Happy New Year!

                                                  Google Image
2010 is on the way out and here we are to welcome in 2011! I read a great devotional this morning, Our Daily Bread. It talks about looking in the rear view mirror. Kind of backward to what we normally hear, "don't look where you have been but where you are going", but this one focus' on looking at how God has moved in your life; watching His hand directing and orchestrating our lives. Hebrews 13:5-6 NIV Keep your lives free of the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?"
This past year I have seen God's mighty hand move in my life and the lives of those I know, either in person or through blog land. When I look back over 2010 and the foggy places of my life when I didn't know what to do, I see that God was there the whole time directing me, guiding my footsteps. Yes, I was scared because at the time I couldn't see, I didn't know what was in front of me or around the next corner, but as I trusted Him to not run me into a wall or into falling off a cliff, I see that I wasn't blind I just had a whole lot of sin in my life clouding my vision. Worry, control, anger, insecurity and the such, these things were in my way but as soon as I rebuked them and ask God to forgive me for entertaining them, my vision cleared up and I could see just what God was doing. God is good all of the time and the best thing He gave us, a side from Jesus, is prayer.

Prayer is powerful and I have learned this from Grandpa D and Grandma L. These two sweet people are very powerful prayer warriors and they have taught me a lot on the power of prayer. When they pray you can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in the room. Their faith in God amazes me and has made me crave that type of relationship with our Creator. I have seen miracles because these two people have abandoned their lives to God. I really want to see more of this and I know I will because this is God's heart, to see people becoming His children.

2011 has a lot to offer and I am very excited to see what God is going to do this year.

God's Blessings on you,
<><






                                                                                        Google Image

The Day of the LORD

1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 NASB

                                                      Google Image
Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

Have you thought about the end times? I was thinking on such as I was looking through an e-news article on Iran and the possibility of a nuclear bomb and how Israel is reacting to it and I started wondering about if there will be a rapture or not. The Bible is not really clear on this and I am curious to know what you all think about it. I use to be pretty sure there was going to be a rapture before the tribulation, but now, after searching Scripture I cannot say that this will definitely happen.
If you are interested in sharing I would love to hear your thoughts and if you can, please back them up with Scripture.

God Bless,
<><

Heaps of Coal

While traveling on the plane to visit my family in the east, God lead me to read Romans 12. A few verses jumped off the page at me and I asked my son for some paper and started jotting down what came to mind. I knew this was lead by God but it wasn't until today that I realized this is for Lon from Humble Path.

Romans 12:19-21 NASB  Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written. "Vengeance is mine, I will repay," says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in doing so you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Google Image
It seems bizarre, be kind to your enemy and you will be heaping burning coals on their head. Our culture does not understand the meaning from the Semetic speaking people, for heaping coals on the head was not a cruelty or vengence like it sounds, but a great kindness.

Before matches and instant heat, a fire had to be started with either flint or rubbing sticks together to make a spark that could be coaxed into a flame and then fed with small bits of dry wood, leaves and such to allow for a good roaring fire to blaze. This was a long tedious process and if there was no dry material around it would be nearly impossible to get a fire going. People from biblical times and today's Africian people carry most everything on their heads, jars of water, baskets of fruit and all kinds of food. Coal was also carried this way so the person, or family always had fire readily available for warmth or cooking. Heaping coal on your neighbours head was a very good and generous thing to do.

Matthew 5:44 NASB "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Jesus wants us to love one another and to pray for those who have hurt us, for in this way we are providing an opportunity for the Spirit to minister to them and hopefully they will repent and if they do not know Jesus then they will come to know Him and have a chance at eternal life in His kingdom.

I think there is also symbolism here for forgiveness of sin. Fire is life and in the temple of God there was to be a continuous burning embers kept on the sacrifice altar. Leviticus 6:13 NIV The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out. John tells us in Luke 3:16 NIV...He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Fire is vital for existence so in being kind to our enemies we are giving them the chance at living an eternal life with the Creator of the universe. What better gift is there than that.                                Google Image

Praise you Holy God for your words that teach us and Your fire that ignites us. Jesus bless Lon and ignite him with Your Holy fire. Thank you in the powerful name of Jesus Christ amen.
<><

Christ 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I want to wish all of my blogger friends a beautiful, Christ filled Christmas 2010. 

I also want to extend a thank you to everyone who was praying for me while my family and I were away visiting my extended family. We had a wonderful time and I felt your prayers.  

Google Image

May the peace of Christ Jesus rest on you!

<><

Faith and Nehemiah

I love the story of Nehemiah the eunuch who served the king as a cup bearer. The love and passion he had for his country Israel just makes me think of Jesus and His love and passion for us. Nehemiah was so distraught about the condition of the walls and gates of Israel that he wanted to approach the king, but knew if he went before the king without an invitation the chances of surviving were slim. So he wept and mourned for days fasting and praying to our God. Here is his prayer....
Nehemiah 1:5-11 NASB                                           Google Image

 ⁵I said, "I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and loving kindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,⁶let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father's house have sinned.⁷"We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.⁸"Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; ⁹but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.' ¹⁰"They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand ¹¹"O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man " Now I was the cupbearer to the king. 

I love this full hearted prayer and it seems so does God. Nehemiah was chosen to seve King Artaxerxes some wine and while he was serving the king, the king noticed that Nehemiah's face was sad and asked him what his trouble was. Now this made Nehemiah scared because the king could have him killed on the spot if he so choose, but God was with Nehemiah so he told the king his problem of how he was worried for the Israelites living without walls and gates. The king seemed pretty concerned of this, maybe it had something to do with his queen sitting beside him and he was showing off to her, (isn't it neat how God orchestrates things), so he asked Nehemiah how much time he would need and what he needed to complete this job. The king released Nehemiah from his job, giving him letters of passage, officers of the army and horsemen. The story goes on to tell us how Nehemiah went around coaxing the Israelites to build the wall and fix the gates.

This took really big faith on Nehemiah's part as he could have easily lost his life being in the king's presence with a sad demeanor and then going on to tell the king, why he was gloomy. We need to have this kind of faith that God is with us, especially after we have prayed to Him concerning a matter. 

Just yesterday my husband, kids and I were having a dinner for my husband's secretaries and their families and I went on to tell them why we don't have a Christmas tree, because the cat's pull them down. Truth, but not the real reason. We don't have a Christmas tree because it follows the tradition of honouring false god's. A few years ago I decided to find out why we put up trees during the Christmas season only to find out, to my horror, that this tradition started way back during the reign of Nimrod to honour the sex god's which really is Satan in disguise. I never knew this, so after talking to the kids and the hubby we decided that our family would never again put up a tree, instead we put up a manger and a cross. Well, yesterday I had the perfect opportunity to explain to a family, that really doesn't know much about God, our reason why we don't put up a tree and I blew it! I was embarrassed and my daughter gave me a very disappointed look. Not only did I fail God, I failed my family.  


Oh to have the faith that Nehemiah had, to risk life for the sake of God's heart! It is so easy to slip into how the world does things especially when we are around people who are not believers but this is not what our God wants. He wants us to stick out like sore thumbs. :) Take the step to be different than the world and He promises us that He will be right there with us supporting us. Our God is great and His work is easy if only we have faith.


Please pray for us this week as my family and I are heading out to the east cost to spend some time with my side of the family. This is a hard time for us as this time last year my father passed away and I really want to share my faith with my brother and sister but they are not very interested in my belief. 


God Bless,
<><

                                                      Google Image
                                                 

 

Rejoice in the Lord

                                                 <sup>Google Image

4</sup> Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:-7 NIV

Pray For Ansley

Ansley's blog

This sweet little girl was diagnosed with cancer. Will you hold her and her family up in prayer?

Thanks so much!
<><

Praise God

Pray continually                   Google Image                                                        

  Rejoice always

    Acknowledge Jesus as Lord

       Involve yourself in what He cares about                           
                                                                                               
         Share your faith with others                                                 

           Elohim reigns; yesterday, today and tomorrow


                            Give to those who are in need

                               Obey His voice always

                                  Dedicate your life to Him

Prayer for Lisa and Summer

                                                     Google Image

1 Chronicles 28:9 NIV ...for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever. 

Psalm 139: 23-24 NIV Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Hello my Father,
Thank you for listening to me and hearing my prayers; You are awesome and I love You. Search my heart Dad and let me know if there is anything offensive in me, show me. Thank you. Father I want to lift up Summer and Lisa to You. Lord have mercy. Father have mercy. Brother have mercy. Please release them from these illness, I trust Your ways Father for they are higher than my ways. Be with the doctor's that are caring for my sisters, guide them Lord show them how to treat these afflictions. Thank you, You are faithful. I leave them at Your feet and I trust Your ways. Thank you in the powerful name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen and amen.

<><

If You Feel Led....

Hello blogger friends will you pray?

I am being led into a short fast for Lisa and Summer from Tuesday to Friday. Both of these sweet girls have some very important doctor's appointments and tests this week. The diseases that are afflicting them are rolling out of control and they need prayer.                               Google Image

I believe God wants to heal these two ladies.

Will you join me on your knees interceding for healing and if you feel God's leading, will you take up a fast as well? It can be whatever you feel led into; give up a favorite food, meal or even something material like tv, facebook or such. But even if you don't feel led into fasting that is fine just remember them in your prayers this week.

Please encourage them by stopping by their blogs and letting them know you will be lifing them up in prayer this week.

Thanks so much!

In Him,
<><
Ezra 8:23 So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and He answered our prayer.

Clever saying

Been falsely accused of the most awful things?

Then you know how God feels.

Grantley Morris

Where is your Treasure? Think Before you Speak Part 2

Tre

Matthew 6:19-21 NIV "Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.


Google Image
I have a vivid imagination and it zings from one idea to another at incredible speeds. Pictures forming and morphing into something else before I even grasp what I saw. I am very sensitive to the Spirit world. Things that are of God my heart bursts with excitement and things that are of Satan I will feel all the pulls of anger, hate, envy and so on. I have a very active thought life which is good and bad at the same time, for it is very easy for me to get lost in God's Spirit, praising, worshiping, dancing and to give all over to Him, but it is also very easy for Satan to get at me and he loves to do this through insecurity, self consciousness and such as these.

                     How do we control our thoughts and deflect temptation?

God, Satan and self feed our thoughts and we have the choice who to listen to, for God made us with free will. John 8:44 NIV "...the devil...He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." The devil cannot possess or have authority over a Spirit filled Christian but he can control your thoughts if you allow him access. God does not judge our thoughts, which is temptation, but He does judge you on your motive and actions or if you ponder on a bad thought. Satan tempts your thinking and emotions and skulks his way into your decisions and actions. Ephesians 4:26-27 NIV “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

Ephesians 6:11 NIV Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. God has given us Spiritual armour to wear in defense of the attacks of Satan. The Greek word for devil in this passage is diablos (dee-ab'-ol-os) this comes from "dia" and "bolos". "Bolos" means to throw at or to hurl accusation at. The word ball comes from this. To throw bad words and negative thoughts at. "Dia" means to put a hole through or penetrate. When these two words are put together we get: to penetrate and to throw at; Satan's nature is to throw accusations at you until he penetrates your mind. Once he penetrates the bomb is released! Satan has no other way to defeat a believer but through our thoughts and our amazing God has given us armour to wear that deflects the fiery darts of Satan.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. We cannot change our life by trying to change our behavior, we need to go deeper into the root cause of our behavior; we need to change how we think. Proverbs 23:7 NKJV For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. We need to line up our thinking with God's then Satan is blocked out. How? Put on the armour of God and walk in the Spirit.

So many things influence our thinking and media is huge! The motto in our house is if it is not good for a child to watch, read or participate in then neither should we. Matthew 18:2-4 NIV He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And He said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." When you have a precious baby around you want to protect them from all harm. Such care is taken to make sure they eat well, dress well and we are also so careful with what they watch or read and who they play with. My mom use to say, "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil". I have carried that on into my family and as our children have grown I have kept that rule. (Not that it is always followed but I do try!)

                                                 Where should our thoughts linger?

Since we are citizens of heaven we need to think on heaven and not things of this world. Philippians 3:19-21 NIV Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

You might be saying to yourself right about this point, "But how do we do this? How, when we live in such a materialistic world, do we think on things that are not of here?" This is a choice that you need to make, you are what you think on.You need to decide for yourself if you want a mind like Christ. You have the control and you enforce it by what you put into your mind. Just like when a new baby comes into the home you prepare your home for safety, same thing here. Your mind is the home of God and you want to fill that home with good things. Do you want your prayers answered? I know I do!! Wrong thoughts will keep God from answering our prayers. Psalm 66:18 NIV If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. Romans 8:5-8 NASB For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. This is pretty serious stuff!!! If we are in the flesh we cannot please God! I don't know about you but these verses alone would convince me to change my thinking pattern to one that pleases God.

James 1:14-15 NIV but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Impure thoughts are not sin; they become sin when we entertain them. Satan tempts and leads us into sin but we are in control of weather we sin or not. Satan wants to make us doubt the goodness of God, this was his tactic for Adam and Eve and this is his weapon that is used on us today.

If your treasure is in heaven then you will be focusing and thinking on these things and filling your mind with such to add into your treasure box because they are important to you. Where your treasure is there you will find your heart and what lies in your heart you will think and ponder on and that will come out in your speech.

The times we are living in are rough and as the years go by it is difficult to pull away from the things of this world but we have Jesus and He knows what we are going through for He suffered temptation too! He is our ultimate intercessor and if we go to Him and ask for help He will provide it.                                                                                                                    Google Image

Think Before You Speak Part 1

                                                                             Google Image

I received a comment from 'Anymonous' requesting I do a post on "our thought life". I asked God what He wanted and I had a very strong impression laid on me the He puts people in my path for a reason, so I concluded that was a yes!! :)

Isaiah 55:8-9NIV "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." 

What is thought?

According to Dictionary.com definition #10; thought is...a judgement, opinion or belief and according to Wikipedia our 5 senses; sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch all contribute to our thought process, this is also known as the flesh.

Ok we have an idea of what thought is so what does God say about human thought? Genesis 6:5 NIV The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. Pretty harsh. :s What else? 1 Chronicles 28:9 NIV...for the LORD searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. 

                                                  WOW, pretty powerful stuff!! 

What controls our thoughts? Mark 7:20-23NIV Jesus tells us..."What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come--sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person." Galatians 5:16-17NIV "So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh...."

Before the fall Adam and Eve walked in the garden with God, they had fellowship with Him. Then Satan came in and tricked Eve and Adam into disobeying God and that caused separation or the fall. You see up until this time Adam and Eve listened and obeyed God's voice, they chose to follow Him and then along came Satan the snake and convinced Eve to disobey God and obey self, or the flesh. They heard the voice of God, self and Satan; three voices then and we still hear three voices today. I don't want to venture into hearing the voice of God but I will directed you to a couple of good blogs, one that is focused on just that; God Speaks Today, Sandy Cooper is an amazing writer and she has written many wonderful posts on hearing the voice of God and my daughter, Squeaks at The Minstrel Warrior who has put up a good post on the Voice of God as well. I urge you all to check these two sites out as they are really good.

God wants to have fellowship with us and He had already devised a plan even before the fall because He knew that Satan was going to trick weak minded Adam and Eve. Jesus, God's plan, restored our fellowship and we have this to hold on to. Ephesians 2:1-10NIV As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts.

So our thoughts are directed by : God, self and Satan. We are told in Philippians 4:8NIV...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. If we think on 'The Whatever Verse' then what comes out of our mouth will be God honouring and glorifying to Him. We need to choose to divert our thoughts of 'self' or 'the flesh' and consciously choose to think on God and His word then when we speak our words will mimic His voice and we can walk in faith that He will answer our prayers and heal people we pray for.

Although we are dead to self, we still sin so we need to regularly confess our sins to God. The word 'confess' is in the present tense and that means it is a continuous act in our lives. 1 John 1:9NIV If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Where do our thoughts come from? From within. Matthew 6:20-21NIV But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.....For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. This really sums everything up for where our treasure is that is where you will find our heart and where our heart lies is what we will be thinking about and what we are thinking about is what will come out of our mouths. Hebrews 3:1 NIV Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus...

We hear three voices but really there are only two choices when it comes to focusing our thoughts on, it is either right or wrong; God or Satan. And when you really get down to the basics there is only one voice that we should be listening to and obeying and that is God's voice and we can know His voice by studying His word. When we study His word and have Him as our treasure then our thoughts will be directed towards His thoughts and when we speak, if we guard our tongue, we will glorify Him. Really that is what we are here for, to worship and have fellowship with the Creator of the universe.


Hebrews 4:12NIV For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
                                                                             Google Image