Food for thought

"Redemption Creates the Need it Satisfies"- Oswald Chambers

But the natural man receiveith not the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him." 1st Corinthians 2:14

We can go out and try to save the world, but it will not do any good, because we are focused on the outcome instead of the income.  Our focus must remain devoted to our Father so He may do as He pleases with our lives.  Dying to ourselves, from the sinner's point of view, is not a pleasant experience, it is a disciplined conscious choice.  We choose to seek our Father's presence out of Faith.  We must have the desire for something more than what the flesh can satisfy. We are mortal creatures, we did not create the flesh, or its desires. God created us with a soul and a spirit and put us in our body, this tent of flesh, to dwell on this earth.  We are here to choose whom we will serve.  Jesus paid the price of redemption so we could choose freely. Through God's Son's death on the cross we have been given access to our Holy Father.  We can now see what was hidden before and that is our need.  We are in great need of what redemption created.  The need to be satisfied.  It is erroneous for us to think we cannot overcome the temptations of the flesh.  We do not have to, Jesus did it for us, "It is finished."  This is God's Son in whom God is well pleased.  It is a huge mistake to think we will have any kind of satisfaction doing what we please; nothing could be farther from the truth.  If we believe we are made in God's image, why do we seek to please ourselves?  If we believe the battle has already been won, why do we have such a difficult time surrendering all?  We know the way,  yet we cannot for the life of us seem to stay on the path.  I believe we are focused on the pain of surrender so much, we do not even get close to the joy of abandonment.  What are some of your best days?  Think honestly about this, for those who love the Lord, it will always be days of complete, selfless abandonment.  Days spent in God's presence, days being poured out for His glory.  Let me give an example here.  

 Here is a day by what I tell you our flesh side would think was not good but our spirit would rejoice and count it for good.  A few years ago  I asked God for one thing for Christmas, Oh that I might be a blessing to someone.  Little did I realize what I was asking.  You see I thought of the joy and didn't realize it might be painful as well.  Now I am so blessed for the pain I felt; that pain was the love of Jesus in my heart! Huh? Keep reading.  On Christmas Eve I arrived at my sister's house for the family celebration, asking around about when others would be arriving.  One of my sisters would be late, for she was looking for her dog. She took the dog to be bred and it got out of the yard.  My sister always stayed with the dog but it was so close to Christmas and she had errands to run.  If only she knew the much-loved dog would get out and try to find its way home you couldn't have paid her to leave.  My heart had a sudden feel of urgency, yet my sister arrived and we celebrated Christmas with the dog remaining  missing. To make matters worse, the day after Christmas my sister and her family had to fly to Florida to work a horse show.  I, however did not.  You guessed it, I made signs, went door to door in this rural community looking for this dog to no avail.  The next day I did the same; nothing else seemed to matter but my sister's family and their heartrending concern for their beloved dog. The day ended with a heavy heart.  I found the dog in a ditch by the highway. She had been hit and the only comfort at this point was it looked like she didn't suffer, death looked immediate. I experienced a flood of emotions, anger, grief, and disbelief that this is how God let me be a blessing.  What was worse I had to call my sister in Florida and break her heart more with the news.  My husband whom I love so much and who looked with me for the two days buried the dog in the back yard where my sister told us to put her. I put an angel on top so she would know where she was.  Yes, it was one of my best days and I wouldn't trade it for anything because through the pain I could see God.  I asked to be poured out and yet I was the one who was blessed.  When you look at life through spiritual eyes, loving others selflessly whether in sad times or good times, they will always be your best days.  We cannot be poured out for others if we are not joyfully abandoned to God.  I don't know about you but it is the only way I can see that I can live and not be crushed by this world.

Heavenly Father I pray we all will see through the redemption of Jesus, the true need which is satisfied only in total abandonment of this life, in this fleshly tent here and now.  By remaining in constant fellowship and praise to our Father, we can rejoice, in difficulties, hardships, and persecutions if the life we now live we live through Christ who died so we might know how.  May we go willingly into the fire for God's glory and the purifying of our souls.  In Jesus name I pray amen.

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

Food for thought

Arming Ourselves

"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

A lie believed as truth will act as a truth in our life even though it is a lie.  This is something we need to desperately understand the meaning of.  I call this wrapping my mind around something, until I grasp the meaning enough I won't likely forget it.  This way I don't let myself off the hook by thinking oh well I just don't get it.  Our Father can and will guide us in all truth if we let Him.  Jesus said "I am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Me."  Let the battle commence. The Jews rejected Jesus and chose to believe lies, despite what the prophets predicted years before His birth.  We as Christians today profess outwardly to believe in Christ, yet most of us get up with our busy schedules and when we walk out onto our battle field, we are easily defeated.  In the bible, time and time again the Jews were defeated when they chose to do things their way and they were supernaturally victorious when they walked with God. OK, fast forward -------- we today cannot walk with God if we do not take the time to know Him.  "People get ready Jesus is coming, soon we'll be going home." This is a truth, one as Christians we profess to believe in and for most of us much of the time by mouth only.  Not because we want this but because we have not put on the armor of truth and if we don't take time to put it on how are we going to walk onto the daily battlefields of our lives and be victorious? The only victory in this life is the supernatural victory of God, just as it was with His people Israel.  It is unchanging and always will be. One of the biggest obstacles today is the spirit in which we live. Like I said before, it is the spirit of busyness and this spirit has robbed us of the very life Christ died to give .  We are caught up in the current of Pharisaical ideas of what our life should look like, and we are so busy trying to obtain that life we could not stand against the rushing current if we tried. "Be still and know that I am God."  Does this take energy that we simply do not have? Of course not, it takes something much greater. It takes a surrendered heart.  We must die to our earthly desires to walk in truth, to have the weight of busyness lifted off our shoulders.  God never intended us to live this way.

 " Come to me all who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give thee rest."  We are to "be anxious for nothing, but in prayer and supplication let our request be known to God and the peace that surpasses all understanding will be ours in Christ Jesus."  Philippians  4:16 . " What so ever things are true, what so ever things are just... think on these things."  These are truths that we all need to absorb each and every day, without this armor we are choosing our own way, to believe in lies and have them act as truth in our lives even though they are lies.  We must walk in truth if we desire to be set free of the bondage of lies.  It is up to us if we choose to go into the battle with our own agenda or our Father's. If we choose ours, the spirit of busyness will win every time.  Peace like a river can not be ours until we have no trouble standing against the current of this world.

Heavenly Father nudge us with your love when our focus drifts from you, let us be diligent about being in Your presence.  It is the ultimate gift and it came at the ultimate price. It is here for us right now in this life today, eternal life, through faith in Your Son Jesus Christ . Thank you for giving us your Son so we might be with You . In Your presence is paradise here and now and knowing the truth is our protection against the enemy who is out to destroy the very life Christ died to give. Guide us Lord in all truth for your Glory alone. Amen

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

 

Food for thought

"Be anxious for nothing..."

If we could do that we all might live past 100.  Truth is, we must learn how not to be anxious and the test comes when we realize we are anxious for something.  Sounds like a catch 22 to me!  We find ourselves over and over anxious for something even though we may choose to describe it in other terms like I'm concerned, or I'm afraid, or worried but they all produce anxiety if not brought before God and dealt with in the truth of His Word.  We deal with life situations every day, situations that cause concern, worry, fear, or anger and they produce reactions. Some we handle exceedingly well, others we later recoil at our behavior. Think back about things you seemed to have handled well and they will have the grace of God written all over them. If we can take the time to become consciously aware of the behaviors that later bring us joy and peace they will possess two distinct qualities that must be there with every situation we encounter and handle well, humility and selfless love.  We cannot have peace without them. I do not think as Christians we desire to handle life situations badly. Instead, I think through God's grace we all get to; how else are we ever going to make a conscious choice to surrender all, lay down our lives, pick up the cross and follow after Christ? The problem is in this loud chaotic world we keep putting down the cross that as followers of Christ we have chosen to pick up!  When we turn our focus off of Christ the weight of the cross we cannot bear, so we put it down without a second thought and pick up enough anxiety to choke an elephant, let alone ourselves. To make matters worse we don't even realize this is what we have done until we are in dire need of help. Until then we somehow believe we can handle it ourselves and we cannot. Everyone is in some way anxious for something, it may be deep in your subconscious, you may do a good job of not letting it surface, maybe you have become a pro of not dealing with worry, fear, anger... by staying busy (which is the spirit of the age ) to quote John Eldridge. My suggestion for us all is to do as it is written "Be still and know that I am God",  let God have access to the deep wells of our heart as often as possible until it becomes continual. Only God knows our heart and He will reveal His truth but we must take time to let Him.  We will discover a Father who loves us, forgives us,  and guides us in all truth. We will have the joy when life rushes in with all its demands, that in all the chaos we, simply lift up our hearts in praise to God and we will be transformed into His presence no matter how hot the fire we are in.  Our joy is knowing we will walk away not burned up, singed, or even smelling like smoke. That, my friends, is a life worth living! 

Father let us learn to walk a humble and selfless life, for it is the only way we can walk with You. In Jesus Christ Your Son's name I pray. Amen.

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)                                                                                

 

food for thought

" Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God ... praying always..." 

Ephesians 6:13, 18

Wrestling against things, not wrestling against God. We indeed wrestle with God but we are the ones who end up crippled. Let's look at what this really means. We may confuse things with God. When God puts us outside our comfort zone, we enter the fire of battle within our own reasoning, which we have developed for a large part in a fallen world and not always grounded in the truth of God's Word. We are to be sanctified by the renewing of our minds in the Word of God. We live, my friends, in a crippled world. A lie believed as truth will act as truth even though it is a lie. Why? Because we choose to believe it instead of the truth of God's Word. I think most of us are stubborn and bull-headed, we all just have different points in which we are. These things are reasoning we believe as truth! And they probably make perfect common sense to us. We must learn to wrestle against these things before God. Here is an example which may help. On different occasion's God has put me in very uncomfortable situations. I have spoken to some particular person on a sensitive issue. No one likes being put in this position because we all know how bad it could end up. It will always end badly if it is not from God on His timing, with His Word. As for me, personally, I know this experience all too well; so when God leads I must wrestle with my own fear before God, not with God. In my personal experience He keeps patiently nudging me if I allow my self to stay in His presence. God does not drop the subject until I either decide to ignore Him or take that leap of faith. I have found that when I wrestle with my fear before the Lord when I do speak to whomever it is always with the fruits of the Spirit and this is how I joyfully know it is of God and not me. When at first something bothers my spirit all kinds of worldly emotions surface and at first I think I must lash out at this and set them straight, but when I do insist on my justification, others are offended and I am the one who ends up crippled and of no use to God. I may have indeed said truth but the spirit in which I said it was wrong! We must wrestle these things out before God. For me many times first comes anger, then fear, but when I end up trusting my Father He blesses me with the fruits of the Spirit every time. If we insist on our logical way God will win the match and we will be out of joint. We must wrestle with what hinders us from acting on God's will before God or we will not acquire the fruits of the Spirit we need to do His will. This all takes faith and courage to lay our lives out there for God's glory everyday knowing there will be many trials ahead but the more we surrender the deeper our personal relationship with our Father becomes and we find we have all we need. " Trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."

Heavenly Father give us the strength and courage we need to be your hands and feet. Let us be diligent in getting to know you as our Father, let us see ourselves as your children and to follow Your Son's example in being about our Father's business. Thank you for saving us, loving us, being patient with us as we struggle to understand and give up ourselves so we might know what it is to live. Father we love you and our hearts' desire is "Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." In your Son Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

food for thought

Accepting Christ

"This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Matthew 3:17

We want this! All of us. To be loved, accepted, pleasing. Ah, but we were born of man, not of the Holy Spirit. We were created in God's image, yes, but only God can baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire. Man can baptize us with water, and the fires of life rage on. As baby Christians we are overjoyed with being saved and it is thrilling to follow after Christ! Thinking we will be diligent and victorious, that we have found the solutions to our problems, and we have. Yet when the trials come we fall back again and again into our old habits! Why? It would seem to most of us that instead of life becoming easy when we accepted Christ, life for the most part intensifies in trials. For example the joy of having a baby has its flip side of walking the floor at 2.00 a.m. and later letting your 16 year old have the keys to the car. The fire of life must indeed be hot. God refines us this way, and He will not take us out of the fire until the precise moment we are ready! He will finish the good work He has begun in us, those who walk with Him. He will indeed see His reflection in us. Hard to think we will ever get there, I know. We are all on the same road to being sanctified and I doubt any of us had any idea to what extent the heat of the fire would have to become for us to be refined when we decided to accept Christ as our Savior. No doubt we would have run for cover. Yet in God's mercy He knew it wouldn't do us any good. You can run but you cannot hide. Just ask Adam and Eve. And like them God pursued us and yes we ran! Ran like rabbits off in every direction. Our hearts beat fast, our patience wears thin, we lash out with the injustice of it all, and to what end? If indeed we are God's children we eventually come to His conclusion that only through His Son (in whom He is well pleased) is there life. Guilt most often sets in at our shortcomings and what looked like a mountain is really a mole hill. Our hearts desire one thing, yet our flesh acts out, that double edged sword of a tongue gets us into very hot regrettable fires every time until...until regret and humility brings us back to the cross to lay down our lives. People are not capable of unconditional love until God can see His Son's reflection in us and we cannot reflect if we are not walking in God's presence. We must recall, we must pray, we must praise, and we must stop and give thanks throughout the mundane and the not so mundane chores of each and every day. We must practice the very presence of God, for it is our heart's desire. "This is my Son in Whom I am well pleased." Jesus said "I am the way the truth and the life , no one comes to the Father except through Me." Has God humbled you lately? If so be thankful and rejoice for He humbles those He loves. I had myself a big helping of humility over the holidays, falling short, my tongue pulled out its sword and I grumbled and complained (ever do that?) but the mountain I faced was quite an embarrassing mole hill the next day. Embarrassing that it took so little for me to fall short. What seemed stressful, in God's mercy on me and grace, was a chance to die to self and love others, lay down my life. I believe we are to die to self and love others each and every day and there will come a day when God will indeed see His reflection for we are made in His image. The realization that I grumbled is indeed a gift that produces sweet humility and lets me rejoice that even though God's reflection isn't clear in me yet, I am His and I have all I need when I rest in Him. I thank my Father for heartfelt repentance, for falling short, and eyes to see that I have. " He walks with me and He talks with me, along life's narrow way..." and it is well with my soul that He does, for the path is steep and rocky and extremely slick at times. Practice the presence of God and He will make straight your path.

Father thank you for your undying love, the gift of humility, the gift of spiritual eyes and ears. Oh that we walk and talk with You in this journey of fire on earth, so as our Savior Your Son Jesus Christ, through the shedding of His blood you will be able to say of us for Your glory" I am well pleased." Let us be refined into Your image for all else is rubbish. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

food for thought

Staying connected
"Lo I am with you always"

If we as believers realize we are on the road to sanctification, then we must know we are striving for the 100% continual presence of God. We sing about it at church - "He walks with me and He talks with me, along life's narrow way..." but how much of our hearts' praise remains when we walk out those doors and face all the challenges of life? If we only realized what was riding on our remaining in God's presence. Our peace, joy, patience, kindness understanding... What are they worth to us? The moment we let our desires of how things should be take over, we lose step with God. Walk out of church on Sunday and take note of where your thoughts go. A test one must study for, perhaps, maybe x y z that is still on your to do list, or maybe how grateful you are to be done with church so you can eat and go home and take a nap. These things are all a part of life but it is the presence of God or the lack of it which determines the attitude in which we go about our days, be it the sabbath or any other day. Our days are all a gift from God so they are all Holy, every breath we take. Are we thankful or boastful? If you have been given a talent or perhaps the mind of a scholar, do you continually remember who created you and equipped you the way He did? It is more likely we tend to get puffed up in awe that we somehow do these wonderful things on our own. I wonder if we even stop to consider where the desire to hone our talents and gifts come from? We were made for a purpose and that is to walk with God and bring Him glory and praise in all we do. One of the greatest dangers we face is success itself, for we live in this body of flesh which puffs itself up and exalts itself. No one is immune to this, it is the very thorn in our side and it has many names. We have all heard 'seize the day', 'live everyday as if it was your last', but we seldom do. I often wonder if we did would it be for us or for God? The only way to seize the day is to practice the presence of God. If we live this day as if it is our last, do we not want God to be in control? There is no peace other than 100% surrender. I like the bumper sticker that says " no Jesus no peace, Know Jesus Know Peace" To be honest, I can think of many situations where peace would seem irrational and impossible and His humbling words resound "Oh ye of little faith". I do believe we receive what we need when we need it. I also believe, like fearful children, we have many monsters under our beds causing much distress. We need to go to our Father and cuddle up next to Him, there is where our courage lies to make it through the dark night and even more the courage and wisdom it takes to stay humble in our successes. He is the potter, my friend, we are the clay.
Father may Your will for our lives be our very life. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

food for thought

Man ought to always pray and not faint.

"In this world we will have trouble, but My peace I leave with you , so where I am you may also be" Song from John 16:33


If we are listening we will not find ourselves talking and worrying. What is our heart's desire? Life working out the way we want? Or for God to take our very life and do as He pleases with it? We must search our hearts and realize what our true desire is, then we may see straight our path. We must be walking with God, communicating intimately with Him if we desire His will for our lives. We cannot intercede for others out of sympathy and feel we have done what we can, if we ourselves are not surrendered to our love and desire for our Father's will. The workers are few indeed. We often feel helpless in dire circumstances and often wonder how to pray. Man ought to always pray and not faint. Our first knee jerk reaction should always be "Your will be done." God and God only knows. "For I know the plans I have for you..." What may look like a catastrophic crisis of life is indeed in God's plan. God knows the beginning, the middle and the end, our part is to have faith that is not based on circumstances, but faith despite our circumstances. We all faint away somewhere in the midst of circumstances, but God in His mercy allows us to stand again and again and keep learning and striving for the prize- complete rest and assurance in Him alone. We cannot intercede for others if we are so crushed by the circumstances. We will instead make things worse and faint away. I've personally been in situations with people at the hospital concerning the outcome of life and death. It is indeed gripping and painful. The most recent time was for an infant. I did not pray aloud to somehow comfort the parents, I simply offered my arms and silence while continually seeking direction from My Father. " Your will be done..." are hard words I had to pray from my heart. The only comfort for these parents would be complete healing, which I was desperately praying for, if it was my Father's will.

My mother had twins when I was 4 years old and one of them didn't survive. As she was looking through the window at the other twin, a lady appeared that she had never seen before. She simply said one thing, "there's a whole lot worse things that can happen to a person than dying." Then she was gone and my mother never saw her again. An angel of some form visited her that day.

Are we so intimate with our Father that we act on His prompting alone for His will? This is true intercession. Did I want desperately to have all the right words and power to make this infant well? More than you can know, and did it hurt intensely to stay silent? Yes, it seemed more than I could bear, yet I kept talking spiritually to my Father. No will but His will do, this much I do know, and no matter how crushing the experience is, His will is the only way it will be well with my soul. Interceding is not about getting the answers we want from God. Do not be deceived on this point. Interceding is not acting on sympathy, it is acting on love, God's love, in the manner He chooses, and we cannot if we are not surrendered and walking intimately with Him. Ah, the sounds of silence can be deafening sometimes, yet God's grace my friend will get us through.
"Know Him well, Know Him well."
Heavenly Father help us to stay focused, especially in silence, thank You that in our darkest hour You are the very air we breathe, may we know You so intimately that we are willing and able to be poured out for You. Glory in Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)