Roots

Colossians 2:7  NIV 
"... rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness"

Lord, help me to transplant my roots from bad soil and deeply plant them in Christ so that I can be a good tree with good roots, producing good fruit. I know it may be painful, but through faith and patience, I know You can help me make a change in my life. Amen

I'm With Him

 

 

Father God, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that someone needs to follow a list of rules to really be a Christian, but that's not the kind of faith You want from people. Empower me to share Your Gospel with others in a way that leads them NOT into a religious system, but into a one-on-one, life-changing, awesome relationship with You. Amen!

Picture Post

New Beginnings

The Place Where You Are

Genesis 13:14 KJV 
"And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward"
 
It seems that life always has its ways of bringing us to a place where we need to make a fresh start.

In the Bible, Abram found himself in that very place when his nephew Lot chose the best land in the area, leaving Abram with the less desirable land. But God didn't abandon Abram. Instead He showed up and gave Abram a bold new vision.

I like what the Lord told Abram after he and Lot parted ways. He told him, 'Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are.'

It's that phrase, "look from the place where you are," that stirs me. That's the point of a fresh start, a new beginning. God Himself will bring us to that point occasionally.

You might be there right now. Maybe you want to break a bad habit or revive a lost dream. Maybe you want to get a handle on your finances, start your own business, write a book, whatever it is, God could be telling you to get started right now. This could be your new beginning!

After God told Abram to look from that place, the next thing He told him was, 'Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you' (Genesis 13:17 NKJV).

God could be telling you right now to get up and get on with your dream or vision, your assignment, your life, because He is giving it to you. Your part is to walk it out.

Do what you need to do. It may not be easy. It might take some time. But trust God and go for whatever it is. Look from the place where you are right now - and go!
 

America! How Beautiful!

America; The Beautiful

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!

America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness.

America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.

O beautiful for heroes prov'd
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life.

America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine.

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.

America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.

Relentless Spirit

Relentless

Philippians 3:10 KJV 
"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

The term “relent” means to change your mind, just like the word “repent.” As Sons and Daughters of the Living God, we are called to seek God with all of our hearts, to keep seeking, and to keep seeking! The widow woman in Luke 18 was relentless in her cry for justice to the earthly judge, and Jesus says “will God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him…?” The simple story signifies that the woman would not relent, and she got what she needed.

Several other stories in the Bible show us men who were blind crying out to Jesus “SON OF DAVID HAVE MERCY ON US!” People told them to shut up, but they cried out even louder! They would not relent, they wanted their healing so bad, that they were determined to get the Lords attention. They got his attention, and were healed.

Another time a woman cried out for the Lord to heal her daughter, but she was ignored for a while, even getting on the disciples nerves with her crying because SHE WOULD NOT RELENT! Jesus granted her what she asked, and told her she had great faith!

When Elijah prayed for rain in I Kings 18:41-46, there was not a sign of rain in the sky until the seventh time his servant went to look at the sky. Elijah did not stop after five times, he did not change his mind, he did not relent because he had a word from the Lord. I could write pages about such instances as these “relentless pursuit” of the people in the bible, but I must move on to more of this subject.

In II Chronicles 7:14, a very familiar passage of scripture, God says to us that if we will humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, turn from our wicked ways; He will hear from heaven and forgive our sins and heal our land. This is an awesome promise of God, but conditional on our part. WE must do the first part, and he will be faithful to fulfill His part. Many people start off strong, but fall short….

Don’t stop, don’t give up, don’t change your mind! I declare right now over me and my family, and over you as you read this, WE WILL NOT RELENT! We will stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, we will have what the bible says we can have because I choose not to give up, not to relent, but to remain steadfast in my pursuit of God!

The other side of the road is God’s relentless pursuit of us. John 4:23 says that God seeks people to worship Him. II Chronicles 16:9 says He looks all about the earth seeking a heart that is loyal to Him, someone He can show himself strong through. God is relentless in His pursuit of us. He wants all of us, not just part. Jesus said he was like a man who has lost a sheep, and left the 99 to find the one; and like a woman who lost a coin, and turned her house upside down to find it. In both instances, how great was the joy when the sheep and the coin were found! Jesus will not relent in His pursuit for us, for God’s desire is that ALL men would repent and come to Him, that none would perish!

I declare that I will not relent until I have all of Him (this is an endless task because God is inexhaustible) BUT how awesome a journey of pursuit. In retrospect, I ask of God to not relent until He has all of me….that I would decrease and He would increase!

I pray that a desire for Him would burn in you so great that your spirit is greatly troubled when your pursuit begins to slack. I pray that you would also get the “heart” of seeking Him, and not change your mind about what the Bible says is ours to have just because you don’t see immediate results. Hold fast! Don’t’ relent!

Relentlessly pursuing God is not necessarily easy, but it's definitely worth it. However, you can't really pursue God until you've first experienced real freedom.

God is in the business of setting us free, and it's glorious to be free from guilt, condemnation, and always wondering what people are thinking of us.

We're set free from the concern of failing when we know who we are in Christ. This brings us the courage to be able to step out and pursue God's promises.

One of the greatest freedoms God has given me is the freedom to be me. For years I tried to be something I wasn't, feeling like I needed to be like this or like that, all the while knowing I wasn't like everyone else. Yet, I kept trying to be like others until I learned through my relationship with God who He created me to be. This also set me free from me, so I can focus on Jesus and reaching out to others the way He wants me to.

Philippians 3 says Paul was determined, or relentless, to have the things that Christ Jesus died for, to know Him and the power of His resurrection. I believe when we are born again, there is a spirit of determination that rises within us. We can call it Holy Spirit passion or zeal, and it's what gives us the 'oomph' we need during hard times to say, 'I will not give up on having an intimate, passionate, deep, personal relationship with God. I will not give up on being all that Christ wants me to be.'

Be relentless to stay in faith and receive God's promises. Remember, you belong to Him and He has given you a relentless spirit!
 

Love Longing

Longing for The Lord


For many years
I have longed for a place,
safely tucked away
from the human race.

Where quiet mingles
with songs of a bird,
Where serenity
is all that is heard.

To feel the calm
that God meant us to know
To cleanse, purify,
and spiritually grow.

To be with nature
and to grow more gentle,
A spot, that with time,
becomes sentimental.

It is here that Peace on Earth
begins with me
in the hope that it will
somehow, someday be. 

And she wandered away and away,
with Nature the dear old nurse,
Who sang to her night and day,
the rhymes of the universe.

And when the way seemed long,
and her heart began to fail,
She sang a more wonderful song,
or told a more wonderful tale.

Right Spirit

Fresh and Clean


“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”  Psalm 51:10


This is THE “Upright Heart” cry; a prayer I have learned that I must pray each and every single day if I am to enjoy peace, joy and all manner of blessings within and without.

Each day of our life we collect clutter in our hearts. The clutter that comes from the cares of the world, and emotions we feel when people hurt or disappointment us and when things don't turn out exactly the way we planned. Harsh thoughts and bad feelings can pile up like a mountain in just one day if we let them.  You must release them, you must let them go, and you must take every thought captive - each and every day. 

The Lord is waiting for you to whisper the “Upright Spirit, Clean Heart” cry of prayer right now.  And He promises  "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26)

We can lift our heart to the Lord every night, and within a few moments, we can release the burdens and disappointments of an entire day.  When we release all the disappointments of yesterday, we clean out the closet, making ready for the blessings of the new day.  God is a loving Father, and He always has blessings in store for those who are ready to receive them. 

If you are a parent think how it would feel, if you told your children to clean out their closet, and make room for all brand new gifts and yet they choose to hang on to what they have - in spite of the majority of it being  junk. Packing the junk down tighter in the closet so that they may continue to add even more junk to it. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense; does it? Children know that is far better to have new gifts than old junk but adults ... not so much.

Why would anyone choose to keep old junk instead of receiving new gifts? The short answer is fear.

“Fear” will stop you from cleaning your closet. The spirit of fear is in charge of all the junk.  Fear created it and doesn’t want anyone to mess with it! You won’t get rid of junk until you kick fear out the door and tell him to go. Until you release the power of Jesus over the fear in your life then you are going to stay trapped in a closet of junk. 


A fresh, clean closet makes room for a whole lot of new gifts. Let's start cleaning today! Amen?!

When we unpack our closet of junk and release our burdens to the Lord, it prepares our heart to receive His daily blessings; a fresh Word, a divine opportunity, or who knows what? I mean; really! Our Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10) so it is nothing for Him to rain down all kinds of blessings on your head- but only if you have the room to receive them.  How much room do you have in your heart for God's blessings? 

John the Baptist cried out; “Prepare ye the way for the Lord.” (Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4, John 1:23, Matthew 3:3, Isaiah 40:3) and his voice resounded mightily through a thousand deserts and valleys. We prepare the way for the Lord when we first prepare our hearts to receive what God has for us.

Open your heart; release all the junk in it and make way for the Lord!