Divine Joy

In John 15:5-11, Jesus described our relationship with Him as branches connected to the true vine. In a vineyard, grapes are produced when the plant's sap runs through its branches. As Christ's life-giving Spirit flows through us, spiritual fruit will develop. This includes divine joy (Gal. 5:22-23).

To experience this deep spiritual contentment, we must stay closely connected with the Lord. Jesus often slipped away [to pray] so He and the Father could have intimate communion (Mark 1:35). He was able to endure much because of His fellowship with God and the joy He knew was to come (Heb. 12:2). In a similar way, the apostle Paul overflowed with joy even when he suffered (2 Cor. 7:4). He described a Christian's connection with God this way: "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." (Gal. 2:20 niv).

Joy will increase when we follow Paul's example and fix our attention upon Jesus rather than upon ourselves or our circumstances. The more we abide in Him, the greater our spiritual happiness will be. Our initial reaction to hardship may be discouragement or overwhelming pain. But if we focus on Him and commune with His Spirit, our sense of peace will return. Remember, the Lord promised that His joy would be in us fully when we rest in Him.

~ Dr. Charles Stanley

Broken Bread

Make me broken bread, make me poured out wine.
For I am yours Lord, my life is in the Vine
So as you crush the fruit born of my flesh
Remove all bitterness, make me sweet and fresh
To be poured out upon a hurting world so lost
Make me broken bread no matter what the cost
And as I cry out to You, Your will, not mine,
Make me broken bread, make me poured out wine.

~ Angela Gill

Messiah

There are about 400 years that exist between the *end* of the Old Testament and the *beginning* of the New Testament in the bible. The Old Testament is prophetic in nature and foretells of the birth, death, and resurrection of the coming Messiah. The bible is called Holy partly because of the many prophecies within it that have actually came to be. God's perfect plan for His people has always been that a savior would be born to us, a redeemer, one who would be anointed to carry away the burdens of our life. One who would offer us redemption and hope. He is Jesus. The name Jesus means "God saves". Immanuel means "God with us". These are holy names, for a holy God. God in flesh, who Himself came to earth, to die - to overcome death and destruction - so that he would be resurrected again so that WE might be resurrected or "born-again". It is when we truly lose our life [by surrendering it to God, as a living sacrifice - by dying to sin, dying to self, taking up HIS cross that we might be resurrected] that we truly gain life...life in Christ...life of peace, joy, and hope. With Christ in us we are more than conquerors. We are given the keys to heaven and hell and what we bind on earth (darkness and sin) is bound in heaven and what we loose on earth (peace, hope, love) is loosed in heaven. Thank you God that you came to earth in flesh, as a man, as a son - Jesus. Thank you that you carried our burdens of sin, shame, fear, guilt, and suffering all the way up that hill to Calvary. Thank you that you died on the cross, and that you rose again and overcame the grave, death, and darkness. Thank you that you showed us the way to living a resurrected life by accepting your free gift of salvation simply by accepting Jesus as our savior and making Him the Lord of our lives. Jesus, we ask you to lead us as we make decisions in our lives, as we pray, as we seek more of You.

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

About 400 years later:

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests. Luke 2:11-14

Quotable Quote

Submission is learning when to duck so God can hit your husband ~ Beth Moore

Oooh I LOVE that one! Sometimes we try to manipulate the men in our lives or push our crazy God-loving-ways onto them...but there is such wisdom in Ms. Moore's words. Get outta the way so God can work on our husbands! Lift them up in prayer ~ but beyond that, let the maker of the universe have at 'em! Pray a touch of God on their hearts. Pray a move of God in their lives. Pray for their covering in the blood of the lamb. Pray God's glorious hedge of protection around them. Then trust God to reconcile your husband to Himself! Greater is He that is in your husband than He that is in the world. Girlfriend, get out the way!

Prayer

The New Testament teaches that prayer and intercession are expected of all believers.

James 5:16 (Amplified Bible) instructs us with these words,

Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].

Who in your life needs prayer today? Take a second to ask the Lord to reveal to you someone in your life that needs your prayer. You may be surprised at how quickly someone will pop into your head. Be obedient to that prompting from the Lord and pray for that person! It will have an impact in the spiritual realm that you may not even realize.

Father, we come to You seeking to know Your will. Show us where and how we can demonstrate Your love, by praying for others. Give us open hearts and minds so that we can truly identify the specific needs of others. Lord, grant us the ability to be Your hands and Your feet in serving others in love. In Jesus' name, Amen

If you need prayer, I would be honored to pray for your situation, just send me an email at : jtraut28@yahoo.com.

Quotable Quote

A man can no more diminish God's glory

by refusing to worship Him

than a lunatic can put out the sun

by scribbling the word 'darkness'

on the walls of his cell.

- C.S. Lewis

And a truly quotable for all the

crazy Jesus Freaks out there

C'mon, you know who you are:

"Friendship is born at that moment

when one person says to another:

What! You too? I thought I was the only one."

- C.S. Lewis

You've got to light it up!

He said to them,

"Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed?

Instead, don't you put it on its stand?"

Mark 4:21

When a candle is brought into a dark room, especially when people are gathered together; is it proper to cover it up? How about when you bring a candle into your bedroom, does it make sense to put it under your bed? It is certainly more appropriate and useful if a candle is set in a candle holder or glass container where it can be of use to everyone in the room. The "light" that the above verse is referencing is the Word of God - the Bible. Jesus was saying to his disciples, "I give you this 'light' [these teachings, these words, this scripture] not to have you conceal them or keep them to yourselves, but to impart them to others. To bring light and life and hope into other people's situations". We are all called as disciples for this purpose.

During these difficult times, families are under stress, marriages are being attacked, and finances are being stretched dangerously thin. One way that we can bring encouragement to others is by bringing the light of God's Word into their situation. We can pray for them...or better yet, pray with them. We can dash to our computers or our bibles and look up scripture that pertains to their situation and share it with them. We can decree or prophesy life into their situation by praying the God's promises over their circumstances {for instance John 10:10 "Jesus has come that you may have life and have it abundantly" or 2 Thes 3:3 "The Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you"}. There are many ways in which we can prepare the way for the Lord to enter into their situation and change it. Just speaking life giving words or *light* into people's lives ushers in the power of God and allows Him to opportunity to shine!

So go light your candle! Memorize a line of scripture today and use it to give life to someone's situation.

It is the same with my word.

I send it out, and it always produces fruit.

It will accomplish all I want it to,

and it will prosper everywhere I send it.

Isaiah 55:11

Power Verses

Zechariah 4:6 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.

1 Samuel 10:6 "At that time the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you with power, and you will prophesy with them. You will be changed into a different person"

Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you"

Exodus 9:16 But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

Psalm 20:6 Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand.

Psalm 68:35 You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!

Psalm 77:14 You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.

Psalm 89:13 Your arm is endued with power; your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.

Isaiah 11:12 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD

Isaiah 40:29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Matt 3:11 I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Luke 10:19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.

Luke 24:49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.

Acts 1:8 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

Acts 4:33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.

Acts 6:8 Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.

Acts 9:22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.

Acts 19:20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

1 Cor 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Too Little Faith?

The boys father replied:

"Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”
“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked.

“Anything is possible if a person believes.”
The father instantly cried out,

“I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”

Mark 9:22-24

Occasionally in my walk I am confronted with a situation that although I believe it is within God's power TO do something, I don't necessarily trust that He WILL do something. There are several things that might influence our minds that can impact our faith. One of these is an athiestic influence. This is a big problem in the church. Athiests in the church? How so, you ask? It is a sort of practical atheism in that on a daily basis believers often face situations that they do not necessarily bring God into. Sometimes we might think there is no purpose for or even ability for divine intervention in our daily practical living. This athiestic thinking is cynical in that we think, "God helps those who help themselves". We think we can work through situations by ourselves instead of turning FIRST to God for counsel through His word or FIRST inviting Him to intervene. It's a lack of faith that gives us the mindset that God can't...or God won't. It is this same lack of faith and unbelief that traps us as a hostage to worry, anxiety, and fear.

Another mindset that is destructive to our ability to see miracles happen in our lives is a "religious mindset". You're thinking, "Jodi...you yap on and on about God all the time, but then turn around and say that religion is destructive to our relationship with God? Huh?" Yes...I am saying that religion can be destructive to entering into a personal intimate relationship with your Savior, Father, and Counselor. A concept of God that focuses on FORM but is without POWER is what I call religious thinking. We may have a belief in God...but lack experiences or encounters with God. We pray but we don't *really* have any hope that God will actually answer our prayers. We may know of Jesus in form...in doctrine...in religion, but not in relationship or demonstration. Many people in churches, similar to the one that I grew up in, are perfectly content in belonging to a certain "brand" of church, but they are entirely disconnected from an active, present, real, relationship with the Living God. This more than a bummer. It is a travesty. The biggest tragedy of all. And unfortunately many people have trouble seeing through the darkened glass to the truth and they don't even realize that what they are missing out on is life. Abundant life in Christ. The life that was promised to them. Free of guilt, free of shame, free of unforgiveness of self and others, free of bondage to sin, free of fear, worry, and anxiety.

The Kingdom mindset is what our brains were originally "wired for". It is mindset that focuses on faith and a relationship with God, and sees things from a supernatural perspective. Now sure, we can all be Kingdom minded when things are going well...when our kids are getting A's in school, everyone is healthy, the car starts, our husbands have jobs, etc... It's easy to praise God then and believe that He is good, and perfect, and loving. But when the skunk hits the fan where does our mind turn? I would like to be able to say that my immediate response to a crisis is always to have faith and belief for a work of God, but it isn't always so. Sometimes it can take a bit of time to get my mind fixed on the Kingdom instead of the situation at hand and to remember that my God is bigger than my circumstance. To remember that my God is good. All of the time. Even if I don't always understand what He is doing at the moment. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD." Isaiah 55:8. Kingdom thinking is when our minds are lined up with God's will. When our minds are tuned into the very heart of God, when we are aware of His presence, His sovreignty, His working in our lives. A result of this mindset is that our faith is increased and we believe for God's supernatural intervention into our situation. Not just that He can, but that He will. Our faith, our belief, our surrender and our trust in Him releases His power. Jesus says in the above passage "What do you mean, 'If I can', Anything is possible if a person believes". He can. He will. We have to believe.

Father I do believe, now please help me overcome my unbelief.

My Utmost for His Highest

Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 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. Colossians 1:24-27

We take our own spiritual consecration and try to make it into a call of God, but when we get right with Him He brushes all this aside. Then He gives us a tremendous, riveting pain to fasten our attention on something that we never even dreamed could be His call for us. And for one radiant, flashing moment we see His purpose, and we say, "Here am I! Send me" (Isaiah 6:8).

This call has nothing to do with personal sanctification, but with being made broken bread and poured-out wine. Yet God can never make us into wine if we object to the fingers He chooses to use to crush us. We say, "If God would only use His own fingers, and make me broken bread and poured-out wine in a special way, then I wouldn't object!" But when He uses someone we dislike or some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, to crush us, then we object. Yet we must never try to choose the place of our own martyrdom. If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed - you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed.

I wonder what finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you? Have you been as hard as a marble and escaped? If you are not ripe yet, and if God had squeezed you anyway, the wine produced would have been remarkably bitter. To be a holy person means that the elements of our natural life experience the very presence of God as they are providentially broken in His service. We have to be placed into God and brought into agreement with Him before we can be broken bread in His hands. Stay right with God and let Him do as He likes, and you will find that He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit His other children. - Oswald Chambers "My Utmost for His Highest"

Psalm 51:3 For I know my transgressions

He’d lived in the darkness for so long he didn’t know that it was dark. Dark was normal, and since he’d never experienced light, dark didn’t seem dark to him. It wasn’t as though he woke up in the morning praying and longing for light. And it wasn’t that he had to work to accept the darkness. No, darkness was all he’d ever known. Sure, he fumbled around, bumped into things, and fell down a lot, but none of it bothered him. It was what every day was like for him. He didn’t really long to see. He didn’t long to see because he didn’t know that there was anything worth seeing. He really did think that he saw all there was to see—darkness. He didn’t have an accurate sense of size, shape, or color. He had little sense of beauty. He didn’t really know what things looked like because the darkness he lived in was so pervasive that the objects around him were but shadows, blobs, and blurs.

He had no idea what he looked like because he’d never really seen himself. He thought he knew what he looked like because he’d touched his face and run his hands down his torso, but he’d never seen himself in the light. He was actually quite content in his darkened world, and he was quite happy to do what people do when you live in a dark place. He just got up everyday and did what you do when you can’t see. Except he didn’t know that he couldn’t see, because he’d never seen, because he’d always lived in darkness.

Then it happened one day. He hadn’t longed for it. He hadn’t asked for it. It just happened. A shaft of light exploded into his world. At first it scared and confused him. He didn’t know what it was and his eyes didn’t seem able to take it in. All he really knew was that it was different from the darkness he’d always known. It was bright and beautiful and it hurt his eyes, but he couldn’t stop looking. He couldn’t keep himself from walking toward the light. The closer he got to the light, the more he began to see what was around him. There was a whole world of shapes and colors he’d never seen. But something even more profound began to happen to him. It was shocking, disturbing, and exciting all at once. The closer he got to the light, the more he saw himself! The first thing he realized was that he was naked. For the first time he felt naked. For the first time his nakedness made him uncomfortable. But he not only realized he was naked, he realized he was dirty. And not only was he dirty, he was confronted with the fact that he was lame.

He kept walking toward the light, and he felt joy as he did so, but the joy was mixed with grief. As he walked he began to weep. He’d never wept like this before. He wept at the pain he felt over his condition. He’d not known how dirty he was. He’d not known how crippled he was, and he felt overwhelmed at what he now knew. He was stunned by the fact that he’d been this way since birth and he’d never known it. He was shocked that he’d never figured out that he moved with a limp. But his shock was quickly mixed with the deepest longing he’d ever felt. It was like he was starved for something he’d never eaten but now wanted desperately. What he wanted desperately for the first time in his life was to be clean. For the first time in his life he wasn’t satisfied being crippled. He longed to be healed. And even though he didn’t understand light at all, for the first time in his life he wanted to live in it. And he couldn’t imagine ever being content to live in the darkness again.

So he started to run. He ran because he felt drawn—drawn to the light that had so radically altered his world. He wanted to be in the light because somehow he knew that if he could get in the light, he’d be washed and he’d be clean. Somehow he knew that if he could get to the light he would be healed. He’d never run before because he knew he couldn’t run because he was lame, but he did run. The light was drawing him. The light was giving him strength.

He remembers well those darkened days in that darkened place. He remembers it all with a broken and a celebratory heart. And he is very aware that not only has he been cleansed and healed, he’s been given the ability to see as well. And he’s deeply grateful that he’s been clothed with what he couldn’t purchase and that deep within him has been placed the desire to be clean.

Have mercy on me, O God,

because of your unfailing love.

Because of your great compassion,

blot out the stain of my sins.

Wash me clean from my guilt.

Purify me from my sin.

For I recognize my rebellion;

it haunts me day and night.
- - - - - -

Purify me from my sins,

and I will be clean;

wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Psalm 51:3

Waging a War that's already Won

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth has been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth has been loosed in heaven.
Matt 16:19

I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.
Luke 10:19

Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.
1 John 4:4

These are currently the verses that are impacting my life. Before I get into that, let me start by saying that whether or not you "believe" God's word is true....whether or not you "believe" there is a heaven and a hell....whether or not you "believe" that spiritual warfare is occurring every second of every day of your life does not negate the fact that it is true...there is a heaven and a hell...and it you are involved in a spiritual battle whether you like it or not, whether you acknowledge it or not, and whether you choose to "fight" or not.

As I was contemplating this blog entry and how to word it so that I wouldn't completely *lose* people in its complexity and my total inability to appropriately do justice to this issue, the Lord gave me a vision of how the power of God is brought to earth by intercession. I saw a bolt of lighting in the sky. Just one big flash extending from heaven to earth. Then I heard the thunder rolling in the heavens, spreading forth from the bolt of lighting. All at once, the rain began to fall to earth, showering & saturating everything it touched.

I believe this illustration shows that when we pray [intercede, meet with God] his power is released [the lightning bolt - symbolizing power, energy, light]. This causes a reaction [thundering] in the heavenlies [the spiritual realm or dimension] which leads to a breakthrough from one dimension to the next and heaven literally invades earth [rain falling from heaven to earth]. Healing rain. Glorious rain. Giving life. Changing landscapes. Changing circumstances.

As we partner with God in prayer, His power is released into our lives and into our situations, and all of heaven breaks loose as darkness gives way to light. And by the way, darkness always gives way to light. When you light a match in a dark room it doesn't take like 6 minutes for the light to finally appear, it immediately breaks through the darkness. Jesus is the light of the world....always making a way through the darkness. Always.

We are in battle, there is no doubt about that, but what we often fail to realize is that the war has already been won. Jesus was the ultimate intercessor. He completed the work on the cross at Calvary. He was crucified and died for our sins. To be born again, we too must first die to sin. Die to self. We then become resurrected in Christ and we reign with him in victory. Does Christ's victory mean that satan's power has been vanquished, no. But his authority has. Satan no longer has authority to rule in our lives...but remember he is a thief. He comes to kill steal and destroy (John 10:10). He prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). He will use whatever tactics he can to attempt to steal back the authority that Jesus [God in flesh] has rightly purchased for us at the cost of his very own life.

In Old Testament times (OT) when a person touched a leper, they too became "unclean". In the New Testament (NT), Matthew 10:8 says that Jesus commissioned His disciples to go and "cleanse the lepers". when Jesus or his disciples touched a leper, the leper was healed! Another example of how Jesus conquered the powers of darkness once and for all! It is finished!

Whose Team are you on?

In this spiritual battle, everything you do, say, and think either agrees with God or it agrees with Satan. Satan gains control by our "agreement" with his lies. There is no truth in him, he is the father of all lies (John 8:44). Some of satans lies that the *old Jodi* [Oh, by the way, she doesn't exist anymore. She was crucified with Christ] was made to believe at various times of her life included that she was in bondage to fear and anxiety, she was a slave to abandonment, she was impure, she was ill, she was unworthy of love or acceptance, she was a disappointment, she had failed miserably...and on and on. As I said, once the *old Jodi* was crucified, I was born-again and no longer agree with these lies. I give them no power in my life...PRAISE GOD for deliverance!! I live by the above verses and "bring every thought into captivity of Christ" I do not agree with ANY of satans tactics or his lies. If I find myself coming in agreement with something that is not God's will, I immediately rebuke it, repent, and fix my thoughts, words, and eyes on my Father.

On Monday I was planning to go to a prayer meeting with a friend and we had intentions of doing some serious damage to the kingdom of darkness! We were planning to break down some strongholds that have been plaguing some people that we love and that we know are in desperate need of the Lord. That same morning I ended up in the ER with a very strange unexplainable neurological episode. I knew immediately what was happening...I knew that satan was trying to keep me from that prayer meeting. There was no doubt in my mind. My response was immediately to rebuke it. I spoke out my agreement with my Father's will and I began to repeat, "I will not receive this, it is not the will of my Father, I will not accept it, I am fearfully and wonderfully made, (Psalm 138:14) in the image and likeness of my Father (Gen 1:26)." Now let me explain to you, and I'm sure most of you who know the *old Jodi* could vouch for this...normally I would have been a wreck ok, seriously...at one point in my life satan's grasp on me was strong, he held me captive through perpetual and constant fear and anxiety. But now, I can do all things through Christ who strenghtens me (Phil 4:13). God is my refuge and strength, my ever-present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1) He is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? He is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1).

Praise God that my friend marched on in battle for me that evening and along with a few other prayer warriors, defeated satan in the name of Jesus! I had an MRI which of course showed absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. Coincidence, right? Ha! Not a chance!

[Some readings if you're interested in this topic: When Heaven Invades Earth by Bill Johnson, TheSupernatural Power of a Transformed Mind by Bill Johnson, Beginners Guide to Intercession by Dutch Sheets, Intercessory Prayer by Dutch Sheets]

A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Ephesians 6:10-17

Phil 4:4-8 (NLT)

Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

The Amen of Faith

I believe there is only one way to all the treasures of God, and that is the way of faith.
You get to know God by an open door of grace. He has made a way. It is a beautiful way that all His saints can enter in and find rest. The way is the way of faith. There isn’t any other way.
Beloved, I see all the plan of life where God comes in and vindicates His power by making His presence felt. It is not by crying, nor groaning. It is because we believe. And yet, we have nothing to say about it. Sometimes it takes God a long time to bring us through the groaning and crying before we can believe.

—Smith Wigglesworth

Quotable Quote

You don't have a soul.

You *are* a Soul.

You have a body.

C.S. Lewis

What's Behind Door Number 122?

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is —
his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2

A few nights ago, I dreamed that I was inside of a sort of hotel, but it was really more like a dormatory - and it was very dirty and run down. The steps were rickety and broken up. After awhile of searching for my room, I finally came upon a door with room number 122 on it. I opened the door and the room was a mess! It was filthy - food on the floor, blankets and clothing thrown all over the room, chipped paint on the wall, no sheets on the stained mattress, seriously - it looked like a tornado had just gone through and dumped everything within it into that room. I stood there thinking, are you kidding me? Do I actually have to pay for this? I can't stay here! Ewwww!!! Then I woke up.

Pretty boring dream huh? Here's the thing...for the past few days I couldn't help but feel in my gut that there was something about that dream that was sort of sticking with me. As I was searching for some "meaning" to this dream - I came across Romans 12:2 (above)

This struck a chord within me as it relates exactly to my dream.

First of all: God is telling me that in order to please Him I need to give my whole life as a living sacrifice to Him. As you study the bible you will find that in Old Testament times, people sacrificed innocent animals to God as atonement for their sins. When Jesus, the innocent Lamb of God, was sacrificed as atonement for our sins, and subsequently resurrected that we may have life in Him, God now asks that we make our *whole life* a living sacrifice to him...glorifying Him in ALL that we do, All that we are, All that we have. This simple offering of self is nothing in comparison to all that He blesses me with. My skills, talents, marriage, children, finances, relationships, peace, joy, health...all these things that He pours His grace out on with such undeserved abundance in my life. I am nothing without Him. I can do nothing without Him - therefore I unreservedly, eagerly, and breathlessly give my entire life as a living sacrifice to my God. I offer my whole self, my faults, my weakness, my sin, my shortcomings, my fears, my lack of faith, I offer it all to him and he takes it...he changes it...he transforms it.

I've heard it said that in dreams, a "house" or dwelling place is often symbolic of our "body" [which by the way, is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, the place in which the Spirit of God has actually been placed IN US]. I believe that in my dream, God was showing me that this very messy, disgusting, run down, old room in which I did *not* want to stay was symbolizing my life...one which was shattered, one which was broken, one desparately in need of transformation and renewal.

I have been praying over the past few days to really hear God's voice in something and although I have had a revelation or two about certain aspects of the situation, I have had trouble discerning His will in other areas of the situation that I am praying about. I believe that God is telling me through my dream and through this verse Romans 12:2, that in order to hear His voice, to clearly discern His will, I need to clean up my room! I need to ask for the Spirit of God to reveal to me any unconfessed sin that I might have...maybe something that I am not even aware of, something in me that is not pleasing to the Lord. Perhaps I am holding back forgiveness from someone that I am not even aware of. Matthew 5:8 says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." (You likely recognize this as one of the Beatitudes.)

So for the past couple of days, I've been *cleaning my room*. I'm purifying my body as a sacrifice to the Lord that I might hear His voice more clearly. I have asked the Holy Spirit to reveal to me anything in my life, in my thoughts, in my deeds that is not pleasing to the Lord. I'm also spending more time in deep prayer asking him to reveal His will in this situation. And I believe that I will be blessed by His glorious presence and that He will answer. He is faithful and He is truth. Is there anything in your *room* that needs to be cleaned up today? Anything in your words, in your thoughts that is hindering you from hearing God's voice? From seeing His face? Ask Him to reveal it to you...and when He does, be quick to repent and make it right....blessed are the pure in heart, for they WILL see God!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

If you wish to further study Romans (which is one of my favorite books of the bible) I will share with you that in Romans 12 - in the event that something here will speak to your circumstances...The apostle Paul goes on to say:

"Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!

Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,
“I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord.
Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads." Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

Dear friend, listen well to my words;
tune your ears to my voice.

Keep my message in plain view at all times.
Concentrate! Learn it by heart!

Those who discover these words live, really live;
body and soul, they're bursting with health.

Proverbs 4:20-22

A word of encouragement for today...

Trust Me With All Of Your Heart - Teresa Seputus

Little one, you tell Me that you trust Me with all your heart--but the truth is that you don't really trust Me as much as you think you do. If you trusted Me with all of your heart, then you would not be afraid that I might disqualify you every time that you fall short. If you trusted Me with all of your heart, rejection would have absolutely no power over you, and the words of condemnation that the enemy speaks to you would roll off of your back like water off of a duck's back. You would never have to worry about being passed by or left out. You would know with absolute assuredness that I am for you and that I am good and that I will do good things on your behalf. You would not worry about finances because you would know that I have placed the resources of Heaven at your disposal, and that I am actively at work on your behalf.

I love you dearly, little one, and I am glad that you have put your faith in Me. But your faith still needs to grow and increase. I want to bring you to new levels of hope, faith, and trust; where you are 100% secure in My great love for you. I want to transform your heart so that you do not feel anxious when the circumstances around you appear to go poorly; because you know with absolute certainty that I will move in on your behalf and take care of you. Yes, dear one, there are times when I will put you into a difficult circumstance, so that I might glorify My name through your situation, but I am still at work behind the scenes for your good. I did this with Moses and the children of Israel when the Egyptians pursued them to the shore of the Red Sea. It looked hopeless in the natural, but I always had a plan--I was not caught by surprise. I did allow them to come into what looked like a scary place, but I always intended to rescue them and to glorify My name in the process. So when the time was right, I parted the Red Sea and let them pass through on dry land. I sent My angels to confound the enemy army so that they could not overtake them. I brought My people through safely, and then I closed the Sea over their enemies, completely removing the threat from them.

It is true that this was very frightening for those who followed Moses out of Egypt. But the only reason that this was so scary for them was because they had not learned to trust Me. They should have known, deep down in their innermost being, that I was going to take care of them in a spectacular way that glorified My name. If they had fully trusted Me, then the armies of Egypt would have never caused them any fear or alarm.I want you to learn to live in a place of trust, where you know with absolute certainty that I am taking care of you.

I want you to be able to sleep in the boat in the midst of the fiercest storm, just like My Son Jesus did. The disciples feared the storm greatly, and woke Him so that He might rebuke the storm. But He knew that storm had no power to harm Him because He had placed Himself in My hand. He trusted Me completely, and fear had no power over Him. That is why He could sleep in the midst of the storm--He knew that I am faithful and that He was safe in My hands. Dear one, I want you to have that same assuredness. I want you to learn what it means to truly trust Me, for I am faithful to take good care of My own. When you learn to fully trust Me like My Son did, then you won't be afraid or anxious--no matter what circumstances may come at you. Come to Me dear one, and let Me reveal Myself to you that I might teach you how to walk in that level of trust.

Romans 8:11 (from The Message Bible)

But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!

Coffee Talk

I was having coffee with my husband’s sister on Monday night when she mentioned that someone’s baby had died and that it was just one of those things that happens according to God’s will. It made me think about a book that I had read recently entitled Face to Face with God by Bill Johnson. (An incredible book by the way – pick it up if you want your life changed!)

Not everything that happens is God’s will:
Why did Jesus raise the dead? Because not everyone dies in God’s timing. We cannot have the God the Father choosing to do one thing and Jesus “undoing” or contradicting it with a miracle! God gets blamed for so much in the name of his sovereignty [sovereignty means that He has all power and all authority to do as he wills]. Now of course God can use tragedy for His glory. As people turn to Him for healing, salvation, and deliverance through tragic situations, they are changed, transformed, renewed by the power of His spirit - and thus He is glorified. That said, His ability to rule and have sovereign authority over bad circumstances was never meant to be evidence that those bad circumstances were His will. Rather, it is to display that no matter what happens he is in charge and will rework things to our advantage and to his glory.

I believe that many that call themselves Christians today have a distorted perception that God is angry and that He wants to punish His people at every opportunity. I also believe that the tendency to accept that concept of God being an angry father is in equal proportion to a person’s (or church’s) inability to demonstrate His power. Today many churches are crippled because people view God as one who longs to punish instead of save. The one who reminds them of sin, instead of forgiving. As Bill Johnson explains in Face to Face with God, there is a direct connection between our belief system (including religion) and what actually flows through us. If we don't see the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the ultimate illustration of the will of God we will continually undermine our ability to display it. He gave the example, sent the Holy Spirit and gave us His word for our commission [our assignment - our responsibility]. What else must He do? We own HIM miracles as a testimony that He is alive and that His face is turned toward us. The spirit of the resurrected Christ, that same spirit that anointed Jesus for His miraculous healing ministry lives within us.

Many people are content to live with the concept of the presence of God in their lives, but they fail to expect and receive the experience. When most people walk down the aisle they are not just interested in the concept or the theory of marriage. They usually want to experience marriage in all its privileges and responsibilities. The same can be said of raising children. We don’t go through all the trouble just because we like the concept of being parents... we want the experience ~ the “full meal deal” if you will! The fundamental difference between authentic Christianity and what we call “religion” is the issue of knowing and being known by God versus merely knowing about Him.

Powerlessness is so unacceptable that we will either seek for a fresh baptism in the Spirit until the power that was promised becomes manifested through us - or – sadly we create “doctrinal” or “religious” reasons to comfort ourselves in powerlessness. For instance, I’ve heard it said that God doesn’t perform miracles today like He did in biblical times. [News flash: God never changes. He is the SAME today as He was then and always will be]. People will say that the outpouring of the Spirit of God occurred on the day of Pentecost but that it doesn’t happen any more [Another news flash: check out the revivals that are going on around the world and within the US right now! Google: Asuza street revival. Google: Toronto outpouring Google: Lakeland Revival.] Come on! Seek His Face! Let’s stop focusing on the Christ who died on the cross and fix our eyes on the Christ who was resurrected and is alive!

I don’t want comfort. I want power. How many people came to Jesus for healing and left sick? None. How many came for deliverance and left with torment? None. How many times did Jesus withhold a miracle because the person who came to him had too little faith? Never. He often addressed their lack of faith, but always presented a miracle as a way to greater faith. Jesus perfectly illustrates the will of God. To think otherwise is to put the father and the son at odds and a house divided will fall - Bill Johnson Face to Face with God. He gave the example - we are called to follow it!

In closing: the kingdom of God is not all talk, beliefs and doctrine. The kingdom of God is power. Unlimited power has been granted to those who encounter Him over and over again. Each encounter works its way deeper into our hearts transforming us. The more that we allow the Spirit of God to work on us and within us, the more obvious it will be that the Spirit is flowing through us. It is nearly impossible to experience more of God and keep it to ourselves. As we face God ~ our very nature is changed into the likeness of His nature…and we are called to release His power and His love to those around us.

So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. 1 Peter 5:6-9

What is Satan “devouring” while you are clinging to your own agenda?

We are often busy doing good things and taking satisfaction when other people seem pleased or, even better, impressed. But do you ever wonder why the joy and peace that God has promised is absent from your life? It is easy to assume that if other people are pleased with you, then God must be pleased as well.

Both my husband and I have often found ourselves in a position of seeking the praise, honor, and acceptance of others - our co-workers, friends, family, and in-laws. We accepted almost any opportunity to please others. We were quick to volunteer to join a committee, attend a meeting, or help set up for an event. We had a hard time saying “no” to well meaning friends and family who each wanted a piece of our family’s schedule. We were consistently planning activities for days, weeks, and even months in advance ~ sometimes to the point of being obsessive ~ rather than spending time in the presence of God. All the while, Satan was devouring our time and our souls, one bite at a time. And Satan was pleased because we were running in place and getting nowhere closer to our Father.

Continually seeking the approval of so many others led us to an over-crammed schedule of get-togethers, events, activities, obligations, and deadlines…and ultimately burnout ~ both spiritually and physically. At the end of the day there was nothing left for us, and certainly nothing left for God. We were wanting what Satan had tempted us to want, at the expense of our connection to God…and at the expense of the peace and joy that is promised to us in scripture.

God asks us to humble ourselves. To submit ourselves to His plan for our lives. To be ready to do as He calls us to do. He asks us to stand with Him against the temptation to do what we or other people think will be good for us to do. He assures us that He will call us to our ministries, and our strength and guidance will come from trusting Him. If we stand firm in our faith and keep our hearts open to His calling, He will fight the roaring lion [satan] for us.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11

Satan is hard at work, tempting us all to be content with a life consisting of an abundance of good things that we design for ourselves. We are only a threat to him when we answer God’s call to service, dedicated to the advancement of God’s Kingdom and glory. Satan doesn’t mind if people think you are good. He doesn’t mind if you fill your time doing good things. In fact, the devil will try to tempt you to do exactly that. The “good person” is not the one who annoys the devil—it is the godly person that poses the threat. Satan will tempt you to be good because he fears you will be godly.

How can we stay focused on the right goals? None of us wants to fail, but we live in a world that can often demand and try to direct our ways, more loudly than God. We live in a society that rewards us for the good things we do but can reject us for serving God.

Ephesians 5:1-2 says, “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.”

Christ submitted his life fully to his Father, and we are to follow his example. As the children of God, we are supposed to act like our Father. We are to yield our will to God’s plan and his choices. The goal is to be “carefully determined” to be involved in God things instead of just good things.

Take a moment and consider the week before you. What does your schedule look like? How will God be glorified and the Kingdom affected by your plans? Is your week full of good things or God things? Don’t be content to lead a good life designed to impress others. That temporary contentment is offered by the devil himself. Choose instead to fulfill God’s plan for you. He calls you to be godly and rewards you eternally.

Father, forgive us for the times we lead lives that give you no control and no glory. We confess that it is easier to think of you as Savior than as Lord of our lives. Help us God, to be filled with your Spirit so that when he reveals your call we are ready and willing to serve. We ask this in Jesus precious name. Amen.

Power of the Tongue

James 3:3-4

"We can make a large horse turn around

and go wherever we want

by means of a small bit in its mouth.

And a tiny rudder makes

a huge ship turn

wherever the pilot wants it to go,

even though the winds are strong."

James compares the tongue to a bit in the mouth of a horse and to the rudder of a ship, two very small things that exercise immense power. A small bit enables the rider to control the whole horse as a small rudder enables the captain to steer a large ship.

With one word, a life can change direction because words lead to deeds.

The power of our words is incredible! The bit in a horse's mouth and the rudder of a ship must be under the control of a very strong and steady hand in order to accomplish what they were created to accomplish. It is the same with our tongue. When God controls our tongue, He controls us ~ our actions, our feelings, and the way we impact others. The guidance you give or the direction your life may take is directly related to the words you speak AND sometimes more importantly (especially for chatty pattys like me) the words that you refuse to speak. Your tongue directs your life. What's inside our heart will eventually make its way out of our mouth.

Matthew 12:34-35 states,

"The mouth speaks the things that are in the heart.

Good people have good things in their hearts,

and so they say good things.

But evil people have evil in their hearts,

so they say evil things."

When Jesus is the Lord of the heart,

then He is Lord of the lips as well.

An obedient heart is under the control of Jesus Christ. In order to tame the tongue, we need a new heart, a new heart means new life, and there is only one who has the power to give us a new life -- Jesus Christ. When we ask Jesus Christ to come into our life, He makes everything new and He starts with the heart. A new heart produces a new mouth.

Proverbs 18:21

The tongue has the power of life and death,

and those who love it will eat its fruit.

[Words kill, words give life;

they're either poison or fruit—

you choose.

The Message]

My Prayer:
Father, thank You for Your power to change my heart, renew my mind, and give me new life. I praise You for the changes You are continuing to bring about in my life. Examine my heart and reveal to me how the words I speak come across to others. "Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips" (Psalm 141:3). Help me learn how to use my words as a tool for encouragement and growth in the lives of those to whom I speak. Today, I choose to make a new commitment to speaking right words from a right heart. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Now It's Your Turn
Think back over your day. How would you rate the health of the words you have spoken today? Were they destructive or helpful? Think back to a time when the harsh words of someone wounded you. How did those words make you feel? Is there someone who has suffered at the hand of your words? Are you willing to make it right?

Psalm 56 from The Message

This verse came to me today and I feel it very heavily for a couple of you whom I know read this blog. Know that you are in my prayers for victory in the Lord.

Take my side, God—
I'm getting kicked around, stomped on every day.
Not a day goes by but somebody beats me up;
They make it their duty to beat me up.

When I get really afraid I come to you in trust.
I'm proud to praise God; fearless now, I trust in God.
What can mere mortals do?

They don't let up—
They smear my reputation and huddle to plot my collapse.
They gang up, sneak together through the alleys
To take me by surprise, wait their chance to get me.

Pay them back in evil! Get angry, God!
Down with these people!

You've kept track of my every toss and turn
through the sleepless nights,
Each tear entered in your ledger,
each ache written in your book.

If my enemies run away, turn tail when I yell at them,
Then I'll know that God is on my side.

I'm proud to praise God, proud to praise God.
Fearless now, I trust in God;
what can mere mortals do to me?

God, you did everything you promised,
and I'm thanking you with all my heart.
You pulled me from the brink of death,
my feet from the cliff-edge of doom.
Now I stroll at leisure with God in the sunlit fields of life.

Bible FUN!

Have you ever noticed the sevens in the bible? The number seven is used in over 600 passages in the Bible. Some of them are very obvious, some of them are structural in nature, and some are hidden. What is known as the "heptadic" or seven-fold structure appears to act as a signature of sorts that the Author of the Bible [God] has deliberately fingerprinted the text with so it is virtually impossible to compromise.

For example, this is an exercise that was part of a recent bible study I attended - try it!

Take a moment to make up and write out a "sample" geneology - the rules are:

• The number of words you use must be exactly divisible by seven.
• The number of letters must also be divisible by exactly seven.
• The number of vowels is to be divisible by exactly seven.
• The number of words that begin with a vowel must be divisible by exactly seven.
• The number of words that occur more than once must be divisible by exactly seven.
• The number of words that occur in more than one form must be divisible by exactly seven.
• The number of nouns must be divisible by exactly seven.
• The number of names shall be divisible by seven and only seven other kinds of nouns will be permitted.
• The number of male names shall be divisible by seven.
• The number of generations shall be divisible by seven.

Easy? Certainly not for a math flunkie like me!

FACT: This is the EXACT geneology of Jesus Christ in the opening eleven verses in the Gospel of Matthew (in the original Greek text). Phenominal?! Seriously, I believe God hid all these little "codes" in the Bible for people like me who had questioned this stuff unceasingly ~ until I was born again and started actually studying the Bible.

Another fun fact:

The Gospel of Matthew uses 42 words that are not used anywhere else in the New Testament (NT). Those 42 words (7 times 6) have 126 letters (another exact multiple of 7). IF Matthew had set out to do this deliberately, how would he go about it? The only characteristic that these words share is that nobody else used them. How would he have determined that no one else would use them? Remember the Bible, a collection of 66 books, was written over a period of 2,000 years by over 40 people. Oddly the same heptadic structure is used in the other three gospels as well! But wait - you will find the same structure, each in its writer's own unique vocabulary, in exact multiples of seven in the books of James, Peter, Jude, and Paul!

Along with the significance of sevens and other subtle findings of letters, numbers, etc... there are major "codes" in the Bible that give us hints or anticipations of what is coming. For instance, Abraham offered his son Isaac for sacrifice on the exact same spot where another Father (God) would offer His Son (Jesus) for sacrifice [side note, that particular location is atop a mountain at an altitude of exactly 777 feet...hmm].

There are numerous examples of this type of authentication that are found throughout the Bible. Every number, every place name, every detail is there by deliberate design. Of course this is not the only way to know that the Bible is true.

Jesus gave us all a challenge in John 7:17

"If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own."

Take the Bible challenge! Take Him at His word and see what happens!

Blessed to Believe

I've heard it said many times in my family and social circles, "I have a hard time believing...[such and such]" But believing in the supernatural is simple! It just requires that we willfully - that means simply by choice - put our trust in God and stop relying on our own handsome looks, skills and abilities, social status and possessions. Believing requires that we lay down our pride and stop relying on our own mere human adequacy. It requires having an ounce of faith and a few shots of courage and just stepping out of the darkness of the proverbial box and into a new light, a new way of thinking.

Believing is a choice of what we will choose to desire. It is saying, "I desire what God wants more than I desire what I want". It is saying, "I desire to obey God's calling more than I desire to run my own life according to my own rules". Simple right? There are things in life that we choose to desire [our own spouses for example] and things we choose not to desire [someone else's spouse].

Believing is a choice, it involves our will. It is an act of will to confess and repent and then turn away from those things which are cultivating negativity and darkness into our lives. It is an act of will to yield ourselves [our desires, our goals, our thoughts, our plans] to the Holy Spirit and say to the Lord, "Not my will, but Thy will be done".

Once you begin to turn your thoughts over to the Lord - you will find that they are filled with hope. That despite your circumstances, you feel peaceful and joyful. Not the kind of peace that comes from a few hours of rest, but the kind that is so deep you don't even really understand why you feel so peaceful, or how you could feel so peaceful. But you will know that it is the peace that Jesus left for you before He joined our Father.

When you begin to turn your decision making and goal setting over to God - you will find that His Spirit that is in you will lead you down the right paths. Things will begin to happen that feel like coincidence, but are WAY to coincidental and WAY too God oriented and WAY too good! For instance, someone mentioned to me a few days ago, a situation in their life that I immediately felt compelled to pray about. I left work for a bit to pray and on my way back I stopped at the coffee shop to grab lunch. While waiting for my sandwich, I saw a little book on the shelf - I do not even know what it was called, but it was something about "Grace" and it caught my eye...so I picked it up and flipped through it - it opened right to a page that held a scriptural verse on it that I had been studying earlier in the day and had been using in prayer for this person. Simple confirmation of God's voice....or coincidence? I choose to believe it was God's voice. I shared the scripture with this person and I believe it shed light on their circumstances, just as God intended. You will find that when you give your life to God and allow the Spirit to lead you, these types of divine interventions will occur on a regular basis. As I've said before, if you seek Him, you will find Him. He will not hide his face from you. You just have to choose Him. Choose to believe Him. Not believe IN Him. But believe Him. Believe that He is who He says He is and He does what He says He will do. Choose to believe and see your life be transformed and richly blessed.

The Old Way Has to Go

[an excerpt from Paul's letter to the Ephesians from "The Message" bible]

* * *

And so I insist—and God backs me up on this—that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd. They've refused for so long to deal with God that they've lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can't think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion.
But that's no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It's rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you. "

Eph. 4:15-24

* * *

Houston? Can You Hear Me?

Article in Today’s Pentecostal Evangel: Excerpted from Prayer Basics: Understanding the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of Prayer by John Maempa and James Meredith

"Each of us possesses a soul that distinguishes us from the animal kingdom. That is the spiritual “component” that enables us to connect with God. In very casual terms, our spiritual component is like the receiver in a cell phone or radio. A receiver picks up electromagnetic signals and converts them to sound. Similarly, our spiritual nature is the component within each of us that responds to God, that orients us to divine reality.

In times of great crisis or stress, people automatically turn to prayer for comport, solace and hope. Even nonbelievers will call out to God. The spiritual component is alive and active, whether or not it is recognized or acknowledged.

While each of us I wired to communicate with God, sending and receiving communication from him are dynamically linked to relationship. The closer our relationship is with God, the clearer our communication with Him will be.

If we wander away from God, we start losing the signal. With a receiver, signal strength is maximized by proximity to the tower. The farther away the receiver moves from a transmitting tower, the weaker the signal gets. So it is in our ability to commune with God. If we distance ourselves from Him spiritually (and it’s always we who move), the signal weakens. If we move too far, we can’t receive a signal at all.

Only by praying on a regular basis and paying close attention to God’s Word can we attain the closeness we need to be in communion with Him. When we’re close to God, our sensitivity to the voice of the Spirit is greatly enhanced. The signal is picked up and there is a sense of the Spirit bearing witness with our spirit as the communication channel is open and the signals come through.

We then know the reality of Psalm 145:18: “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth” "

Four Questions to Ask God Every Day

Excerpt taken from, "Living in the Power of the Holy Spirit" by Charles F. Stanley

"From time to time I meet people who are having a hard time and who sometimes admit they are discouraged and depressed. As I ask them for details about their lives, I often discover that they are acting totally on their own strength and energy. they are trusting in their experience, their education, their acquired skills, and their natural know-how. In some cases, they are trusting in others to provide for them. Their discouragement is rooted in the fact that they are failing in some way or others are failing them. They are disappointed in themselves or in others."

Anytime you try to reach your full potential using human resources alone you are likely to fail. The real key to reaching your potential lies in trusting God to help you become your best. We do this by actively (and verbally) placing our trust in the Lord.

There are 4 questions to ask the Lord daily:

1) What do You want me to do? Then be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit deep within your heart. Trust Him to give you precise guidance and direction. God speaks using a still small voice deep within you. You might sense a "bubbling up" of words or thoughts. * Keep in mind, the voice of God, the direction of God, will always - always agree with scripture and ultimately bear the fruits of the Spirit (which are "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" Galatians 5:22-23).

2) How do You want me to act? Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how you are to accomplish whatever goals He sets before you...then listen up for that still, small voice!

3) When do You want me to act? We often fail because we get ahead of God (my personal struggle) or we lag behind Him (my husband's personal struggle). When you act can be as important as how you act and what you do.

4) How can I best represent You today? The Holy Spirit wants to use you to influence others not only through what you do and say, but simply by your presence in any group of people. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the joy, peace, and forgiving spirit that will act as a witness to Christ and allow others to see Christ in YOU!

We ourselves can not be "good enough" on our own. As a child, growing up in church, I was taught that in order to get to Heaven you must be "good enough"...do good works...go to church... obey the 10 commandments, etc... The problem is that none of us is "good enough" ~ we were born with human sin nature - that is why we were given the cross and more importantly the resurrection. We will never be good enough on our own. We must put our trust in God and believe that Jesus died on the cross for us, and that if we repent and turn from our sins, we can know that His blood covers and washes them away, and as we turn from our sin and are born-again/resurrected just like Jesus was, that we can have eternal life. (eternal does not mean just after we die either....TODAY is part of eternity - you can have an abundant peaceful, joyful life by knowing God TODAY!)

It is only as we allow the Spirit to do his work in us, and open ourselves up to His power and presence that we will be transformed until we develop the same character and personality 'traits' that are truly loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and under control at all times (Fruits of the Spirit, Gal 5:22-23)

Opportunities in Options

Our ability to choose is remarkable. However, many things in life are forced upon us initially. We cannot choose who will give birth to us, what town we'll grow up in, or who are family will be. But as we get older, our world of options increases - also increasing the impact our choices have on us as well as our loved ones.

CONSIDER THIS:

The most important decision you will ever make is what you will do with God.

Not convinced? If God in fact IS who most people think He is, if God is who He says He is, then God is the most important being that exists. He is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. He is the one being who has always existed and who will always exist. He is eternal, all knowing and all-powerful. There simply is no greater being.

Some decisions are no big deal...cone or dish? ketchup or mustard? Whatever. But choosing whether to say "yes" to God? That's as big a deal as deals come! And that's exactly the situation we all find ourselves in at some point in our lives. God allows the free will to choose whether or not we will follow him. Oh, and by the way, saying, "I'll just make that decision later" is actually a decision in and of itself.

Why God gives us the free will to choose whether or not to follow him, to know him, to love him, to serve him, to praise him, is very simple in my opinion. I guess that's because I have children of my own, whom I love more than anything on earth. I do not ever want to have to force them to love me, to know me, to come to me. I want them to do that because they WANT to. I never want to have to force my kids to spend time with me in their free time, or force them to have a conversation with me. Nor does God our Father want to have to force us to come to him, to know him, to have a conversation with him in prayer. He says all throughout his word that we are his children. Why would he treat us any differently?

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink;
or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more important than food,
and the body more important than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air;
they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not much more valuable than they?
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes?
See how the lilies of the field grow.
They do not labor or spin.
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor
was dressed like one of these.
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field,
which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,
will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?'
or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
For the pagans run after all these things,
and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:25-34

Power and Authority

Throughout the bible we hear the words power and authority used repeatedly to describe the workings of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Power:
The ability, strength, and capacity to do something. Physical force or strength. Control and influence over other people and their judgment, emotions, or actions. The authority to act or do something according to a law or rule. A skill or ability.

Authority:
The right or power to enforce rules or give orders. Somebody or something with official power. Power to act on behalf of somebody else, or official permission to do something. Source of reliable information: a source of reliable information on a subject. A statement that makes somebody believe something is true.

As you can see, power and authority do not suggest a passive nature. Instead, they suggest that the Spirit is proactive, intentional, urging and demanding in the way He deals with us in our day to day lives.

There are many biblical references to the fact that the Holy Spirit gives us the actual divine energy of God in order to enable us physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually to do what God calls us to do. This is a sustaining power, not just a burst of energy. It gives us the ability to persevere and to overcome!

The Holy Spirit’s goal is to get us to obey God, come into fellowship with Him, and glorify Him.
There are a number of specific things the Holy Spirit does in the life of a believer. He does these things constantly:

1) Convicts us of sin. Not one of us comes to Christ without repentance and the conviction of the Holy Spirit. He reveals our sins so we might confess them – and I’m not talking about going to confession here folks. C’mon! I’m talking get on your knees, cry out to the Lord and repent and then TURN from your sins…ask Him to help you to never do those things again! Give yourself a shot at joy, peace, forgiveness, and freedom like you have never known!

2) Regenerates us. He saves us. He dwells within us. He continues to convict us and then cleanse us as we repent and draw nearer to God.

3) Teaches us and guides us. He gives us insight to the meaning of scripture and brings scripture to our remembrance. He gives us words to speak when we face persecution or when we are asked to witness, or speak about Jesus.

4) Comforts us. His presence abiding in us helps us to withstand, overcome, and deal with grief, loneliness, fear, and my personal issue anxiety! He gives us peace. The peace that Jesus left for us in John 14:27 ”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.” He comforts us in our time of need – giving peace that passes all understanding no matter what the situation!

5) Gives spiritual gifts. Gifts are given for both ministry [to be developed and used to help bring the lost into fellowship with Christ * see Romans12:6-8] and for supernatural gifts for use in accomplishing His purpose [1 Corinthians 12:7-10]. Supernatural gifts are also called manifestations of the Spirit. They are not given to a believer on a permanent basis, but rather they are gifts that flow through a believer on a temporary basis to meet a specific need.

6) Imparts His nature to us. As I’ve discussed previously, the Holy Spirit bears His fruit in our lives. The more we follow His promptings and abide in Him the more we are made to be like Him and display the characteristics of: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

7) Refines and transforms us. From the inside out...praise God!!

All that the Holy Spirit does in and through us is for our eternal benefit and ultimately for us to bring glory to God our Father. He does these things with POWER and AUTHORITY. The only thing preventing Him from doing all these things for you is your refusal to allow Him to work in you! Perhaps your refusal is rooted in willful rebellion…or perhaps it is more subtle – simply rooted in your wanting to do things your own way and living by your own strength. If you do not invite the Holy Spirit in to work in you and through you, you will not experience the fullness of His presence or power in your life.

Ask yourself these questions:

Do I have joy in my life regardless of my circumstances?

Am I eager to get up each morning to see what God has in store for me? Do I live in eager expectation of all that God is going to do?

Am I quick to praise God and thank Him for all that he has done, is doing, and promises to do for me?

Am I willing to submit myself to others or do I cling to what I want, when I want it, and how I want it?

Am I willing to trust God to work through others to accomplish His perfecting work in me?

Am I willing to submit MY will to HIS will?

Am I using my spiritual gifts?

If your answer is no to any of these questions, ask the Spirit to do more of His work in you so that your answers might become YES! Ask the Spirit to reveal your sins, cleanse you and give you the strength to repent and turn from them. Ask Him to teach you and guide you into the ways that you should go. Ask Him to help you to train your mind so that your thought patterns will line up with God’s Word. Invite the Holy Spirit to do His work in you and to give you His joy, His heart, His mind, His goals, His motivation….and His POWER!

Whatever You're Doing...

It's time for healing time to move on
It's time to fix what's been broken too long
Time make right what has been wrong
It's time to find my way to where I belong
There's a wave that's crashing over me
All I can do is surrender

Whatever you're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos somehow there's peace
It's hard to surrender to what I can't see
but I'm giving in to something heavenly

Time for a milestone
Time to begin again
Revaluate who I really am
Am I doing everything to follow your will
or just climbing aimlessly over these hills
So show me what it is you want from me
I give everything I surrender...
To...

Whatever you're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos somehow there's peace
It's hard to surrender to what I can't see
but I'm giving in to something heavenly

Time to face up
Clean this old house
Time to breathe in and let everything out
That I've wanted to say for so many years
Time to release all my held back tears

Whatever you're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but I believe
You're up to something bigger than me
Larger than life something heavenly

Whatever you're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but now I can see
This something bigger than me
Larger than life something heavenly
Something heavenly

It's time to face up
Clean this old house
Time breathe in and let everything out

I totally blew it!

This morning on my way to drop my lovey bears off at daycare I spotted a disheveled looking young man in ragged clothing walking along the viaduct in the pouring rain. Immediately my heart stopped and I knew I had to find out how I could help him. I didn’t have any cash on me and I had my children in the car (let’s face it people, we live in a scary world) so I hurried and dropped my kids off with barely a peck goodbye and sped off to try to find this man. I wanted to pray with him, buy him breakfast, something - anything! My heart was jumping out of my chest! I drove back to the area where I had seen him and he was not there. I assumed he must have gone into the gas station to get out of the rain so I pulled in and frantically roamed through the aisles looking for him and he wasn’t there. I’m so bummed out! I blew it! God was handing me what I know would have been an incredibly powerful experience [because when God’s involved it’s ALWAYS powerful!] and I missed it!! I drove to work feeling heavy hearted and grieving the loss of my opportunity to witness to this person the love of Jesus. Waah!

May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. (Psalm 20:1)

Possessing Nothing to Possess All

Mark Earley - President, Prison Fellowship
July 11, 2008

1948 was the year the "Big Bang" theory was introduced, the game "Scrabble" was first played, and state of Israel was established [in accordance with biblical prophesy]. It was also the year that A. W. Tozer wrote The Pursuit of God—a small book, but one that has profoundly influenced Christians for the past 60 years. It has challenged me, and I hope this summer you give it a chance to challenge you.

Ken Boa, who features The Pursuit of God this month in his tremendous "Great Books Audio CD" series, says that Tozer was "a modern mystic who had given priority to the lost art of meditation." Tozer, a self-taught pastor in the Chicago area, was not known among those in his congregation as the most gregarious man. In fact, it was rumored that Tozer rarely visited his congregants unless they were deathly ill. But his aloofness was simply the product of a man relentlessly chasing after God.

Boa explains that when Tozer prayed, he would often put on a ragged pair of pants—what became known as his "prayer pants"—and spend hours in solitude with God. In fact, it was during one solitary train ride from Chicago to Texas that Tozer penned The Pursuit of God—all of it!

Tozer's behavior might seem a bit strange to us today, but his words offer timeless significance. In The Pursuit of God, Tozer tramples on mediocrity in the Christian life. He wrote: "The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing."

Here, Tozer confronts what he called the "tyranny of things"—in other words, the subtle way that materialism can take us captive. He asks readers to consider whether they are willing to walk through sadness, suffering, and solitude in order to know God deeply. This he calls "the blessedness of possessing nothing."

He explains that man can discover this blessedness only by wholeheartedly running after God. "The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One," he wrote. "Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness."

Much of what Tozer had to say slaps modern man in the face. He calls into question the materialism and idolatry that continue to infect our churches and our lives. He asks us to question why we have difficulty spending time in solitude. And, he gives us the opportunity to return to a place of "meekness and rest," where Christ becomes all that we need.

I highly recommend you pick up this book this summer and read it. It is quite short, but I guarantee you will be surprised by its depth and profundity. But also prepare to be challenged by what it truly means to pursue God.

The full text of Tozer's short book "The Pursuit of God" can be read by copying and pasting this link into your browser:

http://www3.calvarychapel.com/library/Tozer-AW/PursuitOfGod/0.htm

I Wanna Know You

Our relationship with God begins the very moment we trust in Christ for salvation. But of course, coming to really know God does not happen with just one single encounter with Him. Truly *knowing* God involves a relationship of both commitment and time. The same is true in human relationships - we typically get to know a person better by spending quality time with them. Relationships also involve communication. I don't know of any healthy relationships that involve people who do not speak to each other. The way we are able to communicate with God by prayer.

Prayer is nothing more than having a conversation with your Father. That's it. It doesn't require long repetitive religious words or phrases like 'therefore thou art' or anything like that. It is a simple, honest and intimate conversation with Him.

When we come to God in prayer we can expect that he hears us and he knows the intentions of our hearts. Prayer that does not come from our hearts is not effective. Our attitude in prayer should be an attitude of acceptance. "God, this is what I would like and what I think that I need. I'm asking you to provide it. But if it is not what is best for me in the long run, help me to accept whatever comes."

God ALWAYS answers prayer. ALWAYS. He will choose one of three answers:

1) Yes. You are ready for this right now.
2) Wait. The timing is not quite right yet. I'm still doing a work inside of you.
3) No. This is not what is best for you. You'll likely be able to look back and thank Him for unanswered prayers in this case.

Even an effective prayer might not always alter the circumstances of your life, but at the very least it can produce the power necessary for you to cope with your situation and live in TRUE peace, joy, and contentment.

In Phillipians 4:6-9, the apostle Paul says:

“Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.

Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

Then you will experience God's peace,

which exceeds anything we can understand.

His peace will guard your hearts and minds

as you live in Christ Jesus.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.

Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable,

and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.

Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—

everything you heard from me and saw me doing.

Then the God of peace will be with you.”

* * *

Further down in Philippians 4:10-13, Paul goes on to attest personally to the truth of this passage as he writes from a Roman prison. From behind bars Paul says, “I’ve learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little … I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little" (Phil. 4:11-12). Paul LEARNED how to be happy and content. It didn’t just happen once he reached his goals. In fact, he claims his ability to be happy and content had absolutely nothing to do with his situation, or circumstances, but rather his increased trust in and reliance on Christ. So happiness and contentment are not things that come once our house is furnished, our lawns are lush, we own a nice car or our dreams are fulfilled. Instead it is learned as we become prayerful (verse 6) and thankful (verse 6), as we practice positive spiritual thinking (verse 8), and as we trust fully and completely in Christ (verse 13). Start practicing Paul’s process of prayer, thankfulness, and positive thinking today and begin to find joy, peace, and contentment in your life.