Friday, September 30, 2011

What's Love Got to do With It?

Romans 5:5
And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us

Romans 12:10
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

Love, the word slips from our mouth so easily. I love this or that. I love you. I love God. All said so easily.

I take great comfort in knowing that God's love is in my heart. Because my love is truly lacking.

I know the right answers. I can so easily say that I love others. But I have to admit that often my love is filtered through my feelings.

True love, the God shed Holy Spirit kind, is beyond my feelings. It is a love without restrictions.

My goal - to set aside my tingly feeling kind of love that happens only if it meets my needs, desires, feelings, mood.

And to open my heart to the Love of God and let it pour from me.

Father in Heaven, let Your love flow through me. Give me wisdom to not block your Holy love. And let me see through Your eyes. Honoring others over me and my wants.

Only in Jesus can we truly love. Only because of the Holy Spirit will others see our love. Only the Father could design such a wondrous power.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Celebrate Rosh HaShanah

The Feast of Trumpets.
The Jewish New Year.
A time of repentance.

Leviticus 23:24

24Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

As Christians we are not under the old law. But we can still learn from the old ways.
Rosh HaShanah marks the beginning of ten days of repentance, and prayer.

Ten is an important number in the Bible. When reading this, the first thing I thought of was the ten virgins. Five were wise and had their oil, but five were foolish and didn't have enough oil. Perhaps this would be a good time to fill our lamps, our bodies, with the Holy Spirit, Seek the Lord with all that is in us. And repent.
Here is a sight that explains Rosh Hashanah.

Get quiet, listen hard, and see if you can hear the Trumpets.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Yes, You Can!

In the midst of such a severe drought that big oaks are dying, these little beauties pushed through the dry soil and bloomed.

So what if our nation, and world, is experiencing a severe economic and moral downturn, that doesn't mean we all have to wither in depression.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

We who know the Lord and walk in His ways, are to rise above the problems of the world for He who is in us overcame the world.

9But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Dear brother and sisters in Christ, rise up, shake off the grave clothes of this world, and walk in the Spirit into the wonders that He has for you. We are not bound by the dictates of this world. WE are free to fly in the face of adversity. We are meant to rise up as eagles.

Rejoice for the Lord is near.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Where Did I Go?

I was at the American Christian Fiction Writer's conference. This year it was held at the Hyatt by the Arch.

What a wonderful conference it was. Nothing like getting together with 700 other writers. The place filled with the Holy Spirit. Everyone looking to help each other. Truly a great experience.

SO I am back now and ready to write the words the Lord has for me. He is the author and finisher of our faith and I am honored and grateful that He has chosen me to write His Words of encouragement and hope to a world that is lost and dark with despair.

I ask that you would pray for Christian writers. That they would be inspired by the Lord and write. That stories of hope would go throughout the world.


Psalm 26:7

7That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Promises!

Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.” Joel 2:23Rejoice. Don't be overwhelmed by the world and its problems. Instead, discover the promises of God. Read His Word and study it. Find the promises that speak to your heart and memorize them.

Jesus overcame the world and through Him so do we.

Find one verse that speaks to your heart and proclaim it the world. And Trust that He watches over His Word.

God is good.

Monday, September 19, 2011

The Mouth!

The Word of God has much to say about our mouths. The wise will put a guard on what is said. The fool will think with their mouth open.

Be Wise.

“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.Ephesians 4:29

Psalm 19:14
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

Psalm 141:3
Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.

Proverbs 6:12
A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.

Proverbs 10:14
Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near
destruction.
Proverbs 18:7
A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.

Matthew 15:18
But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

Romans 10:10
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

James 3:10
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

Friday, September 16, 2011

It's Who You Are NOT who you aren't.

Exodus 3:14
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM:..

I love this verse. God saying He is the great I AM. The words thunder in their meaning, saying I am all that is necessary and good and wonderful and needed.

In our own lives, we too need to look at what we are. As Believers, we are the children of the living God. And with Jesus, heirs to the kingdom.


Too many times, we look at others and say or think, I am not -good enough, able to write like they do, smart like them, as pretty as they are, and on and on.

Instead, declare who you are. I am a child of God. I am loved by the Creator, HE has called me to write. I am a writer and HE will see me through.
We are because He is.

Rejoice in the Great I AM. Feel His love blowing against your back, lifting you up, cheering you on. And know that HE has only good plans for you.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Confidence

Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Confidence. As I prepare to go to a writing conference, I stare at my three finished books and flit between opposing thoughts. They're great! They stink.

I need to set my sights on the One who is at work in me. It's not what I do, but what He's done. And is doing.

Confidence. Get it from the Source. HE will perform the good works in me.

Hebrews 12:2
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith...

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Psalm 22 comes before the 23rd : )

Psalm 22

1My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Matthew 27:46
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Jesus paid the ultimate price to become our Good Shepherd. It gives me tingles to read the 22nd Psalm, knowing it is a prophecy of the crucifixion of my Lord. And written way before anyone had ever been crucified.

God's plan. Perfect and Holy. Laid out for any who would look and ask and seek.

Rejoice that the Lord is Good and provides for His people.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Steadfast and Trees

1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

Texas is in the grips of an extreme drought. I've lived here most of my life and have never seen so many big oaks dying from drought.

And then there are the Mesquite trees. Can't get rid of the things. I have yet to see one of them in distress.

They are fire resistant, have long tap roots and wide spreading lateral roots. They have seed pods that are edible, thorns to protect from rooting animals, and their leaves are wax coated to prevent evaporation.

Hmm, much like Christians walking the Spirit-led life.

By definition, Christians are fire resistant. Think Meshach, Shadrach, and Abed-Nego. We too have our roots deep into the foundation of the Rock that will never be moved, tapping into springs of living water. And our fellowship with our Christian brothers and sisters is a wide spread net of safety. They multiply and take over the land.

Oaks are beautiful, but as for me - I want to be a Mesquite tree.

1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

Monday, September 12, 2011

The Goodness and severity of God

Philippians 4:4

4Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.

Romans 2:4
... the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

Psalm 27:13
I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

God is always good. Believe.



Romans 11:21-23

21For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 22Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.

Proclaim the Goodness of God. Urge those who are astray to believe that they may escape the severity of God. His Goodness is available to any who believe. It is the one thing.

Nothing else on this matters so much as that you believe who God is. Believe on His name, through His son, Jesus Christ, and walk into eternal life.

Believe

Friday, September 9, 2011

Love - Charity -Agape

1 Corinthians 13:8
Charity never faileth ...


The KJV uses Charity instead of the word love. In the Greek, the word is agape.

In the dictionary, Charity - is from the word caritas - Christian love.

God is agape love.

1 Corinthians 16:14
Let all your things be done with charity.

Colossians 3:14
And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

I wonder why I make this so hard. I guess it is the goatly behavior of 'but'.

But they did this, do I have to love them?
But they hurt me, do I have to love them?
But they said mean things to me, do I have to love them?
But I don't want to do that, do I have to love them?

Love, charity, the agape God kind of love that is patient and kind, not boasting or arrogant, self serving, making records of wrongs.

1 Corinthians 13:13
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

I can have great faith, and wondrous hope, but it is the God kind of love that is greatest.

God is love, He died for us even while we were sinners, and welcomes us back into His Kingdom.

Love trumps all. Stronger than revenge, able to defeat evil, love never fails.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

What's Love got to do with it?

1 John 3:11
For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

1 John 4:7
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

Sounds simple enough. How do we love one another?

John 15:12
This is my (Jesus) commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

So in the manner that Jesus loves us, we are to love one another.

Hmmm, Not so easy. After all, I am not Jesus -- But doesn't God live in us?

1 John 4:16
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

Why then is it so hard to love others? One answer is fear. If I give what I have, I will be in lack. If I open up myself and let others know I care, I might get hurt. If I take time out of my day to meet the needs of others, how will my needs be met?

Fear controls us. Fear says there is something greater than God. Fear shows our eyes have drifted from the Lord to the problem.

1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Walk in perfect Love. Knowing that the Lord first loved you. That He dwells in you and desires that you love others as He has loved you.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NASB)

4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

In Christ, we can do this.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Smoke, Fire, And Lessons for a Sin-Stained World.

Zechariah 14:6
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:

Smoke and somewhere in there is a fire. The smoke can come so quickly that any in its path can be overcome before they can make a move.

Once inside the smoke - all sense of direction is lost.

Sin is like that. Like the skies of Texas are today colored by the smoke of wildfires, the vision of a people becomes cloudy from a nation given over to sin.

Right and wrong blend into gray by use of justification and situational ethics.

If everyone is doing it, then it must be okay.
We must be tolerant. Homosexuality is no longer sin.

In other words, because we are caught in the smoke of rampant sin, the Word of God is thrown out for the more satisfying opinion of humans.

The problem, behind that smoke is fire. An unquenchable fire of evil bent on destroying mankind.

In the fifties, divorce and affairs were condoned. The sixties and seventies brought us free love and relationships. No longer do we hear the words adultery or fornication.
The eighties on have brought us the word 'gay' instead of homosexual.

I worked for a medical billing company in 2000. In the diagnostics book, homosexuality was diagnosed as aberrant behavior - That has now been taken out. Changed because society has decided it's ok, even lauded, to be homosexual. They can't help it. That's what we are told anyway.

Now, listen to this! There is a move for pedophilia to be taken out of the same diagnostic books. It should no longer be looked on as an aberrant behavior.

See the progression? Sin, like fire, is never satisfied until it can burn all that can be burned.

Pray for discernment and wisdom. Turn from wickedness and flee evil. Read the book of Jude. Proclaim the good news. And watch for the coming of our Lord.

Jude
23And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

Revelation 16:9
And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.


Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Storm Clouds and Victory and Repentance

John 16:33
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Turmoil abounds around us.

The economy is tumbling, jobs disappearing, and our nation is so far in debt it looks almost easier to keep digging than climb out.

The land is shaking in odd places. Part of the country is flooded, other parts burning.

Morally, our nation is as bankrupt as our economy. Evil is being called good and good evil.

NOW for the good news.

Peter walked the stormy sees as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus. So look to the Lord, He knows what is going on. He has a plan. and has not forsaken us.

Pray, Proclaim the goodness of God. Call for repentance.

God will not be mocked.

This is a time of repentance.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Don't just Persevere - Flourish

James 1:12 NASB
Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

Psalm 92:13
Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.

In this time of drought, this plant pushed through the cracked ground and flourishes.

And that is how the children of the Living God should appear to those in darkness. Not that we are exempt from the trials of this world, but that we overcome them by the Blood of the Lamb.

John 16:33
These things I (Jesus) have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

1 John 4:4
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

Live as people of Hope. Don't look at the waves of problems that rise around, but look up knowing that He is in us and will never leave us. In Jesus, we have won eternal life, and abundant life even here on this earth.

In Jesus, we win. We will not be defeated. Let your faith shoot the cracked ground of these times and flourish.


Saturday, September 3, 2011

Awake

1 Corinthians 15:34
Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

I checked on the word awake today because my eyes are sleepy and I really want a nap.

Yikes!

Though the world is crazy, and problems weigh on our strength, now is not the time to sleep. No time for naps.

Awake and know that the Lord is able. Live as children of God, throwing off the lust of the world. Be a peculiar people. A light shining in a darkened land, proclaiming the Good News.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Hot, Dry, and Tired of Being Nice

The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes.Psalm 119:64

Ever feel that you've used up all your 'nice' and are ready to crack? Good news, the Lord has a fresh supply and is never lacking.

One day in the not so distant past, I needed to make my 90 year old Father-in-law something for lunch. My nice meter registered nada.

Stomping around in my mind and hiding in my office, I cracked ugly like the ground in my drought ridden land.

What did the Lord do? Did he strike me down? No.

In a soft voice, the Holy Spirit whispered to me. "You'll be feeding Jesus. Would you deny Jesus a lunch?"
Ouch, Ouch, Ouch. Of course not.

He went on. "As much as you do to the least of these..."

TO my credit, I am not stupid. I got the message. And expanded it. When my nice tank is on E, I look past the people and see Jesus. He is everywhere. He is in my Father-in-law, my husband, my friends, the car that just pulled in front of me, the person who called to sell me something.

What a difference it makes. And the best thing, I don't have to rely on my supply of nice. I have the never-ending supply of the Goodness of God.
Like the parched land needs rain, I need the filling of the Holy Spirit. With His help, I won't crack, but remain pliable and rich in God's mercy.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Alleluia, Hallelujah!

Revelation 19:1
And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:

Alleluia, Hallelujah - in the Bible only 4 times. All in Revelation 19 - verses 1,3,4,6

Revelation 19:6
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying,Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

In my heart, Hallelujah rings constant. When I wake, the word explodes from my heart. For my God reigns.

The declaration of the morning and night and all in between. For He is. And He is Alive!! Forevermore.

Shout it! Proclaim Hallelujah! Each time the word is used an exclamation mark follows the word. This is not a quiet word, but one that is to be shouted.

HALLELUJAH!