Walk On Clouds

I wish I could walk on the clouds
Feel the cool air hit my face
The soft clouds billow around me
I imagine somehow I would feel lighter
Somehow I feel like sorrow
would fall off of my heart like drops of rain
Somehow I feel like only love
would be able to hold me up
And regret would be something of the past
The sky would be my dance floor
I could run as fast as I desire
or just sit and ponder
The sky would be mine to have
It would support me as I float upon it
If only I could walk on the clouds
Maybe life wouldn't feel
like its holding me down
I would lay as I watch the sky become a darker shade of blue
And the stars appear like music
being played in the sky
I would make up a song as as they twinkle
I would use the clouds as a blanket
to keep me warm
As the evening breeze gets cooler
If only I could walk on the clouds

Love Letter

I am sitting in my room- meditating on life, on God. As I think I am spoken to softly. 

“When you are in love you read their texts and letters over and over again, thats how My love letters should be read.” 

It is true. The Word of God has been called His love letter to us. We are called His bride, yet we tend to read past His letter quickly so we can engage in our earthly loves. (whatever that may be, people, work, material possessions…)

That first true love letter we receive becomes tattered and worn because we pull it out every moment we can to reread the sweet words from our new lover. We keep the words they say on replay and chew on them over the course of the day.  

Yet sadly, and I confess, I do this too, my Truest of Loves, my most faithful friend, the man that died for me, this Love has been sadly cast off so I can case after another. 

May our Bibles, our love letter from God become tattered and worn, may we desire to reread it over and over again, meditating on His words to us. Playing the music of His heart throughout the day. May my truest of Loves be the One who first loved me. 

Whisper Words of Wisdom

  

  To love at all is to be vulnerable. 

 Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. 

If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little    

 luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or  

 coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, 

 motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will    

    become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.

  To love is to be vulnerable. 

                         

 C. S. Lewis 

Becoming Like A Child

                                      Becoming Like A Child


Matthew 18:3 
"And said, 'Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

   The older I get and the more I observe children, I am understanding why God says we are to become like a child.
As we get older we become more worried, stressed, preoccupied, cynical of life and full of a undeniable pride. We tend to reserve ourselves and we often become ashamed of sharing our faith and find it hard to express the truth in love.

   Now take time to observe a child, think of your children or nephews, nieces, little brothers or sisters...
Children are humble in many ways. They have no way to take care of themselves and are solely dependent on their parents or caretakers. They are free spirited and carefree. They don't worry about if they will eat or what they will wear or even what they will do that day or the next, because they trust in their loved ones to take care of them. They speak honestly, even when we don't desire to hear it... "What's that red dot on your face?" And say and do the most sensitive loving things when it is unexpected and undeserved.

   They also forgive and forget. If a child has been hurt by someone, they have this uncanny way moving past it and forgive easily. And most often than not you won't hear about it the next day or even the next minute after the offense. 
   Children also have this way of seeing the world as a big adventure yet see the joy in small things. 


   We have all had those moments where we wished we were children again, not having to worry about the stresses of life. We may not be able to go back in time,and honestly I'd rather not live through some of those younger years again. But God doesn't only say we are able to, but should become like children. We are to strive for that. We have to become humbled and remove our independent pride and learn to trust The Lord as our provider. We are to live carefree (in a sense) so we are not full of worry and doubt. We are to express the truth (in love) and shouldn't be ashamed to speak up and share the faith. We need to forgive and forget easily. And we should daily see this world as something to discover without looking past the joys that can be found in the little things. 

Observe a child and learn from them. They can teach you more than you ever imagined!

Happy New Year!

It's a new year! It may just be another day, but to me it truly feels like a new beginning. A new chapter in my life. A clean slate. 2013 was good to me in different ways than I had expected. I wish the lessons I had learned in that year were easier and without the pain I had faced, but I know by God's grace I went through some difficult storms and came out stronger and with a renewed perspective.

I have a undeniable excitement for this coming year. My expectations are high as I look out into these untouched 365 days. I feel as if 2013 has catapulted me into this new year. That pain and suffering I had faced was only a tool to get me to where I need to be today. As I move forward I cannot see clearly what is to come, but I know in my heart I have a peace and joy about it. I know I want to become someone better than I was yesterday, in mind, body and Spirit. I am determined to make my life better and help this world in someway become better too. Of course I can not change the world or become this person I desire to be all in 2014, but just like that beautiful story about the boy by the ocean shore, after the storm brought in countless starfish, a old man saw him throw in one starfish at a time back into the ocean and called out to him saying, "you know you can't save them all..." And the boy simply replied as he looked down at the one starfish in his hand and said, "but I can save this one" and threw it back into the calm of the ocean.

Happy New Year!

Grace

 Grace. 

Its something so undeserving. We can not work for grace for it is given as a gift. It is something God gives freely. It was given when Jesus poured out His life for us. When we say we do not deserve grace. That our sins are too great. We are saying that Jesus' death was in vain. That His death was not good enough, that His death was not great enough to cover our sins. 

"By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace

 toward me was not in vain..." 

-1 Corinthians 15:10

Paul, a man who persecuted that church, who killed many because of their belief in God. This man, received God's grace. He knew how horrible his sin was. Paul was aware that out of all men he was the most unworthy. But Paul clung onto God's free gift of grace. He humbled himself and laid down his sins before God. 

 “ 'Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!'

 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.'

 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Then I said, 'Here I am! Send me.' ”

Isaiah 6:5-8

Isaiah, before God saw how unclean he was. But his lips were then touched by a burning coal,and the seraphim said to him after that his guilt was taken away, and his sin atoned for.

It is interesting to see how it was said his guilt was taken away. Many of us believe in God, we know our sins were taken away but we sense this heavy guilt that weighs us down. 

Isaiah not only had his sins atoned for but his guilt removed.

Then after that, when God asked who would go for Him... Isaiah did not take the grace given to him in vain.. but he proclaimed "Here I am Lord, send me!"

God takes our sins away, His grace given to us as a gift. 

Neither Paul or Isaiah saw this grace and said "No Lord, I am too unclean, my sin is too great!" 

But they took hold of this grace and ran with it. 

They both positioned themselves for service,saying, 

"Here I am Lord, send me!"

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect...Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

- Phil. 3:12-14

Paul did not consider himself perfect, even after receiving grace. But what grace allowed him to do was forgetting the past, and straining toward the future. To live a life worthy of the gospel. 

We too can receive the same grace of God. Our sins are not too great. We can be cleansed and forgiven, and our guilt removed.

 We too can say,

"Here I am Lord, send me!"

"...though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow;

though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."

-Isaiah 1:18

The Honest Lie

Revelations 12:10

"Now have come the salvation and the power

and the kingdom of our God, 

and the authority of his Messiah.

For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,

who accuses them before our God day and night,

has been hurled down."

Today you may feel it, the whisper of the accuser. The one who takes you aside and tells you the honest lie... 

"you can't do it."

Some of you may wonder what "honest lie" means. It does sound kind of contradicting. Let me explain. 

Have you ever asked someone "honestly, what do you think?" Hoping for a truthful answer?

Well, the enemy is that. He makes himself out to be your truthful friend. The one who gives it to you straight. But yet he is only telling you partial truths. 

You see the enemy leaves out the honest truth of salvation. The cross. The blood of Christ that was spilled because of our sin. 

See, Christ knows we are sinners too. Jesus knows how horrible our sin is, and He knows we may never get it right. BUT He had a plan. Because He knows us and loves us, He died. He gave us the power of salvation. So that by the Spirit of God in us, we have the power to conquer sin, to live a life for Christ.

The enemy will always give it to us straight, always bring us our ugly flaws. But he always stops short. BUT God, He keeps going, He agrees with the enemy that we have done wrong and have sinned, but He also reminds us that He has payed for that sin. He has given us the power of salvation so that the accuser may be shut down and that we may dwell with Christ forever.

Never allow the lie of the enemy to be the "truth" in your life, but allow the power of salvation to be the hope you hold onto. 

Prayer

           "Read your Bible, pray every day and you grow, grow, grow" is a little song my mom taught me when I was a child. Pray everyday and your grow; simple, yet its one of the hardest things for most Christians to have as a continuous lifestyle. 1 Thes. 5:17 says, "pray without ceasing". Take it to the next level, not just every day but all day. How consistent is my prayer life? How consistent is your prayer life? How does prayer help us grow? Why should we pray?

           Prayer is more powerful than we tend to consider. Prayer opens doors we thought were impossible to open. Prayer builds an intimacy with Christ that cannot be obtained any other way. Prayer allows you to intercede (to plead on behalf of someone).  Prayer is simply communication with God. 

            God, the King of Heaven and o f earth is the same God in whose presence the seraphim "...cease to say, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.' ” (Rev. 4:8). That same God wants to hear our prayers, wants to be in constant communication with us. He wants to hear our mourning, repentance, praise and even wants us to ask for blessing and miracles. That same God hears it all and answers! It may not always to be the answer we want to hear, or it may not come in accord with our timing, but whenever and however He answers- He does answer. 

            He has answered prayers throughout history. He answered Abraham's prayer for a son, the Israelites prayer for freedom, David's prayer for forgiveness and He will answer your prayers as well. There is nothing you need to do, no extra spiritual religious act in order for God to hear and answer your prayers. All you have to do is make your requests known to God. (Phil. 4:6) All you have to do is ask and you shall receive (Matt. 21:22). If you need a listening ear all you need to do is "call upon me and come pray to me and I will listen to you" (Jer. 29:12). David, a murderer and an adulterer, called out to God, God heard him, answered him and later called him a man after His own heart. That gives me so much hope, that even in my worst sins, I can still cry out to God - still pray to Him, He hears me, and I can be after His own heart.

             When we pray our spirit becomes united with the Spirit of God, and when we don't have a continuous prayer life our spirits aren't intertwine as they should be. God wants us to pray in order for us to get to know Him in a more intimate way. To know His thoughts, His heart, His knowledge and wisdom, to know Him! In return, although He already knows us (Psalm 139:1-4), He allows us to pray to communicate our feelings and hidden thoughts to Him.

              "The more we pray the more we sense out need to pray and the more we sense our need to pray, the more we want to pray" (Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire). We need to place ourselves in situations where we daily need to pray. We need to always be interceding for those around us. The more we surround ourselves in environments where we need to be on our knees, the more we are on our knees, the more we get to know God and His heart and become one with God. 

              "For everyone who asks receives" (Matt. 7:8). How do sinners, mere humans, get what we ask for when we don't deserve anything but death? Because of God's love and salvation we become God's children; He becomes our Father. Jesus' example in how to pray opens with "Our Father, in heaven..."(Matt. 6:9). He wants us to continually identify ourselves as His children, and Him as our Father. Just like a daughter can ask her father for ice cream when she does nothing to deserve it, we can come bodily before our heavenly Father and ask. That doesn't mean we get out ice cream, it may not be the right time, or healthy for us, BUT most times God wants to shower down blessings on us. Jabez had the same boldness. "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my border..." (1 Chronicles 4:9). 

              To pray, we need to come boldly, we need to have faith that God hears us, we need to keep it continuous in order to stay intimately close and united with God's Spirit. "Read your Bible, pray every day and you grow, grow, grow" - simple. So let us simply get on our knees and see how God communicates with us, hears us, and answers us. 

All Glory To God

                  I wish I could say I have given all the glory to God in all that I have done. But to be honest, I have lived a life of craving praise and recognition. I would tell people "give the credit to God" but there was a part of me that would get puffed up in pride. It sounds ugly, unchristian of me but it's the truth. 

      When I read this verse the words "whatsoever" and "all" stand out. 

Whatsoever. ANYTHING. Anything I do. Whatsoever I do. If I am in public or in the privacy of my own room, whatever I do I need to give the glory to God. I need to live the same way regardless of my location.

All. EVERYTHING. I can not do something and take partial credit. I can not acknowledge God verbally but in my heart take the glory. Let me ask you... which is better? A verbal "to God be the glory" or an inward "to me be the glory" ? 

Oswald Chambers in "My Upmost for His Highest" says, "It's one thing to go through a crisis grandly, yet quite another to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, and no one paying even the remotest attention to us...
We tend to set up success in Christian work as our purpose, but our purpose should be to display the glory to God in human life, to live a life 'hidden with Christ in God' " (Nov. 16)

 "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" - Colossians 3:3

His Cry

It was the way He cried, as He was on His knees praying out to His Father. His tears poured out from the depth of His heart. "O, Father take this cup from me!" He shouted in anguish. As He prayed His sweat turned to blood. A taste of what was to come. As the blood fell from His crown, He knew He would experience the sting of death. He surrendered the cup to His Father, saying "not my will, but Yours be done" He let go. He let God take Him to the darkest point of  His short life. He surrendered His will for that of His Fathers. He died a harsh and brutal death so we may have a taste of life. So we may know what it means to live. For it says we were dead, but now we are alive in Christ. It took death to bring us life. Each day as I inhale, I can be grateful that Jesus exhaled His last breath for me. That He laid down His will in that garden, even though He knew what was to come. Because of Christ I am living, not just physically, but I am spiritually alive. I am able to now remove my hands from my will, from my desires in order to take the cup God has given me. Now I am a living sacrifice. Daily dying for the sake of Christ. For I cry out in the darkness, pleading my case before God. But I know I can surrender my will because I had a perfect example who did the same. Now I can cry out, "not my will, but Yours be done."

As I sit in the library at my school, here at Valley Forge Christian College, I begin watching different people studying for their majors. Each one is pursuing a dream, or better yet, their calling. As I continue to look around, I see each individual intensely studying, reading or writing, and its all for one common goal, to expend the Kingdom of Heaven.

Each one made some sort of sacrifice to be here; maybe it was a job, a carrier, money or just their time in order to learn different ways of spreading the Gospel. Some study to become counselors, pastors, teachers or missionaries; some are studying music, graphic design or media. Although each person is studying different majors, they are having the same mission, to spread the love of God to the lost and hurting.

It is amazing to see what faith can motivate individuals to do. Not just Christians, but also people around the world. If you think about it everyone has faith, something they believe in. From a Muslim to an Atheist, each one searches for evidence of something not seen. Even if it’s history, it’s the trust of human writings.

They fight for and trust this belief, along with Christians. Faith is something no one can prove, or it wouldn’t be faith. We are trusting in a god or God to be whom they or He says to be.

Everything is based off of some kind of faith; each one of us molds our worldview according to that faith. Movies, music, politics all portray the worldview of its author, and that worldview is founded on their faith.

People are created in God’s image and He has placed a human longing in each of us to search for Him. Although many people have and are searching, they come across false teachers that present a different god to worship. As this new faith is formed, a new religion begins. A group rises and they start spreading what they know or believe to be true. Each group, each religion that forms starts to try to persuade others to their faith. Sometimes their religion demands war in order to remove all non-believers. Some religions want world peace and will do whatever it takes to make that happen. Some believe in nothing at all. They believe there is no god, yet it still is a form of faith, they believe in something they cannot prove.

As Christians, we have a lot to go up against. For we know that our faith in God is thee only way to salvation, to freedom. But just like us, many believe their faith is the only way. They too have put time and money and some even sacrifice their own lives for the sake of their god.

Let us, as Christians not be foolish and come of as arrogant, but let us be compassionate. Ready to listen to others, yet with a firm foundation in Christ so we are not easily swayed. Let us be prepared in and out of season. Let us study the Word of God so we may not stumble and fall into the beliefs of false teachers. But finally, let us “go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

Trusting Your Trainer

Trainers, hated and loved by many. Trainers push you past what you thought was your limit. Think about that. Many times we evaluate our lives and place limits on ourselves. We can only go this far, we are only capable of this much. We say so many times "O' I can't do that!" limited by our view of ourselves. This is when a trainer comes into play. They know the body better than we do, they study and know the actual limits. They tell us to keep on running, but our body is saying stop, but it actually is our mind reminding us about our personal limits. They know when it becomes dangerous for our health, again, they know our body and how it functions, it's their job, They know that pushing us is not going to injure us, but increase our strength.

God is our trainer. He knows us, He knows our actual limits. He knows what we can handle. He places us in situations that won't kill us, won't injure us (spiritually) but will increase our strength. He knows that we place limits on ourselves. We continually tell the Trainer, "umm...just to let you know, I cannot do what you asked... I am not able to, not equipped to.... (fill in your personal excuse). " We trust our limits and not God's. God is training us, He is working out our salvation. He knows when to stop, when to rest, and when to keep on going. As we obey, we become equipped. "to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of
Christ may be built up" -Eph. 4:12





When we are out of shape,working out, with the trainer coaching us- pushing us...we tend to stay focused on our pain. This does not help in any way. I noticed one day when running, that if I stayed focus on something (other than my pain) I would run better and longer. Once I stopped focusing on the one thing, if I noticed a person next to me running faster, or looked at my watch to see how long I was running... I would all the sudden noticed how my legs were hurting, I would breathe faster... My heart would race and in that moment I would quit running. Let's say I had a trainer next to me, saying not to stop... Keep on going. Honestly I think I would cry. I would argue with him, tell him I am too tired. I would start doubting my trainer, trusting my own knowledge and not his. I would wonder if he even cares about my pain, does he notice I am hurting?


God wants us to keep on going. Pushing past our pain, focused on our goal, focused on Him. That is why it says not to look to the right or to the left, but to stay focus on the price. Once we start comparing ourselves to others, once we focus on how long we have been in a circumstance, we loose our focus on God. We begin to complain, we notice our pain, we notice how tired we are. God cares for us. Again He knows our true limit. He does this to increase our faith, increase our strength. Do not doubt your Trainer. He knows what He is doing. He is working you out for your benefit and for His kingdom. At the end you will see the change in your life. But do not think that you just need to work out. Make sure you are feeding yourself the best food, get into the Word not the world. Have a diet. You may be able to run a couple miles, but if you feed your body the wrong food, you will not see changes. Keep on running the race marked out for you. Listen and trust in your Trainer. Eat right. And you will see that you are in God's perfect will.


"Father knows our circumstances, and if we will stay focused on Him, instead of our circumstances, we will grow spiritually-just as 'the lilies of the field.' " - Oswald Chambers, Matt. 6:28

Morning Routine

I have started a new morning routine. I have to say it is a breathe of fresh air. It was hard to start, because I wake up to my alarm at 5:30AM.
Each morning it gets easier to wake up that early but I think that is because now I am so tired by the end of the day I get to bed by 10PM






After pulling myself out of bed, I head out the door for my morning walk. 3 miles a day! I have to say, I am proud of myself, because walking a mile use to be killer. I have a goal to start jogging/running, but it has been taking some time. You see my lungs are not use to the hard work I have been putting them through!






But one of my favorite things about waking up in the morning so early, and walking is daily taking in God's beautiful creation. Having the cool air hit my face and the sun rising, the birds singing and in the background is worship playing from my headphones.

God has been good to me, and I am so blessed! Each morning as I do my new routine, I am thankful! Thankful that I serve an amazing God!

I am blessed to see God each morning in His creation!

Who Am I That You Loved Me?

"Surely I am with you always."-Matthew 28:20


Each day I am in awe of how God loves me. With a pure, steadfast, faithful love. He pours it on me even when I am unaware. He holds me together, even when I continually sin against Him. He is always patient with me, teaching me the same lessons over and over again. When I am down, He lifts me up, when I rejoice He is dancing with me! His embrace is enough.

" 'Surely I am with you always,' is enough for my soul to live on, no matter who else forsakes me. " - Charles H. Spurgeon


" love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on it's own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

We need to love others this way, for this is the love Christ loves us with, the selfless love. The love that placed Him on the cross. Let us shower others today with love, a selfless love that looks over the sins of others and forgives.

I know that this is a challenge, I am afraid to walk out the door knowing my love will be tested. But if I want to be like my heavenly Father, I know I need to walk out this road that will bring me daily to my knees, asking for the strength and patience so I may love others the way He has loved me.

Take Us Lord

I have been seeing so much pain recently. So much hurt. One day someone is battling a hard situation, the next I hear another story of a hardship. My heart aches for those who are in these battles. They are in the storm that seems to have no end, but there is a God that can calm the storm. A God who is Mighty to save!

"Hear my cry, O God,
Listen to my prayer,
From the end of the earth I call to you
When my heart is faint










Lead me to the rock
That is higher than I
For you have been my strong tower against the enemy."
-Psalm 61: 1-3

Lord, I know You can turn all hurt into rejoicing, for the pain may come at night, but joy- Your beautiful joy comes in the morning! Take Your hurting children, who have been needing your embrace and show them Your steadfast love.

"But I will sing of your strength;
I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me a fortress
And a refuge in the day of my distress"
- Psalm 60:16











God is greater! Greater than anything we go through! Do not let go of His strong arm, do not give up the fight! Keep on keeping on! God has the victory! In Him we can and will do all things, for His strength- strengthens us! So that He may be glorified!

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go"
- Joshua 1:9

ME?

OK- so god has really been working in me! I am in awe of how faithful He is. how He takes time to speak gently to me and teaches me some tough lessons. like this mornings devotional, wow! umm i learned, on a deeper level, how its not about me... not a little bit. Yes God made me and loves me and wants the best for me, but the best He has for me in this life is to glorify HIM- not myself.
" You were made for God, not vice versa, and life is about letting God use you for His purposes, not your using Him for your own purpose."
- The Purpose Driven Life
So many times i would get upset with my life, what is my purpose? Does God even notice how pitiful my life is? Why am I single? Why do people tease me? Why? Why? Why? me, Me, ME!
I am noticing that the reason I get upset and hurt is because things are not going MY way. I say with my mouth I want God's will for my life, but when it comes down to action i expect it to go MY way and for God's will to be my will. I am learning that submission is a lot harder then we religious people say it is. We sing it all the time, pray it all the time, hear it in sermons, it comes out of our mouths so easily "Lord Your will be done, I surrender all", but when it comes time to live it... its not so easy. We speak one way- act another.
"Focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life's purpose"-- The Purpose Driven Life
I need to focus on God and realize I was created and held together for one reason- For the glory of God- not that I may boast in myself or what I have done or accomplished, but what GOD has done and accomplished in me.
"For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God."-Romans 4 :2
I may do all the right things and say all the right things, live the way I feel is best for me and I may boast and others may boast in what i have done too, but compared to God, I have nothing. I cannot boast before a perfect God, because even my "perfect" works show up small and meaningless compared to God.
NOTHING is about me- or about my ways, BUT it is all, 100% about God and His glory!
"I must learn that the purpose of my life belongs to God, not me" - My Utmost for His Highest

"It's not about me, as if You should do things my way, You alone are God and I surrender to Your ways."

Romans 8

In our sufferings we groan (a low, mournful sound uttered in pain or grief). We are aware of the pain we go through and groan through the struggles life brings. . Yet even though we are aware of our surroundings, we ache for something more, we ache for our heavenly bodies, "we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we'll never have to relocate our "tents" again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what's coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we're tired of it! We've been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less " 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 (Message) In these times, we may not know how to pray. I know from personal experience, even this morning, my spirit was groaning within me because i was unaware of how to feel or how to express those feelings through prayer. " in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words." Romans 8:26 We are humans saved by grace, in our sin we are foolish in the eyes of Christ and in our struggles we show times of weakness, but by the grace of God, by His Spirit, He allows us to stay silent and hears the prayers of the spirit inside us. The Spirit inside of us groans for God and cries out to Him, with cries so deep words cannot be uttered. I know i have felt that deep pit in my stomach, the feeling you can not describe... now I am aware it is the Spirit inside me interceding on my behalf.
" for who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows excepts the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God." 1 Corinthians 2:11-12 The Spirit is like a middle man, He knows our thoughts, our desires, our struggles, our heavenly longings, and He also knows the thoughts of God, His desires for us, and longs for us to be close to Him and reunited with Him; this allows the Spirit to intercede on our behalf to God, and for Him to teach us the things of God.
all we need to do is ask and we shall receive for the thoughts of God are freely given to us.
"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32 Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was the ultimate gift, so if God gave us His Son, His only beloved Son, why wouldn't He freely give us "all things"
?“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him." Matt 7:7-11
God wants to freely give to us the things to equip us for His good work, He wants to bless us beyond our own needs. He offered His Son to free us, to set us free from the bondage we were tangled in. He rescued us even when we ran after our own desires. He brings us to Himself and wraps us in His faithful arms. "So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:
They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us." Romans 8: 31-39 (Message) Nothing can separate me, can separate you, can separate us from God's love! From His arms! He is and will always be by our side, and the Spirit will never give up interceding for us! "So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

let's give this blog thing a try

I believe the last time I have blogged was when I was in high school.
So this shall be interesting.

I would like to point out that this is going to be used as a semi-daily, semi-weekly or monthly blog... not really good at keepin a habit of stuff. ya know?

anywhoo. (get use to the phrase....I get scatter brained and that is my way of "refocusing")

today was a bit productive - had to come up with a drama for a mission's trip... got the music, now to let the creative juices flow....
so basically I should be doing that right about now...but this called to me...and so here i am typing on the computer to post my random thoughts for the world wide web to creep into my life. sigh....isnt life interesting.
how we have our goals and get side tracked with the pettiness of life.

I wish i would be more goal driven and focused. and then maybe my apartment would be clean, bills would be payed and meals would be cooked....
but right now...
apartment is a mess- bills ha, and fast food is the way to go...or a quick ice coffee... or skip the meals and buy that cute top that i NEED to have...


welll... i really should go and figure out this drama...
till next time.

goals- focus