Posts

Showing posts from March, 2019

The Called

Image
'At the same time the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we don’t know how to pray for what we need. But the Spirit intercedes along with our groans that cannot be expressed in words . The one who searches our hearts knows what the Spirit has in mind. The Spirit intercedes for God’s people the way God wants him to.   We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God—those whom he has called according to his plan' Romans 8:26-28 (GW) With all the things that could go wrong in life, where would we be without the power of the Holy Spirit?  The Spirit helps us in our time of need.  He teaches us how and even what to pray for. He even interceding along the way with our groans and murmurings as God desires. Because of the work of the Holy Spirit, we can be assured that everything will turn out and all things will work together for our good! Isn't that a glorious thought? God working on my behalf! Good things coming out of my sanctif...

A Story of Hope

Image
'When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God [had compassion and] relented concerning the disaster which He had declared that He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.' Jonah 3:10 (AMP) Nineveh was once a real city in Iraq. It was formed in 6000 BC, yet its ruins still remain today. One day it may have claimed to have the world's largest popula tion, also being known as 'sin city'. In that day, the Word of God came to Jonah to go to that great city with a warning. Forty days more! The mighty nation of Nineveh was given a brief opportunity. The people heard the word and believed it and repented. They did everything their king commanded them to do; they abstained from food or water, they wore only sackcloth, they repented to God, they turned from their wicked and violent ways and their sentence was not carried out. God saw their works. God in His mercy had compassion on them and relented. This is a story of Di...

No Fabric Softener Needed

Image
'Your adornment must not be merely external—with interweaving and elaborate knotting of the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or [being superficially preoccupied with] dressing in expensive clothes; but let it be [the inner beauty of] the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality and unfading charm of a gentle and peaceful spirit, [one that is calm and self- controlled, not overanxious, but serene and spiritually mature] which is very precious in the sight of God.' 1 Peter 3:3-4 (AMP) Air dry your clothes. In this way you maintain longevity, of the fabric. Do not use fabric softener, which smells nice but adds nothing of value and can be quite harmful to your clothes and dangerous to you as well. This film that your dryer sheets add to your clothing, could cause skin irritation and allergies by cutting off air flow and increase flammability. You skin needs to breath. Your clothes should be flame resistant. To keep you...

Are you ready?

Image
'He asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, whom God has sent.” Luke 9:20 (GW) I have heard it said to me once that, 'Not everyone thinks the same way you do'. 'Not everyone sees things the same way that you do'. 'Not everyone believes the same things that you do'. Not everyone. But a lot of someones. Are you ready? Jesus has said, You have seen me and you have seen the Father. What say you? Who do you say that I am? The world sees Him one way, but to His own followers, they had their moments, but when He pressed them on it, they had to admit that He was God sent! Peter spoke for the rest, 'You are the Messiah!' 'You', the Master and leader of our very small group, 'are' because we see You and know You and say that you are, 'the' the One we have searched for and the One we have believed in, 'Messiah', the One, the Christ, the Son of the Living God, our Lord. Bas...

Picture Perfect. The Loud House!

Image
'Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Praise God in his holy sanctuary! Praise him in his stronghold in the sky! Praise him for his miracles of might! Praise him for his magnificent greatness! Praise him with the trumpets blasting! Praise him with piano and guitar! Praise him with drums and dancing! Praise him with the loud, resounding clash of cymbals! Praise him with every instrument you can find! Let everyone everywhere join in the crescendo of ecstatic praise to Yahweh! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord.' Psalm 150 (TPT) 150 was to be the grand finale - a song of praise! Every word, every punctuation mark and every syllable placed in picture perfect position and oh the harmony! Meant to stir us up! And it does. The rhythm section way! Go get a drummer! Help is on the way. Get loud! This one, like the others, is meant for the Church, to excite us to praise God. And it does. Where? Praise Him in the church for all the great things He has done for us. He redeemed us! H...

Sorry, I'm Early

Image
'Early in the morning, Jesus got up, left the house while it was still dark outside, and went to a deserted place to pray.' Mark 1:35 (VOICE) 3:56 am. Many of the leaders of the faith start their day early. Many business owners in the secular world do as well. Take Apple's CEO Tim Cook, 3:45, and undoubtedly the other 499 of the Fortune 500 bosses are right there with him. This i s why. It's mind over mattress. Their feet hit the floor before the cock crows. It's early bird syndrome. It's what the birds seem to know, and most of the sleeping masses miss, when you beat the sun up and use the time you gain wisely, you really are ahead of most of the world. Many of the leaders of the world use this time of their day to read and answer their emails. Some go for a run and most pray. Yes, that is what they do. They pray and they meditate on the Word. That is what the Lord did. That's what Christ knew, that before He was ready to meet the masses of p...

Grace and Gravity

Image
'Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.' 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NLT) So the prayer remains. Heal me. The response stays the same. My grace is sufficient. There is power in your weakness. We are talking about one of the important lessons of faith. Little word, grace. Big meaning. Grace. Grace. Grace. Why have I missed it all these years? It's not the 'me', it is the 'He'! Getting to the place where I can accept and even boast about my afflictions is not an easy road. I catch glimpses. Like yesterday. While we were surrounding another at the altar, it jumped out at me. Why my struggles? It was because they were my struggles. This was at that Holy Spirit place of worship, where the anointing was heavy and flowing, I could feel the weightlessness. Gravity was there, but I decided to see where He wanted to take me, ...

Sunday Funday

Image
' Hallelujah! Yes, praise the Lord! Sing him a new song. Sing his praises, all his people. O Israel, rejoice in your Maker. O people of Jerusalem, exult in your King. Praise his name with dancing, accompanied by drums and lyre. For Jehovah enjoys his people; he will save the humble. Let his people rejoice in this honor. Let them sing for joy as they lie upon their beds. Adore him, O his people! And take a double-edged sword to execute his punishment upon the nations. Bind their kings and leaders with iron chains, and execute their sentences. He is the glory of his people. Hallelujah! Praise him!' Psalm 149 (TLB) My Sundays are my fun days and this song makes me want to shout Hallelujah! Somebody ought to shout! You know I am a music lover and it doesn't take much, but this song makes me want to dance. Somebody ought to dance! Every day He brings new mercies. He is my merciful Lord and He is always willing to be my dance partner. That is why I sing. S...

A Reason to Believe

Image
  'Since, brothers and sisters, we are on the topic of the coming of our Lord Jesus the Anointed and how we will all gather together to meet Him, we ask that you don’t let your minds get quickly rattled or become anxious because of someone else’s so-called “spiritual revelation” or because someone gave you a message or claimed to know of a letter allegedly from us reporting that the day of the Lord has already come! Don’t be deceived by anyone! That day, that amazing day, won’t come until after the great rebellion and the unveiling of the rebellious one. As the spawn of death, he delights in destruction.He sets himself up as the great adversary of God and vies for a place above all other so-called gods or objects of worship. If it were possible, he would even take a seat—yes, exalt himself—in the temple of the one true God, declaring that he himself is God!  Don’t you remember me telling you all this the last time we were together? You know what res...

Prepping for Sunday

Image
'Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8 (NIV) What do you want to do for our anniversary, he asked? Let's go out for dinner, I said, and that's exactly what we did. No planning, no discussing, just being picked up and arriving. It was spontaneous and it was not planned. It was lovely. Sometimes lack of planning is exciting. You just don't know where he is going to take you. Not so with Sunday. It is unfortunate when I show up for Church with as much planning. How do you prepare to meet your church family? On a whim? I hope not. Is it a hurry up and get out the door, upsetting type of day, or a more thoughtful, relaxed and excited type of day? Is it worth it? What are you getting out of it? Do you ever even consider staying in bed? Oh no. If that's me, then I need to rethink where my heart is. You see for some, they have made Sunday their begi...

Let the Saved Say So

Image
'Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim that He has redeemed them from the hand of the foe and has gathered them from the lands— from the east and the west, from the north and the south.' Psalm 107:2-3 (HCSB) If we are redeemed we ought to say so! Say-so. Speak the Word. Say it loudly. Not on our own word, but on the Word of the Lord. The Lord is the one that has delivered us out of our circumstances. He was to us, our rescuer and our redeemer. We call Him our Lord. We call out to Him and we gratefully name all of His benefits. He benefited us in so many ways. His rescue was complete. From the very beginning we were taken captive by the enemy and were witnesses to unbelievable horrors and some of us suffered many things. Even during our travels to freedom we were exposed to the uttermost extremes that nature could put out, burning sun and heat of day, bitter wind and cold of night, yet we endured many harships. He gathered us. He protected us from our foe....

No Gray Today.

Image
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.' Matthew 7:13-14 (NKJV) There are only two ways right and wrong, good and evil, the way to heaven and the way to hell. Each one of us are heading in one of those directions. There is no middle ground. There is no gray area. Every child of God chooses their own way. They are either saints or sinners. The godly or the ungodly. Since we have a choice it might be beneficial to consider the path we are on. For the sinner, it is an easy choice. The road is wide, with many travelers. You will not be alone. There are no check points, no road signs, no warnings, no hindrances to warn you, just you and your lusts. Few are the benefits that lead to your destruction and eternal life in hell. The Eternal One has His own narrow Way ...

Author and Finisher: J.C.

Image
' Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!' Hebrews 2:1-3 (MSG) Don't you see it? The amazing gift of life we have been given! Look at that great cloud of witnesses! Why even yesterday, I was encouraged by more than a few of them. Don't give up! So what's my excuse? It's my ...

The Spiritual Remainder

Image
'If you remain in Me and My words remain in you [that is, if we are vitally united and My message lives in your heart], ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified and honored by this, when you bear much fruit, and prove yourselves to be My [true] disciples.' John 15:7-8 (AMP) When I find myself in that place of perfect unity with Jesus Christ I find myself at peace. That is where I will remain. That is where I apply His W ord and see the multiplication of His blessings and abide in the Spiritual Remainder. His Word will I speak. His message lives in my heart. We are united in thought and word. I am in Him. He is living in me. His Will is my own and because I know Him I can be assured that He hears me. He hears me and He makes Himself known to me. His desires are my desires. My desires become His desires. Whatever I wish He will do. To God be the Glory.  

Speak Truth to Power

Image
'War broke out in Heaven. Michael and his Angels fought the Dragon. The Dragon and his Angels fought back, but were no match for Michael. They were cleared out of Heaven, not a sign of them left. The great Dragon—ancient Serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, the one who led the whole earth astray—thrown out, and all his Angels thrown out with him, thrown down to earth. Then I heard a strong voice out of Heaven saying, Salvation and power are established! Kingdom of our God, authority of his Messiah! The Accuser of our brothers and sisters thrown out, who accused them day and night before God. They defeated him through the blood of the Lamb and the bold word of their witness. They weren’t in love with themselves; they were willing to die for Christ. So rejoice, O Heavens, and all who live there, but doom to earth and sea, For the Devil’s come down on you with both feet; he’s had a great fall; He’s wild and raging with anger; he h...

Why Pray?

Image
'Never stop praying.' 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NLT) Why pray? When our elected officials doubt that there is a God and question why we even pray, that is a call to pray. We should pray for our leaders. We should especially pray for those that are called to represent us without knowing Him and allowing Him to guide them. If they don't listen to Him, then who is guiding them? It is God's des ire that all might find Him before it is too late and that they too might develop a personal relationship with and follow Jesus. God has called all believers to pray. He calls us to it and we are obedient to do whatever He says. He is our God of peace. Our Savior, Jesus prayed and He is our righteous example. Praying is how we talk to and listen to our Heavenly Father. God established prayer as part of His plan to accomplish His will while we are still in the world. Even though evil is in the world, we believe that God uses prayer to change us. He is our God of mercy and ...

Friday's Song

Image
'O my soul, come, praise the Eternal with all that is in me—body, emotions, mind, and will—every part of who I am— praise His holy name. O my soul, come, praise the Eternal; sing a song from a grateful heart; sing and never forget all the good He has done. Despite all your many offenses, He forgives and releases you. More than any doctor, He heals your diseases. He reaches deep into the pit to deliver you from death. He crowns you with unfailing love and compassion like a king. When your soul is famished and withering, He fills you with good and beautiful things, satisfying you as long as you live. He makes you strong like an eagle, restoring your youth praise His holy name.' Psalm 103:1-5 (VOICE) Often times I realize that it is the pardon of my sins that keeps me from the effects of it. When the desire is removed, I am freed from its hold over me. Cause is removed, logically, effect is denied it's ugly hold on me. Nothing good is kept from...

Narrow and Straight

Image
'I am the door; by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.' John 10:9 (KJ21)  Christ offers Himself to the world and with a promise, that He alone is able to handle all of our needs. No other could do all that He takes as His own responsibilities as our God. He saves us, He keeps us secure. He sustains us and gives us a hope and a larger purpose. Through Him I find safety. His love is strong and His hands are mighty. He is my defense against a strong wind and evil that presents itself. I should not trust in my own limited physical power, but just believe in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. Keeping Him between me and the world gives me confidence because I know He loves me. I am free to enter into His peace and to go out where He sends me to obediently follow His will. I have access to the hidden treasures of the temple and to pursue the mysteries of the world of service. I am free to serve as a woman...

Plowing up All of the Rocks

Image
' Lord, I am calling to you. Please hurry! Listen when I cry to you for help! Accept my prayer as incense offered to you, and my upraised hands as an evening offering. Take control of what I say, O Lord, and guard my lips. Don’t let me drift toward evil or take part in acts of wickedness. Don’t let me share in the delicacies of those who do wrong. Let the godly strike me! It will be a kindness! If they correct me, it is soothing medicine. Don’t let me refuse it. But I pray constantly against the wicked and their deeds. When their leaders are thrown down from a cliff, the wicked will listen to my words and find them true. Like rocks brought up by a plow, the bones of the wicked will lie scattered without burial. I look to you for help, O Sovereign Lord. You are my refuge; don’t let them kill me, Keep me from the traps they have set for me, from the snares of those who do wrong. Let the wicked fall into their own nets, but let me escape.' Psalm 141 (NLT) It ...

Finding Him (once again) In the Praise

Image
'Then I will sing praises to your name forever, and I will do what I promised every single day.' Psalm 61:8 (CEB) My desire Is to be engaged in it Forever Singing Praises to Your name My God Reigns! Keeping My Promised to You Daily The 'it' in the poem above is my desire to serve God every day. Some days that seems to be more of a challenge than others for me. I have come to realize that serving Him seems to be associated with praising Him. That's the direct link. Jesus is the door. No need to be looking for open doors any longer. He is the meaning to life. He is the answer. Simply put, I need to praise Him in order to keep my vows. When I neglect the praise part of my day then all else is forgotten in the process. Miss a praise day and it effects my entire week. Broken promises lead to bad days. Only after praising Him am I able to do every single day that which I promised Him I would do. The praise seems to keep the promises in mind. The...

Fuss verb (GIVE ATTENTION TO)

Image
'But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42 (NLT) One thing is important. One thing is needful in life. Martha took care and with anxiety she performed her household duties. She was conce rned about what she was preparing to put on the table. She was upset about a meal. She was distracted by it. She was whining and she was fussing. She was giving too much attention to the wrong thing. Anxiety and what it can do to our physical and spiritual health is dangerous. Martha, Martha, why worry when one bowl of soup will do? She was worried about what they were about to put into their mouths, and ignoring the Words of Truth that the Lord was speaking out of His. She was worried about physical hunger and ignoring the fact that spiritual hunger satisfies more. She was corrected for it. One thi...

His Favorite

Image
'So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.' Hebrews 4:14-16 (NLT) To the One High Priest that sits on the throne I exalt You. To the One, because there is no other like You, therefore, I find no cause to shrink back from You through my inward faith or with my open confessions. Why shrink back? I have no reason to fear. I am to hold firm to what I believe. I am to hold firm to the doctrines of my Christian faith; the ones that I have in my head, the ones that I keep alive in my heart, the ones that I keep professing with my lips and the ones that I keep following day to day in my faith walk. As it were, my Priest suff...

Living Free

Image
' May God the Father and the Lord Jesus the Anointed surround you with grace and peace. This letter begins with praise and thanksgiving to; God the Father, who blesses us Jesus, who redeems us the Holy Spirit, who seals us. 'Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One, who grants us every spiritual blessing in these heavenly realms where we live in the Anointed—not because of anything we have done, but because of what He has done for us.' Ephesians 1:2-3 (VOICE) You can not miss this. You can not live the spiritual life while being trapped in a physical body without the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. God choose me and set me apart before the foundations of the world were even set in place. My choice to choose Christ and to live my life for Him set me apart from sin and He made me holy. The Holy Spirit seals and sanctifies me to Him. It really is all about Him. Living a life serving Him cannot be acco...

Do Not be Swayed

Image
'Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to p ay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” Matthew 22:15-17 (NIV) Why not make it a habit to seek Truth? First, I must remain steadfast in the Word of God to get the Truth of God inside of me. Then I must pray for the wisdom to discern the Truth in every situation. I can be a woman of integrity. I can be a woman that is not swayed by the opinions of others. Lies have led me to dead ends. Lies are desceptive spirits just watching to catch me in their trap and devour me. Lies are a waste of time and money. Truth can and always does set me free. It is not relative to the situation. It always stand...