Oh Contraire

Oh, I get excited about seeing the difference that Paul made in the world for His Father!  Because of His keepin’ goin’ into the world, we as saints have the Truth of our Father’s love and grace found in Christ Jesus!  I have been reading about the Apostle Paul  and how he was taken to court for His voice for Jesus.  This was the charge made against him : “This man is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the Law.”  Meaning that Paul was sharing the new covenant (New Testament) teaching that it is through grace that we are saved and not by works.  God’s Word is a guide to help us live life at its best, but He knows nobody can live perfectly.  That is why Jesus died on the cross so that people could rest in knowing that through Him, they already have forgiveness and eternal life in His Kingdom!  Bless Him as that is a HUGE weight off of everybody’s shoulders! Paul was truly making a difference and that is why those who were against Truth were persecuting him.  The enemy had people blinded which is what Satan likes! Yikes! Poor people who need Jesus! I say, woohoo!  Go Paul! Rock on with that Truth of Jesus’ love and grace to destroy the enemy’s work and to each one of us as saints in this world where there are many false teachers and religious people that need to hear Truth, I say the same thing – Rock on with the Truth of Jesus’ grace as sufficient to free us from the Old Covenant Law!  Jesus is not a religion – it is a love relationship with the God of the Universe! When Truth is what people need to set them free as the Son desires indeed, why stay silent! Speaking out for my Savior today! Many need to know the blessing of true freedom as it brings such peace and rescue! Rescued, free and loving life with Jesus today – how about you? Celebrating Him with this song here if you wanna have a listen!

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

Acts 18:9-13; 1 John 1:9, 3:16, 8:31-32,36; 14:6; Romans 3:9-31; 2 Corinthians 3:17

 

Not Swayed

I am all inspired to keep going for my Father today as I read about the example of Jesus when He was in Jerusalem driving out demons, healing people and working to reveal His Father’s heart to the people all around Him.  He was busy doing the work of His Father when a religious group approached Him and presented Him with a clever third-party threat to Him and His ministry.  They stated that King Herod wanted to kill Him, so He needed to leave the city.  King Herod had already beheaded John the Baptist and so he thought he was done with the threat that the Lord was to him.  Despite the third-party threat that was presented to Jesus though, Jesus stood His ground for His Father and said “Go tell that fox, I will drive out demons and heal today and tomorrow and on the third day I will reach my goal.  In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day — for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem.”  Jerusalem was the destiny city that Jesus had in mind as He did His ministry work and He in essence is saying, until my Father takes me from this earth, I WILL keep doing the work of my Father where He desires for me to be!  Woohoo! Go King Jesus!  You so Rocked then and now and I love your “keep going” attitude!  All of this just speaks volumes to me that as our Father’s children, we, too, must keep going with a heart to make a difference for our destiny city that is the new Jerusalem that will be our eternal home with Him forever.  We must keep going, not because we have to in order to earn heaven, but we must keep going because so many in the world do not have Jesus as their Savior!  There are many yet in the world that need to have us let our Father work through us with Him to drive out demons, heal them and reveal our Father’s heart to them.  I just want to encourage you as I am encouraged today, to keep going with the call on your life where our Father has you and never give in to others who don’t understand the Father’s heart in it and for wrong reasons would want to shut you down. I’m a gal keeping going with ya for our Father and His Kingdom! It is worth it! How about you?

Luke 13:31-33

The God Who Wants to Be Noticed

My Father speaks  to my heart today of how very much He longs to be noticed by His people.  His written love letter to us (the Bible) says He IS love.  I so believe it when you look around at creation.  Have you ever seen an animal display his great qualities to attract a companion?  Have you ever noticed the colors in the sunrise and sunset or a rainbow or just the brilliant colors of earth and all that is in it? He creates pools of waters to cool us and quench our thirsts and the sun to keep us warm.  He gives us light for which to see in the day and turns down the light at night so we can sleep, but doesn’t forget to leave us the night light of the moon and the stars.   It seems our Father is very much out to win our hearts and each day, He puts out a bouquet of creation everyday to bring us pleasure.  He made us for relationship and that was evident when He spoke to Adam in the Garden and decided it was not good for Adam to be alone on earth, so He gave Him Eve.  Even when they had each other, He still longed for a relationship with both of them.  When Satan stepped in to rob God of them, God didn’t give up His pursuit.  He kept going and provided Himself as a Savior of all mankind to defeat the enemy and claim back His beloved people.  In His writing of the Bible that was written over many years, over many continents and by many people, the love story ties together perfectly to speak of our Father’s greatest desire for all His people and this is what He said was the greatest of all things to remember:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your soul”

and

For God so loved the world, that He gave His One and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” 

Now that just sounds like a God that wants our love and wants us to know to the great depths that He went to have a love relationship with us.  What do  you say? He says this world has its troubles, but even though it perhaps does, His love is evident all around us and if the beauty of this world is just a taste of what will be, Heaven is going to be amazing! He says there is a new heaven and a new earth coming and a time when He will say “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them.  They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.” I sure look forward to spending time with my Father forever, but love having Him hear in our hearts right now through faith. Why wait for a good thing like Jesus? Invite Him into your world today!  He so makes life beautiful! Ponder this song here as you reflect upon His creation of love for you!

  Genesis 3; Matthew 22:34-40; John 3:16, 14:15-27; John 4:16; Philippians 2:5-11; Revelation 21:1-4

Calm Waters

The Apostle Paul was a man of understanding and revelation and I appreciate his vision regarding unity and calmness in life.  He states that in order to have these things in life, it is important that lives are focused on the Truth and love of Jesus. God created the human body to each have a part to play to have the body be able to carry out all the purposes that our Father has for it.  The same is true of our spiritual body, the church or any group.  For example, Paul understood that in order for all the parts of the church body to work well together, it had to have unity in its faith.  He likened a church without certainty in its doctrine to a boat being tossed back and forth by waves, blown here and there in every wind of teaching and vulnerable to cunning and craftiness in deceitful scheming. This is why “to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”  He gave gifts to His people to help the body be united and full of Jesus!  I so love all of that! He says it this way:  “It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”  There are lots of religions and false teachings in the world and Jesus brought Truth into the world.  He is the One that the Old Testament prophesied about and all of those prophecies were realized in the person of Jesus.  Jesus said “I am the way, the Truth and the life and nobody comes to the Father, except through me.” Therefore, given this clarity, we can base our faith on Him and when there is unity in Him, there is peace, like a boat afloat on calm waters.  Such a beautiful imagery to me! I’m a gal seeking to float my boat of life on His living waters of Truth and love today.  How about you?  I am so thankful for my Father’s voice of Truth and love to bring calmness and peace to my heart. With eyes focused on my Father, it is well with my soul!  The words and melody of this song brings peace like calm waters to me today, so I’m sharing it here. May you have a calm peaceful day in Jesus wherever your boat is floating today as well!

Ephesians 4:1-16; John 14:6, 27

New Duds

I chuckle as I think about my Father’s Word today as He speaks these Words:

“You were taught with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

There is not a single person in this world that can live perfectly, hence Christ died on the cross for all, yet we do have the Holy Spirit living in our hearts that gives us power to lay down sin strongholds, but we must choose to do so, praying for strength to do so and denouncing demonic strongholds in Jesus’ name to overcome them.  I envision it like being a gal with the option of wearing a brand new dress or a guy sporting a brand new shirt and in wearing it, it will look sooo good on and so if you are going out into the world to represent a King, why would you want to wear old dirty, ragged clothing instead?  Choosing to lay down old sins and step out wearing what is of the new self which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of the Creator – Wow!  Wearing the image of the God of the Universe is what ya call stunning! Whistle, whistle!  Have you looked around at creation lately?  I’m talking spiritual here and I’m a thinkin’ I wanna trade in my old ragged ways for the new duds ways of Christ, what say you? Not because I have to in order to be accepted by my Father, but because I get to ‘cuz its the best and it will bring us blessing! Wanna strut Him into the world with me stylin’ well for Him and smiling? Woohoo! We’re talking high fashion here! Fashion of the most High, My Father’s ways! He and me moving together, watch out world, here we come! Hmmm. What if a person trips? Of course there are times in life when dirty old ragged clothing is good for wearing by the physical body and in a spiritual sense, when we stumble in life, there is good news – Jesus’ hand of grace will catch us and He will work through it in good ways! So thankful to be able to walk through life holding my Father’s perfect loving and powerful hand today! I so love the new look of life with Him!

“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Romans 3:23-31, 8:28-29, 12:2-3; John 3:16; 1 Peter 4:7-11; Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:1-17; James 4:7; Mark 9:14-32; 2 Corinthians 5:20-21

A Mommy’s Love

Jesus shares the depth of His love for His children today to me as He reminds me that even as great as a mommy’s love for her children is, we can still fall short of loving our children perfectly.  As mommy’s though, we can rest that we are covered by loving grace and that Jesus always has our back!  He loves our children perfectly and beyond all the love we can muster up.  Our children are in the best of hands with Him watching over them!  What a peace that brings to me as a mother.  His word says it this way:

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast

and have no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget,

I will not forget you!”

Jesus is forever there for all our children and for us as His children, too! The best thing that we as mothers (and fathers) can do is point our children to Jesus so that they can know of the One who loves them with perfect love forever.  How about having a little talk with a child today about Jesus! Oh, that thought blesses this momma’s heart today! I am reminded of this song from my childhood here. Smile! No matter how we may feel that we fall short as parents, we need to remember that Jesus understands and Jesus loves us! One of the great opportunities in life as a parent is to reveal to our children what resting in grace looks like and how everybody needs it, even them! Through your faith, know you are seen in the eyes of Jesus as “holy in His sight and without blemish and free from accusation.” Enjoy His peace today!

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

Isaiah 49:15; Hebrews 13:5-6; Colossians 1:21-23; Romans 3:21-24; John 3:16, 14:27; Matthew 22:34-37; Acts 2:36-39; 1 John 3:1

Hoppin’ To It

I so love the attitude and example of Joseph in the Bible.  In life, we are all called to carry out certain responsibilities in life.  I happen to love my life and where my Father has placed me, but in the story of Joseph, he was placed into a prison and even though that is where circumstances found him, he had a heart of wanting to honor our Father there.  Attitude makes a HUGE difference! In Joseph’s story, our Father’s Word says that “the Lord was with him, He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.  So the prison warden gave him charge over all those held in the prison and he was made responsible for all that was done there.” WOW! Big responsibility, but the good news that brought him success was that “the Lord was with him.”  Hence, “the warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.”  Attitude makes a big difference in life and when our eyes are fixed on Jesus and we are seeking in life to walk in a relationship of His power, love and grace for us, it is a privilege and an honor to work with Him to bring glory to His name and blessing to those around us!  I love frogs as they remind me to:

   F ully

  R ely

O n

  G od

When we are froggin’ through life with our eyes fixed on Jesus, it makes “hoppin’ to it,” whatever we get to do in life,  a success and a delight! I’m a gal on the hop today, so gotta go for now! May you hop through your day enjoying the loving presence of our Father with you in all you do! U’s gonna be a blessing with Him today! Make a big splash for Him today! Ribbett, ribbett!

Genesis 39:20-23

The Jesus House

Have you ever seen a sign in someone’s home that says “this home was established in ____”(the blank is then filled in with the year that the home was moved into)?  Today my Father speaks to me that a home can be moved into, but to truly be established well, it is important that room has been made for Jesus to live inside as the King.  Jesus as the foundation within the hearts and minds of a family truly lays a firm and secure foundation for the household to stand, otherwise there is always a missing brick that can cause the collapse and destruction.  I love this Proverb that speaks of this truth:

By wisdom a house is built,

and through understanding it is established;

through knowledge its rooms are filled

with rare and beautiful treasures.

There’s nothing  in all of this world like our Father’s wisdom that can add such beauty, love, peace and grace to all that goes on within the walls of a home to keep a family wanting to stay put.  I so love the sign I have often seen for people to display in their homes that says “Choose this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” Serving the Lord by letting Him be King is a sure way to make any house “home sweet home.” He sees your house as a house for His Father. He soooooooo wants to live there.  It is written in His Word “Zeal for your house will consume me.” That thought just makes me smile that my Father would want to dwell in my house! God IS love and He wants a personal relationship with each person in your home! More good news is that having Jesus in a home is free! All you gotta do is say yes to letting Him move in and He will even glady pay off all the household’s debt of sin! Now what a great deal is Jesus to a home! Is your home established well?  He stands at the door and knocks.  Will you let Him in? Oh, you’ll be so glad ya did! What’s that, Jesus?  Yes, you can live here. Welcome, my King!

Proverbs 24:3-4; John 2:17, 3:16, 14:15-27; Luke 11:17; Matthew 7:24; Joshua 24:15; 1 John 1:5-10, 4:16; Psalm 69:9; Revelation 3:20

 

Rope Walking

The vision my Father gives to me today is one of rope.  How intrigued I am by how it is made and the symbolism that it carries to the importance of teamwork.  It can be said of a rope that it is a group of piles, yarns or strands which are twisted or braided together in order to combine them into a larger and stronger form, making one rope. As family of the King of kings and Lord of lords, our Father gives to each of us individually grace in various forms of giftedness and skills to add to the strength of the body core of His church.  A great example of how this works to bring victory is in the story of Moses as his people were facing a war against the Amalekites.  Moses saw the importance of prayer and looking to His Father to bring the victory and so he told Joshua to choose some men and go out against the enemy and he would go up on top of the hill along with Aaron and Hur.  As long as Moses held his hands up to our Father, Moses’ people were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. Yikes! Keep those hands up, Moses!!! That is exactly what the team around Moses decided to do.  They sat Moses on a stone which is symbolic of resting on the rock of our Father and Aaron held one arm up and Hur held up the other side.  It stands out to me that Moses recognized the help of his team as good and didn’t try to do it all by himself. It was a team effort and not left to just one. That is how our Father designed the church family to work – together! So, I ask you as I ask myself – where is God calling you to team up in sharing the great gift of you that you have been graced with to make a difference in the war against the spiritual battle with Satan for victory over him winning this world? Also, where might I or might you need some help to do your part? Are we willing to accept the help? My Father brings this passage to mind this morning:

“Two are better than one,

because they have a good return for their work:

If one falls down,

His friend can help Him up.

But pity the man who falls

and has no one to help him up!

Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.

But how can one keep warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered,

two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

I’m a gal roped in to doing my Father’s work today.  How about you?  I’m so excited to do my part to help bring the victory for my Father’s kingdom.  How about you! I’m a going with ya if yer going!  I’m all about winning! That thought makes me smile!

Exodus 17:8-16; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; Romans 12:3-8; 1 Peter 4:7-11, 5:8-9; Ephesians 6:10-20; Corinthians 14:12

A Lovely Day

WOW!  My day began with a big loud bang outside and then all the power in the house went out.  It is hard to use the internet that way! But it is back and life is continuing forward.  Our Father’s power sustains us in life each moment of each day, giving us air to breath as just one example of His love for us all around us. His love is evident! He cares about each of us, so carry His love with you close to your heart through your day! YOU are made in the image of the God of the Universe in all of His majesty!  He IS love and He has an everlasting plan of love to carry us through eternity in His everlasting love in His heavenly kingdom that will be free from the effects of sin in this world and He wants as many people in the world to hear of His plan for them as possible so none perish, but have everlasting life in His kingdom of love! So, He so loved the world that He sent His only Son Jesus which was God become a man into the world to die for the sins of all the people of the world so that when we place our faith in Him as our Savior, we have eternal life with Him forever! Thank you, Jesus!!! Now whoever believes in Him has His Spirit living here with us in our hearts!  Now how amazing is that! The greatest thing He has in mind for each of us to know today is that through faith in Him, we are loved by our Father with unfailing love and forgiveness.  He also wants all of His children to be like Him in loving ways, not because we have to earn heaven, but because we get to do something way cool for our Father and for others and ourselves and it is His best for us.  He soooo loves us and wants the best for all of us His children.  He tells us this way:

 “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Have a lovely day of being loved, loving God and loving others and loving yourself!!!  I so love all of that! Love to ya all! Tell somebody about Jesus!

I love this song here

(Genesis 1:26, Psalm 139:13-14, Romans 12:3, 1 John 4:16, John 3:16, Philippians 2:5-11, Ephesians 5:1, Matthew 22:34-40)