Always a "Thank you, Lord."

Two reasons we can always be thankful are:
1) He's given Jesus Christ, His Son, in love for our salvation and for the salvation of the world. Every other problem pales in the reality of this gift.
2) Even when we experience pain, depression, frustration, trials, disappointments, anger, fear, impatience, jealousies or other things that threaten us, stress, insecurities, negative thoughts and feelings, and we are His child, all is being used by Him for the good, mainly to conform us into His image.
     So, with these two realities, we can have a "thankful heart" and "rejoice always."

Where Are You?

      I'm looking for a gathering of people who know the Word and whose heart's desire is to yield to His Will in their lives for His glory, who understand and accept the painful process of cleansing and death they must go through daily for God to get them there. Also, this gathering would be those whose understanding is not a sealed and fixed set of doctrines, but whose spirits are opened to seek His heart and mind through His Word and Spirit, understanding that in Christ there is not beginning and no end and that there is an unlimited, ongoing revelation of Him available that He wants to impart to us and conform us to, His Body.

Casting out Mammon's Spell

     Therefore, "'Come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing and I will receive you."-II Cor. 6:17


     Are we coming out more and more, and getting closer to Him, or are we being sucked further and further into the world with it's deadly distractions and blinding deceptions?
     If the former, there is loneliness and a sense of abandonment in walking the narrow path, in choosing God over Mammon, in not loving this present world and the things of this world, in being a lover of God more than a lover of pleasure, in loving Him more than family, even spouse and children, in losing one's life, and in choosing LIFE (Christ) that is truly the abundant life. Will we endure to the end and be saved?


2 Tim. 2:12-"If we endure, we will also reign with Him."


Mammon-Earthly goods; property; riches, greed, luxury. By personification, the god of riches.(or god of this world, aka satan.)

Fat and Ugly

    These feelings about myself surfaced as a result of me being in Haiti last week ministering His love to orphans. Since we had no modern conveniences there, (not even sinks or mirrors) and it was so hot, my physical appearance was wanting, to say the least. When I did see myself on pictures others took on their phones, I thought, "I'm fat and ugly."
     What causes someone to think of themselves in this way, I thought and asked the Lord in my quiet time with Him.  Knowing this was an important revelation (that I was self-rejecting on some level) was an opportunity to bring it to Him, to process it with Him. He revealed to me that there were things in me that needed healing that only He could heal me of, and that I was to "wait" until His timing to heal. Hmmmm.......I didn't want to wait. I wanted it taken care of now, but I've learned that His ways and timing are the best for me, and for His plans and purposes. So, I'm doing that, and am assured He will deliver me.
 "Faith is the substance of things HOPED FOR, the evidence of things unseen."-Heb. 11:1
"A time to heal....."-Ecc. 3:3


     I will wait for You, Jesus.






 

Semantics Do Matter

     There are some sentences in the written Word of God that I don't believe were either 1) in the original text or were 2) translated correctly. The reasons I believe this are 1) It's been proven already that there have been errors in translation and 2) some sentences just don't make good spiritual sense.


For example:
     In 1 Corinthians, chapter 7, after Paul is explaining about marrying/ not marrying, and then goes on saying that if a woman's husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes in the Lord, but he thinks she'd be happier if she didn't marry, and then he says in vs. 40-"And I think that I also have the Spirit of God," What? He thinks?
    I could accept it if Paul said, "I believe that I am saying this by the Spirit of God," but not that he thinks he has the Spirit of God, suggesting he doesn't know if he has it or not. It just makes me want to slap my own face when I read that.
     Why does it matter? One simple word-TRUTH! If Paul only thought he had the Spirit of God, and didn't really know it, I would disregard all of the epistles! But, he did know it, and this sentence in the way it is written, with the subsequent meaning, declares the contrary. It shows Paul as not being sure if he has the Holy Spirit!!!
     So as I am reading the Word of God and come across one of these sentences with skewed meanings, the Spirit of God, restates it. He "autocorrects" to align it with the truth of God's heart and mind. Call me blasphemous, if you will, but I believe I am saying this by the Spirit of God, which I know is in me. Amen.  

He Keeps Us From Falling

Jude 1:24-
Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.

The Lord gets us where He wants us to be. He uses our reactions to shut the door on things He wants us to avoid and that are harming us and back onto the path of Truth. He, by His Spirit within us, gets us there, and causes us to avoid deception. He indeed is the keeper of our soul.




Example-I have listened to a certain man's audio teachings' for about 2 or 3 yrs. and believed what he was saying was true revelation. Today, however, his crude language caused me to be opened to hearing the Spirit within me say, "That is enough." I responded in joyful obedience, and immediately shut it off, never to return. You see, crude language, is something I react strongly to, (and God knows that about me) and so God used that to speak to me. I don't know if He was saying that all the things this man has been teaching have been in error, or just that the crude language was a sign that he has gone into error recently, but I got the message God was sending to me personally-"Quit listening to him." Yes, sir, was my response, and I feel gratefully rescued.


John 16:13-"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come."