A Visit to Neverland

I had decided to pay a visit to a dear friend of mine yesterday. She lives about an hour away. It was exactly what I needed to raise my spirit and renew my senses. It was as if all of nature was getting dressed in their Easter outfits and throwing on festive bonnets.

Assortments of wildflowers were in bloom along the highway. Golden poppies colored the sides of the hills and the valleys covered in lupines looked like lakes of purple water. Pockets of pink, purple and fuchia were splashed here and there like droplets fallen off the end of a giant paint brush. Even the scraggly old oak trees dressed up in a soft green for the occasion. Wild grasses-that in a few weeks would be dry and brown- moved gently to hushed song of the wind.

As I pulled off the main highway and headed into the hills the scenery began to change. The tips of the trees erupted with bright green as if they couldn't contain their excitement any longer about springtime. The creek gurgled along side the road and frogs croaked boastfully back and forth to each other.

Cattle of all sizes dotted the hillsides and gangly calves scooted back and forth across the road and a rabbit looked at me curiously from under the shadow of a bush. Not one of the creatures seemed in any hurry to get any where and their mood was contagious. By the time I reached my friends mountain home I was already feeling more upbeat and positive.

A felt like for a moment I was in another world. A slower paced world where it seemed if one would sit still for just a minute and listen they would hear the voice of God just as clearly they could hear the bullfrogs along the creek.

To be able to sit with my friend and catch up on life was good medicine. She showed me around her property and I met her menagerie of pets including a very vocal peacock that had claimed ownership of her patio and was as protective as any watchdog.

We had times of quiet and times of talking. We have been friends long enough that words are not necessary. Tears are allowed even expected at times. We don't try to fix each others problems we just offer each other a safe place to-be.

As I packed up to leave it was with some sadness. I would miss my friend. But the work God had been doing was becoming clear to me. It was one of those situations where you aware of something but you aren't quite ready to look it straight in the face. This was one of those times.

Sometimes having a quiet place to listen to your own hear or having a safe place to say things out loud can at times brings clarity to a troubled spirit.

Blessings,

Spiritual Defiance

I read this quote on a friend,s Facebook page recently,

"Prayer is an act of spiritual defiance of what is, in response to what God has promised. The shape of the future will be determined by those who can survey all its possibilities and by faith grasp one as possible. History belongs to the intercessors, those who believe the future into being. " Walter Wink

Operating in the gift of intercessory prayer I found this quote powerful and enlightening and wanted to use it so I went on a bunny trail last night to find the author. The bunny trail led me to a blog that had several videos posted including this one by Sunder Krishnan called Pray Big and Pray Bold. http://vimeo.com/8467883

I wanted to take this statement apart and look at all of the ideas that the author has expressed. I needed to do this for my own sake knowing my prayer life has suffered tremendously this past year. I knew God wanted to open my understanding the minute I read this short paragraph because it was pregnant with spiritual truths God needed to remind me of! I had been stomach punched so often by the enemy over the past two years I am just now getting my equilibrium back.I don't want to feel like a prisioner ever again to defeated mindset.

"Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars." Frederick Langbridge

"I became acquainted with those martyrs whose behavior in camp, whose suffering and death, bore witness to the fact that the last inner freedom cannot be lost."Viktor E. Frankl

"Prayer is an act of spiritual defiance, " There is a rebelliousness in the human flesh that we are born with. As a kid I was the " I may be sittinging on the outside, but I'm standing on the inside" type of rebel. I was rebellious at heart but not confident in my convictions. Sort of a rebel without a cause until God really got ahold of me.

But Mr. Wink goes on to say that "Prayer is an act of spiritual defiance "in response to what God has promised." How do I know, how do you know what God has promised? In a word the answer to that question is the Bible. "God's word is God's will." There are times God has spoken to me mightily and personally from his word, there are times He has whispered something directly to my spirit but NEVER has he contradicted his word. God's promise are sure. God cannot lie, there is no darkness in Him at all. Scripture tells us Satan is the author of ALL lies, he has always been a liar and will always be a liar. Anything God tell us through His word is...yes and amen! We can go to our grave knowing God will NEVER leave us or forsake us. We can move forward in the promises of God with full confidence that what He started in us He will complete.We cannot allow the enemy to discourage us or cast a shadow on the character of God!

"The shape of the future will be determined by those who can survey the all its possibilities." Proverbs tells us that "where there is no vision, the people perish." God's people and intercessors in particular have to be people of vision. IF we set our focus on the things of earth and not the things of heaven we will at one point or another succumb to a depressed mind set! We loose our vision.

You cannot tailor make the situations in life, but you can tailor make the attitudes to fit those situations before they arise. Zig Ziglar

We cannot make the mistake of thinking of God like a super human. God is God and cannot be locked into a box. Don't make the mistake of believing that God will work within our limited expectations! Ask God to give you renewed vision. Ask Him to open your understanding to see beyond the walls of what you can see with your eyes! "and by FAITH grasp one as possible."

As God gives you vision hold on to it! I cannot tell you the number of promises, personal promises God has given me for the future. None of them line up with the circumstances of the present but I have grasped the vision and it sustains me through the tough stuff of life!

"History belongs to the intercessors, those who believe the future into being." I DO believe prayer makes all the difference. I believe the enemy's sole purpose in discouraging us is to cause us to release our hold on the vision God has given us and to make us despondent enough to quit praying. If he cannot keep us from salvation he wants to make us ineffectual as a role as Spiritually defiant men and women that storm the gates of hell and take back the things the Strongman has stolen from us.

Ask God for vision, BIG VISION. Ask Him to open up your understanding to ALL He has purposed for your life! Ask Him to give you the vision to see beyond the circumstances of life and show you how to see the spiritual amidst the physical, the divine amidst the mundane. Defy what is- and pray beyond what you can see with your human eyes! See the future through God's eyes! History is in the hands of the intercessors!

Blessings,

Trust

I don't neccessarily write this blog for others. It is really a place for me to put my thoughts together and cement certain things in my own mind. Because it is public I know it is read by others.

Trust~confidence; a reliance or resting of the mind on the integrity, veracity, justice, friendship or other sound principle of another person.

While trust in the Lord has been the lesson learned my teachers have been other people. God has brought the most amazing people into my life the last couple of years. People that have taught me to love and to trust.

Feeling Like Job

I'm having a rough night tonight and it's probably not the best time to be putting thoughts down in cyberspace. Truthfully I'm not real sure what my thoughts or feelings are right now. I'm all sort of jumbled up inside.
On top of jumbled up feelings I've had this feeling of tiredness, it is deeper than the flesh, and deeper still than the emotions. No matter what I do I can't seem to shake it off. I think I am battle weary and I just don't seem to have any fight left.
A friend told me I sounded depressed. I'm not depressed. I do have hope. I know what it feels like to loose hope and I never, ever, want to be in that place again! I will admit to this, I desperately need a healing touch from the LORD.
I know when I pray God is faothful to answer and His answers are "Yes" and "Amen."
Since I've been feeling a little like Job lately , I know I can take comfort in his words, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD."
Blessings,

Windows

I heard a saying that I believe was originally from a book by Randy Alcorn. It said in effect (paraphrased by yours truly) that when we look around at the ugliness of life: violence, oppression, hatred, incest, murder, cancer, heartaches of all sorts it is like looking through a small window into hell.

Conversely to experience the beauty of life music and laughter, love, friendships, joy, charity and kindness are like looking through a small window into heaven.

Something to think on. Blessings,

I Am Undone

Then said I, Woe [is] me! for I am undone; because I [am] a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, [which] he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

And he laid [it] upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here [am] I; send me.

And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

These words from Isaiah's sixth chapter were what I woke up to this morning. It was if Isaiah was speaking to me. I am not sure how these verses are going to play out in my life but I know that when God speaks, He moves.

Last year he spoke to me from 2 Kings "Thus says the LORD: 'Set your house in order... though at he time these words didn't make sense except in the context of the scriptures and Isaiah's admonition to King Hezikiah and yet there was an urgency in them SET YOU HOUSE IN ORDER! I remembered also what a dear friend taught me "When God speaks to you from His word you stay right there in that portion of scripture and listen."

I began to set about the task of setting things in order (and am still about the task sense the Lord has not said to stop) in all areas of life. This has been a huge undertaking for me. The Lord knew what was headed our way and I can see why the urgency was needed. Disaster was avoided in this case as a direct result of my obedience to God speaking from his word to my heart! This is only one of many examples I could give of God going before me and making a way where there seemed to be no way.

God speaks through His living word today if we will listen to the inward prompting of the Holy Spirit. The word of God is like a schematic diagram, *"a drawing intended to explain how something works, a drawing showing the relation between the parts" Should we not be applying it to our lives and relationships in a practical way?

Isaiah goes on to say "Make the heart of this people dull, ( King James says "fat.") And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed."

I wonder how often my ears to heavy to hear that still small voice. Or my heart has been to dull to understand what God was saying? God speaks and then He moves. Are we listening? Am I?
Yeshua Adonai, prepare my heart for this new work you are doing. Make me clean in your sight and willing to go where you send me. Cause my heart to be sharp to understand and yet soft and pliable in your hands. Make my ears light to hear your softest whisper. Father God, don't let anything take root in my heart that can choke out the work of your Spirit in my life. Make me bold in prayer and wise in speech. Amen.

A Slave to Wrong Thinking

Mother Teresa said "Work without love is slavery." How often I make myself a martyr by my own poor attitude! I find myself grumbling at times over situations that are entirely of my own creation.
Perhaps it is my lack of planning or dealing with the results of poor child training. Often it is because I have become absorbed in my own thoughts and missed opportunities to turn events of the day into learning moments.
Father change my heart and make the daily tasks of my life and outpouring of your love into the people in my life. Help me to see beyond my own pain to ease the pain of others. I don't want to be a self made slave but a bondservant to Jesus.
Blessings,

Remembered Moments

Life I am told is remembered in moments. I suppose there is truth in that. It would explain why children raised in the same household often have different memories. That would certainly be the case where my brothers and I were concerned. This year is closing quickly. As I look back those remembered moments flicker through my mind like an old reel to reel movie.

I have been considering trying to sketch some of the great women in the Bible. I doubt I could do justice to any of them. Each of them is so poignant in their humanity as they tried to live out their faith with dignity.

As God writes out the story of my life daily I wonder, if it were held up against the snapshots from the lives of these women of faith, how it would compare. I suppose small trials produce small faith. Women like Hannah,Abigail and Ruth, Sarah, Leah and Rachel, Lydia, Eunice and the Mary's all faced giant obstacles to their faith.

My faith has grown to be sure. Each test this past year has been like an endless torrent of waves that I have barely been able to rise above. Truthfully at times it has been only the knowledge that the eyes of my children are upon me that has kept me going. Through it all God has been faithful always whispering in my ear " I am here Child." Oh how I have needed those four little words!

David said his sin was always before him. I know intimately that familiarity with my human nature and my failings. And yet David was also called "A man after God's own heart." I wonder...could the same be said about me?

Each heart knows its own sorrow Scripture tells us. My heart is no exception. Father help me to see beyond myself, beyond my own pain to reach out to others. I have touched the hem of your robe, you have healed me, teach me to put on the garment of praise. The only cure for what ails me is more of You and less, much less of me.
Blessings,

The Messy Side of Perfection

We've been reading through Proverbs as a congregation. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have the wisdom of Solomon? There was so much potential in Solomon. Yet with all of his vast knowledge he managed to make many foolish choices.If Solomon was able to get so sideways you might wonder what those of us with normal human insight can do to avoid the pitfalls he stumbled in to.
I have been mulling many things over in my mind lately and I know, that I know, that I know, human understanding will not give me the tools I need to figure out some of these puzzles! God's word is the only tool that holds the key.
Sometimes life seems random but I know in reality it is because I am looking at the tapestry of life from the underside. I see shapes and strings but the artist is on the other side and He holds the needle. As He weaves the threads in and out a thing of beauty is created. One day I will sit on the other side of the embroidery hoop with the Father and gaze on that finished work of art. I will be that work of art!
Blessings,

Life

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” - Albert Einstein

Yeshua Adonai, thank you for yet another opportunity :) Blessings,