Saturday, July 25, 2015

Being an Israelite...

Good morning all-

I hope you are well.  I have been in a state of finding myself, finding my path and finding God. These last months have held some times of stress,worry and fear.  I have fought down panic, provision, worry, anger, and depression.  I have lived in the world and not in God.  Now, you might be wondering what I mean by living in the world.  I'm talking about forgetting the power of the cross, spending to much time whining about things I can't control and losing who I am in Christ.

I never thought I would say this but I'm that Israelite waiting for Moses to come down off the mountain.  I am that person who wanted more than the manna He provided.  I am that person that believed that what worldly people said and felt about me mattered.  I was that person and I didn't like it one bit.  It's taken months of prayer, many Scriptures and the power of the Holy Spirit to pull me out.  This was not a personal battle it was a spiritual battle for my mind and my heart.  Who was going to win?  I know I wasn't during the last couple of months.  I was full of feelings and my sight was clogged up with the mud of the world and then, through prayer I started to see the unseen.  I'm sure about now your thinking I'm crazy but that's exactly what happened.

This week as I have been diving into Scripture, listening to a wonderful minister on the web and praying alone, I found me again.  I wasn't wallowing in things I couldn't control; I was giving them to God.  He was fighting my battle, going before me, renewing my mind and fixing me.  He was with me in my pain and He was present when I finally saw the path before me.  I have always wondered why the Israelite's weren't grateful to God for His provision.  Unfortunately, I found out.  We are all human and when we get caught up in the world, it will catch you, shake you and try to destroy you.  That's not God's way and that's not the message of the cross.  The message is that we are chosen to be warriors for God.  We were put on this earth for a purpose and He will use us if we let Him.  I have struggled to regain my confidence, which is really sad because my confidence comes from the Lord!  I have struggled with my pride.  What does God say about pride?  And I have struggled with believing for myself that He will go before me and that His provision is enough. 

I'm ashamed and rejoicing all in the same moment, am I crazy?  No.  I am a warrior for God. I have spent many days in the seen to be awakened by the unseen.  I've been carried on the back of Jesus and washed from blindness to light. I can see better today then I've been able to see in months, all because of Jesus.  I owe Him my life, my heart and my mind.  I might have walked like an Israelite but my heart is a heart that yearns after my Savior.  Through the storm, I feared, fought and challenged everything I knew to be true and when it calmed, all I saw was Jesus.  The stories in the Bible are about real people, real feelings and real trials.  We can say, "That won't happen to me."  I beg to differ.  When God is calling you, the attacks on your mind will be sharp.  The devil can't penetrate the heart, it belongs to Jesus but He is a great deceiver and that's how the Israelite's lost their focus.  They lost sight of God.

Fear is not from the Lord!  Worry is not from the Lord!  Defeat is not from the Lord! Depression is not from the Lord!  However, He can use all of it for His glory.  The battle was tough and I'm not totally out of the woods yet.  I have come to realize that my manna is the Bible and meditation.  If I'm not in it, I will be attacked.  I must renew my mind, put on my spiritual armor and sing praises to the Lord.  I'm praising Him today.  I feel as though I've been in the desert and have been taken to the promise land.  My path, my purpose and my life is to proclaim the word of God.  In the last couple months, every insecurity I have has tried to beat, brake and crush my spirit but God has redeemed me.  He has pulled me from the pit and given me eyes to see Him.  Do you ever wonder why John had the experience He writes about in revelation?  I don't anymore.  He was given the revelation because He could see what most couldn't.  He was looking with his spiritual eyes.  That was his path and now I have mine.  I am giving God all the glory.

If you're going through a battle that just doesn't seem to end, then get with someone to pray for you.  Take time away from everything and go to your bed and pray.  And no matter what, pick up your Bible, get on the web, go to your minister and immurse yourself in the Word of God.  I feel like I've died to every insecurity I've ever carried and am free.  The power of the cross is real, speak it out loud and the power before you will not be your will but His.

Glory to God in the highest, who was and is and is to come!  Thank you Jesus for taking me to all the places I've been in the last weeks and winning me back, hook, line and sinker.  Be aware that our feelings will get us in trouble.  Looking at only the seen will make you feel fear, frustration, hate, and worry.  The signs the Lord is breaking you out are: Hope, Love, Peace, Quiet, and Understanding.  That's why He came, that's who He is and that's who we need to bow down to.  He's already made His decision, have you?

But 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.  Matthew 6:6 NIV

Monday, July 20, 2015

Glory to God

We must look with our spiritual eyes if we fully want to see Him!  Glory to God who was and is to come!

Open our eyes Lord to the majestic wonder of Your word. Renew our minds and spirits to believe that You are God and that you can do immeasurably more than we can see. We believe that Your love bears all things, believes all things and can be spread far and wide. You are holy!

I'm in awe today. Be in the world spreading Your wisdom, Your power and Your glory!

In Jesus Name we pray! Can I have an Amen!

Sunday, July 5, 2015

What's in the unexpected...

Good morning all-

This is my fourth day off and it's been renewing in a way I couldn't imagine.  There's something about going out to the country and listening to God's wonderful creatures.  I woke up yesterday to every kind of noise imaginable and to be honest it was unexpected.  Your probably asking yourself how that could be.  Well, most of us run through life, I know I do.  The days fly by without even a thought to what God created or why.  I get up at 5:30 am and finish the dishes about 9 pm.  I sit down for an hour, fall apart and am in bed by 10 pm.  I do this every day of my life but this weekend I stayed up until 1 am, woke at 5:30 am and sat for two solid hours watching and listening to every creature stir, sing, crawl or meow.  It was wonderful and very unexpected.

I'm one to go until I can't go anymore.  It's what keeps me from getting depressed and worrying about tomorrow.  I get antsy if I have an hour with nothing to do.  I've always been this way and even though I'm getting older, I still am who I am.  Yet yesterday morning, I sat and watched as a huge family sleep and the activity around me wasn't people but the sheer joy of being alive.  The trees were full of sounds and actions that were so surreal.  I found myself hoping for the unexpected.

My personality is such that I have always taken care of everyone else.  I am responsible and if I had a wild moment, it wasn't long.  I learned from early on that I was going to have to work harder than most and in order to be the best I had to persevere.  When my brother and parents died, it was my responsibility to take care of them and my family and I did it.  I have always been proud that I was strong and resilient.  I knew that God had made me for such a time but I have forgotten a very important lesson, to rest and listen to God's creation.  Watching the wind blow, seeing a hummingbird feed, listening to the cows moo as the sun comes up or watching the moon rise above the sunset; these are the things that remind us that God is good and that He is with us.  In this life, we know what to expect but we forget to watch for the unexpected.

I thank God for the unexpected.  Those hours re-fueled my soul and gave me ideas, desires and a renewed passion for His passion.  His creatures are the most important thing to Him.  He has waited thousands of years to bring us back to Him and we run so fast, with so much human emotion that we forget to sit and listen to the orchestra He created.  If God so loves these little creatures, imagine how much we're loved.  I can still worry, have prideful moments and wish the day away but God sees the purpose of my life and yours and He's trying to get us to look for him in the unexpected.  Will you join me in asking the Lord our God to show us the unexpected and to rid us of what we believe is true.  Our lives are a moment compared to the nurturing He has done over thousands of years.  He is waiting for His bride to repent, to cry out to Him and to trust Him.  His creatures do.  They sing to Him in the morning and they cry out from the fields.  They are provided for and there anticipation of dawn is filled with song.  What do we anticipate at 5:30, is it work, school, the kids or is it God?

Those few hours reminded me of my purpose.  I was to raise my boys and to help them carry on the generations.  I am to be a helpmate to my spouse and help him with his business and I am to pursue Christ with unexpected anticipation every day, waiting, watching and loving Him.  I started my book yesterday.  I'm not sure how it will go but I'm excited about the unexpected moments with Christ.  I've missed Him through this trial.  He's been silent and I've been faithful to cry out but it's taken a  lot of energy to get on this blog.  What do you say to encourage people when you find so little to be excited for?  That's how every trial is and then there's the moment that you're sitting on a porch watching the life around you sing with such unexpected anticipation for the day ahead and you say, "I see you Lord and know you're near."  Look for the unexpected and never settle for what's expected.

Be well my beautiful sisters.  I'm praying for you and for the future of the men, women and children who give their lives every day to promote the unexpected.

Jonah 2:2:10 NIV

He said: "In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.  From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.  You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.  I said, "I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple." The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me, seaweed was wrapped around my head.  To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever.  But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit.  "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.  "Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God's love for them.  But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you.  What I have vowed I will make good.  I will say, 'Salvation comes from the Lord.' " And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Jesus always left to be alone in the wilderness, do you know why?  He needed to see the unexpected.  He knew the ending but He also knew He needed His Father to lift Him up, guide Him and love Him until the end.  Jesus cried out when His Father did leave Him on the cross because He felt alone but through His sacrifice, none of us will ever be alone.  This beautiful prayer from Jonah shows the emotion of a lost man coming to his maker and his maker hearing him.  If you feel like life is the same old boring routine and God is barely in it, say a prayer that will renew your heart with Him.  We expect to be deflated and defeated so why don't we expect to see Him, now that would be truly unexpected!  Be well and let Jesus bring you out of the pit and onto dry land where the creatures of this earth sing to Him!  In Christ we live!!!!

Friday, July 3, 2015

The Voice of the Martyrs...

Good morning all-

We are approaching the 4th of July where the US celebrates freedom.  I have to question if we have any freedoms anymore.  We have free speech but we remove hundred year old monuments.  We have free commerce but China owns us.  We have the right to worship but we choose not to.  And finally, we have the right to vote but we choose to neglect it.  We have rights just like the Romans did and yet, being a Roman citizen holds no weight today.  Will we be like the Roman Empire, casualty to our own stupid pride?  Let's be real, we have no power.  We are just another country who was founded on Godly principles that has lost all conviction to what we once knew.  Our currency is marked with "God We Trust." Do we?  I have many doubts on that subject.

Here is what I know for sure; we must turn back to God.  Our teenagers are being deceived and so our the adults.  We are all skirting issues that will impact our lives and those generations to come.  We need to unite and pray.  I'm tired of being afraid.  I see the warnings just like anyone else.  I'm watching radicalism sweep Europe.  There are so many defenseless countries.  What are we waiting for?  Why do we continue to pursue the things of this world over the things of God?  Even I have been chastising myself for not buckling down more.  I have made excuses about my busy life and my personal trials and still, Jesus listens to me.

Our freedoms in this life have come from provision.  There are men and women risking their lives for the Gospel.  They sneak into villages and countries just to spread the good news.  They risk everything to build a church and to get the word out.  People are being blessed because of these unknown soldiers.  They are faceless but their hearts beat for Jesus.  These men and women care more for the lost soul than their own.  People that were once lost are saved due to the dedication and passion of those mighty warriors.  

Men, women and children are dying for the Gospel.  In 2015, who would have thought that people would be tortured, beheaded and persecuted for believing in Jesus.  You can close your eyes to it but it's happening.  We may not live in one of those countries now but we are brothers and sisters with these people and we must pray for the workers.  The voice of the Martyrs is calling out to all of us and asking us to re-dedicate ourselves to the cross.  The cross was not just a despicable torture device.  The cross symbolizes the true sacrifice of the Almighty.  Paul was not afraid to die and Peter was prepared to die.  Why?  Because Christ died for them.  I often wonder if I'm prepared to die for what I believe.  I hope that if I ever face that day; I will say yes to Jesus and no to myself.  But for now, I have a choice to lift up those that are sacrificing their lives for the Gospel.  I must pray that the hearts of those that don't believe will change and that Jesus will defeat those that hate Him.  I must pray that His united body will repent and turn away from our selfish ways and that we will put him first in our hearts and minds.  Finally, I must pray that I will lead women to the cross with the passion I have for my own life.  These are our defenses.  These are our freedoms.  We can choose to stay silent or we can shout to the world that Jesus came and died for our sins.  It is by His faith alone that He became one with His father.

Love heals all things.  Love never ends.  I hear these words in my head over and over.  These are the words left to us in the Bible.  Hate destroys and is a characteristic of the evil one but love never fails. My love for you will remain always and so it was of the disciples.  Through their love we now know love, not in the romantic sense but in the commitment sense.  God loves us.  A rainbow is the symbol of God's covenant to His people.  Why then do we turn away?  It's time to really buckle down and ask God to help us to remember His words and not the laws of this earth.  The Martyrs knew His word and died for it.  Please stand with me this 4th of July all over the world and ask the God of Abraham to heal the hearts of those that hate Him.  We must stand in love for all people and let God judge.  We are not judge and jury.  We are His chosen people, scattered among the nations with one voice and one faith in our mighty Savior.

This message is not just for the US.  God's message is for every nation and every tongue all over the world.  Please ask God to protect His workers and please continue to pray for those that hate all things biblical.

The Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come!  He is real; He is power and He is love!  Pray this with me my sisters and unite to love the world.

1 Samuel 2:2 NIV  

"There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God."