Friday, October 23, 2009

In Myself


When I am tempted to think that I'm really something... it's time to go through my scriptures verses again.

In myself I am nothing. (Gal. 6:3)
In myself I know nothing. (1Cor. 8:2)
In myself I have nothing. (1Cor. 4:7)
In myself I am and can do nothing. (John. 15:5)

Protect me Lord from haughty eyes and an arrogant heart... which are sin. (Prov. 21:4)
Thank You Lord that I will not allow the pride in my heart to deceive me. (Obediah 3)

The more the Glory and power of God flows through our words and actions, the more we need to be reminded that it's God-- not us.

Yes, we co-labor with Holy Spirit as we obey Him, but the Glory is all His. He will not share it with anyone! (Isaiah 42:8) I heard someone say that if we give God all the Glory, He'll give us all His benefits. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Benny Hinn says to live a Holy life. I agree. Holy Spirit is attracted to us more and more as we take thoughts captive, watch our words and live a holy life. (2Cor.10:4-5, Matt.12:35-37, Phil 4:8) In Job 22:30 it says, "He will deliver even one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands." Wow! I love that verse. To me this verse means that as I live a holy life, I can pray for others and Holy Spirit will set them free. Amazing! That's good news.

Isaiah emphasized the importance of submitting to the holiness journey, "See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another." (Isaiah 48:10-11)

Therefore, if we want to keep flowing in Holy Spirit we must make sure that we give God all the glory.

I know myself because it's happened to me. As soon as I started to think I was something special, I started drifting away from Holy Spirit. A few hours later when I asked Him a question, I didn't hear an immediate answer. That scared me.... I don't want to be here if He's not with me. I did a quick inventory and started repenting and asking Holy Spirit what I had done wrong. Thank God for His Mercy and Grace!

So let's all say, "Thank You Lord for using us today. We give you all the Glory, before and after for what You are going to do. Please warn us Holy Spirit when we start to walk in pride. Give us humble, teachable hearts so we can always have sweet fellowship with You. In Jesus' name we ask. Amen."

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Gift After Gift


I was reading the Gospel of John a couple of weeks ago and it keeps coming back to my remembrance. It goes, "We all live off his generous bounty, gift after gift after gift. We got the basics from Moses, and then this exuberant giving and receiving, This endless knowing and understanding-- all this came through Jesus, the Messiah." John 1:16-17

I want to write a song about this. Imagine, we live off of His generous bounty! I never thought of life like that. I took so much for granted when it was all a gift. Oh the love of God, that we should be called the Sons of God! Such amazing love -- the Message translation brings it out in a whole, new way.

I love the next verse where it talks about endless knowing and understanding. I was a child who got told to be quiet because I asked too many questions. In Heaven we will never be told to shut up and we can keep learning forever. That really appeals to me.

I remember the time I just cried out to the Lord, "I want to sit and watch you run the whole show!" Oh, that blessed me so much! He wants to show us how to do the stuff. Amazing! I wouldn't be bothered with the likes of me some days!

I remember a time when I messed up really big and I thought, "Oh no, there's no way I'll ever fulfill my destiny after this screw up." After wallowing around in self pity for a while, I started to worship and I felt Holy Spirit drop into my heart, "My love and plans go on forever."

I was so thrilled! It doesn't matter how badly we mess up, God always has a back up plan.

I don't understand why my Dad was taken away from me suddenly, without warning and I don't understand why I missed a great full-time job because of the funeral; but I know that He who called me is faithful and He will complete that which He has started in me.

I know He's trustworthy... I know He's worthy of all my trust-- even when I don't understand it with my limited perspective. He'll give me beauty for ashes and somehow He'll turn it to good.

I do know I had a great dad for 48 years and many people I didn't know told me what a gift he was to their lives too.

Ultimately, "I Thank You Lord for so many gifts in my life. Open my eyes to see the gifts you have given me and help me to appreciate them every day, in new ways.
Amen."

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Make Each Day Count!

Life is short so I'm making the most of each day. Every new day I want to make sure I make time for the Lord, to praise and worship HIM and to hear His thoughts for my day.
It's amazing how much better my day goes when I do this. You would think that I would have learned this by now and have no problem putting God first.

However, there are a lot of sneaky distractions in life. Kids, walking the dogs, work, husband, commitments in church, errands, housework; need I say more?
In themselves they are not "bad" but when they get between me and the worship that Jesus deserves then they become idols. I keep saying to the Lord that I love Him more than anything... then by my choices I say that He's last on my priority list.

All I can do is repent and get real with Him. Sometimes I'm aware of the distractions and sometimes I'm not. The devil does not want us to worship God because he knows that we will get refreshed and come out of His presence empowered. Thus he tries everything in his arsenal to keep us from seeking the Lord and basking in His presence.

It's a learning process. We all have to journey through the land of distractions and learn to ignore them and just keep seeking the Lord.

Yesterday, I asked the Lord to protect my time with Him. It really helped. I had a great time with Him (Holy Spirit) and got some great downloads to think about.

Today, I finally got to a place where I could sit down after supper and the Heaven's felt like brass. Aha! I've been there before. So I put on a couple of worship songs on youtube (Chris Tomlin and Hill Songs) and agreed with the songs they were singing. Then I started singing my own new song while the songs were singing.

Breakthrough! It worked again! Heaven's open and His presence is all over me etc, etc.
Thank You Jesus for Breakthrough! Now I'm decreeing things He's told me before, calling in the promises He's given me and asking Him who needs prayer (shoring up, protection) and where is the enemy active.

Now that's living! And some people think being a Christian is boring. They don't have a clue!

Got to go... Holy Spirit wants another song and it's another opportunity to make this day count for eternity.