Monday, January 28, 2008

More on When God Speaks

This morning God led me to read through some of my journal writings (of my journey with Him) from the past three years. In September of 2005 he admonished and encouraged me not to be afraid to hear and accept His voice speaking in my ear by bringing before me an old magazine article. This is what I wrote about it:

“I came across an article in a Discipleship Journal magazine from 2003. God waited two years from when that magazine actually arrived in my home to place it again into my hands that I may read that particular article at just the perfect time. It was a one page article made up of an excerpt from one of Phillips Brooks’ sermons. Brooks was an American bishop of the Episcopal church and lived in the mid 1800’s. The title of the article was “Are We Afraid to Let God Speak?” The mainline says, “God challenges our superficial lives”. In the sermon, Brooks is exploring some of the reasons why we are afraid to let God speak. This article spoke much to my heart on this day because I knew I was afraid of what God was revealing. I knew that whatever God whispers to me I must also proclaim, for it says in Matthew 10:26-27, “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.” And I was also afraid that I was being led astray and continued to doubt God’s voice. Yet I also knew I was being ridiculous with regards to that fear, taking into account how I fervently and faithfully sought God’s face daily and how I prayed and remained in His Word. Below is the part of the article that God used to smack me over the head, convict my heart deeply, and cause me to repent before Him of doubting His voice over and over again.”

“Behind everything stands God. He must speak to you. He will speak to you. Oh, do not try to shut out His voice. Listen to Him that you may live. Be ready for any overturnings—even of the things which have seemed to you most eternal—if by them He can come to be more the King of His own earth. When God speaks to you, you must not make believe to yourself that it is the wind blowing or the torrent falling from the hill. You must know that it is God…You must listen as if listening were your life. And then, then only, can come peace.”


[Phillips Brooks, “Are We Afraid to Let God Speak”.

Discipleship Journal, issue one hundred thirty-seven 2003.

Published by The Navigators/NavPress.]


Phillips Brooks was so right. We must listen when God speaks to us, listening for Him and to Him as if listening is our very life. When we listen to God’s voice and believe He is speaking and what He speaks, there will be peace. It is HIS peace over us.

Still seeking Him and listening for His precious voice…

Sunday, January 27, 2008

When He Speaks to Me

This just “struck” me today…Seeking our fellow man’s opinions, ideas, thoughts, and wisdom can leave us so empty and unsatisfied. We think and hope it may help us, or comfort us, or do “something” for us; but it only leaves us unfulfilled in the end. We long for a special connection, but merely seeking an emotional or mental connection with our fellow man leaves us empty.

God is the only One Who can fill us up, satisfy us, comfort us, encourage us, love us, and advise us in ways that will not ultimately leave us feeling empty. Quite often, God certainly brings and has people in our lives through Whom He does what only He can do. However, the source is HIM; we are not to look to those people as the ones who are there to satisfy us and/or our longings. He is THE Source of all that can possibly fulfill us (http://mabsspot.blogspot.com/2007/10/he-is-full-circle.html). If it is not coming from Him, then it will be empty and temporal; merely a band-aid to our longing or aching hearts. HE is THE FULLNESS we desperately crave and long for.

Nothing can possibly measure up to connecting with God and Him speaking to me. When He speaks His truth and wisdom in my ear and to my heart, when He comforts my aches and satisfies the longings, when He lets me feel His arms wrapped around me, there is a satisfaction and a fulfillment within me that cannot even come remotely close to anything else in this earthly world. All else becomes so small in comparison. He is THE Answer to EVERY thing.

The song I share below describes a bit of what it’s like when He speaks to me. May you also seek Him to fill you up, and may He lovingly speak to you. What He speaks to you may you not hesitate to proclaim from “the housetops” as He leads you to do so.

A disciple is not above his teacher…Sufficient is it for the disciple that he may be becoming as his teacher…nothing is covered, which shall not be revealed, and hidden, which shall not be known. What I am saying to you in the darkness, say in the light. And what you are hearing in the ear, herald on the housetops. (Matthew 10:24-27)

(You can click on this link to hear an audio of the song: http://www.discoveringgodministries.org/When_You_Speak_to_Me.mp3)

When You speak to me
When I take the time to listen
There is more than what I think I feel
When You speak to me
When I sit and still the motion
There is nothing left but what is real
There is an answer to every question
The answer is You

And the heavens open when You speak to me
Pouring light into my waiting heart
And the music fills an ocean silently, quietly
When you speak to me

When You speak to me
When You call me and surround me
There is peace to cover any pain
When You speak to me
When You place Your word inside me
I am filled and I am strong again
There is a reason for every longing
The reason is You

And the heavens open when You speak to me
Pouring light into my waiting heart
And the music fills an ocean silently, quietly
When you speak to me

(When You Speak to Me by Twila Paris)

Listening for His precious voice…

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Unfathomable God

One of the most life impacting Bible studies I’ve ever done (Fall of 2002) was Believing God by Beth Moore (http://www.lifeway.com/bg/). In fact, as I have been reviewing some of my notes from that study in the last few months, I’ve almost wanted to re-do the whole study once again. God brought that study into my life at THE perfect time that I needed it, and through it He spoke great truths deep into my heart. In the introduction pages to the study Beth makes a remarkable statement:

God confronted me with the truth that though I had believed in Him for many years, I had hardly begun to believe Him. He made something clear to me that He has sent me forth to say to you: God is so much more than we have yet acknowledged and experienced. He is capable of tremendously more than we have witnessed. I have become utterly convinced that we see so little primarily because we believe Him for so little.

Yes! “God IS so much more than we have yet acknowledged and experienced and capable of tremendously more than we have witnessed.” We only see or understand so little of God “because we believe Him for so little”. We take God and put who WE think and believe He is in this “packaged box” with colorful ribbons and set up boundaries for Him according to our human wisdom (His foolishness). For the stupidity of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:25)

We are certainly horribly guilty of believing God for so little. However, we are told in the Bible that “Great is YHWH, and praised exceedingly, and as to His greatness there is no fathoming.” (Psalm 145:3) As to God’s greatness, the psalmist says there is no possible human way of fully understanding it. I believe that we would be a lot closer to understanding the greatness of God by admitting that we cannot fully comprehend His grandeur and power rather than thinking we have.

In my notes for Week Two of the Believing God I wrote that Beth made the statement, “We can never fully grasp the enormity of our God. God is not a little something in our trying to learn a little something about God. The little we know and understand about God does not make Him a little and limited god; it only proves how little WE know and how BIG and BOUNDLESS He IS! He is not bound by ANY thing for He is the Creator of ALL things, and He did not create anything that would be more powerful than He is.

The bottom line is that there is much more to God than our finite minds can ever conceive. It doesn’t matter what PEOPLE say about God and who He is. What REALLY matters is what GOD HIMSELF says about who He is!

I would like to share a few more of the notes that I jotted down from some of the things Beth spoke in the teaching video of Week Two, “Believing God Is Who He Says He is”. These are worthwhile food for thought:

“All attempts to define God cannot help but minimize Him. If in our pursuit of greater knowledge, God seems to have gotten smaller, we have been deceived.”

“Faith that remains unchallenged ordinarily remains unchanged.”

“Sometimes we may realize that we have created God in man’s own image who is not God at all. Do not carve a God out of the image of man. He IS who HE says He is.”

“Whatever I know or believe or perceive God to be, He is MORE!”

“The God that some of us have been taught doesn’t have the power to deliver us.” [“Is My Hand too short to ransom? Or is there no vigor in Me to rescue?” (Isaiah 50:2)]

“We are directly affected by who we believe He is.”

“We will never have faith that exceeds the strength of the God we perceive.”

“Let the REAL GOD stand up.”

In Day 1 of the Believing God study guide for Week Two (pgs. 28-29), Beth Moore also makes the following statements:

“Believers who know what they want to believe and refuse to be challenged may have a stand of faith, but they may not have a walk of faith…

We want to keep moving with our God…

My faith has been altered in a number of ways. The general results have been twofold: I’ve loosened my hold on some things I might have liked to believe but can find very little applicable permission from the Word. I’ve also broadened my belief system in other areas in which I thought far too little of God and what He can do. No matter how familiar the doctrine was to me or how comfortable it felt, if it didn’t stand up against a well-established concept in the Word, I began placing a question mark beside it…

I’ve been shocked over the past 15 years to realize that a few things I was certain were well established in Scripture were huge doctrines of man built on single Scriptures. Yes, those Scriptures are still true, but they don’t necessarily warrant building entire dogmatic belief systems…

Our human tendency is to affirm and reaffirm spiritually and biblically what we already believe rather than to search and consider the whole counsel of the Word. Each of us tends to have a cut-and-paste theology…

Where I discover that my trained belief system lacks biblical support, I respectfully want to have enough courage to believe what God says over what people say…

All of us have had many teachers of theology, whether official or unofficial, formal or informal. Life experiences are teachers. Conversations overheard are teachers…Obviously, parents, schoolteachers, Bible and Sunday school teachers and preachers dramatically influence and shape each of our theologies. I’d like to suggest to you in love and without a hint of disrespect that some of our favorite teachers may have helped us package our faith in neat little boxes and even handed us the wrapping paper and bows as if we need not know another thing. Meanwhile, we may be helping others do the same. We think we’ve got God in those boxes, but we don’t. No matter how many Ph.D’s a professor has or how trustworthy our parents have been about every other subject or how beautifully, intelligently, or lovingly the box is decorated, God doesn’t fit…

If in our pursuit of greater theological knowledge God has gotten smaller, we’ve been deceived— unintentionally, but deceived all the same. I am utterly convinced that God is bigger than we will ever stretch our faith to conceive…

Anything attainable by human understanding is a mere shadow of the reality. Every time you grasp a new concept about God, try thinking, He’s this…and more…

Most of our belief systems are deeply rooted. Long-held but biblically unsupported implants will not budge without our willingness to allow God to uproot and replace them. I hope you will take heart in this assurance: any part of our belief systems the Holy Spirit desires to uproot will be replaced with something better and far more adventurous. Dear One, anything not of the Lord is always the lesser.”

At that time of my life, I had no idea what a foundation this study and its truths were creating for where God would take me next in my faith and what the results of that journey would be. Inspired by the things Beth said, I prayed a prayer asking/begging God to continuously stretch my faith; to help me break out of any boxes of misplaced ideas or beliefs that I had about who He truly is; I admitted my finiteness and asked to be consecrated for Him alone. I couldn’t have imagined (or wanted to) some of the difficult things that He would have to take me through and the challenges to my faith that I would have to endure so that He would be able to answer those prayers; but today, I am, as I’ve said before, more than grateful for it all and more than blessed to have faced it all. He has definitely answered my prayer and continuous to do so even today.

God said and promised to the Israelites, “‘For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the LORD...” (Jeremiah 29:11-14) I have experienced the living God live out this promise also to me in incredible ways. I have passionately sought Him, and He has been gracious enough to reveal more of Himself to me. Through the awesome power of His Spirit teaching and speaking to me, I now know Him to be a much bigger God than I ever knew Him to be before. I realized that I had been guilty of believing Him for so little; and I’m sure in many ways I probably still do. However, He is not through working with me, and I am by NO means through fervently seeking Him. Everyday is a new day to live the life He has given me, enjoy the blessings He graciously pours out, and excitedly anticipate seeing Him and knowing Him a little more clearly and intimately.

From the eon, they have not heard; They have not given ear; Eye has not seen any Elohim except You, He Who is doing deeds for him who is tarrying for Him. (Isaiah 64:4) According as it is written, that which the eye did not perceive, and the ear did not hear, and to which the heart of man did not ascend—whatever God makes ready for those who are loving Him. Yet to us God reveals them through His spirit, for the spirit is searching all, even the depths of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

I couldn’t have ever imagined God would have brought me to the place I am today in character and in faith, but He has. I praise and thank Him for all He’s done! I cannot imagine where God will take me from here and what further changes He has in store in my character or in my faith; but, I will praise Him now ahead of time for that too! His ways are perfect, and I have full assurance and confidence in HIS ways.

My point with this whole blog is this: God is more than amazing, more than magnificent, and more than grand (our spoken words are too small to describe Him). He is unfathomable! He is much greater than our little minds can comprehend. His power is boundless and also beyond the scope of our understanding. His ultimate and fulfilled plans beyond anything our minds can fully grasp. Let us not do Him the disservice of believing or teaching Him to be a “little god in a pretty little packaged box with neat little bows on top”. While we cannot fully know God and His ways during our life in this earthly world, we can be confident that God takes great pleasure in us seeking Him out day by day, and our search will not be in vain. He will reveal more of Himself, bit by bit; as much as He knows we can handle at a time. Seek Him with boldness and with faith and believe Him when He speaks!

HE says of Himself,

Behold I am YHWH, Elohim of all flesh. Is anything too marvelous for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27)

There is no one apart from Me; I am YHWH, and there is no other. Former of light and Creator of darkness, Maker of good and Creator of evil, I, YHWH, make all these things. Drip down from above heavens, and let the skies distil righteousness; Let the earth open up, Let salvation bud, and let righteousness sprout together with it; I, YHWH, I create it. Would anyone contend with his Former? Earthenware of the ground with its artificer? Shall the clay say to its potter, What are you making? Or your contrivance say, It has no hands? Would anyone say to a father, What are you begetting? Or to a woman, With what are you in travail? Thus says YHWH, the Holy One of Israel, and its Former, Of the things arriving, ask Me; yet concerning My children and concerning the deeds of My hands, shall you instruct Me? I Myself made the earth and created humanity on it; I, My hands stretched out the heavens, and all their hosts have I instructed. (Isaiah 45:6-12)

There is no other Elohim apart form Me, a righteous El and Savior; there is none except Me. Turn toward Me and be saved, all the limits of the earth, for I am El, and there is no other. By Myself have I sworn; from my mouth has gone forth righteousness, a word, and it shall not turn back; for to Me shall bow every knee, and every tongue shall swear fealty. Only in YHWH, one will say to Me, are righteousness and strength. Unto Him shall each one come, and all who were heated against Him shall be ashamed. In YHWH shall they be justified, and shall all the seed of Israel boast. (Isaiah 45:21-25)

For I am El, and there is no other! Elohim! And no other like Me! Telling from the beginning, the hereafter, and from aforetime what has not yet been done, saying, All My counsel shall be confirmed, and all My desire shall I do; Calling from the sunrise, a bird of prey; From a land afar; a man of My counsel, Indeed I have spoken; Indeed I shall bring it to pass! I have formed the plan; Indeed I shall do it! Hearken to Me, sturdy of heart, who are far from righteousness: I bring near My righteousness; It shall not be far off, and My salvation shall not delay. (Isaiah 46:9-13)

“Is My Hand too short to ransom? Or is there no vigor in Me to rescue?” (Isaiah 50:2)

Isaiah said of Him,

For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? (Isaiah 14:27)

Job said of Him,

“I know that You are able in all things, and no plan of Yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2)

The Psalmist said of Him,

The LORD foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. (Psalm 33:10)

Solomon said of Him,

The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)

Many plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the LORD will stand.” (Proverbs 19:21)

Jesus said of Him,

Nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)

With God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

Paul said of Him,

One Who is operating all in accord with the counsel of His will.” (Ephesians 1:11)

"That you, having been rooted and grounded in love, should be strong to grasp, together with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and depth and height--to know the love of Christ as well which transcends knowledge--that you may be completed for the entire complement of God. Now to Him Who is able to do superexcessively above all that we are requesting or apprehending, according to the power that is operating in us, to Him be glory in the ecclesia and in Christ Jesus for all the generations of the eon of the eons! Amen!" (Ephesians 3:18-21)

For it is God Who is operating in you to will as well as to work for the sake of His delight.” (Philippians 2:13)

In His arms, for His glory, and in His strength…

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

One God and One Lord

“We are aware that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, yet love builds up. If anyone is presuming to know anything, he knows not as yet according as he must know. Now if anyone is loving God, this one is known by Him…We are aware that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God except One. For even if so be that there are those being termed gods, whether in heaven or on earth, even as there are many gods and many lords, nevertheless for us there is


one God, the Father, out of Whom all is, and we for Him, and

one Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom all is, and we through Him

(1 Corinthians 8:1-6)


For us there is one God, YHWH,

the Father, out of Whom all is, and we for Him:


ONE GOD,

Him Who is able to guard you from tripping, and to stand you flawless in sight of His glory, in exultation, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord. To Him be “glory, majesty, might and authority before the entire eon, as well as for all the eons.” (Jude 1:24-25)


ONE GOD,

The living God, Who is the Saviour of all mankind, especially of believers” (1 Timothy 4:10-11)


ONE GOD,

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 1:7,15:6, 1 Corinthians 1:3,15:24, 2 Corinthians 1:2-3,11:31, Ephesians 1:2-3, Ephesians 4:6, etc.)


ONE GOD,

Who is the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:3-5)


ONE GOD,

One God and Father of all, Who is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:6)


ONE GOD,

One…He Who is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10, 23:9)


ONE GOD,

Who has “sent the Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14)


ONE GOD,

Who has spoken to us in His Son” (Hebrews 1:2)


ONE GOD,

Who is “fond of the Son and is showing Him all that He is doing” (John 5:20)


ONE GOD,

Who raises the dead” (John 5:21, 2 Corinthians 1:9)


ONE GOD,

The Father of glorywho is able to give us “a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the realization of Him”…enlightening the eyes of our hearts for us to “perceive what is the expectation of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of the enjoyment of His allotment among the saints, and what the transcendent greatness of His power for us who are believing, in accord with the operation of the might of His strength, which is operative in the Christ, rousing Him from among the dead and seating Him at His right hand among the celestials, up over every sovereignty and authority and power and lordship, and every name that is named, not only in this eon, but also in that which is impending: and subjects all under His feet, and gives Him, as Head over all, to the ecclesia which is His body, the complement of the One completing the all in all” (Ephesians 1:17-23)


ONE GOD,

Who blesses us with every spiritual blessing among the celestials, in Christ, according as He chooses us in Him before the disruption of the world, we to be holy and flawless in His sight, in love designating us beforehand for the place of a son for Him through Christ Jesus; in accord with the delight of His will, for the laud of the glory of His grace” (Ephesians 1:3-6)


ONE GOD,

Who has subjected all under Christ; who has ordained it for Christ to reign “until He should be placing all His enemies under His feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25-27, Hebrews 1:13, Psalm 110:1)


ONE GOD,

The Father, Who makes you competent for a part of the allotment of the saints, in light, Who rescues us out of the jurisdiction of Darkness, and transports us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Colossians 1:12-13)


For us there is one Lord, Jesus Christ,

through Whom all is, and we through Him:


ONE LORD,

Jesus Christ

Iesous Christos (Greek)

YHWH is salvation, Anointed (literal translation)


ONE LORD,

Son of the Most High” and “Saviour” (Luke 1:32, 2:11)


ONE LORD,

The spoken “Word” out of God (John 1) and “only-begotten Son” (John 1:18) who “came out from God...came out from the Father and…into the world” (John 16:28)


ONE LORD,

And the world came into being through Him, and the world knew Him not” (John 1:10)


ONE LORD,

The Lamb of God which is taking away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)


ONE LORD,

In Whom we are having the deliverance, the pardon of sins, Who is the Image of the invisible God, Firstborn of every creature, for In Him is all created, that in the heavens and that on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or sovereignties, or authorities, all is created through Him and for Him, and He is before all, and all has its cohesion in Him. And He is the Head of the body, the ecclesia (out-called), Who is Sovereign, Firstborn from among the dead, that in all He may be becoming first, for in Him the entire complement delights to dwell, and through Him to reconcile all to Him (making peace through the blood of His cross), through Him whether those on the earth or those in the heavens” (Colossians 1:13-20, 2 Corinthians 4:4)


ONE LORD,

“The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, and God’s creative original” (Revelation 3:14)


ONE LORD,

A Son, Whom He (God) appoints enjoyer of the allotment of all, through Whom He also makes the eons; Who, being the Effulgence (radiance, brilliance) of His glory and Emblem (representation, symbol) of His assumption (nature, character), besides carrying on all by His powerful declaration, making a cleansing of sins, is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in the heights; becoming so much better than the messengers as He enjoys the allotment of a more excellent name than they” (Hebrews 1:1-4)


ONE LORD,

Who does nothing on his own initiative or by his own will, for He says that “the Son cannot be doing anything of Himself if it is not what He should be observing the Father doing, for whatever He may be doing, this the Son also is doing likewise. For the Father is fond of the Son and is showing Him all that He is doing”. Who says “I am not seeking My will, but the will of Him Who sends Me” (John 5:30) and that the Father has given Him the work he needs to do (John 5:36). And that “the Father” remains in Him, and “is doing His works” through Him (John 14:10)


ONE LORD,

The only one who has “has seen the Father” (John 6:46)


ONE LORD,

Who is of one purpose and of one character with His Father, “according as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us, that the world should be believing that Thou dost commission Me. And I have given them the glory which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, according as We are One, I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in one, and that the world may know that Thou dost commission Me and dost love them according as Thou dost love Me” (John 17:20-23)


ONE LORD,

Who has been made some bit inferior to messengers (because of the suffering of death, wreathed with glory and honor), so that, in the grace of God, He should be tasting death for the sake of everyone. For it became Him, because of Whom all is, and through Whom all is, in leading many sons into glory, to perfect the Inaugurator of their salvation through sufferings. For both He Who is hallowing and those who are being hallowed are all of One, for which cause He is not ashamed to be calling them brethren” (Hebrews 2:9-12)


ONE LORD,

Who sits at the right hand of God, the Father, above “every sovereignty and authority and power and lordship, and every name that is named, not only in this eon, but also in that which is impending” and all is subjected “under His feet” and He is “Head over all” (Ephesians 1:20-23)


ONE LORD,

Aware that the Father has given all into His hands, and that He came out from” and went back to God (John 13:3-4)


ONE LORD,

Who had the following disposition: “Who, being inherently in the form of God, deems it not pillaging (act of taking by force) to be equal with God, nevertheless empties Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming to be in the likeness of humanity, and, being found in fashion as a human, He humbles Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:5-8)


ONE LORD,

Whom for the very reason stated above was highly exalted by God and graced “with the name that is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should be bowing, celestial and terrestrial and subterranean, and every tongue should be acclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord, for the glory of God, the Father (Philippians 2:9-11)


ONE LORD,

Christ” who “died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was entombed, and that He has been roused the third day according to the scriptures, and that He was seen” after God raised Him from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3-5)


ONE LORD,

Who gives Himself for our sins, so that He might extricate us out of the present wicked eon, according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:4)


ONE LORD,

the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14)


ONE LORD,

In Whom “all shall be vivified. Yet each in his own class…thereafter the consummation, whenever He may be giving up the kingdom to His God and Father, whenever He should be nullifying all sovereignty and all authority and power. For He must be reigning until He should be placing all His enemies unders His feet. The last enemy is being abolished: death…Now, whenever all may be subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also shall be subjected to Him Who subjects all to Him, that God may be All in all” (1 Corinthians 15:20-28)


Praises, glory, and honor to the one God, the Father,

out of Whom all is

and

Praises, glory, and honor to the one Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom all is


Held in the arms of God, my Father, and of my Lord, Jesus Christ...


Tuesday, January 22, 2008

What This World Needs

What this world needs has been and still continues to be offered to the world…The world needs Christ to reign supreme in each and every person! The apostle Paul says that He was chosen by God to proclaim the complete word of God: “the secret which has been concealed from the eons and from the generations, yet now was made manifest to His saints, to whom God wills to make known what are the glorious riches of this secret among the nations, which is: Christ among you, the expectation of glory…the Way, the Truth, and the Life”. (Colossians 1:26-27, John 14:6)


Feeling like you’ve lost your way in the cares of this earthly world? Christ will show you THE way to go and will walk with you every step of that way.


Feeling like you don’t know what the truth is anymore? Christ will reveal THE truth to you.


Feeling like the life you are living is really no life at all? Christ will give you THE life you could have never imagined; He was sent to us and came to us so that we would have ABUNDANT life.


What this world needs, the world just needs to grab a hold of and benefit from. It’s all there for the taking. We do have:


a Savior who rescues
a Spirit who leads
a Father who loves

The world needs to stop looking for earthly things that will never satisfy and man-made solutions that will never make a true, lasting change. Simply, CHRIST IS THE answer.


What this world needs and craves is the fulfillment of Christ reigning among and within us. What a truly different world this would be!


(click on the link to hear the song What This World Needs by Casting Crowns)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5WCRDxYMhs&feature=related


What this world needs
Is not another one-hit wonder with an axe to grind
Another two-bit politician peddling lies
Another three-ring circus society

What this world needs
Is not another sign-waving super saint
That thinks he's better than you
Another ear-pleasing candy man afraid of the truth
Another prophet in an Armani suit

What this world needs is a Savior who will rescue
A Spirit who will lead
A Father who will love them
In their time of need
A Savior who will rescue
A Spirit who will lead
A Father who will love
That's what this world needs

What this world needs
Is for us to care more about the inside than the outside
Have we become so blind that we can't see
God's gotta change your heart before He changes a shirt
What this world needs
Is for us to stop hiding behind our relevance
Blending in so well that people can't see the difference
And it's the difference that sets the world free

What this world needs is a Savior who will rescue
A Spirit who will lead
A Father who will love them
In their time of need
A Savior who will rescue
A Spirit who will lead
A Father who will love
That's what this world needs

People aren’t confused by the gospel
They’re confused by us

Jesus is the only way to God
But we are not the only way to Jesus

This world doesn’t need my tie, my hoodie
My denomination or my translation of the Bible

They just need Jesus
We can be passionate about what we believe
But we can’t strap ourselves to the gospel
‘Cause we’re slowing it down

Jesus IS going to save the world
But maybe the best thing we can do
Is just get out of the way

What this world needs is a Savior who will rescue

A Spirit who will lead
A Father who will love them
In their time of need
A Savior who will rescue
A Spirit who will lead
A Father who will love
That's what this world needs

Jesus IS our Savior
That's what this world needs
The Father's arms around you
That's what this world needs
That's what this world needs


For HIS praise, in HIS strength, and for HIS glory…


Thursday, January 17, 2008

Standing Strong with Him

This morning the Lord comforted me in the midst of the various trials this week by bringing another song to my mind. He reminded me and reassured me that as I seek HIS will, HIS ways, and HIS truth in my life HE will always be standing with me. He will NEVER leave me nor forsake me; for that I can never stop rejoicing! The peace I have comes from having let go of my will and instead living out the “So be it, YOUR will be done, LORD; not mine”. The trials we face every single day are HIS sacred ground of supernatural work within us, for they are the preparations for the future only HE knows about.


“Rejoice! All joy deem it, my brethren, whenever you should be falling into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith is producing endurance. Now let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and unimpaired, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4)


(you can click on this link to hear the song)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W4yOOqKRdI


With visible breath, I'm calling your name
With visible tracks, I'm finding my way
With a sorrowful heart, I honor this pain
And offer these tears to the rain

In a moment of truth at the top of the hill
I open my arms and let go of my will
And stand with my face to the wind
With the storm beating down on this sacred ground
If I stand for the grace that I've known
For what I believe
Then I won't stand alone
No, I won't stand alone
There's a new pair of eyes to embrace all I see
A new piece of mind and it comes quietly
There's a joy in my heart that You've given to me
And I offer this soul's melody
So I beat on my chest till my song has been sung
And I cry like a wolf at the top of my lungs
And stand with my face to the wind
With the storm beating down on this sacred ground
If I stand for the grace that I've known
For what I believe
Then I won't stand alone
No, I won't stand alone
When the thundering voices of doubt try to shake my faith, oh
I'll be listening from inside out and I won't be afraid to
Stand with my face to the wind
With the storm beating down on this sacred ground
If I stand for the grace that I've known
For what I believe
Then I won't stand alone
No I won't stand...I won't stand alone…woah, woah…oh
 (“Stand” sung by Susan Ashton)

Never standing alone for He is ever with me…


For HIS praise, in HIS strength, and for HIS glory…

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

GOD’s Peace Which IS SUPERIOR

“Be rejoicing in the Lord always! Again, I will declare, be rejoicing! Let your lenience be known to all men: the Lord is near. Do not worry about ANYthing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, that is superior to EVERY frame of mind, shall be garrisoning your hearts and your apprehensions in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:4-7)

As my life takes many sudden and unexpected turns early in this new 2008 year, I stand in amazement and complete awe of God’s all-surpassing peace. I CAN rejoice in Him because He has done a MIGHTY work with me in the last few years so that at this moment I can be quiet and still with Him, know He is God of my entire life and over all my circumstances, and enjoy HIS peace reigning supreme over me.

HIS peace IS SUPERIOR to…
EVERY frame of mind
EVERY fear faced
EVERY emotion of the heart
EVERY loss we face
EVERY doubt conceived
EVERY trial we go through
EVERY pain of our heart
EVERY rejection endured
EVERY attack on our character
EVERY pain in our body
EVERY circumstance of life

GOD’s peace IS SUPERIOR!!!

I am MORE than grateful to Him for all the trials, the sufferings, and the lessons that He has taken me through that have prepared me for this very day. Without them I could not stand strong with His peace as a fortress over my heart, mind, and soul and with the confidence that His hand is over me and over all.

Praises be to the mighty YHWH and also to my Lord Jesus Christ!!!!!

For HIS praise, in HIS strength, and for HIS glory…

Monday, January 14, 2008

I Will Lift My Eyes...Once Again

Today as I grieve and seek God’s face and comfort…He brings songs to my aching heart… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtAjrNqEsoM


God, my God, I cry out
Your beloved needs You now
God, be near, calm my fear
And take my doubt

Your kindness is what pulls me up
Your love is all that draws me in

I will lift my eyes to the Maker
Of the mountains I can’t climb
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer
Of the oceans raging wild
I will lift my eyes to the Healer
Of the hurt I hold inside
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You

God, my God, let Mercy

Sing her melody over me
God, right here all I bring
Is all of me

‘Cause You are and You were and You will be forever
The Lover I need to save me
‘Cause You fashioned the earth and You hold it together, God
So hold me now


In HIS strength, for HIS glory, and lifting my eyes unto Him…as He does hold me now in HIS arms