Journey in Obedience

1 John 2:15 ESV

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

I am noticing that the more I obey Father the more separated from the world I become. In all honesty it is a little bitter sweet because some of those whom I love and care for are not on the same journey and I find that I cannot relate to them in the same way as before. My cares are for my Father and His Word and to spread His Gospel. He is breaking my heart for His mission and I hunger to please Him.

I knew about standing alone for Jesus but the reality of that meaning is honing in to also include standing alone for Jesus amongst my brothers and sisters. That was something I wasn’t really prepared for. I guess deep inside I was hoping they would get on board and journey closer into Father’s heart with me. This stripping away of self is so painful and the reality of what is inside of me is so shameful in the light of Father. This wanting to be loved and included in with others; accepted by my friends, verses my hunger and thirst for Jesus and my desire to worship and please Him is tearing me inside. Yet I continue to walk on in obedience to Father because my heart aches to be in His presence and please Him more than I desire the acceptance of my friends.

With a lot of prayer cover and encouragement from family I was able to pray in front of the congregation for one of our Sunday services. Up until the moment I was so nervous, but as soon as I took that first step towards the front of the church I was carried by Father! It was wonderful!!! The nerves left, I was able to pray without chocking, stuttering or sweating! He calmed me and I felt His approval. When I was done and I left then the shakes came in and my tummy made flips but it didn’t last long and a peace overcame me and I knew I pleased my Dad. Thank you for your prayers, I felt them and they carried me.

This journey is hard. I am seeing a lot of ugly things in me rising to the surface; things I didn’t even realize existed in me. I am a loner and never have really cared what others thought of me until just now I see that yes I do care and it hurts in a deep way. But I also see that Father is doing a deep work in me, purging me of the filth of this human nature called self. With the purging I am seeing Him with a clearer vision and understanding the pain and suffering Jesus went through in a deeper way than I did before. I can relate better to this Man of Sorrow that He was known as. He is molding me and changing me and I don’t ever want Him to stop, because what I am seeing rise out of me I like because it is reflecting Him more.

Isaiah 53:10 ESV

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Worthy is Jesus to be honoured and glorified and praised!!

Blessings,

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A Puddle of Tears

Philippians 4:13 ESV

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

I tell you, when you ask Father to give you a push He surly does!

Thank you to those of you who are praying for me in this area of obedience. I truly feel your prayers! Let me explain a bit.

Since I have been asked to run this House of Prayer and our churches prayer chain Father has really laid a load on me, something I am not use to at all. I love to pray and am very honoured to pray for anyone anytime and all of the time. What I am not comfortable with is a large group of people interactions. I am an one on one person and even then that can be really stretching me. I get emotionally and spiritually exhausted and need time alone in order to recuperate. If I can pull away from the group and just hover on the outside I usually do well but if I am the center of attention I get totally woozy and icky feeling. This was definitely a woozy and icky feeling! 

This past Friday I held a meeting for those on the prayer chain and from those who were there, they said I did a good job and we were able to get a bit of organization done. What I didn’t expect was the spiritual attack on me. After everyone left I felt so very drained. I turned up the worship music and fell in a heap on the floor and just wept. I needed to be in my Father’s presence and I needed Him to love me and fill me up. Soon, my husband came into where I was, rubbed my back gave me a gentle kiss on the head and prayed for me.

I am being stretched and it hurts!

I am so thankful for your prayers; if I wasn’t covered I would never have been able to hold that meeting. My insides were full of springs and my stomach was in a tumble yet when I prayed and spoke the words came out clearly and coherently. Even now, as I type, I am just weeping at the faithfulness of Father. Never in my wildest dreams did I believe I could do what I just did. I do admit, though, I needed the whole weekend to gain back strength and even yesterday after church when we meet with the youth and young adults, I had to sneak away to a spot by myself and just soak in Father’s presence.

Obedience is hard yet when we take that step of faith He is there to meet us.

I encourage you to take that step of obedience, whatever that may be, and trust Father will meet you and uphold you. 

He is Faithful!

Revelation 2:10 ESV

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Blessings,

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Obedience

John 14:31 ESV

,“but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.”

Worship

Prayer

Intercession

Spiritual Warfare

Obedience

I didn’t think I would have a word focus for 2014 as it seems Father is continuing to lead me deeper into spiritual warfare. He is truly expanding this ministry of intercession in marvelous ways and I had no idea the path I would be taking when I began this journey.

I started off in worship which led to prayer and then intercession. Last year He told me spiritual warfare and with that He gave me the honour of running a House of Prayer out of my home church. This fall I have been asked to run my church's prayer chain and with this new task formed the House of Prayer into a ministry all of its own with so many opportunities for worship services and hopefully more prayer services. Father is just blowing the doors open here with an ad in the regional church paper with an open invitation for all of the churches to come together to corporately pray, and in the near future plans a sign out front of the church inviting my home town to come on it and pray.

I asked Father if He had a word focus for me this year and He told me ‘obedience’ and my heart shriveled, because I know what He wants and I am very scared to do it, yet I am trusting in Him to provide the courage I will need when I face this fear.

Isaiah 41:10 ESV

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

I am snared by the fear of man.

Proverbs 29:25 ESV

The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.

You see, with the House of Prayer being a ministry all of its own under the covering of my church, opportunities for expansion are already surfacing. One of these opportunities is for the House of Prayer to take over the prayer time during the church service and that means a big ol microphone and me. Ahhhhh, just typing that out made my tummy turn to jello. :( Folks, I am a behind the scenes type of person, the one who lays on her face in the dark praying for others in the lime light. Yet Father is calling me to do this and I know without a doubt that He will meet me when the occasion arises but it is that first step that is hard. I envision myself running to the edge of the cliff and just jumping off and in most situations I do this flying leap very well but in this one I see myself coming to an abrupt halt bound by fear and feeling myself shrink into the ground.

If you remember please pray I have courage to take a running leap when I am asked to do what I fear. God is faithful and I do trust Him therefore I know I am safe in Him. 

Thanks!

Do you have a word for this new year?  I would love for you to share it in the comments below or write a post on it. 

Blessings,

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Trick or Treat? Yes? No?

So, what’s the big excitement about Christians having nothing to do with Halloween? After all it is really All Hallows Eve and November 1^st is All Saints Day. I mean when you look at it Christmas and Easter are pagan holidays and yet Christians celebrate these too. Yes, the focus is not the pagan celebration but on Jesus, His birth and His death and resurrection. But, what is the focus on Halloween? It is nothing more than a Pagan holiday and there is nothing Christ centered about it.

What does God say about Christians celebrating pagan holidays? Let’s see.

Deuteronomy 12:29-32 ESV

“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.

Colossians 2:8 ESV

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

Matthew 15:3 ESV

He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?"

1 Corinthians 10:21 ESV

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

Ephesians 5:11 ESV

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 ESV

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

Romans 12:2 ESV

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Ephesians 5:6-12 ESV

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. ...

There are a lot more verses that are against worldly ways but I don't want to bog you down, I think you get the idea by what I have shared. So is it wrong for a Christian to take part of the fun? Well, there is a lot more to Halloween then meets the eye. It is a strong hold for satanists and there are a lot of sacrifices going on but really Halloween is not the most powerful time for these people. They rely more on full moons and solstice. But even with that our God is bigger and He demolishes strongholds in the heavens. With the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ those who trust and believe in Him are free. 

I do believe that even give us the freedom to take part of Halloween.

There is more though.

What does God want from us? He wants us to love Him and put Him first. He wants us to love our neighbour. He wants obedience from us. To love Him means we obey Him and He detests all things that are evil and Halloween has nothing to do with God but all to do with the world.

Consider this...

How much do you really love God?

Joshua 24:15 ESV

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Blessings,

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Mary, Mother of Jesus

Luke 1:26-38 NIV

Google Image

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. 

How obedient May was! I don't believe I would have the courage she had to agree with what God was asking of her. An engaged teenager of around 14 or 15 years old becoming pregnant by Holy intervention? I wonder how many people really believed her. How her family, relatives and friends must have shunned her. The shame of the label, 'whore' probably walked with her throughout her whole life. I wonder if even after Joseph accepted that the pregnancy was the work of God Himself, did he question and doubt.

Mary loved God more than life itself because the punishment of adultery was death by stoning, yet even knowing this shame that she would have to bare, she agreed by saying, "I am the Lord's servant, may your word to me be fulfilled." 

I love how Mary's reaction to Gabriel's  words were not fear but wonder. She never missed a beat but accepted even before she knew the 'how'.

I would love to obey God like this without skipping a beat saying yes Lord, Your word be done in me.

I also wonder if Mary knew what her baby boy, Jesus, would go through. Mary, did you know?

Warning: Graphic Pictures in Video


John 3:16-17 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 

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Joy In Sorrow?

Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 

How do we find joy in sorrow? Well if we study the above verses we find that, we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, who are from the faith chapter, Hebrews 11:1-39. I kind of envision them cheering us on and encouraging us through their stories. The first thing we are to do is keep our eyes on Jesus and do as He did, for He is the perfecter of faith. He set the joy before Him as He prepared and endured the cross. When Jesus was at Gethsemane Luke 22:44 tells us He felt much stress and anxiety that His sweat was like blood. Jesus knew what He was to endure, the suffering and the intense shame of our sins. Jesus despised what He was to go through yet He had joy. How could Jesus have joy? He was thinking of the end result. The forgiveness of sin and reconciliation between God and man.

Jesus understood and looked to the joy of the end results of the cross. We too, can endure trials and hardships if we follow Jesus' lead and focus on the joy of obedience to the Lord. When trials, hardships, sickness and death come our way we too can experience joy if we keep our eye on Jesus and store our treasures in heaven. The joy of the Lord is a wonderful thing to have. It fills you up and spreads to those around you like sunshine.

Hebrews 12:7-8 NIV

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 

  




Christians are children of God, isn't that in itself wonderful? God, the Creator of all is our Father! He knows that if we focus on His word and do as He says then we will be over comers. He will fill us with His joy and reward us on earth and in heaven. Now that is good news indeed!

Blessings,
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Humility Grown out of Love and Obedience to God

In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

                                                              

                                                                "God opposes the proud

                                                           but shows favour to the humble."

1 Peter 5:5 NIV

                                                               Google Image

This verse clashes with our society. Few of the younger generation wish to submit themselves to the older generation. The older becomes prideful, resentful and the younger fill up with arrogance and self-importance. Satan wants to divide generations and families and God wants harmony and humbleness.

Sad, really, as I see this not only in secular families but strong Christian families as well. We live in a rebellious time; children rebel against parents, wives against husbands, husbands against employers, employers against the government and the government against God. God stands firm on what is right and wrong and the rebellion continues to swirl. This is a vicious circle, a chasing of the tail. How does it stop? Humility grown out of love and obedience for God can be the only solution to this age old blight.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6-7 NIV

Humbling yourself and waiting for God to vindicate you can be tough. I have been there and either pride gets in the way before God defends me or my sharp tongue and anger lets loose. Every time I wait on God He steps in and resolves things in a way I couldn't even imagine. When we cover ourselves in pride then Satan has a foothold into our lives and the vicious circle becomes bigger and similar loops of unruly feelings develop until we are swamped by anger, hatred and self righteousness. This has to stop and the only way is through humbleness.

There are many definitions for humble in dictionary.com and the one I like is the verb...to destroy the independence, power, or will of. Humbleness does not mean you think lowly of yourself no that would be what Satan wants. God wants you to know who you are in Him, a child of the King co-heir along side of Jesus. When we realize who we are in Christ Jesus then the vicious circle of pride and rebelliousness will stop and security in knowing we are children of the Most High King floods in.

When conflict arises someone needs to make the first move in maturity and it should be the older generation, humbling themselves for they have more wisdom and experience and then the younger should submit in humbleness to the authority of the older if what they say lines up with the word of God.

                                                      Google Image

Jesus is an amazing teacher for He humbled Himself for all generations by giving up the kingdom for us. What an awesome leader we have, now we just need to walk in His footsteps.

God Bless,
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