amen

686

Help Me, Lord, in My Unbelief, 06MAY

Of all the amazing things I believe about our Lord, what amazes me is where I still have doubts.

Jesus likes it when He Himself is amazed in our faith (Luke 7)…

I would like to be amazed at my faith too!

But… I have a long way to go…

“Lord, I believe, help me in my unbelief.” Mark 9:23-24

The devil of doubt, dissuasion, distance, denial, distraction does me no good.

The Messiah of Mercy, makes me want to know more, understand until I see…

The Messiah of Motivation motivates me to move forward taking steps of Faith…

I want to believe in all I don’t know.

I want to know that I could believe.

I want to want less knowledge – and accept more faith.

I want to get there even if I don’t know how.

In Faith, I do know who can and does help: Jesus.

Jesus, no doubt, He’s our SAVING GRACE.

Have Faith in Faith.

Know His Saving Grace.

Amen

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Psalm 139 (KJV)

O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.

² Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

³ Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

⁴ For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.

⁵ Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

⁷ Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

⁸ If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

⁹ If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

¹⁰ Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

¹¹ If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

¹² Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

¹³ For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴ I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

¹⁵ My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

¹⁶ Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷ How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

¹⁸ If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

¹⁹ Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.

²⁰ For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.

²¹ Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?

²² I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

²⁴ And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

This is my cousin in the Great Hall of Ellis Island…

Her little scale represents just one human being in the multitudes of humanity who poured thru that port to the American Dream. The enormity of the human spirits and their hopes and dreams held in those walls… words cannot capture this. Prayers made heard and understood.

When I stood there I also felt the enormity of the moment, knowing my American life was built standing on the shoulders of giants. If you search your soul, you will feel the stirrings of your ancestors, you will understand just a tiny bit of their tears, you will hear their prayers. They prayed for us before out parents were even born. The dreamed for God’s plan for their lives and ours.

You are alive because they dreamed…

You are here because God said YES…

You must live the life they envisioned you to have…

You must ask God to keep saying YES to your future…

You must dream too…

God says “DO EVERYTHING IN LOVE”

I wake up every morning so very grateful that I’m alive, that I feel well enough and strong… I’m glad that if I remember that I am responsible for me, then I know what I deal with is deal-able, with God’s help… that I’m not responsible for solving ALL the world’s problems – but I am responsible for doing my part to fix them. If I wake up with a shoulderful of LOVE, there is little room from the problems to weigh me down. Actually, LOVE lifts us up from inside and carries us thru the day.

I’m thankful that God helped me thru yesterday.

I’m excited that God has plans for me today…

If we remember we are filled with the LOVE of the Lord, from the Lord, for the Lord, then how can we not roll with LIFE… YES, we need to roll our problems, insults, big and little things off our backs… we need to step forward and leave that pile behind us, and because of LOVE we will power thru.

Let LOVE carry you thru the day.

God lives LOVE, we live LIFE… we are placed in this world, but not of this world, because our treasure is in HEAVEN… we are on earth to use LOVE as a tool for witnessing LIFE, improving LIFE, forgiving LIFE, then LIVING LIFE.

Pick up the LOVE and LIFE moves FORWARD… everything else rolls away…

685

His Light, My Basketcase, 30APR

I feel like a basketcase sometimes – ineffective – stuck – but I’m not, I’m not…. so, whenever it comes to loving the Lord, He doesn’t want me to be a basketcase or to hide my light from Him under a basket – it’s His LOVE – HIS LIGHT that we are to shine. But, I always wonder about having enough time to shine…

These were blogs from one year ago on my mind…. I already was filled with thoughtful thoughts about my 50th birthday coming up this fall, wow.  I rethought about this writing from last year while wearing my David Bowie (RIP) T-shirt yesterday, and seeing that it is the 50th anniversary of the moon landing and of Woodstock… unlike the news of them cancelling of the reuinion concert,  I pray God doesn’t cancel my future quite yet. As nervous as i can be about the future,  my JOY of continuing to “run the race” is greater… 50 years is a blessing… 5 more years, months, minutes would never be enough time to tell the Lord how much I love Him.

(I will attach a second blog, the next link, an important follow up to the 5 years blog)…

All in All, I thank God for all His time…

Yup, I  need to stop my basketcase moments, burn the basket and pray the Holy Spirit to move me… safely…

552

5 years, 5 minutes, 27Apr2018

My favorite Bowie song – “5 years” – David screams it – I do too…

He sings about only five years left for the Earth… how urgent!… “oh my brain hurts a lot”, he screams!

“We’ve got five years, what a surprise
We’ve got five years, my brain hurts a lot
We’ve got five years, that’s all we’ve got”

I do think about life and death, especially with my long commute, I think about the time we have here, on this Earth… and I think about what Heaven is like…

I wonder looking at the clouds when things will end. I should…

I wonder how “to cram so many things” into such a short time… I should…

I wonder how to rest enough… I should…

I should keep moving. I should keep moving… I should…

What would you do with only 5 years left in life? 5 years? 5 months? 5 days? 5 minutes?

Would we start by thanking the Lord?

WOULD we say: “I LOVE YOU LORD!” constantly?

5 years, 5 minutes? Would I ask for the Lord’s mercy? I should…

5 years? Oh what could I accomplish in 5 years? How many lives could I help? How many times could I tell my kids, my parents that I love them? Tell them constantly? I should…

5 months? Would I take time for myself alone? or would I fill it with every person I could visit as fast as I could? How many hugs could I gather and give in that time? Should I SMILE? I should…

5 days?  Would I go back to finish the unfinished?

Finish that sewing pile? No!

How about finishing that stolen kiss? Maybe!

Would I “Finish the race”? Yes! I would finish the race… I should…

5 anything? Would I even tell the people I would be gone? Would I want to burden them? Or inspire them? I should INSPIRE… I should…

5 minutes? How many times would I call out to the Lord? How many times could I question Him? How many times could I thank Him? How many times would I cry: “Why?” How many minutes would it take me to STOP my questioning? How many minutes would it take me to start listening? I should…

How long before the ONLY thing I say is:

“I love You, Lord”

I should…

I would…

I will…

How long before I LISTEN for the Lord?

5 years, 5 minutes?

Focus on loving the Lord?

Focus on loving everything He does and made?

I should…

I love to question “WHY?” – I do…

I love that the ONLY answer He ever gives me is:

“Because I LOVE you!”

I should use every moment to BELIEVE that…

“Because I LOVE you!”

For every moment we live is in His Love, of His Love, and with His Love.

Because of Him we LIVE to LOVE

We should…

Amen

684

Broken Birds will Fly Again, 26APR

Snowy, the cat, so much appreciates open windows and oh the birds!!!. She is not allowed outside, however she knows she must see, hear, and smell outside… she needs to commune with God’s creation even if only an observer. She is also God’s creation and a blessing to us.

I am an observer of life too, and God’s creation as well – sandwiched between so much of God’s beautiful creation – with the birds singing this pre-dawn spring morning and the creaks of my growing children in their beds hitting the snooze buttons,  life stirs… the children sleep, yet the Lord is awake… creatures and creatives of our Lord’s world may rest, so that then they can clamor in praise and hopeful harmony.

The cat is an observer and observed. We are observers and observed. What would people observe about us?

Every morning we have to take a read on the world. Wake up and smell the smells of God over the smells of the world. The cat would smell the outside thru cracks of the door all winter, she really did,  now she has full view thru the screen. And now she can hear those birds and smell… She needs and wants to use all her senses to make sense of God’s world. We do too…. does God’s world make sense to you? Are we looking in the right places?

Harmony is what God started with, way back when, but broken covenants and evil days interrupted… the birds still sing, but under safe cover now, whenever they can… but oh, if they could feel safe outside those hidden places.  We too want to feel safe – we need, want,  hope for harmony. We are broken people,  broken birds… We nest in cover but we also need to venture out into the world of evil days to keep working for the Lord. We are covered under His Wings and we are to put on His armor of God. We are to choose Joy thru trials (James 1).

We are all broken birds of one form or another. We need the armor of God as our protection and His wing for our lift…

We can build houses to protect our children and ourselves, keep out the rain and colds of winter –  but God wants us to SPRING from our rest and leap into His Nest…. if the birds can be so daring, so can we…

Trust God’s Love – hear His Call – see His Rainbow providing calm after the storm, know eternal Peace… live for Peace now, don’t wait.

We might be broken birds, but we are going to be fine – in His Nest, under His Wing, we will fly forever…

Be Still and smell the day, peak…

Watch…

Fly…

Pray…

Live…

Go.

683

That’s the Way the Column Crumbles, 25APR

I feel like I am called to be a messenger to help my friends, AND all and any of you whom I don’t know in person, but know in spirit. I hope to tell the world, and remind myself, to realize that God has a plan all worked out… now and forever… We just want to be ready for forever and know forever is ready for us! Keep God’s love now and God’s love will keep you.

I appreciate that we can be aware, that we are educated about these current and forever plans of God, even if we don’t understand them fully. I appreciate that Jesus’s disciples wrote down revelations of the mysteries of Christ, of God’s plan, and even of the end of time to come. I truly appreciate that I can share about what I have learned…. even if I have barely scratched the surface of understanding…
“To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.” Paul to the Colossians – Paul was very verbose while he was educating… We have the ability to read his collective letters to so many scattered members of faith.

God tells us, thru Jesus instructions, how even the world will end – love will be forever, but the world will not… and that we MUST BE EVER VIGILANT to watch for it.

I love the JOY of the Lord, which keeps me watchful… I know the world is full of evil days,  which keeps me watchful… Jesus teaches about the end of times, and to BE WATCHFUL!

Matthew, the scribe, is trying to instruct the newest of Christians who are building communities in the 1st centuries, and Matthew recorded Jesus’s teachings about the end of times… After a round of tough discussions in the temple, it seems the disciples are trying to point out how amazing the buildings are – and Jesus says: it’ll all be gone…

He educates them with a long reaching goal to educate us.  War and strife are to be expected – we could say realistically “that’s the way the cookie crumbles” – or Jesus might say: ‘That’s the way the column crumbles…’

“Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

So, two questions and two answers (as Michael Card puts it in his Matthew book) are What? When? Jesus teaches: don’t be confused with evil events that are already in the world, they are just the reality of evil days… the real deal end will be AFTER many false warnings and fakers of the Messiah….  the only prep for when Christ is REALLY coming again is to be WATCHFUL EVERY MOMENT… be in service to God, always…

So, our learning can be gathered from biblical scholars but our understanding must be gathered by ourselves, by our own personal witness. I can only tell you that:

To want to understand Christ is a life-long PASSION.

To know Christ is to know HOPE.

To believe in Christ is to know JOY.

To believe Christ is to have FAITH.

To long for Christ is to LIVE for Christ.

To Love Christ is to LOVE.

LOVE is the BEGINNING and the END.

Jesus said: “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Watching for Christ is both for the here and now AND for the end of the age. The Earth will pass,  ‘that’s the way the column crumbles’. The people who watch now will not be forgotten,  so don’t forget to watch – keep vigilant in His LOVE always… Love will bring a new forever…

Don’t worry… Love teaches: Be Still, we will Still Be.

LIVE in LOVE…

AMEN

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Matthew 24, 25

Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.

26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

29 “Immediately after the distress of those days

“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

25 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

682

Scripture to Encourage, 1^st Peter, 24APR

I replaced the towns with “EVERYONE” since this pertains to EVERYONE – I JUST LOVE THIS SCRIPTURE!!!! Really, it’s amazing to have this encouragement…
“This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

I am writing to God’s chosen people who are (EVERYONE)  God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace.

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward.

They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.

So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.” For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.

Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.

You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.

For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. As the Scriptures say,

“People are like grass;

their beauty is like a flower in the field.

The grass withers and the flower fades.

But the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.

 

681

Checking the Openings from the Closure, 23APR

Last year’s Easter blog is still so true and yes, that redirection of Living Water is intentional healing…

I have to thank all of you and many  friends, whom God put in my line of sight as helpers to my healing… comfort to comfort others… thank you folks, thank you!

I can feel those healing rehydrating ways of the Lord… more and more I can start to unfold and unfurl the beautiful crazy that God allows me to be…  Seems just like we forget about the cold winter, now that it is spring…, likewise we forget to thank the Lord for His healing after we are back on our feet… I forget all the time the “many dangers, toils and snares” I have already come thru… and terribly sometimes I reopen my own wounds, that God closed (that’s the devil of doubt creeping in), but  God says No reopening… His closure was purposeful to re-open me in HIS pathways… He took my mountains and made them His molehills… my tears, His hydration… my pause, my praise… if we forget to praise, those rocks will cry out…

Thank You Lord. Thank You.

 

Closure to Open, 29MAR – #541

a Holy Thursday Reflection

A counselor once told me: “You need closure, so that you can open up fully…”

I thought that was an interesting juxtaposition of terms – of closing to be open…

I’ve been praying on that irony… and I understand. To close wounds allows us to redirect our energy, our purpose, our hope. God heals and we help by allowing Him to do His work.

The Living Water of Jesus was purposefully directed to us, His flow allows us to LIVE.

A rose waiting to bloom is ready to open, but not until directed cues cause the water to enter the petals, the cells to expand, and a bloom form for the eye to behold…. see, feel, smell the sweet aroma of life.

Can you see your heart like a rose ready to bloom? God holds your heart petals together. Can you see how the closures of leaks would not remove the water that may have leaked out thru the tears but redirects the water into hydrating flow that will grow you? He will bloom you. He makes all things beautiful…

“You need closure, to open fully…”

Jesus thru His death and resurrection brings back the sweet aroma of life, today, everyday, evermore. Back to the Garden… Easter is the opening, the redirection of His Spirit for our future to be realized in the present. God wants to be known!!!. He blooms new life into us because of closure of Jesus’s short earthly form. The flow of Living Water now available for all.

“You need closure, to open fully…”

Closure is a process none of us takes lightly, nor can we try to force it… Any time we need closure, remember that it’s because Loving God wants redirecting of His Life in and thru you… to open you… to bloom… to bear fruit…. to LIVE… to LIVE now… to LIVE again…

Amen

680

Easter Monday – Time to Move, 22APR

Is it still Easter on Easter Monday? What am I doing thinking about Easter yesterday when I need to get back to a work mindset today? I am doing what the disciples were called to do – moving into my Monday as an Easter Monday like I should EVERY MONDAY – like everyday – knowing THAT CHRIST IS STILL RISEN.

It is Easter Monday, the stone did NOT roll back to reset itself for next year.

The Good News did not turn into Old News.

Jesus didn’t wait to read about His return in the papers.

The office water cooler didn’t replace the living water giver.

Jesus, Himself, was on the move to Emmaus and Galilee – thru Jerusalem and everywhere…

Jesus was planning His trips, His time, for He had another short window of earthly ministry before His Ascension 40 days later.

Jesus was on the move.

Jesus was already aware of God’s intention to send the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Jesus was on the move…

Jesus is still on the move today….

Our Easter rituals fade, but our faith can be flamed… Easter candy is still there – the Ham is leftover in the fridge – so why are we thinking of Easter as yesterday’s event?

Easter is a lifestyle not a day.

Easter is a frame of mind – not a circle on the calendar.

Easter is moving as fast or as slow as that stone rolled – Easter still needs to be rolled out to endless people who have never even heard of Jesus.

Fanning the flames of Pentecost might be the best next and forever event to prepare for.

What about the Disciples? How long did it take them to get to Galilee? Was the quickest bus available? Did they hop a helicopter or tell the Uber camel driver to race there? How? how quick could they get there? – NOT QUICK ENOUGH is what I am sure they were thinking…  How easy was it to get to Galilee? Were the Roman’s on their heels? How about the Pharisee-paparazzi? Did they get ready to snap photos of the possible hideouts of these companions of Jesus? Was there a spike in the Emmaus Twitter-feed of Jesus sightings?

What was running thru the disciples minds? How would they get there and what will they find? RUN – how could they NOT run…

US – are we ready for Easter Monday? Do we still need desire and feel Easter? Have we taken time to walk the cross steps but stopped just short of the tomb? Do we know that Christ really did exist and live and die and rise? Are we scattered too trying to find our selves again? Rushing to Galilee or hesitant to go there… Are we a doubting Thomas? Can we tell others that HE DID THIS ALL FOR US?!!!!!!!!!!! Are we ready to step out in faith NOT for ourselves but for all those who have yet to hear? Maybe we should start with the Christmas story as a prologue,  but we should start speaking out…

Easter Monday – we are on the move – we need to be Easter movers and shakers because we already know the end of the book – and we don’t have to hide like those disciples – we may be ridiculed, tired, unsure – but we don’t have to hide – not hide out for 3 days or for our lives – we do not have to fear the Romans – we do not even have one single camera following us to see if we are hiding out….

Easter Sunday, at most, we had Grandma’s ENTHUSIASTIC camera wanting to take a photo of us in our Easter Sunday best! – what is going to be our Easter Monday best today?

Our Easter Monday best is BEING and LIVING as the Easter Monday Christians that Jesus needs us to be – being bold and re-telling the GOOD NEWS – being appreciative of a Savior and being aware of our humanness…  and knowing the Godly healing of our own gaps and cracks…

Being Saved – our Easter Monday is all about BEING SAVED – not a boast but a calling – not a cry but a boldness – not a loss but a gain.

We are still saved on Easter Monday – GO TELL SOMEONE!

AND RUN TO GALILEE!!!!   JESUS IS DYING – I MEAN LIVING – TO MEET YOU!!!!!!!!!!

AMEN

679

30 Pieces of Silver, 20APR

I didn’t get to good Friday service, but I remember the events.. we are to reflect on how forgiveness is for us…. for the world…
How much silver was exchanged? – it was 30 pieces of silver that Judas got… it was sad how betrayal came down to cold cash… and yet it still teaches us of Jesus’s warm Love…

Jesus still called Judas friend…

Perhaps it’s the saddest thing to be on autopilot of sin… and also for Judas to not recognize that for even this, Jesus likely would have forgave – IF ONLY Judas had asked.

Hmmm…. both the sin of non-realization of the power to forgive yourself and the non-realization of forgiveness from your Savior…

This was a big deal – scripture says sins are sins… Jesus can heal the rift from big and little.
Judas may have brokered for 30 pieces of silver, but Jesus brokered the way home.

When we drop our identity in self, we are to be filled with the spirit. The beatitudes state – blessed are the poor, poor in their own self, instead filled with the Lord…

To come to the Lord is to drop the facade of having life all figured out… be willing to be still and be real and be with Jesus as the only resort… to carry one’s own cross is to take up the realization that we have to lift our burdens to hand them over… and we can – Jesus wants them – Jesus wants us…

For Judas, the plans were already in motion – and he couldn’t even stop himself even if Jesus told him in advance…. Judas never dropped his self completely, nor often do we…. to drop one’s self would have stopped the process of sin in the first place – the retro remorse filled Judas…

Jesus saw this and how sad for Jesus to not only see the train wreck of Judas, but know that the prophecy was to be fulfilled by His own friend… Jesus himself had human anger, told it the way it was… Told Judas even what he would do… As Jesus prayed for the cup of suffering to have been removed from himself, surely He would have asked on Judas’s behalf too… as upset as Jesus could have been, His Love would have replaced the anger… Jesus asked the Father to forgive…

Can we pre-forgive our enemies? Jesus can help us remember to try…

We all need to know Jesus already pre-advocates for us… we still need to ask forgiveness…

The coins weren’t taken back because they were blood money…

Worth remembering, the blood for our sins can never and will never be taken back – we are forever forgiven and saved…. all that was broken, Jesus, the curtain, the rocks, the tombs – all were broken to be OPENED to eternal life…

Jesus said “Remember me” – Jesus asks we remember our forgiveness – asks that remember our salvation – asks us to teach others that healing is from Him…. Jesus also asked on behalf of those who didn’t even know what they did… us too…

Jesus will ALWAYS take us back to the Father.
Remember John 3:17
“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world thru Him.”

Amen
—–

Matthew 26,27
14 Then one of the Twelve–the one called Judas Iscariot–went to the chief priests 15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty silver coins.16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
—
21And while they were eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.”22 They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely not I, Lord?”23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me.24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “Yes, it is you.

—-
45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
Jesus Arrested
47 While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. 48 Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” 49 Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.
50 Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.”
—-
Judas Hangs Himself
Matthew 27 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.
When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”
“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”
So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”
—–
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open.

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Reprise Surprise, 19APR

Last night I had a SURPRISE opportunity to serve communion with a pastor friend and oh my – I can still see the smiling faces of God’s children… oh the prayerful people too…

In serving them,  it was like they poured spirit back in my cup… I felt their pleas and their praise… I saw the smiles reserved for the Lord. The Lord let me see them – their gratitude for His healing. My healing from knowing His healing. My smile from knowing His smile. My prayers from knowing their prayers – and not knowing their prayers.

My Reprise Surprise is that I get to see His Spirit with my eyes.

I could write a lot, but this is the devotion that I wrote 4 years ago the first time I served communion post awakening…

Blessed…
On Jul 11, 2015, at 10:48 AM, deb wrote:

I broke communion bread for the first time within my church as a servant recently. Although I had received communion many times since 100% accepting Jesus, this time was different – I served it….. I was blessed to serve the blood of Jesus with a smile – I couldn’t help but smile inside and out – I was so grateful for the SURPRISE and intimate opportunity to share Jesus’s love – I was so satisfied and my heart was so warm… It’s because God is generous and allowed me to see and feel all the smiles that are truly meant for HIM.

So when we break bread in a communion community, we are actually giving up all those sins and angst in our hearts and our pain is taken by Jesus in that briefest a moment – the only thing left in our hearts is a smile as well as a humble cry for Jesus’ pain…  here is my devotion… God bless… Smiles…

Jesus was Broken for You, 11JULY

Jesus was gifted from God to absorb our pain, absorb our sins, and to show us the way to salvation.

When we break and eat bread in communion – we say “Jesus’ body broken for you” – we are thinking of Jesus breaking bread at the Last Supper – we, like apostles, are called to remember Him. Jesus’ body broken for you – for me – yes – BROKEN – Jesus was broken, beaten, stabbed, tortured, whipped, dragged thru the streets, nailed and put on public display – body broken, spirit strong.  Thorns in a crown, jeers, and a mocking sign “King of the Jews” – break his spirit they said – break him mentally for hours, days whatever it takes – that was more the goal than a quick painless death…  Break His Spirit…

God’s true SPIRIT cannot be broken and He released Jesus’ spirit for us to catch.

Our sins are also breaking us. They weigh us down, then deaden us to the world’s needs and make us internalize our mercy towards ourselves instead of out to the masses.

Jesus says no matter what, the breaking we do to Him in body is just that, in body, we can NOT break His Spirit. We can not hide His love for us – we may try to shield ourselves from His salvation – we may deaden our pain with ignoring our sins – placating, medicating, soothing our pain away by turning to any means possible – except Jesus. Soldiers may have tried to drug Jesus with wine and gall to deaden the pain (perhaps even mercifully) but Jesus said “NO” – Jesus said ‘NO, I want ALL in ALL suffering – I want to feel ALL your pain and all your brokenness – I want you to remember ME by breaking ME and thrusting your pain onto ME – I have a cross and I will bear it – it is sufficient for you – I, Jesus, am sufficient for you – God’s Grace is sufficient.’

Go and Sin no more… some sins are the fatal stab wound in the side, some are the tiny pricks of the thorns – Jesus is ever-willing to take it all – break HIM and heal yourself – break him open and drink in His blood that was shed and you will find the narrow path to salvation as he inter-collates into your very being and becomes your sustaining spirit.

We instead ought to be showing our mercy out to the body of Jesus – the body of Jesus is the church – ALL people are the church. If we are chosen and accept Jesus’ body into our own, He wants us out with the people bringing them into His Father’s salvation, externalizing our mercy towards the sinners in the masses. Our forgiven sins a road map to spirit-filled salvation for others, for the church, when we release our spirit for them.

When you take and break bread of Jesus you may smile – smile inside your heart. Jesus took your sins. Feel free to let your heart smile.  God’s spirit will be there.

When you take and break bread of Jesus you may cry – cry inside your heart. Jesus took your sins. Feel free to let your heart cry. God’s spirit will still be there.

When you climb up on your cross that you have carried all those years, when you enter heaven with smiles and cries you will be free. Jesus – freed.

I’m a free spirit
Jesus frees
Jesus is free
Jesus is for me

677

Holy Thursday Sleep Patterns, 18APR

Holy Thursday – we are to remember the coming together of the disciples with Jesus for the Last Supper….

AND we are called to remember the solemnity of Jesus praying in the Garden and remember that He wanted a time to pray before His arrest.  Jesus wanted time to think. Yet in these hours of His need to be remembered, He was forgotten.  Jesus was forgotten in the Garden because his disciples were so human they feel asleep. But human is human…

Oh, we are human too.

The disciples were exhausted and we get exhausted too, falling asleep,  falling apart when we should try to serve the Lord… Jesus understands.  We are forgiven for what we can not do or see or feel. We are forgiven for being human.

We need physical sleep,  we need to be healthy and ready to serve the Lord and still make it thru our humanness…. we need better sleep patterns and we need to organize our awake times for serving Him…

Jesus does not want to be forgotten.

How could have the disciples better served Jesus that Garden night? How can we? By organizing,  by being in pairs and teams to be on watch while others rest. Then us ourselves rest when others are serving guard… organized and effective service for life, for the Lord. By being truthful in knowing that we need the Lord.

We are not alone. We are paired up – we are to pair up – We are to remember to look for His prompts to find people who want to serve – and serve together.

The amazing calling we have tells us that God does not want us serving solo… Jesus paired His disciples to enter teaching the world, and then asked our Father for His Holy Spirit so we too can serve together in our communities near and far – and still get our human rest. Team up for triumph of the Lord.

God blesses us with a craving for connectivity…  Perhaps we are not expecting who God picks – someone to watch for us and someone we can watch. Perhaps this can and will change as we change thru our lives… God is our connection. Connection is how we become cohesive. To reconnect and become whole as a body of Christ, we need to connect.

Jesus broke the bread that pre-garden evening and said “Remember me”. Broken to be whole.

Jesus remembers each of us and wants to connect us back to God by putting us back together with God. Whole from broken.

Rest up,  it is going to be a long watch – with the goal of restoring God’s broken people. … but know that Easter is not in the future,  Easter is a wholeness gifted NOW.

Be with Jesus tonight.

Be watchful for the others are still asleep.

Know that you have already been AWAKENED. You already know Easter morning in your repaired heart.

PEACE – GO IN PEACE because PEACE goes with you…

Amen

676

Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful, 16APR

https://youtu.be/gpOPkzplHRw

This song, “Beautiful Things” by Gungor, reminds me of how God wants to make us feel beautiful inside by growing within us the love of Jesus – this is what happened to me and He made me feel beautiful when I accepted HIS LOVE in me. Not an external beautiful but an internal healing. He did beautiful work re-making me. I had never ever felt that intensely beautiful before. That level of love can only come from Him.  GOD says “I love you. Let Me help you realize that you are made from my dust…” Jesus urges: “Please wake up and know that I am here. Please let Me fix you, please let me fill your cracks with MY LOVE…”  Jesus speaks so beautifully… Jesus speaks with authority…  Jesus speaks all knowingly.

Please do hear Jesus speaking to you …  when Jesus speaks, His sheep know Him…

God is what makes and IS our beautiful…

Personally, Jesus catches each of us – Jesus inside me helped me – Jesus was directed to take me. When I realized, Jesus channeled my energies to serving Him, to treat myself right… I also was called to catch up the outside of me with my eventual weight loss… He showed me that I was worth His helping and He became the source of my strength and the whisper of spirit to guide my way. I constantly heard: “Your body is a temple for God – treat it that way” – first a heart, soul and mind change and then a lifestyle change – the inside beautification from Jesus and then the outside “making me new” too…

God is what makes and IS our beautiful…

It is our Lord who makes us realize His beauty is for sharing – I could see my own glow of His spirit – and that startled me when I saw my mirrored reflection,  that still does… my intensity is not understood by many, but God understands totally.  “Do not put a light under a basket”…

Don’t put your beatification by God back into the mud. Don’t turn back from God’s forward movement. Don’t put your light under a basket. Let Jesus speak. Listen.

“Beautiful Things” is God making us into something new… Another “Beautiful” song that I was blessed to sing urges us to realize that God has made us: “Beautiful for all to see” – for Him to be known. Beautiful is the feeling inside when God makes us feel alive..

You are BEAUTIFUL – because God made you so… 

God is what makes and IS our beautiful…

One Beautiful song, about someone else seeing the beautiful in you – “Beautiful Crazy” -that song makes me smile – that someone might appreciate the beautiful crazy in us…

His love pours out, His love shines thru much stronger and more beautiful than the shells of our self…

God is what makes and IS our beautiful…

Our job is to share His beautiful,  to ask Him to heal our cracks and then share what we have been gifted – brokenness for His healing – for His Plan.  I keep spilling out from my cracked cup and I get more from Him… that is what makes me smile… Serve Him from Him… My job is to not stop the flow.

Will I ever reach a whole cup? I hope not. I hope my cracks are filled but that my cup gets tipped at an angle to pour while being filled…. We share Love because we are loved by Him…

God is what makes and IS our beautiful..

God’s Love is Beautiful…

Amen

---

PS – I was editing this piece at the same time that my daughter and I remembered a Broadway trip to see what musical? “BEAUTIFUL” – there are no coincidences with the Lord. He is BEAUTIFUL!

675 – 16APR

Jesus Understands

When you are told to move forward but want to remain, Jesus Understands.

When you are lost in a crowd,  Jesus Understands.

When you have so much to give but it falls to the wayside, Jesus Understands.

When you ache,  Jesus Understands.

When your friends fall asleep,  Jesus understands.

When NO ONE Understands,  Jesus Understands.

When you yourself don’t understand where you stand,  Jesus already knows and He stands with you. Jesus stands FOR you.

Jesus Stands because of you, because He loves you.

Jesus Understands.

Amen

674

Crossing, 15APR

Crossing – actively moving forward.

A cross in math multiplies.

Jesus’s Cross multiplies the LOVE and we cross into eternal peace.

A cross in the road is a meeting point.

Jesus’s Cross is where we meet His Love spilled out for us.

A cross-stitch is a strong stitch to hold fabric together.

Jesus’s Cross stitched together the people under the old broken covenant and brought in the time of the New Covenant.

A crossing over forbidden lines expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden.

Jesus’s Cross re-vines all of us to Him and the gentle hands of the Vinedresser can reach us directly.

A crossing guard watches and protects and tells us when to cross the road.

Jesus’s Cross reveals His road for us to follow and He guards our Crossing Home.

A cross-weave holds cloth together.

Jesus’s Death on the Cross tore the veil in the temple of the thickest cloth, opening up a direct connection between us and Our Lord.

A cross-Word puzzle causes us to seek and understand the meaning of many clues.

Jesus’s Cross was the clue that we might find the answers to life’s many puzzles and problems IN His Word, the Bible!

Our cross is for bearing and our road is for walking, our path is following His and our life is for losing.

Jesus’s Cross brings His Gain of our lives lived for Him, gaining His life into us to make us WHOLE.

A Cross for Jesus was for His Body to be BROKEN.

Jesus’s Death on the Cross was for His Body to be SHARED.

JESUS is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Jesus is the beginning and ultimate end, the Alpha and Omega, the One Who came among us. Jesus is the Word made flesh.

“For the Word of the Cross is Folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the Power of God.”

Crossing – actively moving forward.

Jesus’s Crossing – the Power of God to Save.

Amen

673

Music Spirit Singing, 09APR

Nothing more wonderful than music…

Think about it, sing and life is better.

Allow your mind to rest in music or get fired up thru music. A spirited tune, a musical interlude, or dark deep soul shaking music – it’s all about soul soothing.

It is all about God giving you mental floss to stream thru your head and knock out the nastiness of life.

When ears crack open and music slips in it is like water flowing and making the Grand Canyon, cutting thru canyons, music will wind its way and wear down the rough patches. Slow music like water pools ponding will form and encourage organic growth of thoughts.  Fast music will become raging rapids of excitement and the sound will blot out the boring mundane madness of life.

When God personally cracked open my ears with music, He could get a better handhold to twist my head on better and I could better hear His tune.

When I sat in a crowd, with friends all jibber-jabbering, I heard the music man that seemingly no one was paying attention to – but I was – why? Why did the spirit feed those music stanzas as mental floss thru my ears then slide me a few stanzas away from my static and a lot closer to my joy? Why?

When I bump into “random” strangers, music connects us into friends, music becomes a conversation, music continues to give context to closeness… music makes the message more melodious. Smiles in singing.

My Lord, He is singing Holy Spirit melodies as He reads the Word as lyrics.

God is our conductor – His hands in motion making the world His joy – thunderous or whispering, His voice rings out in Love. Pray to hear Him.

Jesus is the Word made flesh, the bible built into a breathing living body, ready to teach, heal, save, to Love. The Word made into music is the spirit singing. Pray to catch His tune.

The Holy Spirit swirling around the musical stanzas picks up the tune. Carries the Word thru the World to all places near and far. Moving us, making music out of the Message. The Spirit as music is God’s vehicle for change. Pray to harmonize with Him.

The Word to us is a song of the Spirit.

Music mollifies the madness of the World. Music molds the Man.

Music can be mindful and moving.

Sing for your mood.

Sing for Joy

Sing for Hope

Sing for Comfort

Sing for Peace.

Sing for LOVE

Sing for God’s Sake

Sing the Word for the Word

Sing for EVER

Amen

672

God Makes Beautiful Things, 02APR

On occasion I start tearing up at how intense God thinks about me – just little ole me.

He thinks this way about EVERYONE – YES, YOU TOO – WOW…

This doesn’t mean I follow Him as intensely as He follows me – I am super flawed and human and broken. As a friend once told me, our faith is like peeling away parts of an onion – get deeper and deeper with removal of the layers that veil us. When we strip away layers we really see how much He cares.

God can and does understand us because He’s the one that made us.

God makes Beautiful Things

God made and makes you Beautiful.

I always feel that God took my head, I may scramble away in my own thoughts quite often, but He wants me on His Track of Thinking. And I’m trying to NOT miss His Train… He’s the One who keeps me from a train wreck. There’s NO ONE who can understand any of those intense moments of thoughts in us like God can. There’s NO ONE who can understand anything as much as God can. And He searches the earth and the crevices of our brains for His thoughts. He makes and remakes our hearts. He knits the Word into our souls. He’s the One who brings up the beautiful from the broken, our devotion from our dust. God is the One who can and does put us back on track.

God puts all of Himself into you in order to get ALL of Himself back out.

It is Earth-shattering to realize His intention is to make “Beautiful things out of us” – as the song lyric sings.

God can and will understand how to make His Kingdom beautiful from our crumbled bricks, our mangled steel, our scattered lives. He is rebuilding us always. He has placed Jesus as the cornerstone of our house, right? Yes, He does. You are in His House.

19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2

The daffodils near my house this morning were blooming so beautifully yet they were completely frozen and I brought them inside to thaw. They bloom early since I planted them near the warm house – they are protected by the warmth. We are too. That’s what God wants of us – to dwell in us – to protect our thoughts – to thaw our cold hearts – and to shine His beauty thru us as we grow inside and as His House. God holds us together as a Holy Temple for Him.

“He makes beautiful things out of the dust – He makes beautiful things out of us.”

God knows how to build forever things for His kingdom. You are to be built into a holy place for Him. God in you and you in God.

God makes you beautiful.

Amen

 

——–

 

Beautiful Things – Gungor

https://youtu.be/gpOPkzplHRw

 

All this pain

I wonder if I’ll ever find my way

I wonder if my life could really change at all

All this earth

Could all that is lost ever be found

Could a garden come up from this ground at all?

 

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us

 

All around

Hope is springing up from this old ground

Out of chaos life is being found in You

 

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us

 

You make me new, You are making me new

You make me new, You are making me new

 

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us

671

Transfigure Me, Lord – 31MAR

I don’t mean this in a blasphemous way, but I think that the Lord transfigures each of us to shine as we are needed and as He has requested. And yes, we need to actively request His PEACE.

Up on the mountain (with Peter, James and John as witnesses), Jesus was shown in His magnificent God self. Transfigured and changed. Shined to show real Glory.

I feel like God does that for me quite often – and all of us on occasion – transfigure – not for us to be God, which we are not, but transfigured temporarily to show and spread His Love – to feel His peace, energy, beauty, and to KNOW that we rest in His hands. He does this to demonstrate to the world His peace. Likewise, on the flipside I also see how I am exposed when I am totally revealed as the flawed imperfect human that I am. (Oh so human, oh so in need of a Savior) …

When I am running thru life exhausted, sad, ragged-out,  then I step into a situation where God needs me to shine His love (like a nursing home) or when He finds me cajoling Him, near begging, for a peace-filled moment of rejuvenation (like today’s communion service) – then He delivers BIG TIME – that’s when the world fades away and the only thing left is peace – HIS PEACE in your place. His Holy Spirit falling afresh – manifesting His glory as a friend reminded – our lives for His Love.

Well, how could I not analytically say that when God re-Lights me that I feel transfigured, rejuvenated, restored,  re-vined, recharged, rewound, reinvigorated,  reinvented, refreshed,  reworked, real…  really tonight I floated home, rebounded out of a spiritual uplifting event into glowing, and gushed the excess glow to and with friends. Driftwood no more, at that moment I was caught, re-anchored, re-launched, ready for shining reflective Light, real.

It’s 100% from Him, the spirit stepping me thru my steps, my life, my Way, God, Jesus, Holy Spirit – real. Transfiguration of His dust particles made in alignment with His Spirit charge. Like electrons moving negative to positive, we follow our positive directions and let the holes go back. We are to trade negative for positive reality. That is called JOY.

At home, crash, couch-like crash as life creeped back into my humanness, my exhausted self returned… BUT, I remember that for those brief moments I shined a gifted shine for His glory. How could I not witness what the Lord gives and lives in me? There was a moment of time to shine, before being tarnished by the world again. Tarnished – Tired – truly human…

Transfigure – what? why? how? GOD GOD GOD.

Jesus says. “Don’t be afraid.”

Transfigure me Lord as You need me! I am willing, Lord, and I ask for it to be more than just temporarily. And temporarily is OK too, as I again need to remember my humanness, my dependence upon You. My Savior understands, I depend upon Him.

My tarnish – Your SHINE.

My brokenness – Your healing.

My life – Your LOVE.

Overtly human and yet we are made from YOUR distinct dust particles made from YOUR Love. We are glued and unglued all the time.

We are all made from God’s glory. You too have God in you.

True.

We pray: Transfigure me as You need, Lord. I’m just dust that wants to SHINE thru…

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Matthew 17

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.

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Fish for People, 30MAR

My brain sparked an interesting connection between these two pictures that I made (attached) of Jesus pulling us up out of the water when we sink like Peter after doubting, and of Jesus telling His fishermen disciples that if they follow Him, they will become fishers of men. Jesus said Fish for people and I added “don’t throw any of them back.”

Jesus commanded the fishermen Peter and Andrew to follow Him – whether He said it sternly or simply, or even if He said it cheerily, He did it KNOWINGLY.  Therefore, it is a command for us to mediate on as well. How will we fish? How will we give up our own lives for His.  How can we not?

18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,”Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.

Jesus commands each of us in our own way, in His way of speaking to you. JESUS’S WAY IS WAY PERSONAL.

Following Jesus’s call will not always be easy – and yet it is the ONLY way, it is a command because Jesus IS THE WAY. Jesus commanded it as TRUTH.  Love and forgiveness can be HARD… Many are hurting from the world, but no one is too far from Jesus’s love. Love is not impossible for Jesus because Jesus makes it possible.

Fish for people because Jesus fishes for you.

Build nets and help those sinking.

Peter sank – we are Peter-like because we need help too. We are all in the water because we have original sin PLUS plenty of our own ignorance PLUS a human sinful nature.  We just need Him. How does water, Jesus as Living Water, cleanse us? He is present.  A dip in the water, a necessity to swim thru our complex lives, and a desire to be saved. How does Jesus save us? From ourselves. Why does Jesus save us? FROM LOVE FOR LOVE WITH LOVE.

Saved for God. Eternally loved.

Reach up your hand into His. Call Him.

Then join Him. Fish for more.

How do disciples fish for people? By reflecting the Way, the Truth, the Life – by loving – by forgiveness – by faith – by hosting hope. But most importantly by LOVING.

How will we do Jesus’s Work? By His Words… Fish for people and don’t throw any of them back. Don’t worry about how, just do… we have work for eternity…

Just LOVE.

People are fishes are people are human. Love them anyway. LOVE THEM ALL.

LOVE NEVER FAILS.

AMEN

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1 Corinthians 13:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails.

 

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Important old writing – new re-living of “Back in the Boat”, SEP, 29MAR

Yes, in life, one has to keep a good grip on Jesus’s hand… having stress is between you and Him, He helps the resolution but also He helps how we handle stress to move forward…. if Jesus says “give it to Me”,  He REALLY means it!

I have a particular stress that re-occurs and will continue to re-occur – that stressor does not go away but listening to Jesus helps me reduce that stress – I pray to listen and know what to do as that situation and new ones may not go away…

It is crucial that I re-live Jesus’s saving moment more than I relive the stress that caused me to reach to Him… I remember the saving feeling… I was there… and I have my little drawing of Jesus pulling me out of the water. The sketch taped at my desk where He did just that – He says our faith is what saves us… touch the robe, grab the hand – it is 100% true.

Jesus is at the right hand of the Father – so He is also anchored while He grabs for us…

I pray to not lose grip of His Hand… His save is the physical moment of “You were running a good race, who cut into you to stop you from obeying the truth”. The truth is that we are still in the race…

The truth is Jesus.

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Here is the original post:

Yesterday after stressing about a really bad situation on and off for a couple of weeks, I was stressing awful… Yikes, my stress was thru the roof that very instant!!!! But WOW, how Jesus calmed it….I won’t tell you what those stressors were, but this was my text message to a friend immediately after my heart was released from that pain….. The stressor didn’t go away, but giving it to God made all the difference…

“Wow, I was just feeling so stressed this morning and it caused a real physical heart heaviness feeling, but it’s now GONE due to a refocus on Jesus….  stress pen chewing, gum, and I ate my lunch early, no help, stressing my heart SO heavy…. And so a friend came into my office, she is a good Christian friend and I was able to explain to her this tremendous stress feeling (and what caused it)… And then I explained that often when I was feeling under a storm I would ask Jesus to come back into my boat… when I (like Peter) reached my hand up, out of the water while sinking, that I could re-focus….  So, while telling her this, I actually motioned up, reaching for Jesus with my hand and grabbing HIS… And I am not kidding, my heart felt such instant relief!!!!! It was amazing, instant relief, the heaviness gone!!!!! WOW!!!!!
Good God!!!!
Thank you Jesus for this peace!!! ”

I told another friend about this amazing release feeling and she said: “Welcome back into the boat!”

PEACE

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In Awe, Lord, of You, 25MAR

I’m always in awe, Lord, but now I’m in awe for You.

I’m always singing Lord, but now I’m singing for You.

I love singing and loving You, Lord, but who can I tell?

No one. Anyone. Someone. You.

You.

I can tell You, Lord, I can tell You anything because You already know. I can confide in You that I have no idea what I am doing in life, because I don’t. But You already know that too…You just want me to look for You.

I don’t even know how much of my awe and love to share! But with You, I know to share it ALL. ALL FOR YOU.

The opportunities in life, Lord, might seem like something – but they are nothing compared to the opportunity to Love You.

The praises, Lord, might seem like something – but they are nothing compared to the opportunity to praise You.

The smiles, Lord – the Joy, Lord – the Life, Lord, might be something – but they are nothing compared to the smiles, Joy, and Life in You.

I can tell You all this and You understand because You LOVE my attention and You LOVE my love.

I’m never hesitant to tell You that I love You.

You Lord, I love you forever and forever…

Thank You Lord for understanding me. Who understands me?

No one. Anyone. Someone. You.

You.

Lord, I LOVE YOU.

YOU

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Wow – I have tears now, I wrote this last month- it’s a continued thought – but I didn’t send the writing – I just didn’t…  And now I have the scriptures that matches spirit with the thought, I have tears of joy for I shoulda guessed that God already has this concept covered!!! that God will find a way for every last person – both non-believers and those hardened heart people – to have the opportunity to say YES to His grace… the tribulation – my hope for everyone does and should rely on God getting the job done.

Here’s my writing, then at the end the conversation from a pen pal pastor friend… a wonderful way that God works… WOW…. hope for the lost – one last chance…

 

Loophole Committee for Christ, 25FEB, 22MAR

 

What are the best things that Christ gives us? It is a chance to know who we are complete being within Him. We are in Him and He in us.

As we are all part of one body, we are all workers of the net, by being the net to help God catch new people…

Call me loopy, but I believe that my part of the net is to work on the loopholes. I mean this in 2 ways – a loophole will stress and stretch the net and find an anchor further away – and that will hopefully catch more people.

And 2nd, loopholes are openings to pass thru – not always escape holes but close… I work the loopholes of God’s net because I ask our Lord to bring the non-believers, even at the last minute, to faith in Him… to pray there was one little mustard seed of faith caught under one of the non-believer’s fingernail while they might have been clawing away from His net… I pray that tiny grain of faith is remembered and found for my atheist friends and all…. and surely, I will be the campaigner for God and love for all those who don’t know how to know God…

I’m on the loophole committee… we are all working sections of the net…

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God will take care of what we can’t finish in our net-work. Here’s the hope my friend wrote:

And some folks—myself included—believe that is why God is to have the “Seven-Year Tribulation” found in Revelation: because regardless of whether one is pre-, mid-, or post-tribulation, folks whose hearts have been so hardened against Jesus BEFORE He raptured the believers, may begin to crack in their resistance against Him, and with the horrors of the Tribulation FINALLY realize they have no hope BUT in Jesus, and will in those dark days have one last (period of) chance to receive Him. That there will still be some who will never accept Him and receive their fate in hell I have no doubt; but neither do I doubt God’s goodness and wisdom and justice and love in giving everyone “one last chance”. The joy is, some will take it; the sorrow is, some with reject it.

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Here’s more info about the Tribulation from “got questions” on the “net”…

The tribulation is a future seven-year period of time when God will finish His discipline of Israel and finalize His judgment of the unbelieving world. The church, made up of all who have trusted in the person and work of the Lord Jesus to save them from being punished for sin, will not be present during the tribulation. The church will be removed from the earth in an event known as the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-53). The church is saved from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 5:9). Throughout Scripture, the tribulation is referred to by other names such as the Day of the Lord (Isaiah 2:12; 13:6-9; Joel 1:15; 2:1-31; 3:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:2); trouble or tribulation (Deuteronomy 4:30; Zephaniah 1:1); the great tribulation, which refers to the more intense second half of the seven-year period (Matthew 24:21); time or day of trouble (Daniel 12:1; Zephaniah 1:15); time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7).

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Here’s my original Loophole prayer devotion from 2016:

I didn’t get to the big 911 Memorial on February 1st like I want to, but near the Amish market, a local fire company has a beautiful 911 Memorial…
Tonight, I decided to stop and there were beautiful snowflake kisses falling from the sky… I held on to the towers and held on to the twisted steel and prayed, I truly felt a surge of energy from those blue lighted towers … In the plaques I noticed the AGES for the fallen firemen, police, and Port Authority officers… nearly all these ages were my age or younger… So many people not even in their prime… Wow this made me the most sad to know these lives were lost so young…  I know they served so bravely and did so much in their short time on earth… God bless their souls…

And I pray that God took all 3000 up into heaven, no questions asked… I KNOW it doesn’t work that way but I prayed anyway that God found a loophole for the non-believers too, convinced them last minute, and let them in… Maybe, just maybe…

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Audience of One, 22MAR

You realize life is all a stage, and your life is playing out in front of your eyes…

But isn’t it good to realize that you only have an audience of ONE – YOU have an audience of GOD.

GOD alone.

You don’t worry about men or events – you worry about the ONE and only focus of the Lord God for living your life.

You’re like on the stage – playing your life – that whole theater is dark because you don’t need an audience, you only have an audience of ONE.

… wait… WAIT… HUH?

Wait, you look out – into this vast theater – who’s that? what’s that? what’s the noise? Is that clapping? Is that mound of a huddled body like a derelict off the street? who snuck in here? How dare they!!!. Really, what’s that sound?  WAIT! what’s going on here? is that one person, that snuck in guy, actually clapping and starting to stand up? and giving you a standing ovation.???!!!???

But you’re ONLY here for an audience of ONE – of GOD – Why should a stranger be causing a commotion? Standing up and urging you for an encore?

No! wait a minute you didn’t put the house lights on, so why is there light coming from the audience anyway? OH-OH- that thought to be bum is no bum, is he? Why, there is pure white light starring to emanate from him?  and why is he cheering, cajoling, standing up in roaring loud love for you. Those bright white robes are very distinctive – you realize you know this man – and you realize He wants an Encore – He wants MORE from you – and it’s getting brighter out in the house and now HE’S holding up a SIGN- and it says Micah 6:8!!!

He wants more of your life – He wants your talents – He actually wants even more!

Now wait a minute!!! You thought this was an empty house, so why is this bright bright LIGHT  starting to illuminate a full house, where did these people come from????  Why is this LIGHT shining on them too? All those people, they’re not even all paying attention – some are working on their cell phones, some are crunching their snack wrappers, some are sleeping in the audience!!  But yet – STILL – this one bright light-clad focus is standing and cajoling for you,  cat calls and all, and wants more!

You start to realize that this whole audience is FULL –  this whole audience that you thought was just an audience of ONE is now an audience of ALL!!!

Um, WAIT! Isn’t that the same thing???

Isn’t an audience of GOD an audience of ONE – the same thing as an audience of the WHOLE theater FILLED WITH LIFE – AND WITH GOD?

LIFE IS GOD

GOD IS LIFE

GOD IS many in ONE

EVERYONE all together IS ONE

 

BE STILL

BE STILL ON THAT STAGE

BE STILL hearing that massive applause from Jesus!

BE STILL working the audience to shine His Light to share His talents given to you!

BE STILL doing an Encore because of HIS SPIRIT and THRU HIS SPIRIT!

BE STILL playing out your life for an audience of ONE – FOR GOD –

Pick up your lines, your cross and be you.

Jesus demands an encore.

God’s writing your score.

 

GOD is ONE

GOD is ALL

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The Parable of the Talents

¹⁴ “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. ¹⁵ And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.¹⁶ Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. ¹⁷ And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. ¹⁸ But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. ¹⁹ After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

²⁰ “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ ²¹ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’²² He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ ²³ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

²⁴ “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵ And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what isyours.’

²⁶ “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. ²⁷ So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. ²⁸ So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

²⁹ ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰ And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

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Consider Yourself ASKED, 21MAR

There are probably people who think that they will never get into heaven, and those who think they are in by their hearts barely crossing the finish line – sliding into home….

The truth is you need to consider yourself ASKED! We have to actually accept and RSVP… We have to actually take Jesus’s offer by taking His hand. He has been reaching FOREVER for us.

I pray you have already have established a warm comforting relationship or even a corrective relationship with our Lord – either way consider yourself ASKED…

If you think you never got asked into the Kingdom “properly” in a human definition of being asked, remember that it is a spiritual connection just between you and God. Listen in – tune in – consider yourself ASKED…

In Matthew 20, the laborers of the vineyard parable is partially about transitioning to Heaven at whatever stage of life you are in – some don’t approach the throne of God until late,  some bump into an opportunity to accept the work of the Lord, even if they are late. This parable is totally about God being generous – no matter when we are asked – many are just waiting to be asked – well, consider yourself ASKED!

6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’      “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.      “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

They got in! Some may be early or be late to salvation, but the truth is that it is NOT TOO LATE… RSVP without delay… Consider yourself ASKED!

It takes acceptance of Jesus, a generous gift from God, to get into the eternal Kingdom. It’s a loop!!!!  God – Jesus – Eternal Life – that’s the key.

Warren Zevon, just before his death from rapid cancer, covered Bob Dylan’s “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” – I heard Tom Petty sing it too, and he sadly passed away a couple years later.  My urging is for you to accept the RSVP for salvation now. DON’T WAIT! Pick up those keys when Jesus says: “Follow Me!”… Tom Petty sings: “something good is coming – for you and me – there has to be…”  that is truth – Heaven is open – open the door – you don’t even need to knock on Heaven’s door – just open it with the LOVE of JESUS.

Don’t let the invitation into Heaven confuse you – you are LOVED… Don’t worry about your works, only about your willingness.

Don’t think you have no credentials to work in the vineyard. Don’t confuse good works and GRACE – God just wants you as you… and you know that’s true – consider yourself YOU.

GRACE IS FREE FOR YOU.

God gets you.

You.

Faith as small as a mustard seed can move the mountain that is you – accept the GRACE.

Jesus is holding out His hand to you – consider yourself ASKED – and ACCEPT…

Knocking on Heaven’s Door? Jesus has actually been knocking on your door…

Open the Kingdom of Heaven!

“But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?” 

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.

Consider this a revelation to you by our Father in Heaven.

Consider yourself ASKED.

Amen

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Tom Petty Mudcrutch

Knocking on Heaven’s Door

https://youtu.be/dTYaN4cK1H8

 

Tom Petty Heartbreakers

Something Good Coming

https://youtu.be/rSvlJe1mwlw

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For God’s Sake, 18MAR

The last are first – God’s generosity is all His own… He is God.

Easter is coming – God has let me feel and understand Easter by ripping the curtains from my eyes, blowing the thick plugs and the fluff out from my ears…. I pray you have felt Jesus’s Easter….  and I pray you know His lift under your heart.

As a “late born – born again” – my Easter came later in life – God gave me an Easter feeling before I felt Jesus’s crucifixion (not that I have felt that level of pain in any form) – God unmasked the glory of the Lord to me, gave me a the thirst for His son’s life-giving water well before I could understand the pain of the reason for His death…

God let me feel the Son Rise before I felt the Son Fall – I knew the story, I didn’t know the feeling.

I pray I will never know how rejected Jesus felt, hanging there. I do however now feel the creeping realization of the lostness of the people right in front of my eyes. Oh, I cry more intensely now for them – for Jesus’s sake – now that I realize.

I thank God that I felt the Easter Morning before I felt this long walk to Jerusalem – because it means I already know how this good book of ours ends. CHRIST IS RISEN. Jesus finished the story with His Glory.

This story of forgiveness takes lots of time – many many chapters of catching up lost people.  Terrible that many don’t even know that they are lost. Many are like the early laborers in the vineyard who are jealous of God’s generosity to pay those who came late to work (Matthew 20) – that story mirrors God’s generosity and our human want – it is a story of the Kingdom of Heaven: God’s generosity is SO EXTRAVAGANT that He pays the price of everyone’s salvation before they are even born into sinful ways to reject Him. They are already rejecting the saving.

I was walking amidst the crowds at a parade this weekend and I wondered about how come there are jovial spirit one minute in the parade then huge hostile attitudes right after from the people in the parking lots spilling back into the streets – Geez – where did the goodness go? I wondered about the lost-ness of the crowd. We only see a tiny tinge of that feeling Jesus had of ALL His people and a huge and static distance. Jesus was crying for His lost sheep, Jesus is crying still today.

Ah, but Easter JOY when the lost are found. I saw three children marching in the parade who recognized me – they looking for familiar faces too – and they were so happy waving. I felt the JOY of them knowing me – JOY that only JOY can give…

JOY – fear but JOY – that’s the feeling of Jesus greeting Mary Magdalene in His risen state. Can you feel her weeping in wonder??? Can you feel the RELIEF of knowing Jesus that Easter morning? Jesus finished the story with His Glory.

Jesus has already started a new chapter for the world’s people who get to read the end of the book FIRST – have you read the end? The last is first. Jesus in the meantime is still working all the pages… There is a new JOY chapter for each saved soul – RELIEF.

RELIEF is the feeling of Jesus reconciling Peter after 3 denials – “DO YOU LOVE ME, PETER?” – “YES, YES LORD, I LOVE YOU!” –  JOY from healing this massive rift of Peter’s denials.

Peter was then commanded to fill in the pages of the MANY new chapters – JESUS SAID: GO FEED MY SHEEP!

Jesus finished our story with His Glory.

————-

Have you felt Jesus’s reconciliation within you? Do you want to know Him even more intensely now? Do you still want Easter? I still want to feel that JOY…

As we walk to Jerusalem, we can see the work ahead requiring even more faith that this will all work out…

Easter begins with the alone feeling – ALONE THEN BEING FOUND – then our marching orders: “Feed my sheep!” Yes, Yes, Lord, I love You! “FEED MY SHEEP”

I pray we keep moving forward to Easter – past and future… God’s generosity means He wants us ALL in Easter!

Let’s Pray for God’s sake that everyone hears…

Amen

 

 

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God’s Camera, 17MAR

Reading the book of Matthew these days – I am walking to Jerusalem with Jesus… Actually, I’m resting – I have a lot more walking to do.  Jesus would say: “you better get good shoes”!!!

Jesus gave an explanation to the disciples after a conversation with a rich man who walked away disappointed, not knowing if he could give up all his possessions to follow Jesus. Truly that was a tough request to the man…  “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. (Matthew 19 scripture below)

The rich man thought he had kept all the right commandment laws for his whole life –  but he missed the real message of a new covenant being formed thru Jesus. Even with Jesus standing right there,  the man could not grasp the truth that Jesus was the Way…

“Let the dead bury the dead!” – give up your own dead ways – and follow HIM.

We are to keep the commandments, of course, but Jesus was also reminding the rich man that he was to be the steward of God’s gifts TO BE SHARED – wealth is to be shared – skills and gifts are to be shared. We have a calling to be a cheerful giver – and in the end we will gain 100 fold. Cheerful givers – not just money – but our service – when people are NOT watching – when we are not trying to impress. 

Following Him means letting go of us – letting go of our agendas – giving it our best and our all – in EVERYTHING!!!

Jesus just wants us to be real…

We are to be real in our giving – not playing for a crowd – and we are to give the gifts that God gave us…

An amateur golfer might say he plays better when the cameras are on – can see the little red light… Performance pressure will focus us, and we often thrive due to our desire to deliver….

Surely, I sing better when I pay attention – not just because there are people listening, but when I can hear the monitor feedback to correct myself… not paying attention I sing terrible in my rock concert selfie videos – but that is OK – because I’m not trying to be. Singing in the shower or the car – it is all OK and even better with no one watching…

But how about being a cheerful giver? God is ALWAYS watching.  Bringing our best even when the cameras are not on and others are not watching.  GOD HAS CAMERAS on – even in our heads…  But don’t worry – we are all human – we make mistakes – we are to live the best we can.

Follow Jesus – don’t try to impress Him.

Achieving perfection is impossible – with man it is impossible – so know that in anything and everything it is God and God alone who saves us…He’s already done EVERYTHING for us. Believing in God’s Word helps bring out the best in us. Jesus is the best in and for us.

We can try to live our lives by Peter’s advice:

Faith

Goodness

Knowledge 

Self-control 

Perseverance 

Godliness 

Mutual Affection 

LOVE 

We are to live in God’s LOVE!!!!!!!!!

Amen

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Matthew 19

16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

18 “Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.Then come, follow me.”

22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”

26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”

28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

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2nd Peter 1

3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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For the Kingdom of Heaven is like Falling Asleep on the Couch, 17MAR

The most exhausted and wonderful feeling is falling asleep on the couch.  You can’t and won’t budge. You wouldn’t trade that couch for the world and certainly NOT a cold bed unless forced to. Forced by a bad neck position or knowing that longer sleep awaits you in bed? Then maybe you will move from the couch, but that’s the hardest move to make. That cushy comfort zone of a couch is completely unmistakably the best…. add a blanket and you are toast to the world… must be like a slice of that peace feeling just like you are entering the Kingdom of Heaven. So yes, even better the Kingdom of Heaven is HEAVEN!

There’s NO place like Heaven.

Even the couch cannot come close.

But falling asleep on the couch can be the best thing – chosen or forced. You have no choice being dead tired. You need that couch peace. Falling asleep on the couch is allowing yourself to take advantage of a slice of peace. So yes, even better – the Kingdom of Heaven is all about PEACE.

Falling asleep on the couch is healing, a 2-hour deep sleep, even a 10-minute power nap and you feel ready to take on the world once again, or at least have the energy to brush your teeth and get to bed. So yes, even better the Kingdom of Heaven is so HEALING that even thinking about it will force you to prepare your life to add little more into peace… It is always good to remember to make amends today for tomorrow’s sake…

Couch sleep is where people hate to disturb you, they know that you need that peace. If anything, they long to put a blanket on you and look longingly lovingly at your moment of peace – for you, for themselves – for peace. So yes, even better the Kingdom of Heaven is where we know everyone will be OK.

God knows PEACE – Jesus ransoms your PEACE for you – the Spirit joins you when you enter your couch PEACE…  Be at PEACE.

Sleep is a gift, a forced peace of the moment when the world fades away and there’s nothing getting you off the couch.  Putting away all your worries and drifting into sleep is like the force of PEACE calling you – everyday…

The Kingdom of Heaven is a place that I would never want to leave.  The permanent pearly peace. The warmth of Jesus, the peace of God, the freedom of the Spirit. We should be ready. We should long for Heaven WITHOUT being in a rush to get there.  We should prep just in case it’s coming sooner than we anticipate.

Let’s be ready. We need to be in His service and not fall asleep in our faith. We need to fall away from our humanness to prepare for another day working for the Lord’s peace.

In the meantime, enjoy the couch peace when you can get it.

Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

Strengthen your hearts for the coming of the Lord is near. James 5

Good night – God night – God peace

Be at peace

PEACE

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Hearing the Lord, 15MAR

 

Hearing the Lord

Hoping for the Lord

Hungering for the Lord

Hearing the Lord

Hankering for the Lord

Healing in the Lord

Homing in on the Lord

Heeding the Lord

Hosting the Lord

Honoring the Lord

Holding the Lord

Helping the Lord

 

wHoleness Holiness Happiness

Humbleness to the Lord

Home

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Alexa, Stop! 14MAR

I am not a fan of this time change – I used to wake up refreshed early and have time to write and think about my day, my kids, my life, my future….

Mostly I would lie in bed and give the Lord thanks for my blessings…

I’m not sure I need the extra hour we lost to sleep but surely I could use that extra hour to praise…

I’m being too cranky, I’m not running on empty, I have the same blessings as last week, Lord, but I’m tired Lord!!!!… “Alexa, stop!” The Echo Dot is so unforgiving…

but God is… God forgives the me in me… I must praise that…

If I didn’t praise the Lord, not only would rocks cry out but I think that I would crumble up and die… sounds dire but I’m really tired right now and I’m sure that when I catch up with sleep I will catch more praizzzzzzzzz’es.

Time to go… thanks for the cranky 5 minutes, Lord… Sorry for my complaining…

I offer You, Lord, a devotion written when I did sleep well… “Jesus is our cup holder”…

PS – I do praise You Lord, You made a beautiful sunrise for me to see this early morning… I’m glad and blessed that You allowed me to awaken and to see! You poured a lot of beautiful colors into Your coffee cup of the sky this morning! I’m pensive and blessed… I’m going to get myself up now and going – if the sun does rise – the Son does rise – I can rise too…

 

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Jan 2016 Devotion:

So my swirling head, running place to place, I roll from one adventure to the next don’t I??? ALWAYS have, always will. I run on empty sometimes, well that’s not uncommon for many of us to be running on fumes… Actually, I think that’s running on the breeze of the HOLY SPIRIT… Tuesday I was blessed to facilitate my women’s meeting after a long pensive day, and truly I was fueled by hugs of the faithful ones there, plus we are starting a series of THE BEATITUDES.  Blessed are those who run on empty, their cups will be filled anew!!!

Blessed am I that I am forced to rely on the HOLY SPIRIT fumes sometimes, because I KNOW it’s not running on fuel from my own tank…

Outside I looked up to raise my eyes to praise and found the Pleiades nearly at zenith in the winter sky… Clear beautiful sky in the middle and the cloudy surrounding sky brought big SNOWFLAKES….  KISSES from God… Those are God’s way of telling me HE loves me, and I sent out tears and praise cheers and silent pause for HIS ways to comfort me… I sang “Immanuel, God is with us” to process…

Now that I have solid hours of sleep under me, I am ready to write my devotion. And the thought of my previous Subaru cup holder triggered my brain and it made me smile to know that Jesus is our best cup holder… Here is my devotion:

Jesus is Our CUP Holder, 13-14Jan2016

https://debbieupper.wordpress.com/2017/05/20/jesus-is-our-cup-holder-13-14jan-335/

Friends, friends bring us hugs… Friends lift us up, friends steady our cups. We need pray for God to fill our cups, and when we ache and when we feel empty, we have to rely sometimes on others and we have to accept their grace, accept their help, AND accept their functioning arms as hugs from Jesus…and when we are full or have even just a little, we are best to share that with them too. When our cups were/are filled from God, then we know that source and we can share and then go back for more.

Friends will steady our cups, friends will help us find our lost cups, but it is US who need to tip them UPright if they are sideways or have a leak.  Our cups won’t catch the holy flow from God IF we don’t actually hold them UP and take the lids off. And we need to drink.

The best place to safely put our cups is in the permanent cup holder of Jesus’s ARMS… Think about it, think about that shape, Jesus’s arms outstretched for giving a hug – His arms also the shape of the perfect cup holder… Slide your cup right into Jesus’s arms… Slide Jesus’s arms right inside your heart. Steady your cup with friends who are hugging you to health… Each hug a little hot glue to keep it stable, a little cement for the side, a cushion to absorb the shocks of life. Accept the help of those who truly support you.

When you physically feel a hug, where are those arms squeezing? Right around your heart… When you ache, the hug can let you take the pressure off your frame and rest your heart… Jesus hugs, Jesus wants you to rest your whole body in HIS arms and especially let Jesus support your heart from within in HIS hands.

When you cup is empty, or when it is full, tip your cup UP…. Take off the lid, don’t block the flow, don’t forget to drink. Hold onto it so that your cup is UP and not up-set.

And remember you don’t own that cup, and you don’t get to choose the flavor it’s filled with (DON’T chug or spit it out)… the truth is that really GOD OWNS YOUR CUP and HE wants to fill it, and wants us to drink it, because HE wants to BE WITH US, Immanuel.

God gave us His ONLY begotten cup holder, so that we may live an eternal life with Him…

Drink up, God’s pouring!
Free drinks for ALL in ALL.

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The Risen Truth of Easter, 12MAR

Dough! undone dough – not risen – not bread – not done…  raw dough… cold and dormant faith…

Easter! Jesus is RISEN! but how about our own bread? Did we give it enough time to rise – are we doughy unfinished people? Does everyone know Jesus? Who needs to hear? Who needs to be filled with the Spirit – and RISE like bread with the warming PROOF?

Yes – we are collectively not yet done – not everyone knows Jesus – not everyone has RISEN with Him – not everyone is in the finished part of the baked bread – some, well many, are still stuck in the middle of the unfinished dough…

Bread must be warmed – bread must RISE – bread must be filled with yeast-creating air-pockets – bread must “PROOF”. Bread is not yet done until it is done…

People must be warmed – people need to feel the Spirit.

Jesus must RISE in these unfinished people – Jesus is not yet known to them – they are stuck in the dough – they are cold and have not fed on the sweetness of knowledge of God’s plan…

Jesus is the Living Yeast – Respiration and Resurrection – Jesus is the PROOF, the Way, the Truth the Life – Easter is the PROOF – Jesus is the TRUTH – the Kingdom of Heaven will RISE from the Spirit…  Every knee will bow… the Kingdom will not be done until it is done…

The bread of Jesus was broken – and now Jesus is shared. Jesus said “IT IS FINISHED” – That is when the bread of the body of Jesus ROSE.  – So let us now give the Kingdom a RISE as well – and tell others of the RISEN Christ.

Easter people – RAISE your voices… because there are people with raw dough clogged in their ears – they need You! Bring Your warming spirit to them as PROOF! Help them find their way to Easter.

Hallelujah!

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Everybody Hurts, 12MAR

Written for a friend…

and especially for Jesus…

Everybody Hurts…

Palm Sunday – Jerusalem – Jesus is riding in on a donkey and all that hoopla…  Hosanna!!! Hosanna!!!  Wave your palms in excitement – but do you remember the tears? Jesus’s tears… YES Jesus had intense tears…

Jesus wept while he rode in on the donkey, Jesus wept for the lost, He wept for us before we were even born…

Do you have tears? Everybody Hurts – Jesus too…

But Hold On – Hold On…

REM – https://youtu.be/5rOiW_xY-kc

“Everybody hurts – take comfort in your prayers – if you feel like you’re alone – no, no, no, you’re not alone…  cause everybody hurts – sometimes everybody cries…”

Yeah – Jesus understands that and more… Jesus Wept – wept as Lazarus was gone and wept as Mary and Martha lost faith when they forgot Jesus teachings of the peace of eternal life…  Jesus wept on His way to the cross – emotionally for lost souls – that had to be excruciatingly worse than His physical pain.

Jesus rode into Jerusalem that day – and Jesus Wept – and yet Jesus kept walking towards Easter… in hopes that when we realize Easter’s RISEN truth that we will arrive too… that we will find our way to Heaven eventually by walking WITH Jesus on His way NOW…. Jesus lived “Hold on”…

Hold on…

Because it IS a walk to Jerusalem – it IS a walk to the cross – so hold on – it IS a walk to Easter- so hold on – feel that stone rolling away and HOLD ON… Jesus, HOLD ON!

Easter is coming – and it already came – we are also walking with Christ to Easter, because we know Christ wants to walk with us. Jesus lives – so Hold on – Hold on….

We are walking too… Jesus, thank you for walking with us…

When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” – “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”. Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”  – “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.  The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” Luke 19:37-44

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For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6

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Easter is coming, Jesus – so Hold on…

Everybody hurts – so Hold on…

There’s HOPE – so Hold on…

We are walking with you now Jesus… Hold on…

Let us pick ourselves up to go… Hold on…

We are walking and waving our palms to exclaim Your Good News… Hold on…

We will pickup fellow travelers on our way… Hold on…

We are going to meet You, Lord, we are walking to the other side of Easter…

SO HOLD ON….

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The Lonely Lost Sheep, 09MAR

Today I felt a little lost in a crowd.  I enjoyed the moment of the St. Patrick’s Day parade – the busiest one I’ve ever been to – but I felt a little lost in the crowd – just did….

DON’T WORRY – downtime is good for my soul…

Downtime makes me think… thinking makes me write… writing makes me connect… connecting makes me understand Jesus more… Jesus makes me think…

Jesus took mental downtime too… He retreated 40 days – He wanted to pray and fast and focus and follow… Jesus needed His Father just as much as we do…

I was at the St Pat’s event to see a friend in the parade, the parade was wonderful… but I thought I should have been doing something at the event,  perhaps  be in the parade, to connect to the people even more,  but no – I was quiet and I was watching on the side – and that also is OK, as I have to learn my quietness…

Of course I was also there for my daily exercise… walking… I thought about mountain hiking that day, this was a great substitute…  instead of being one on a mountain, I was one in a million… a loner… loners exist everywhere… Sure, I could have brought a friend,  surely I could have chatted with people,  indeed I am VERY good at that, finding company in a crowd… but instead I mostly observed the parade quietly – with my voice inside… and my green gear and my smile shining.

I loved the town so wonderfully alive in a HUGE block party. I love watching people for sure, the people were thrilled connecting with other people, the people were living out the new and old connections in their lives… I had no idea who they were, or what they were thinking… that’s when I started wondering about how Jesus felt in a crowd – yeah, what would be running thru Jesus’s mind…

Love…

Longing…

Loneliness…

Hmmmm…..

Love…

Jesus would have known each and every one of them inside and out, even though they had NO idea who He was.

Jesus was incognito for many years prior to His open ministry – and He was surely in many crowds for years. I think that He would have been very pleased that the people were enjoying themselves, but He would have been sad at not connecting. Yes, I could feel him internally weeping: Palm Sunday style. I think that He would have cried internally for all these people who didn’t know they were going to need Him!!! I think He knew that He had so little time to meet everyone in the flesh, let alone teach and convince them to open up their ears.

Jesus of all people would have known that it takes God Himself to open the people’s ears… Jesus of all people would have had to wait until those who had ears could hear… Waiting…

I think that Jesus knew that He would not able to connect instantly. I think that Jesus would have felt lost in the crowd… The waiting must have been tough.

Jesus lost in the crowd…

Jesus gathered disciples to teach and the children ran to Jesus – oh what JOY…

The children at this parade – they were the ones who actually looked at me openly to connect. One girl in particular, about 7 or 8, exclaimed “you and I have the same headband!” – I felt incredibly found for that very moment of time. I felt known and appreciated even if I only had a moment… Connection… her brother, about 3, chimed right in too, showing me his beads. Cool… that was my favorite moment of the whole day… I was noticed…  I was found…

I walked to backtrack the parade route and find my friend, there were so many people on the side that I stepped into the road on occasion. One particular woman called out to me – “you are your own parade”… indeed… another connection was set in my head… I was noticed, I was found… even if I was doing something unusual, I was noticed.

I am my own parade, this is so very true – I am my own lost sheep, this is truly true – I am my own connection,  this is spiritually true – I am being found by Jesus ALL THE TIME. THIS IS THE TRUTH!

He looks and looks for me.

Jesus looks and looks for you too, forever.

Matthew witnessed Jesus instructing the disciples in the company of the little children:  “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?  And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.  So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”

You are your own parade – Jesus is there to watch out for you.

You may feel lost in the crowd or walking the opposite direction – but God rejoices when He finds you.

Be MORE QUIET, to hear Him calling you.

Become childlike, in awe of Him.

Because you ARE the twinkle in His smiling eyes.

Be found.

Amen

 

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Dust Storm, 07MAR

I am so blessed to have heard a sermon on Ash Wednesday from a friend who spoke of ashes as dust – dark and light, black and white and to be reminded that we are “made from ashes – and to ashes we will become”…

This morning in my mediation in the Word, I had like a beam of light that shined thru some of that dust inside my head and as I connected my thoughts there was a mini explosion of a dust storm….  whoosh…

We are a Dust Storm! We are a Dust Storm in the process of settling down. And when we shine the LIGHT of Jesus – that GLOW from our face – that is when our dust settles down and stops blocking out His light from beaming thru us…

YES! He SHINES when our dust settles down.

Our reflection of His light is better thru our selflessness than morphed as refractions thru our selfishness.

When dust storms settle, the light will shine thru better and brighter… when dust storms kick up, you can still see the light illuminate each and every particle of dust – you still see light and know that you are a part of a bigger event… Then, when dust settles again, we can look out past our dust storm to the horizon…

When we look past our own selves, and our own cluster of dust, we can see the future God is trying to move us to.

When I am confused and stressed and life is full of a jumble of thoughts – I need to talk it out of my system to settle the dust storm in my head… I don’t lose the dust, I just settle it and build upon it.

When I am so overloaded with joy and energy and exuberance – I need to work it out of my system to settle the dust storm in my head. I don’t lose the dust, I just settle it and build upon it.

And as Jesus is the living water, when I dampen down the dust in my head with His mist, and look for His Light, then Jesus can shine thru…

When we pass our fingers thru dust settled on a table, we reveal the clear surface underneath. This is a microcosm of times when God pulls His Son, in His right hand, thru our minds, clearing the picture, seeing the clear path to follow… We need Jesus to settle us and light our way.

God wants to settle us into a proper place.   Jesus is the light that shines thru… AND Jesus is the living water to hydrate the situation.

Settle your dust and see a chance to move towards peace.

Amen

 

PS – after his sermon, the Pastor friend reminded me that God swirls us all as dust into new creations…. oh yeah!!

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Appreciation, Angels and Awareness not Anxiety, Anger or Anything, 05MAR

BE PRESENT 

Angels – A Story of Lindsey, our Bionic Angel 

It’s amazing to be present and to watch the Spirit flowing… Lindsay is a special person, she told me to remember the bionic woman in order to remember her name. I know she survived a terrible brain injury – I can tell that God rebuilt her to His specifications, with a greater capacity to love…

ALL moments of life call for us to look for His spirit rather than our anxious puzzlement of predicaments, because we are to see, simply and divinely,  the angels that God has placed here on earth. This angel in Lindsay was an angel of hugs, she didn’t know the issues in play, but she knew there were issues and she did what our God of comfort called her to do – BE PRESENT… She gave hugs where she felt hugs and hand holds were needed. And trust me, they were needed at that moment. GOD knows our needs.

Lindsey got up and stood next to our Pastor at the end of the very emotional moment in her sermon.  Before that she told me that she needed to give our Pastor a hug, she just knew! I left the pew to prep for singing and was praying with my eyes closed in the side room, I didn’t see what happened until I saw her standing next to Pastor and I knew it was a God moment… I later helped her navigate thru the mess of speaker wires back down, with another friend (who also needed hugs badly that day). Lindsay was God’s triple play – God sent an angel in His timing….

We are called to BE PRESENT – sometimes we know the issues, often we don’t – always we can’t know the depth of issues that God knows is happening in others. Even sometimes we are on the opposite sides of issues, but regardless the Lord call us out to comfort others…  If we can’t be His workers, He will call out His other angels… Don’t let anything prevent you from seeing His angels – God sent them for a reason and for you to be in AWE.

Matthew 18: at that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

AWARENESS

That same day, I interrupted a conversation with a friend in which they were about to fly off in anger. I said: “WAIT, I need to tell you this story about Lindsay”. His anger would have prevented him the opportunity to hear me talk about this God moment… Yes, how often do we miss those moments? Yeah, we do quite often by being distracted by ourselves… Our disgruntled distractions mean missing the bigger moments. Don’t let anger keep you from awareness.

APPRECIATION

Yesterday, I had a God-orchestrated calming down after I got distracted by myself – it was an anxious moment and I knew that I was overthinking a personal issue – I prayed and settled down to work. I went thru so many scenarios in my head, my heart flip-flopped and I decided instead that focusing and BEING PRESENT with the work tasks at hand was the path I needed to take.

I have to share what happened next – this most powerful thing that God did for me – within 10 minutes of hunkering down, a good friend of mine, who was looking for someone else, sat to chat about an issue with an important report.  He sat down and I happened at that moment to be holding back my tears from that anxious overthinking moment and almost leaving to make a phone call that could have waited but I wasn’t waiting to stress about it…  So just then, by deciding to dig into work, I was able to pull myself together… Well, it was good that I didn’t leave my desk to make that call and I was there to discuss this deep science issue with the git of an idea that popped into my head so fast that I was like horseshack saying: “ooh ooh ooh, Mr Kotter!” a really good idea, my friend was so excited and I was both so happy to help and so pumped up knowing that God had helped me BE PRESENT – I would have missed that opportunity – how awesome to realize He was helping me – blessed because of my discussion and reliance on God to hunker down – and here I was rewarded with this idea that surely came from God’s making my brain connection work… I would have missed that opportunity to make a difference if I caved in to my anxiety.

So pleased,  so thankful…  As I refocused on my own task at hand – I first got up to get a refill of hot water in my tea mug – and as I was mentally thanking the Lord, this plastic heart cookie cutter floated up inside my mug… startling me!!!  – oh how precious was that timing… it must have fallen in in the dish strainer then caught under my tea bag and I never noticed… you may think that’s crazy to smile over an oops, even selfish of me to stress my own issue – but you understand my joy of two simple rewards for being still, the chance to use my brain (it was His idea) and the powerful knowledge that it was God’s timing and love to keep me be patient and not being impulsive from overthinking… (and it wasn’t just any cookie cutter in my cup, it was A HEART)

Thank You, Lord for my relief – thank You for my own childlike wonder of Your ways: focus thru frustration, a floating heart makes my cup overflow… just like in seeing a bionic angel, I had to be in an awareness to see and then tell of these God-moments…

His love is mysterious and real… we can put our faith in Him for handling our much much bigger issues.

If we choose to look for the Lord, we can see and feel His comfort – and if I need to shout that out like Horseshack,  I need to…

I pray we never to lose our “Ooh ooh! That was God” exclamations!!

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Deuteronomy 6 – 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

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GOD KNOWS SNOW, 04MAR

I think sometimes I could stop and write about God all day – but luckily lots is already written!!! And a photo is worth a thousand words… a snow-covered tree against the blue sky – a marvel for sure…

I love these lines from Job:

“STOP and consider God’s wonders! …  God comes in awesome majesty!”

We have to absorb God in everything, and we often don’t take time to stop and think. Look at the blue skies and sunshine and snow – God can use these to catch our eye in wonder… no thinking needed, just see the love of God who made us see the Love of Him…

Sometimes it seems God catches our attention because He wants to share this beauty with us directly – and we need to share this awesome awe-filled wonder of God’s love… sometimes we can tear up from knowing that He wants us to know Him intensely.

Job, ever learning Job, discovered that God catches our attention with His mighty strength – to fear the Lord is respect His authority… Jesus reminds us to keep moving and not ignore the non-harmonious aspects of life – our job to be His hands and feet… to work for Him.

God needs for us to see our purpose thru Him.

If God wants us to see our purpose, we best not cover our own eyes…

God is a God of:

Beauty and Joy,

Control and Action,

Righteous and Holiness,

Peace Eternal

And all LOVE….

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JOB 37

God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways;
he does great things beyond our understanding.
6 He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’
and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’
7 So that everyone he has made may know his work,
he stops all people from their labor.[a]
8 The animals take cover;
they remain in their dens.
9 The tempest comes out from its chamber,
the cold from the driving winds.
10 The breath of God produces ice,
and the broad waters become frozen.
11 He loads the clouds with moisture;
he scatters his lightning through them.
12 At his direction they swirl around
over the face of the whole earth
to do whatever he commands them.
13 He brings the clouds to punish people,
or to water his earth and show his love.

14 “Listen to this, Job;
stop and consider God’s wonders.
15 Do you know how God controls the clouds
and makes his lightning flash?
16 Do you know how the clouds hang poised,
those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge?
17 You who swelter in your clothes
when the land lies hushed under the south wind,
18 can you join him in spreading out the skies,
hard as a mirror of cast bronze?

19 “Tell us what we should say to him;
we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness.
20 Should he be told that I want to speak?
Would anyone ask to be swallowed up?
21 Now no one can look at the sun,
bright as it is in the skies
after the wind has swept them clean.
22 Out of the north he comes in golden splendor;
God comes in awesome majesty.
23 The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power;
in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.
24 Therefore, people revere him,
for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?”

652

Be Strong and Courageous, 03MAR

We who lead must follow! Be not afraid – God goes before us.

Jesus – His name – His Word – His leadership calls us to follow. We can connect the dots between Old and New Testament teachings to find passages from BOTH which will shine the LIGHT on how we are to LIVE and to LOVE… When we follow our Leader, the Lord, we can see bible lessons come alive in our own lives – we can connect the Word to us in the world.

Throughout the Old Testament, we learn of human leaders who were crucial to others serving the Lord, their lives were prophetic and purposeful… Joshua (scripture text below) took over from Moses in a necessary progression of the Lord’s plan – Moses was a leader led by the Lord… Joshua continued… the Lord wants everyone to follow His command. All who lead must follow.

In fulfilling His Own plan, God sent Jesus at His appointed time. Jesus was and is a leader who walked the earth and also Jesus was/is fully God. Yes, even as God, Jesus was still led by and answered to the Lord, His Father. Jesus gave credit for every miracle to His Father – who is Our Father too. Jesus always looked to Our Father for guidance, we should too… When earthly Jesus left His disciples 40 days after His Resurrection, He told of the Holy Spirit continuing to lead them – this is the ultimate Heavenly guidance – for them and for us. Jesus asks us to follow God’s command… The Holy Spirit will allow us to follow thru. Jesus said: we are not alone – the Holy Spirit will always guide us…

We are God’s chosen people, led by the Lord,  instructed by Jesus, moved by the Holy Spirit… we ourselves must be courageous… we then serve as examples, using our lives, to lead the others who see our actions. Whether people understand the Lord’s system or not,  we are still  called to be leaders in our own communities because of our chosen status – our skills are our equipment for serving the Lord – He does not call the equipped, He equips the called!

Often leading means we are called to drop our pride, reduce our own worldly ambitions and agendas, and acknowledge His… This is best accomplished by praying, knowing His Love and Loving His children.

If Ash Wednesday reminds us that from ashes we came and to ashes we will return – then how important it must be for us to be the SPARK burning bright for the Lord right now, in between our ashes stages. If we fuel our faith, our faith will fuel us.

Jesus kept moving forward towards His death, instructing as He went, therefore we can move forward towards LIFE, living within His plan. Even the leaders like Moses, Joshua, and especially Jesus followed God’s plan…  we can too.

Be Courageous – Listen – Keep Moving – Lead the way by learning to follow…

Amen

---

 

Be Not Afraid

https://youtu.be/wQr4udSiEew

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Old Testament

Joshua Installed as Leader

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

10 So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: 11 “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your provisions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.’”

12 But to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said,13 “Remember the command that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you after he said, ‘The Lord your God will give you rest by giving you this land.’ 14 Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, ready for battle, must cross over ahead of your fellow Israelites. You are to help them 15 until the Lord gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land the Lord your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

16 Then they answered Joshua, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17 Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses. 18 Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!”

—-

New Testament

John 14:15-31 (NIV)

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

15 “If you love me, keep my commands.16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you.26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

“Come now; let us leave.”

651

The Gift of Prophesy, 03MAR

1st Corinthians 14 excerpts

But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. ,,,,,,,  Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church. ,,,,,,, Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air.  Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning. If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker is a foreigner to me. So it is with you. Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.

—–

A friend and I were discussing his perceived spiritual gift of Prophecy from his bible study workshop, and we talked about how my writing has been maturing. The song beautifully sung by Joni Mitchell  “LOVE” speaks of maturing – “when I was a child I spoke like a child, now I am a woman I put away childish things.” https://youtu.be/ROjgn0t5fOo

To be honest, I know I am blessed to be a grown woman with a childlike faith of Joy…. Even if my writing has matured, less like a child, this scripture really is about the sad reality of losing those childlike faith moments when we grow up –  the moments that “were known fully are now only known in part” by us who have aged, we are unfortunately jaded grown-ups even if we are matured Christians. Alas, but never fear, our knowledge will fully be restored someday…

Keep becoming the child that the Lord needs you to be – so that your faith is fully known…

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE.

1st Corinthians 13:1-13

650

God is Making His Next Move, Hold on to Jesus, 02Mar

I’m appreciative of being in such a good mood today – a Saturday free day and my soul feels like singing – I did a chunk of writing this morning – like a whole chapter came out of one fishy scripture!!!  I took my daughter to practice – chatted with friends and now off to have a great day – and I can feel again and again how thankful I am to the Lord for lighting my path, one step at a time… mercy to move forward! Life is not a bowl of cherries when so many people are in the pits, but life is about sharing the good news of God’s plan… keep moving to help the world – Micah 6:8 – mercy, humbleness, justice…

Truly, sometimes life can feel like a hopscotch game in joyful fun or in sorrowful necessity – and yet it’s a lighted tile sliding game to be jumping to skip spaces, but in truth LIFE IS NOT A GAME – and we have to slowly take our steps, calculated and prayerfully… what section of the board you are on will change… Perhaps your spot is secured enough for you to reach to help others in tougher spots…

Jesus lights the tiles for movement and we have to importantly remember to NOT be frozen in a position and ignore the next steps – if we stay too long on one tile, and are afraid to move forward then sometimes God will slide the tile for us – in this puzzle of life to get to the end. If God is pushing you forward, then hold on to Jesus when the earth starts moving underneath!!!…

Jesus may be seated at the right Hand of the Father, but God still moves His Hand for His Plan… HOLD ON!

KEEP SMILING!

GOD IS MAKING HIS NEXT MOVE!

649

A Fishy Tale – Part 2 – Jesus is No Magician, 23FEBthru02MAR

One very important lesson that we can get out from the Bible is actually seeing ourselves in the Bible! That’s NOT by chance…

I have been focusing on learning Jesus’s lessons from Matthew 17, and have swirled the scripture of the fish and the coin thru my thoughts over the last few days. I couldn’t wait to find peace to write it out until now, my opportunity to put out a sign that says: “Gone Fishing”. Scripture is portable and carried easily thru our day… I had never heard this particular one and now I think one could teach and learn from it – forever…  I can see us (me and you) in this scripture – that is NOT by chance. Scripture is the book you should read in-between the lines!

Here’s that interesting scripture: Matthew 17

24 When they arrived at Capernaum, the tax men came to Peter and asked, “Does your teacher pay taxes?”

25 Peter said, “Of course.”

But as soon as they were in the house, Jesus confronted him. “Simon, what do you think? When a king levies taxes, who pays—his children or his subjects?”

26-27 He answered, “His subjects.”

Jesus said, “Then the children get off free, right?  But so we don’t upset them needlessly, go down to the lake, cast a hook, and pull in the first fish that bites. Open its mouth and you’ll find a coin. Take it and give it to the tax men. It will be enough for both of us.”

——

I thought of where I see myself in this story – EVERYWHERE… How about you?

Just now I see myself having had to wait a week simply to finish this writing, then a month to finish editing it and posting. One day I woke up on a Saturday,  refreshed to write, but the cat wanted to play – I had to play for a bit then get on with my mission to write – this is what Jesus was experiencing too – not the cat but the tax collector moment as an interruption of His mission to move towards Jerusalem,  His fixed destination… Jesus was not going to let a bump in the road stop Him from His job. My first take home message: we also encounter bumps in the road, we too have to deal and keep moving… sometimes bumps in the road can remind us that there is a road to keep moving on… (and it is good to play with the cute cat!)

Lesson 2) Perhaps Peter made an oops… the first account that I read in Michael Card’s book conjectured that the teachers were exempt from this tax – Peter maybe made an oops of judgement – and Jesus helped him out… (Jesus never minded offending people, but apparently made an exception here). Jesus preserved the peace since they were on a time schedule so close to crucifixion day… Jesus decided not to offend the tax collectors and make it easier on Peter and also continue on their journey… Do we see ourselves in Peter’s position? Oh Yeah…

Take home message: Jesus figures out how to get us out of a jam, to re-find our peace, to either correct our actions or give us enough mercy to keep moving…

Jesus will tweak the system for us, even asking the Father to forgive the worst offenders. Peter messed up plenty after this too – so will we – we are HUMAN – “to err is human, to forgive is divine”… we are watching Jesus lead by example… we are to forgive as well…

Lesson 3) The fish was stealthier a hidden spot than other places – wait – let’s take that magic concept out and exclude falsehoods and change it into a truth moment – let’s remove from our thinking that Jesus had magically placed this coin into the fish mouth rather than think in the truth. JESUS IS NOT MAGIC…

JESUS IS NOT MAGIC…

The fish had a reasonable chance to pick up a coin whereas another miracle might have looked sketchy – WHOA – I have to correct my words here – Jesus didn’t cause the fish to get the coin – just like Jesus didn’t snap His fingers behind Peter’s ear to make a coin appear or make this situation into a side-show attraction. Jesus didn’t decide to HIDE the miracle lest people start a gold-rush for wealth, no….  Jesus was really acting on knowledgeable TRUTH. And yes, logistically, it’s probable that a fish would pick up a shiny object, a coin, it’s probable that the coin would get stuck, it’s probable that people in the area of the sea would have lost coins in normal life moments. It’s the truth that Jesus at that moment had inside knowledge of where to get a coin. It’s the truth that Jesus knows EVERYTHING (except the exact day and moment God will send Him back to earth, but that’s not His job to know, nor ours, just His job to prepare us for that day).

Take home message: JESUS IS NO MAGICIAN – doesn’t do magic in your life or mine – Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life… He’s a heaven-human woven as the Word into our lives before we are born. Jesus verbally reminds healed folk and us ALL THE TIME that it’s our faith that heals us, not His magic trick. When we accept Jesus as the Word, then the Spirit can pull on our woven heartstrings and move us into the truth of healing…. we can be healed by active prayer by others too… Jesus is not an unavailable resource, He is ever present.

Lesson 4) The fish walk gave time for Peter to think. Peter believed Jesus. Peter still had to act on that belief and cast the line. Got to still put in the work, we do too. Peter got to fish for his peace, do we?

Maybe to “go fish” was a good “downtime” activity for a possibly distraught Peter – or maybe Peter was in such excited relief for the save by Jesus’s quick thinking of go get the coin in the secret spot – or maybe Peter was grateful for a moment to getting out of town, away from tax collectors and interrogators – or maybe Peter thought and reflected that this might be the last time to see his hometown, one last look at the water before leaving with Jesus to Jerusalem… Did Peter run to the water or slip sheepishly there? How long did he stay? Would he think that he was lucky to have a moment to fish or burdened by quite a time crunch? Did Peter reflect that even though he left fishing to fish for people instead that Jesus allowed him one more time to be at the water?

Maybe Peter wasn’t thinking and maybe Peter was just doing!!!

Later, I wonder if Peter reflected on that walk as an opportunity, a pleasant and grateful moment knowing that Jesus had taken care of everything.  Jesus took the worry out of it.

Take home messages: Do we worry? Do we give up worry and know God has it under control? Should we be overthinking or just doing our best?

Do we take the worry out of our lives knowing that Jesus took care of everything?

Do we run in delight to the first fish of our eyes and know, just know that Jesus clued us in to victory in a clueless world? Do we feel like we won the jackpot even if it’s the smallest of saves by God, one coin for one tax, one rescue for one bump in the road of life?

Do we pre-worry about the next bump in the road? Or appreciate LIFE IN THE MOMENT… do we take time to sit and fish for our peace?

And do we start checking all the fish mouths (like I used to check the whole line of vending machines as a kid for forgotten coins)? Or do we get just the one coin and only one we need (perfect provisions) and be satisfied that this is enough?

When do we simply realize that JESUS IS ENOUGH. The whole of GOD, JESUS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT is enough for our holy wholeness? When will we “be still”?

Can we – and will we – take life one fish at a time? Just follow the light – not overthink complex maps of predicting the future – just step one step at a time – and can we actively participate in this process? Participate NOT anticipate! Jesus will lead one step, one casting, one fish, one coin, one soul at a time. We need to be caught by Jesus and be ok with that and be real in our faith to reel in our future.

Lesson 5) Peter and Jesus had become unrecognizable as local folk… this was Peter’s home and where Jesus lived for quite a while, they should have been recognized as hometown folk, not strangers, from whom tax collectors took tax… (the translation of this passage sometimes says strangers instead of subjects, in both versions Jesus says children are not taxed)…

Mathew alone recorded this (not the other gospels).  Matthew was writing to new Christians leaving the security of the Jewish community as they began to become the earliest Christian communities… they needed to see an examples of others like them,  on the outside of the norm… we don’t know if Peter in this real story was NOT recognized as a local or only Jesus as an outsider was asked to pay a tax, but either way Jesus asked Peter to pay for both of them.  Jesus kept Peter with Him. First Christians (and we) needed to know Jesus had them covered.

Peter AND Jesus were unbelievably changed in the opinion of their hometowns and the wisdom of Jesus teaching caught his hometown off guard.  A prophet is not without honor EXCEPT in his hometown…

Take home messages:

1. Jesus has us covered. Jesus is with the outsiders and unrecognizable. Jesus understands rejection and stumbling blocks. If you ever felt lost or alone, know that Jesus is with you. Know that this human earthly world is temporary and not our home, know that Jesus asks for protection and mercy for all of us because we are not OF this earth, just travellers. We can be ostracized for our faith. Also, we can be ostracized by the world “just because”.  Jesus stands with us. Jesus pays the price for us on the small scale and the ultimate scale… we are children of God with no tax on our entry into His kingdom.  Jesus was our ransom.
2. Peter and we are completely changed by the HOLY SPIRIT – a new creation – look at this new thing God is doing THRU us. It’s not unusual that the world won’t understand, be bold for God anyway…
3. Peter, a fisher for men, like Jesus, like us, so we need to cast nets for people – IMPORTANTLY WE NEED TO NOT THROW BACK ANY FISH WE DON’T LIKE… no favoritism…

Lesson 6) It’s a fish story – isn’t that memorable? Aren’t Jesus’s stories always memorable? Jesus spoke in ways that made people think. This was not a parable but a private conversation story that Matthew (and Peter) could recount in a memorable way… the fish too was better off without that coin stuck and was freed from the burden. Are we freed from our burdens by letting Jesus?

Another take home message: What are our memorable moments of when Jesus interceded and that caught us – hook, line and sinker? How were our burdens negated?… how blessed are we? BLESSED.

Lesson 7) Jesus reminds us ALL THE TIME that glory is for God, it is not glory earned for man’s achievement. That doesn’t mean we can’t aspire to doing great things, we can and are supposed to be the hands and feet of the Lord… But we just need to give credit where credit is due… But paying taxes? yup, there’s hoops in life for us to jump thru – along the way – Ceasar needs to build some roads and schools and, oh yeah, pick up the trash. Common tax for common good. Give Ceasar what is Ceaser’s – and to God give all that is God’s…

There are more lessons….

The end real take home lesson is the beginning lesson – that the Lord’s children get off free – (I give thanks to Michael Card for re-pointing that one out).

Jesus said, “Then the children get off free, right?… “

Take home message – people don’t know that they get off free – we are already God’s children – we already have our way to eternal peace – paid by Jesus’s death – we enter into our journeys EVERYDAY – pick up our cross EVERYDAY. These are our days to walk with our fellow children who are at various stages of understanding and purposefully help to get each other home – the price we pay is our obedience – the payoff is well worth it… HOME

Take home message is to take the MESSAGE home.

 

Keep walking.

Keep paying taxes.

Keep forgiving flubs.

Keep focusing on forever things…

Keep fishing for the truth. 

Keep the message real.

Keep the faith. 

Fish.

 

Jesus is the Word.

The Word is in you.

The act of imagining and knowing yourself thru the scriptures is the Word fleshed out…

Have faith…

Fish your hearts…

Fill and spill your soul…

Feel the Spirit flowing…

AMEN!

648

Include Me Lord, 25FEB

It’s one of those times when I can’t sleep until I get thoughts out…

I barely get to read news, but my Facebook overloads with news and posts about the recent church controversies…

My favorite peoples and pastors are totally split onto one side or the other. These peoples are the most passionate peoples I know for Christ and I’m sorry to witness such angst on both sides. What I do see is the bridge of Jesus to both sides… I pray that it’s the bridge of Jesus that helps keep them teaching, sharing and loving… we are to help everyone working towards completing togetherness with the Lord. One body…

I pray to learn where I stand. Actually I pray to kneel, not stand, and be quiet about this so that I can hear what God is saying – I have no doubt that I hear Jesus talking to those folks on both sides – and I realize that I have been placed to see both sides and points of view and realize that it is my place is to also be a peacemaker as a bridge for the Spirit flowing through both sides.  This is also true for all issues that threaten to divide our concerted efforts to work for the Lord. As for the Lord, He would rather you be hot or cold but never lukewarm…

I think I hear Jesus saying:  “stop standing to argue and keep moving to follow”.

The place where each of us stands is not defined by our views of how to love God’s people as much as it is by Jesus’s love of us despite and because of our views… actually I don’t even get a chance to stand or kneel because where we all are is treading water, below Jesus’s hand, dipped in the water, outside the safe boat, and swimming like a fish – hoping to make our way by focusing on His way – focusing our eyes on Him. We are all sinking and rising people.  We are all bridged to the Lord by Jesus’s work… Watch for Him… Work for Him no matter what…

Include us Lord in Your healing…

A rainbow is the symbol of God’s promise that He would not flood the world again… therefore, as I know that God is keeping His promise, we are not experiencing rising waters, as we have already been in the water, and being forever being fished by our Savior Fisherman…. if we were in the water, we would not even notice rising waters because we would already not be able to touch ground… Reach for Jesus and help Him find others… Jesus is the Light that shines… if we look forward, towards the light, we can hold on… if we sink, we can rise…  God’s plans for us are already ordained, just keep walking… share your maps with others… help navigate…

Lord, I pray for healing for my friends, my cousins in Christ, but mostly I pray for continued reaching.  I pray for rising.  I pray for walking.  I pray for sharing… I pray for obeying the Truth that I pray to continue…. “You were running a good race, who cut into you to make you stop obeying the truth?”

We are on a Great Commission Lord.

Yours…

The truth is You – the action is the Great Commission – the argument is none.

647

Why is it Taking So Long, Lord? 25FEB

Time is a funny thing – we say that all the time… Today is Christmas in February – the 25th – doesn’t feel like Christmas was only 2 months ago or as much as 2 months ago… to me it feels like a lifetime ago…. but then I noticed the Christmas blankets still on the couch, the Christmas gifts that I’m still moving around.. the wreath still on my door… the most beautiful Xmas card that I will keep on my microwave all year…

Time is as crazy to figure out as much as it was before we had synchronized time devices… Time in our heads does not match our lifestyles – we’re lucky if we can figure out if we are coming or going or even what happened yesterday…

Was time on the minds of the apostles with sundials as wristwatches? Was time on Jesus’s mind?  In our modern definition of time we could say that time was NOT on Jesus’s human side. We know He only had some 3 years to teach on earth, that’s less than a college education takes today.  We know He wept coming into Jerusalem as the people shouted Hosanna! Things in the prophesies probably told Him more would have been finished by then… He wept for the lost sheep – He wept asking mercy and forgiveness for God’s lost sheep… He thought more would have been finished by then…  He still does weep for us today. Does that mean He stops to weep? I doubt that. I think that He weeps “on the go”… He also wipe His tears and continues to spread Love, every step of the way, every tear of the WAY.

Jesus finished the best part of our story – securing our eternal life – so why does the news travel seemingly slow, especially with our fast time schedules?

Why do we waste time arguing when we should be out teaching, loving, working and showing the peace that knowledge of Christ can and does indeed give us… why are we seeing times of strife? In comparison, our modern strife may seem so peaceful compared to olden times but it’s all relative…

Is Jesus still weeping? Yes. but is His weeping stopping Him? No.  Jesus is on His way to catch up with all of us, God’s children… Surely if we remember that Jesus said to the disciples: “I MUST leave so that the Holy Spirit can come!”, then we know that He is even more active in the world the Word travels faster by Spirit than by foot…

Jesus knew this going into Jerusalem – the events for Him were set like clockwork –  Even though we don’t know the end time for when Jesus will return again (not even Jesus knows) we know it’s on the agenda… we have time now, entering Lent to take account of our time to prepare our hearts… walking now by earthly steps toward our Easter…

God revealed to Jesus the steps He was to take to the cross – it was FILLED with teaching and works….  So, has God revealed a path for us? Yes. We have a walk to take. Jesus’s path was so busy that there’s not enough books or time to record it all according to John… our paths should also be filled with doing His work…

If you look at God’s timing for your life – would you thank the Lord for your next minutes and memories before they even happened? Would you thank Him for the future just as much as looking back at the good ole days?

Perhaps in God’s timing we are to remember to not stop – to plow forward – to work hard to overcome the strife… If one was on one’s deathbed, would one take time to mend old wounds and strife? Possibly? Probably… what about one’s future, would it be better to prevent new wounds by practicing peace? Possibly? Probably? Definitely!

JESUS said always be prepared for the day that this earthly world will end – Jesus said always be working in the world to share the good news – ALWAYS… that means practicing peace today.

Jesus, in my opinion, is probably urging the Lord – ‘one more day Lord,  please more days to let the Spirit work, one more chance for spreading the Good news to Your children’… if I were Jesus,  that’s what I would humanly say to the Lord… I would ask to stretch time…

And yet I would also long to see the end of time where all nations end, all knees bow, and see wholeness for the Lord.

We know the end of the story, and, like Jesus urges, we need to go out there and find all the pieces of the peace…

Now as God sent Jesus to share love, Jesus sends us…

Jesus would likely tell us: You know the plan, now get out there and make it come true…

Lent, Jerusalem, Heaven awaits – TIME IS SHORT – keep busy on your journey with Jesus. Wipe the tears and Love every step of the way.

Amen

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Text from Paul to the Philippians: 2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

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Be Still Everything, 24FEB

Be Still and KNOW THAT I AM GOD

BE STILL

Be still everything

Be still

Be still praying

Be still playing

Be still alive

Be still feeding the cat

Be still sitting on the couch

Be still planning the day

Be still pursuing peace

Be still singing

Be still living life

Be still jumping into the ocean

Be still you

Be less of you and more of Jesus

Be humble

Be kind

Be welcoming

Be beautiful

Be SMILES

Be holy

Be blessed

Be loving

Be still within God’s plan

Be Jesus and Love

Be filled with the Spirit

Be relieved

Be still everything

Be LOVE

Be

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Part 1, what I thought God would say to me… 17FEB 23FEB

Thank you for letting me share

This is long…

You don’t have to read it…. I had to dump old processing….

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What I thought God would say to me is a better description of these thoughts rather than saying that God spoke these things to me…  especially since I heard what He eventually said to me after I stopped talking….

Do I now discard these thoughts? I brainstormed them on paper after my physical mental brainstorm, so do I crumple that paper? No…. Do I take the time to cry over these things? Do I cry in relief? because Jesus says ‘let these things go!’ – “Lazarus, it’s time to go” – biblical and from a favorite song of mine… pull it together and move forward… no one who looks back is fit to serve..  keep looking forward,  time is pulling your life forward – focus…

Do I acknowledge my humaness? Do I need Jesus? More than ever…

More than ever… to accept one’s Savior is to accept one’s humaness… to realize His love… then work together to serve the Lord…

Of all things I wish people could feel, see, understand, hear about Jesus is that He urges: ‘I understand, I’m not judging you, but I see all these things running thru your brain, I want to take them and make your burden LIGHT.  I got this!’…

Maybe walking on water with Jesus is first best done by walking thru one’s own tears.  Jesus’s human tears are from people not knowing Him and not knowing that the Kingdom of God has already been calling for them.  Walking thru my tears is because He pulled me thru myself into His net – He had to fish thru my head because He had always had my heart.  He found the right tools  the right bait, He studied me and studied me… if that doesn’t make one cry, I don’t know what will… Jesus saved me because He’s been tasked with saving every lost sheep… I was, I am sheep number 100 – I was lost in myself – Jesus knew where to look – He still does…

Here’s “Part 1” – a dump of my brain from default thoughts – has it been an overwhelming 4 years of being saved?… Wow. WOW doesn’t even begin to explain God, the continued healing of me saying “WOW LORD! REALLY LORD?” phenomenon that’s been exploding in my head for years now… flooded into my head in an hour and a half car drive at the end of a long journey then I dropped my brain on paper and went to bed… I now pour myself a cup of tea and grab box of tissues… and write:

What I thought God would say to me:

BE STILL – the Brownian motion of all your molecules are supposed to be reserved for the Holy Spirit to act upon and motivate,  rally, and move you. “Be still” means not to move yourself when I need to move you. Be still and know that I am God.  This means to know that I have the better plan.  My timing, My plan, My children… Are you in My plan? YES! Be Still and know that I am God, Psalm 46…

1Peter 2:9

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

I am the one who called you out of yourself. Be humble, be discerning, be free of your burdens but be MINE. You are already MINE. I have a gold mine better than gold, I have you, all of you, My children. YOU WORK FOR ME – Jesus reminded you that the Holy Spirit will help you, you have a job to do to share my Word, My Love, My Hope. I will heal you… I will heal the world…

I am the one who gave you discernment – use it.

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.”

1Corinthians 6:19

Yes, as you have been discerning, with help from discussion friends who are My children too, your weight loss was all from My focus. More importantly, your whole awakening was from Me. Be a Temple for Me and as you awakened to learn, I want you to fill your head with My Word. Your thoughts, your health, your life – feed your Temple in all these ways, because it’s Mine.

Yes, as you discerned, your ability to sing is because of Me. You know that you had no voice (and have recorded proof) until you heard My voice and I made your spirit pour into a musical feeding frenzy… I have a plan, you see only a small sliver, you saw a glimpse of serious miracle Holy movement that seriously shifted your mind and life and body into My service. Why did your head explode? Because I am faster than the speed of sound.  God time, God movement is bound to make an explosion or two – but the one in your head was and is so that you stop listening to yourself and start listening to Me!

SMILE !

Your awakening was earth shattering to you because it was NOT from the earth but from Me. You have a spiritual gift for encouragement – use it – tell people that if your joy is seeming incongruous with the situation that you are thinking bigger picture – I have already finished your story – you will have eternal life – and yes, yes, I hear you pestering me to be an angel who gets to spread joy from Heaven – don’t worry, I’ll keep you happy busy in Heaven, so just keep happy busy here on Earth for my time… that’s Heaven on earth, you know,  feeling My love.

If people think you are boasting, try to remember to give me the credit that I am due. Even if they don’t believe you, you know that i heal the brokenhearted – this is what I did for you…  and the whining, I hear that from you too… be aware of how you share.

Yes, you awakened because of Me.

You didn’t believe in Jesus, now you can’t get enough of Him.

You started writing because of Me.

You are an encourager because of Me.

You began singing because of Me.

You are a child of God with an amazing family, life, career, because of me and because of all the prayers and hard work of those who came before you.  Remember that you are a fulfillment of their prayers for you.

You have beautiful children because of Me.  (The teenager’s phenomenon I will explain when you get to heaven. Just hold on tight and keep the faith that this phase will pass. You got awakened just in time, right? That was all Me. My thinking was that you would need My guidance for you.  I was right. And you know how right I am, they are amazing kids turning into amazing adults.  I know because I made them).

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Those glimpses when you thought I was using you? You were right, you followed your gut – you were not the miracle maker,  I am… the drifting trucks and the Subaru and the amazing grace song… the old man about to get hit by a car… your Subaru horn was the tool, but Me catching your eye and Me giving you the drive to make a difference was all for My purpose to use My children to help My children.  You didn’t even think, you just acted. That’s my timing.   Those times I saved you miraculously from yourself? Also for My purposes. How about that big FedEx truck you would have smashed into, huh? That soccer mom’s car you almost hit? That kid you didn’t see in the dark? All those saves were from me… keep focused and make it easier on me. OK?

Show your faith not your flaws.

Mercy.

Mercy for all those things that you could have done…

Mercy for your slowness and your rushing…

Mercy for your ignorance and your self-fulfilling life…

Mercy for making the right, wrong and no decisions…

Mercy for:

Everything that My guidance walked you thru that… you knew that… you know that… move forward…

25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. 26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” 27 “Yes, it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” 28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.”

I am so grateful for mercy in my life.  Jesus giving mercy… Jesus for being both the advocate to argue my case and the one to walk me thru my own tears… I thank you Lord for being able to be still and watch how You moved me thru many things, many helpers,  many reminders of mercy… even if the world is not our home, Your helpers helped me walk thru this earth,  they still do… things fell into place in a way that helped me share the grace You shared with me…

Mostly I saw that when even I was the bottleneck to your will, Your decision was forced upon me and You took over the timing, I saw that windows that opened for me were lit by Your light guiding my next steps – windows require a lift to be lifted thru – open the window of my future and let the spirit sweep me forward…

The washing away of worry…

Lord, I know that earthly things are not heavenly, but I thank you for the peace of mind of gifted stability on earth. I do have children to raise, college students soon Lord… time to pray is also for visualizing the good things…. reflection of future thankfulness before you even get there…

Oh Lord, the devil – how do we defeat the devil? We don’t, You do. Our job is importantly to NOT let him get a foothold into the cracks of our lives.

If I think of the Devil as the toilet paper stuck to Jesus’s foot when He walks into my heart,  then l thank You Lord for pulling me thru the trials that washed that Devil away – I will need this forever  I know it is only by Jesus holding my hand as He pulls me out of the water when I sank when I lost focus – I will sink again, as I am human… I will continue to look for and see the light when I remind that devil (by reminding myself) that Jesus defeated him and that we are not going to let darkness invade… “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” John 1:5

Forever we are not cheated from eternal life… remember the devil is real, conniving, and slips into the cracks when we give him the opportunity… but because the devil is nothing compared to Your power Lord, we can see Your triumph… we still have to walk thru the mud… dilute the devil by pouring in more and more living water…

“13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

When have I seen the devil? When I let a crack in my humanness wide open with no armor of God… did God make some temptations easy to see were bearable? Oh yeah – just one example here – the guy in the other car hitting on me while we were driving 70mph on the highway, 5 times approaching me, motioning,  like who does that? The devil’s influence into the world.  Was it my thoughts just prior? Yes likely I also let the devil in and he took an opportunity…. And yet what he tried was so silly,  dangerous,  obvious… Who makes it obvious that that is the devil trying a foolish thing? I mean on a highway??? Anywhere? God does.  God reduces the devil, remember that…

To wrap up this writing – My most important observation of God is DON’T PIGEON HOLE HIM!

DON’T doubt His supremacy nor His amazing ways.

DON’T let anyone change your mind about God. God is the only One allowed to change it. Let God change your mind and you will see your future, one lighted step at a time. Don’t rush but if you fall off the path, let Jesus take hold and pull you back on. Hold on to His hand!

DON’T let anyone or anything make you feel that God doesn’t have control.

Don’t doubt that God has already made the plan for the future. Don’t doubt that God reveals His plans all the time.

Don’t forget that if God can make the world, then He can surely make your day.

Don’t worry, just pray.

Listen Live Learn Love

Let go… Let God…

There is more to this processing – because processing is a process – how could it not be.

Process that God has made the plan and you will be able to process the warmth of His love…

Don’t worry about processing God as much as letting Him process you… and let Him help you find your savior to get you Home.

God will see you thru

I believe in You

God l, I Love You

Amen

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Fulfillment as God’s Chosen Children, 21-22FEB

The bible messages bring ourselves into the stories of how we are to live life today…

The story of Deborah in the bible is so much about knowing that we have a role in God’s plan – and then just actually fulfilling it.  That’s a message for us – Fulfillment in His Perfect Love. Everything in the bible pertains to some aspect of what we need to learn about how we can live and also how we can serve God.

Deborah, a judge and Godly woman, prophet of Israel, had discernment. Discernment is probably the trait that I pray for the most. She shared that discernment with Barak – she shared the TRUTH that was revealed to her – that God had already won the battles big and small – that He had gone ahead of Barak – plus a reminder to us to neither take credit nor shy away from participating in His plan.

“Go!….. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?” Judges 4:14

Our desire for fulfillment could and should be pulled from discernment of the Lord’s plan – then executing it. The task is not to wonder if we made a difference as much as to know that God already finished the big plan… We still have to finish our parts (Remember, God is holding the big picture in His sight – holding the lid to the box for this puzzle of life – and holding the box too)…

Deborah, the prophet, discerned that God called individual people for certain tasks – that He equipped the called and stripped down the chance that others could take the credit. The battles big and small that were hurdles to man, as well as perceived achievements, they were all to be pursued for God.

We too are called. Don’t worry, just do your best to fulfill what God is calling you for. Study God’s plan for your life then just do it.

I have been blessed to sing in a praise band, I have to practice – we need to all practice and equip ourselves to use His gifts of skills – our skills are going to be called into use for His Purposes.

I appreciate that the name Deborah means Bee in Hebrew – a song video found me – Keith Green (lyrics below) speaking that God is the God of the small and the great…  and singing about how God tells us that everything has already been done for you…

Deborah, the prophet, encourages you thru the Word – fulfill the plan that God has already made.

This Debbie, the bee, encourages you (and herself) too – my busy bee thoughts are for us to use our God-given gifts to live in and share His love and to reach whoever is in need of knowing Him…

His Love has already won…

Amen

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“When I hear the Praises Start” 1977

https://youtu.be/fIgVU_5FsqA

“My son, My son, why are you striving
You can’t add one thing to what’s been done for you
I did it all while I was dying
Rest in your faith, my peace will come to you

For when I hear the praises start
I want to rain upon you
Blessings that will fill your heart
I see no stain upon you
Because you are my child and you know me
To Me you’re only holy
Nothing that you’ve done remains
Only what you do for Me

My child, My child, why are you weeping
You will not have to wait forever
That day and that hour is in My keeping
The day I’ll bring you into Heaven

For when I hear the praises start
My child, I want to rain upon you
Blessing that will fill your heart
I see no stain upon you
Because you are My child and you know me
To me you’re only holy
Nothing that you’ve done remains
Only what you do in Me

My precious bride, the day is nearing
When I’ll take you in My arms and hold you
I know there are so many things that you’ve been hearing
But you just hold on to what I have told you

For when I hear the praises start
My bride, I want to rain upon you
Blessings that will fill your heart
I see no stain upon you
Because you are My child, and you know Me
To me you’re only holy
Nothing that you’ve done will remain
Only what you do for me”

Songwriters: Keith Gordon Green / Melody Green

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A Fishy Tale – part 1, 20FEB

I can’t believe that I NEVER heard this fish story before – maybe I have been living under a rock but wow – never heard it!… Simon Peter is asked if his teacher (meaning Jesus) pays a certain tax – so Peter says yes (whether he thought about it or not) – Jesus later said (privately) to Peter: ‘we don’t really have to pay as we are children not strangers – but let’s pay it anyway so that we don’t offend them – and just go down to the shore and the first fish you pull in will have the coin in his mouth – enough for paying for me and for you’…

SAY WHAT?  WOW !!!  Matthew 17:24 – never heard it – that’s so fishy… and a thousand questions: why does the fish have to have the coin – why make it that elaborate and not just find a coin under a rock nearby? hmmm…

This story is only in Matthew and I am so very appreciative of these Michael Card books – (I even bought extra sets of them on ebay for $5 each so that I could lend them out – what a great way to methodically step thru the 4 gospels…  cool…)

Matthew 17:24-27

When they arrived at Capernaum, the tax men came to Peter and asked, “Does your teacher pay taxes?”

Peter said, “Of course.”

But as soon as they were in the house, Jesus confronted him. “Simon, what do you think? When a king levies taxes, who pays—his children or his subjects?”

He answered, “His subjects.”

Jesus said, “Then the children get off free, right? But so we don’t upset them needlessly, go down to the lake, cast a hook, and pull in the first fish that bites. Open its mouth and you’ll find a coin. Take it and give it to the tax men. It will be enough for both of us.”

I will take some of my own time wrecking my brain about this fish story – but I read ahead to some of the interpretations – I shouldn’t even be writing at this late hour – i am tired – but I write anyway and I appreciate the many interpretations that I read – turns out that there are so many non-agreeing messages for this set of scriptures – I don’t even want to give you some of those fabulous answers – they all sound plausible… but even the different translations seem to have a different take – Michael Card is no exception – I like his explanation but I am not going to share that yet either…

What I will say is that all I read never questioned that Jesus could do this – no one doubted …  Jesus is sovereign… the rest is up for interpretation- especially the facts left out of the story!!!

I’m going to let this one root around in my head and hope it does in yours too – and then when I am rested I will revisit and share the many explanations of the story – and new insight that I have already starting in my head…

It is always good to give your brain a chance to think – to catch your brain on this hook of scripture – to fish for your own answers – maybe Jesus sent Peter to the fish to give some time for Peter to think…

What do you think this story gives for some meaning in your life? 

Part 2 of a Fishy Take – a Fishy Tale –  coining soon – coming soon…

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Biblical Judge Deborah, 20FEB

A friend sent me this nice description of Deborah in the bible and a podcast study on Deborah – from the book of Judges. Now, I was not named after Saint Deborah – I was named after movie star Debbie Reynolds – LOL – yeah I really was… my brother’s name is Eddie, named after our grandfather and so when I was born it was cute – Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds – yeah – I am the mother to Princess Leia Carrie Fisher too – “May the force be with you”!

An excerpt from the bible study:

“as someone who faithfully and humbly served God in a time when the days were evil. There is much we as women can learn about how to navigate our days from this “mother in Israel.” …her humility and courage and devotion to her God and His purposes, to the people of God, and how rather than grasping for power and control herself, she instead honed all of her self (her gifts, her intellect, her will) to serve the leaders that God had called to lead Israel in that time period. She continues to be a mother to us even today through the pages of Scripture and call us to humbly do the same in our generation!”

And this is a short summary from what I heard: Deborah was bold and she spoke to Barak a message to inspire him: ‘this is the day the Lord has given – it is already done – the Lord has already gone out before you’… that is a message for us today as well: to fight sin and evil in the world we have the best, we have God! God has given us  His presence – and His victory is already won – we can proclaim the GOOD NEWS with boldness because God has already won…  and that we have to ask the question: “Do we submit to God now and work for Him?”

Deborah also has a song celebrating God’s work in His people….  He was the one who did all the work – give all the credit to God.

“So may all your enemies perish, Lord!   But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.”

No enemy can stand against God – but we don’t wait passively – we work actively like Deborah – with humility – be submitted and be committed to faithfully speaking His Word…

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What is God saying to me?, 17-18FEB

A new friend suggested that I pray and write down what God is trying to tell me.

I’m so very appreciative of the new friends that God drops into my life as we all walk in our faith…

I’m so appreciative also of the old friends who are so amazing and fill my heart with JOY.

I’m so appreciative of the Lord…

After reading his advice, the first part flooded my brain during the hour and a half car ride home (a gift of processing that kept me awake in changing weather conditions after a long day with reduced sleep)… as soon as I got home I jotted down brainstorm on actual paper… and then let myself collapse in sleep… part 1 was backlog of what I thought the Lord wanted to say…

The second part was written from deliberate prayer after solid sleep… of what the Lord (hopefully) wanted me to write…. one big take home message that I can give you when speaking with the Lord is to take the time for listening too – and it’s good to get yourself into a position and state to actually hear – for me that is getting time for solid sleep – so that I can wake to think – that’s my daily gift of peace for processing…. rest – Listen – hear – think – Love…

I’m going to write out part 1 later from those notes, but that’s later – it’s meaty stuff for sure – but here’s Part 2 – that’s MORE important to share with You!

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What is God saying to me?, Part 2 – while praying:

My Child – I LOVE YOU. I KNOW YOU LOVE ME. I LOVE YOU.

Don’t sweat the small stuff…

Don’t rush.

Rest.

Don’t act, worry, rush, write, conclude, when you haven’t taken enough time to pray on things… you need rest.. You will do all these things when you haven’t prayed either – and I do love you regardless.

If you wait and watch, I often will show you that I’ve got better plans…

Count your blessings.

I am bigger than all your issues and bigger than the worse things of everyone’s lives

I am bigger than all the world and YES, I hold the world in not JUST My hands but in My Heart.

Be BOLD.

Be brave.

Be at peace.

I’ve never been distant from you – you already knew that – tell your friends who feel distant from me that I’m right here – not over there but here within them. Tell the world that I am so close that all they have to do is close the circuit and pray. Life without prayer is an open circuit in each of you – bring your hands together- bring your heart and head together and pray and feel connected with the flow of energy thru you – this prayer is for both you and for you being the rechargeable battery in My world – go share your energy – recharge – keep sharing – keep praying – keep using MY energy for MY people.

Yes, this is about Me, Your Lord, because I am ALL – and therefore I am ALL about you too…

It’s good for people to see Me in and thru you, it’s more important that they know the source – keep giving Me credit…

You weren’t always a Jesus junkie, like now you are.  You don’t have to be shy about that, but just don’t freak My people out – they are on their own timelines just like you are… keep walking with them as they are walking with you… keep being the cog in the turning of the world – it’s My world and I love each and every one of you. I ache for the world, but I don’t stop loving the world…

You held your hands on cold 911 steel in Feb 2015, praying for 3000 people to have found me that day, they did.  You prayed to be like Peter and touch 3000 lives – keep praying – you set that goal because of My love – you will achieve that goal not alone – because you don’t speak of my love from you – you speak it from me – and Love is giving and shown and life-changing when shared in concert with others because WE together are a NET of LOVE, not a hook of LOVE but a NET…. BUT don’t take any of your time counting to 3000, because I am the one doing the counting, I am good at that.  You just keep loving… You have seeds of faith to plant, you know where to get more. Keep loving. Keep listening. Keep going…

You want to share this amazing feeling of Love that comes from me – I am LOVE!

You are, you can, you will…    Just be

Yes, it is because of Me that you want to share LOVE because I am the Love you want to share – Yes, that is the point – Yes, I AM the LOVE.

Don’t sweat the small stuff. Don’t clog the conduits of LOVE ACTION PRAYER with distractions.

Don’t hide the grief from the world but don’t clog the conduits of JOY. JOY, LOVE, HOPE – they need to win over it all – don’t stop fighting for LOVE to WIN.

You read the end of the book, remember that I wrote it and I have it handled – for sure your prayers will make a difference… your devotion to the Word adds words, adds love, adds more… so much love that I am scribbling down the sides…. Keep writing LOVE…

Jesus already has His orders for the end of the world, but He is NOT simply sitting on a cloud just waiting!!! No! And neither should you!!!  You are to be like Jesus and stay out in the world working the net, sewing the net, handing ropes to the next person in this NET and TOGETHER WE WILL WORK THE NET that We are…

See, JESUS IS SEATED ON MY RIGHT HAND, but is MY Right Hand keeping silently still???? NO!! My Hand is moving, can you even imagine how active We are? Jesus threads the NET thru each person’s heart with the gifted security of a Savior. I move thru Spirit to move you. You now have a glimpse of how I work, I have always had it all in My sight.

JESUS is working with the Holy Spirit flowing through the world – the same is true for you – you need to be working too… You are held in my heart, and you gave been committed by Me to be flowing through the world like My blood flows thru My heart – directed thru My Arteries and Veins out into the world and back – you are touching My world because I want you there…

I AM in you and you are in Me.

I AM

I AM LOVE

YOU SHOULD BE LOVE TOO

YOU SHOULD BE YOU

I MADE YOU

I LOVE YOU

TELL THE WORLD THAT I AM LOVE

I will tell them too.

PEACE is for them, PEACE is for you

Peace thru LOVE

Go be you

Go be Love, My Love

Go Be You

Go BEE You

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God is This Way, 16FEB

I don’t doubt that the Lord has a Way… I don’t doubt that some of us need a God vortex to keep us from losing our way.

This Way… His Way…

Of all the scriptures I have learned, it’s that if I am too self-conscious about my “image” then I have missed the point of Jesus teachings… missed the point of Jesus being the bull in the China shop… missed the “first must be last” notion and command of less self… missed the point that I am NOT supposed to be worrying about MY image…

We are to REFLECT HIS IMAGE…

Jesus was perfect, I am not.

Jesus was exacerbated by the disciples slow to understand who He was, what the plan was and is, and what to do after He died and rose and left…

Jesus was exacerbated and sad for His lost sheep and apparently, I am not exacerbated enough by this…

Jesus wept while riding into Jerusalem… why am I not weeping enough? Perhaps I am to take His tears as grease in the cogs turning… even Jesus kept walking…

When I look into the mirror, I am not supposed to look for myself at all…
I am to mirror Jesus.

The best mirror is NOT aimed at yourself, but at Jesus to see all sides of His Image…

The best thing to do is serve the Lord…

The best image for ourselves is a reimage of Him…

The best way is His way…

The worst way is saying “no way, that’s not me”… we have to get out of the way…

The ONLY way, in all our flawed ways, is finding a way thru the very narrow gate…

We can only point others to the Way, Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life…

We can just hope that everyone comes this Way…

His Way…

That’s a prayer for focus – every day…

Point to His Way…

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What’s in your Basket? 12FEB

Perfect provisions or an abundance of bread? How about faith? How’s your basket of faith? Can you share some?

Jesus broke just a few loaves of bread and kept feeding thousands of curious people – at least two big crowd events were mentioned in Matthew 14 and Matthew 15 – Jesus fed them bread, fed them sustenance for their faith… Jesus taught in parables which surely fed the deep conversations on the long walk home. Even the leftover crumbs of bread were placed into use. Both tangible and faith crumbs were mentioned by the Canaanite woman begging mercy to save her daughter, stating that even accepting the crumbs of mercy (like puppies get crumbs of bread) would be a nourishment. Yes, Faith feeds…

There was a miracle feeding of thousands from a little bit of bread and the apostles were all called to work hard to feed the crowd – the provisions started small, but growth was provided by merciful Jesus, who knew the crowd would need the nourishment for their journeys. Jesus actually always wins praise for the Father, never for Himself – God provides all. Jesus as the Word tells us of God’s Love.

I am intrigued by the insight of author Michael Card (Biblical Imagination series) who points out that the leftovers were placed into 2 different sized baskets after each mass-feeding event – he points out that the baskets were described with different words in Hebrew/Greek. The first feeding gave lunch pail sized baskets as leftovers, he speculates that those carry just enough for the disciples to eat after feeding the thousands – perfect provisions and not too little or too much.

Then in the second feeding the leftovers were big man-sized baskets – so much bigger, the leftovers much more abundant.

Jesus provides reminders of God’s power and yet we forget… the disciples participated and even they forgot just as quickly!!!… In Matthew 16:9, Jesus chastises the disciples (after they said they didn’t know what to do since they had no bread) for not remembering the previous two miracle mass-feedings. Disciples sometimes even forgot the miracles they performed by themselves in God’s name… Clearly the disciples were human. We are human. We need reminders. When we share we see the connection to His abundance we are to remember that we too are blessed. God provides this knowledge in perfect provisions.

Jesus wants you to realize God’s work, to have perfect provisions and to have abundance – and especially wants you to realize you need to share it.

But did you bring any bread?

Do you even have a basket?

Do you have something to share? Will it multiply when you share it?

Do you hold on so stingy to what you already have that it rots rather than multiplies?

Do you have holes in your basket?

Do you think God needs your help to help others first? YES! Will there be enough for you? YES!  I am sure Jesus would say “have you no faith?” “Don’t you realize?”

When Jesus shows frustration with the disciples, He is urging them to realize His teachings… Likewise, is Jesus urging us to wake up too? To realize that we have been provided for – in bread? In faith? In teachings? In peace? In salvation? In All in All?  Then – when we realize that, do we realize that we are supposed to share it?!

What’s in Your Basket? (Remember God actually provides the good baskets too!)

Don’t worry about your provisions – just bring the basket anyway… Remember that a basket is a tool for bringing everything you have to the table of sharing, and realize that you are also to be planning ahead for gathering an abundance of overflowing leftovers that won’t go to waste – you will be responsible for picking that up and sharing it somewhere else.

When you realize God is feeding you faith, you won’t go hungry.

Can you use your skills to share what was gifted to you?

You can.

Are you fed from feeding?

You are.

Have you ever visited a homebound person, a nursing home, and felt even more blessed yourself from the visit? Fed the hungry and be filled with faith and warmth? Have you ever smiled and gotten smiles back?

The spirit flowing through you will feed you too…

Keep sharing your faith and your faith will abundantly grow in you. It will not go to waste. The spirit that begun a good work in you will complete it… keep weaving strength into your basket…

Jesus says just keep feeding and keep believing… share the Good News…

What’s in your basket?

Amen

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God-Confidence, 09FEB

I know it is a cool feeling when God is letting us know when He is using us.  We often doubt that is occurring, but not from a position of low self-confidence but from our position of low God-confidence… We need to develop more God-Confidence.

It’s nice to see Him in action, it’s COOL to feel the WARM Spirit gearing us up, using us in His service… So, why do we doubt that He is using us? He wants to use our flaws and fears and fabulousnesses… God is using us – we are “cogs in something turning” like Joni Mitchell sings… It is up to us to notice it and thrive on it – “we are stardust, we are golden, and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the Garden…”

Yes, we need confidence in God. How can we not? He has confidence in us!

An old high school photo of mine popped up, really from forever ago… if I could go back 35 years to tell my 15-year-old self something, it would be to urge myself to be more self-accepting, to have more self-confidence… I wonder if I would have been a different girl then, if I were more confident. Confidence is not something we act – we have to actually be confident.

Fast forward to recent history…  in hindsight, I can see when God had taken over where I failed to appreciate my blessings to be used for His purposes. Now as my nearly 50-year-old self, I do have more God-confidence of how He will use me.

In foresight, I should NOT be surprised or afraid for how God will use me today… actually I smile at the opportunity. I have gained confidence in God – actually I have gained confidence in understanding that God wants the best for His children by gathering them back to Him.

I question: In the future, will I have the hindsight to be appreciative of where I am now? Will I realize where God used me for His plan? Probably, so why wouldn’t I now strive to be used by God more? I want more God awareness.

I am sure that we are to drop self-awareness and make our lives about God awareness…

Our thirst for knowledge, of how we fit into life, is a default thirst – a result of Eve being tempted to bite that fruit. She was tempted to gain wisdom, to learn the difference between good and evil… Of course it seems that we want that too – but MORE IMPORTANTLY, we have to WANT TO SPIT that knowledge out of our systems and simply trust that God will take care of us…

Let us drop our thirst for self-knowledge and drink in the thirst of how God’s plan and how we fit… We only need to rely upon Him.

Let us spit out the forbidden fruit and instead drink in pure living water…

Pray that God is the apple in our eye… Long for Him… Smile…

God gave you a smile in His Image… Be Confident in God.

Amen

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Crumbs of Faith, 08FEB

Even the crumbs of faith… some of my insight from Michael Card’s Biblical Imagination series in Matthew…

Precious story – Jesus and a Gentle woman, a Canaanite, even the disciples wanted to get away from her – from her loudness and persistence… the crowds were overwhelming everywhere and He had to get to the places He knew He had such short time to get to… Jesus is stern to the woman here, He was human in His attitude and Godly in His teaching – and it’s amazing how one short encounter can teach us so much… I have learned so much from this one passage…  This woman longed for mercy – Jesus NEVER refuses the call for Him to provide mercy.

Matthew’s Gospel are writings to the first Christian communities – they are so new in their faith…

And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”  But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.”  He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. (Matthew 15: 21-28)

Mercy, Jesus NEVER refuses the call of Mercy…

Matthew describes the ever-present crush of people seeking Jesus, He is trying to get away – it’s like the rock star or sports star crushed by the crowds and yet a small puppy of a persistent person catches their eye with a small gesture or huge sign… all in the crowd wants anything and everything, but this one person just wants a smile, a wave, an acknowledgment… oh just the crumb of connection…

This Canaanite woman would not be brushed off by the disciples, she is smart and very engaging in her direct conversation with Jesus. We need to be that way too. She has faith that the Lord, her Lord, could save her daughter.  We need that faith too.

Even if she knows she is on the outside, this woman is going to try anyway… persistent… begs for mercy – giving it all she has… that is us too saying “I have to try”… saying “I have to talk to Jesus”… she believes in His mercy… we can too… Jesus takes pity… Jesus says ‘all you need is faith’… Jesus says ‘it is your faith that heals you’…

Crumbs are what the puppies will take… they have to try…. we do too… crumbs at the bottom of the bag, they still taste sweet… can you savor your life, your situation, your faith too? Can you enjoy just a crumb and be satisfied? Is a crumb enough compared to nothing?

Crumbs… the last few crumbs of your hope… a last-ditch effort… try and try – and know your faith will bring you to Jesus’s mercy…

We have to try…

We have to believe…

If we don’t believe in Jesus, we won’t look for Jesus…

If anyone can help us, Jesus can. Jesus does.

Jesus NEVER refuses a sincere cry for Mercy. Seek Him. Follow Him. Be like Him.

Everyone, no matter what, can ask for mercy.

I know I do…

How about you?

Jesus loves you.

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Empowerment into the Family Business, 04Feb

We are all working for God whether we know it or not…

A dear 98 year old from our church passed away this morning, she was a tremendous organizer, mover and shaker – Betty was a servant and child of God. She was so tremendous that you could easily say she was a saint on earth.

Actually, she was “empowered” to work for God. Earth-empowered and Heaven-sent. She worked in the Family Business. (God makes an offer we can’t refuse!)

Many of us try to do the right thing, many of us sometimes fail – that’s because we are human beings and distracted by the world of us, rather than the world of God.

Many of those times that we chose to do right and then we long for a sign that we did right by God…. we want encouragement and we want feedback… It doesn’t always work that way – and as God is supreme, it is IF and WHEN God lets us glimpse into the plan – when that happens, oh how intensely our hearts are warmed… How amazing to work for the Lord!!!  We always work for Him, if we wake up we are still on this earth for Him. If we mess up, we are still on this earth for Him. We can NOT mess us His ultimate plans.

And isn’t that the TRUTH – we actually DO know the plan – even if we don’t know the minutia – we actually know and can read the end of the book – GOD WINS!

Maybe we simply need to feel empowered. But we are. Maybe we want to feel it and realize it, but we already ARE empowered….

You are a child of God – therefore He IS our Father!

If you take care of a pet or any animal, you already are empowered to do that… if you take care of your children,  you are already empowered to do that… If you smile at joy and spread joy, you are empowered to do that too… If you feel willing and have the finances to help a charity or anyone with a gift of money, you know that is the right thing to do, but what you don’t always know is how much of a blessing it is to them – that’s OK – we don’t always have to know… God knows…

If you take time to pray for people on the other side of the world, you are empowered to use your power of prayer. If you take time to pray for yourself, you are asking the Lord to use you better for one more day. Your prayers are heard. Pray, just Pray!

All the way back to Genesis, scripture lays out empowerment – not entitlement – empowerment that we are to be caretakers… God provides all we need, now we can work for Him KNOWINGLY…

Micah 6:8 reminds us to keep walking, keep working, keep learning, keep making the difference in the world – one little step at a time…

You are EMPOWERED because you have been gifted the Holy Spirit.  You have the same power that was entrusted to Jesus – and now you are able to make a difference… “you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” Ephesians 2:22

You are a Child of God.

Smile.

Welcome to the Family Business!!!

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Ephesians 2

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork,created in Christ Jesus to do good works,which God prepared in advance for us to do.

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19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

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Call Out – Seek to be Saved, 02Feb

I have been reading about disciple Peter and how he was sinking in the water, from Matthew’s gospel account out of Michael Card’s Biblical Imagination book…

Peter called out to Jesus from the boat, then crawled out, expecting Jesus could help him walk, but soon after, Peter started to doubt!  Peter just as quickly learned that Jesus could save him, after he called out to Jesus the second time. Yes – two calls – once to seek Jesus and once to be saved. Two important lessons within the shortest time span. We have to understand our faith requires calling out in both ways – to seek and to be saved – in both we have to initiate the calling out to Jesus… He is divine thru and thru and this enables us to see all our humanness in between… Our humanness requires us to seek and to be saved.

It is our faith that tells us that the Lord calls us and our faith to say that we will be OK if we do not lose our focus. It is our humanness to know we need Him, oh we are so very human…

When we are sinking in doubt, and Jesus is in the process of rescuing us, that the dip in the water is the continual cleansing that Jesus gives to our souls, the needed dip to rinse and repeat – just like shampoo…

Blessedly, Jesus has a net for us.

We should ask the Lord to use us for whatever He needs for furthering His work – sometimes we work repairing sections of His net, sometimes we work on new sections, we are blessed to be part of the net that caught us…

Working the nets… fixing the nets… growing the nets…

Calling out for directions from the Foreman of all.  Jesus knows where the fish are.  God knows how best to build the net.  We best to listen…

Call out! – then Listen!

Seek to be Saved!

Reach!

Praise!

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Matthew 14

25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear.27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

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Note – I realized it was 4 years ago, yesterday Feb 1st 2015, that I had my realization of this amazing awakening that had brought me 100% believing in Jesus… it was a process… I wrote out my processing… crazy huh? It is individual to each of us for being in the great realization of being looped into God’s net by Jesus… am I done? No, I’m now in net-work, His network to do work on His net… my 100% is a beginning not an end.

You are also a work in process – our beginning is not an end, but a continuous walk – keep walking!

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The Other Shoe, 02FEB

I felt good today until I realized that I made mistakes today, and this week – they were not earth shattering, but stupid enough – mistakes from rushing and other moments of ugh…

I write now because my mistakes meant that I learned more insight into my faith and a reminder of why my humanness, everyone’s humanness really needs Jesus as our healer, the forgiver, the divine…

“To forgive is divine.”

After my realization of my mistakes, a friend comforted me by saying: to forgive is divine. I said “It’s hardest to forgive oneself…”

And yeah, then I realized I need forgiveness for that statement too… because the basic fact that I can’t actually give myself forgiveness, I can only be the one to ask… yup… Forgiveness is a divine gift as well as a directive.

Forgiveness is divine not human in origin…. yup… we are to forgive but give credit where credit is due…

Forgiveness of human self is the message of Jesus’s reconciliation…

Not forgiving myself is forgoing the mercy Jesus desperately wants to give… I need Jesus… and I can be grateful that I even realized that I went wrong today… humbled by my humanness… grateful that I can try to make amends… blessed that Jesus paused to say “i don’t condemn you, but you realize what you did, right?”

Such insight can be gained from sleepless nights… “maybe a thousand sleepless nights is what it takes to know You’re near…” the song lyric resonates (“Blessings” from Laura Story)…

My missteps were the result of rushing, trying to do the right thing, but I stumbled. Tripping over myself for trying too hard… maybe someday I am going to be grateful for this trial… or forget it all together… yet right now I feel humbled…

See, it is important to know that God does not “drop the other shoe” in our bubble-bursting moments – the “other shoe” is for us to put on and walk with Christ in our humbled humanness… and then to reach for forgiveness… “if the shoe fits…”

We have 2 shoes – JOY and HUMBLENESS – we have to put BOTH shoes on to keep walking…

Even IF I wanted to stop living in joy, because of my sadness, I have to keep walking, stepping out to serve the Lord in Joy.

Even IF I wanted to ignore my humanness, and go back to spreading wonderful joy, I cannot ignore how very human I am – and therefore I have to keep walking, stepping out to serve the Lord in humbleness.

If “the other shoe” fits… it’s because God dropped it in front of us so that we put it on and keep walking in His narrow but sure path…

These steps are for you and you alone (but not alone, we walk WITH the Lord)…

The shoe fits…

Jesus carries the day…

Thank You Jesus…

Amen

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He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

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NOTE: now that I have had some time to reflect on those issues – they seem so small in comparison to life – and I have to say that to walk humbly with the Lord means that we ALSO have to put our own issues into perspective and not make a mountain out of a molehill! in other words, keep walking and don’t let your perceived problems overtake the problems of the world – don’t ignore issues but don’t dwell on them in a selfish way – let them go and get back to the Lord’s work…