How Great His Grace

2 Corinthians 12: 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

How Low? How much Grace?

I drove in tears this morning from the way I reacted to the stresses that met me first thing.... just after my first cup of coffee.

I'm learning something I never really.. intimately knew before. I'm not talking about my salvation experience... but just the fact that even here.. in this 'place' His love is Deep, Strong, and Steady. He covers me. It's scary to me. Why? I don't know.. I guess I have never had anyone stick around at my very worst... and remain calm, quiet, patient... and who is willing to wait until the time is right to give me help and counsel.

My question today to God was .."When does the Love run out? How DEEEEEEEP does it go? How Long, wide, and deep is Your Grace? 

I'm not trying to push the envelope here, LORD.. but I 'm stuck, I don't know what to do and the one thing I 'think' I'm supposed to do, I don't want to do. So.. when you do say.. enough?!"

As I was driving home facing the canyon... purple, red, yellow and white.. the sun gleaming off of them.. I heard.. "My Grace IS sufficient for you, My strength is made perfect in weakness. I COVER You." I was stunned...silenced.. frozen like a bird on a branch. I don't understand where the limits or lines are drawn.. I know I have MADE them in my own life. There have come days here and there in the lives of a few  when I said.."ok.. That's enough."

I just cannot seem to give what He gives...Love how He loves as yet. Please LORD remove what is in the way.

Does GOD Give You His Spirit And Work Miracles Among You Because You Observe The Law; Or Because You Believe What You Heard?

Galatians 3:5... Hmm.

If' I am totally honest, I will say because of the 'environment' I grew up in in New England.. I totter between the two. Religion and it's traditional thoughts are tough to root out and overcome. I have been working on this with the LORD for over 25 years or better.

All of my life has been about earning and deserving. Earning and deserving gets you somewhere... grace means nothing.. it does not truly exist. The world leans the same way and the devil works overtime to beat one up with it.. because he knows it'll wear us down and wipe us out if we buy it.

Today.. I still have the tendency to think I am owed.. or entitled. Not to the basic things for any REAL Father has Covenanted to care for His ..his.. children. But.. there are honestly times when I don't think I deserve some or many of the cards I have been dealt. I become mopey, whiny and not just a little moved into the.. "life isn't fair.. and testy mode.' I had better be glad life is not fair!!

Why is it so hard to get away from old thought patterns.. even those that are not thought consciously.. but deep down they are hiding like salamanders under the leaves and RUN at the first sight of Light!  I get caught in these covert places many times over.

Jesus never promised us a rose garden or any garden in all it's beauty until this DAY is over. He DID promise us.. trials, tribulations, testings, battles, wars, challenges, storms, and even some earthquakes, famines, and the like. DID I sign up for that? Yep. I guess I just didn't GET IT at first.. kind of like when the Israelites came our of Egypt they were led in a way that they did not have any battles at first. They just basked in the celebration of their Freedom and of the GOD who loved them. THEN.. it came. GOD did not try and fool me.. I just did not understand fully what I was going to walk in to... until now. But.. everyday when He reveals His Presence.. I am captivated by Him, His Love, Comfort, Peace, Truth.. and His awesome Strength. There is no where else to go, and no where else I want to be, than with my Jesus.

Hold onto me Jesus.. Hold on to me.. I am holding on to You.. the best I know how. Whatever You do with me is Your concern.. and I CAN and WILL continue to trust You the best I am able.. with Your help. I know that ALL WILL be WELL once more.. but not because I deserve it or have earned it.. but because YOU are FOR me and You Love me.

The Sin in Me

Yesterday in class we talked about 'presumption' vs. the gift of discernment. While GOD does give us gifts to minister to others.. such as 'A Word of Knowledge, A Word of Wisdom, or Discernment about something in the life of a person... it can be grossly polluted.. when instead we think that the gifts are a 'broad blank check' we can use in anyone's life, any time we choose to. OUCH!

GOD gives us these gifts to use under the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit through the WORD of GOD. Anytime "WE" operate in these gifts apart from the LORD.. and walk in the 'flesh' with them.. we go from ministering to WOUNDING... we go from GRACE and FREEDOM offered.. to manipulation and control... that comes from Pride and Arrogance. UH-oh.

We can never presume that we know ALL of a person's circumstances, or their heart, or all of the reasons they do what they do and why. Most times it is our own imagination that takes over and what we 'think' is not so.. not even in the slightest. We have to be very careful to make sure we HEAR right.. so we don't ADD more to a person than they already have.. Hopefully those we minister to are mature enough to be able to discern themselves with GOD's help what is FROM GOD and what is not. This is why I always stress that we operate in our gifts as responsibly as we can. Honest mistakes are one thing.. carelessness and flippiness with our gifts are another.

The LORD showed me this morning that HE is the one who leads us into our dealings with the sin in us that we are often most blind to and sometimes others see and hear more readily... and that HE is the one who Reveals to us what we need to hear and when. The LORD never lays on us more than we can deal with at a time.. and HE is the One we need to hear from... but often He will send others along to minister as well. Again.. BOTH sides need to be discerning and humble about what they hear. As GOD reveals and pulls back the curtain in our lives.. things are exposed and both love and counsel are administered.

Jesus knew what it was like to have a Crown of Thorns placed on His Head. Let's NOT be the ones who do so to one another. The Crowns we place should be of honor, respect, and the affirmation of one's godly identity.... but ALL Crowns in the end will be laid at Jesus feet. 

"Let us Love one another in word, in deed and in Truth."..knowing we are a part of one another.

Lastly...there are different types of intimacy in different relationships... ALL should be kept pure and honorable before the LORD.

Somehow we think as the Body of Christ that we are parts.. but disconnected. Someone once told me.. 'if you are a hand, and I a leg... we share Christ.. but I have nothing to do with you or you with me.. we just 'do our own thing' in the LORD." I answered a reply.. but let it go. There is no sense in arguing with people. GOD will be the one to reveal. But.. this is WHY we are SO disconnected in the Body of Christ as well. If we study the human Body and how it works... EVERY part is connected and NEEDS the other to fully function. Sometimes the best remedy for a headache is not to touch the head.. but to RUB between the Thumb and the pointy finger.. in that little soft tissue connection. Almost instantly the tension is lessoned. ALL of the Body of Christ is to be intimately.. and Purely... in a godly way... connected to one another.

To add to this... a friend said yesterday... you don't need to know me after the 'flesh' just in the Spirit of GOD. While I understand his point and it's a no brainer not to reveal personal information to those on FB obviously... The LORD showed me that my friend does not understand the scritpure's meaning entirely.. To know no one after the "Flesh" means that we disregard GOD in that relationship and we pursue the knowledge of another human being based soley... on who they are apart from the LORD.

The LORD has made each of us as unique as a fingerprint and a snowflake... HE LOVES VARIETY... if you doubt that... just look around. It was no accident.

He values each of us SO much in the Spirit.. yes.. but also in the rest of our being... that includes our mind, our emotions, our bodies.. EVERY part.. and He uses our personalities to minister to different people. Some who would not hear me.. would hear you because of the way you deliver a message. GOD does NOT hate our flesh and it is false humility to think otherwise. GOD loves ALL of us.. as a matter of fact.. HE is giving us NEW bodies when this is over and our personalities will be healed and purified. It is false humility to hold back any parts of us.. Hebrews states that GOD even uses our senses when matured. As long as we put GOD first in our relationships we honor GOD by developing intimacy in the Body of Christ. 

The first disciples ate together, worshiped together and share all things in common.. they even met in one another's homes. GOD does not need us to 'give others the WORD' as if we were the only source of it. GOD is the source of His Word and we share it with one another AS we share ourselves and our lives with one another. THAT makes us a STRONG CORD that cannot be broken.

In today's society we have to GUARD not being self-centered and isolated in our own world. We have to use wisdom in our relating with people and make sure that our hearts are truly striving to stay in the right place. But, we also need to reach out to one another and to make His Body strong and a loving and powerful force! We can only be that force as we know Him and one another. 

ALL things should have the motive of loving Him and one another behind it.. and when we find we are in error to confess and reconcile to one another. None of us are perfect... but it is our hearts that need to be in the right place.

Let's be careful with the BEST GIFTS GOD has given us... One another. <3

GOD Can Save This Humpty Dumpty

Whatever You're Doing by Sanctus Real




It's time for healing time to move on 
It's time to fix what's been broken too long
Time make right what has been wrong 
It's time to find my way to where I belong
There's a wave that's crashing over me 
All I can do is surrender

(Chorus)
Whatever you're doing inside of me 
It feels like chaos somehow there's peace
It's hard to surrender to what I can't see
but I'm giving in to something heavenly

Time for a milestone
Time to begin again
Revaluate who I really am
Am I doing everything to follow your will
or just climbing aimlessly over these hills
So show me what it is you want from me
I give everything I surrender...
To... 

(Chorus)

Time to face up
Clean this old house
Time to breathe in and let everything out
That I've wanted to say for so many years
Time to to release all my held back tears

Whatever you're doing inside of me 
It feels like chaos but I believe
You're up to something bigger than me 
Larger than life something heavenly

Whatever you're doing inside of me 
It feels like chaos but now I can see 
This something bigger than me 
Larger than life something heavenly
Something heavenly

It's time to face up
Clean this old house 
Time breathe in and let everything out


_________________________________________




There are times when our problems are what we focus on. When we do that.. The Problems are Magnified and GOD is not seen or seen as SMALL. GOD is NOT small. God is intimate with the life of every human being as He states in Psalm 139.. and in the rest of His Word. When we realize that GOD is THAT BIG... our problems and issues get into the right Perspective and GOD is magnified!!!


When we see GOD as small compared to our problem.. it means that we think that HE cannot handle our stuff. That is when we get B U S Y .. meddling with insufficient information to try and FIX us... others.. and the problems. 


We CAN'T do that. We are SO screwed up we don't know how we even got broken to begin with.. so WHY do we attampe to try and FIX it, us, or others?


Paul asks the Galatians WHO got them BACK into the LAW? The Law.. to chase after it again.. would mean THEY were trying to TAKE BACK the control... to EARN.. to FIX... to MANIPULATE. 


GRACE LET's GO... It sees, feels, hears, and knows.. the CHAOS... but.. it sits on the ground in pieces and waits for the MASTER to come and 'Put it back together.. much like Humpty Dumpty! You can keep the kings horses and men.. I'll just sit here and wait for King Jesus to finish lettng me get broken.. so HE can 'put me back together.. it's a DEEPER Healing.

Left or Right GOD?

So.. it's official. GOD has emptied out my life like a suitcase. I guess a very few of my friends would say.."This is good!" I have to agree... although the 'unpacking of it' was a mystery I did not see coming or understand. Last night when I went to the service at the mission... the LORD began to directly address my thoughts on things. Have you ever felt as though you were the only one in the room, and that He was there just to counsel and to comfort you? Wow! I left the same way I walked in.. in the sense that I don't have a clue as to what GOD is up to.. but at least I know He is in control and the Captain of my life. So.. I can rest.. even without 'Knowing.'

This morning.. when I woke up, He led me to Galatians 3:6-10 and to Hebrews 11:8. FAITH that GOES without KNOWING. Abraham. I love it. The whole thing I am learning about Faith is that it has nothing to do even with the promises we may receive... or looking to anyone or anything else.. ALL Faith has to do with is one thing: "Will we trust in the CHARACTER of GOD." That's it. That's how Abraham got from point A to point B... Just knowing the Heart of the One He followed was TRUE.

So.. like the Starfish sitting by the vast Ocean.. I wait for His waves to come and steal me away.. Where to? Wherever He desires. I will trust Him!

Too Many Voices

It's 2 A.M...and I decided to get up and just seek the LORD. I love this time.. the time when all is quiet, no noise, no distractions, no one tugging, demanding, or talking.. just the half light of a lamp, the Word, and I.


It's been a rough part of the road to travel lately. Many battles and lessons and I find myself ...dried up.. tired, a weary soldier. I was looking at a slide show of streams... brooks running over rocks... waterfalls.. I kep t wishing I was in the picture and asked the LORD to pour out a time of renewal and refreshing on me... ahhh...


As I was just telling the LORD all that was in my heart and asking Him what was in His.. I found His Mind to be on something totally different... and this is the second time in 24 hours He brought this to my attention. I was reminded of one of my friends who always sends me emails... things forwarded and words.. I don't read most of them because I was also reminded by the LORD the confusion that can come from listening to so many people. Many times they are not from the LORD. While I know we can ALL get into the 'flesh' at times.. me included.. The concern the LORD showed tonight really impacted me.

He took me to 2 Thessalonians 2 and and 2 Peter 2....false prophets, false teachers, the Man and the Spirit of Lawlessness... false signs and wonders.. the deception of those who may claim they are the LORD's.. but are not. It makes me shiver!!!

Although we have the Holy Spirit living in us and He keeps us in the Way of Truth.. we have to be looking for it and not looking for what makes us 'feel good and tickles our ears as well as our fancy!'

Many are brought into awful places of confusion that is cast by the Enemy using not so innocent and innocent but ignorant people... this can lead us to roads of Pain.

I have decided, at the LORD's Word that this is the Day to HUNKER DOWN and INTO the Spirit of the Living GOD and Listen only to the WORD and the SPIRIT. I will know His Voice that speaks through men when my relationship with Him and His Word are in tact... but.. NOT when all I do is lightly acknowledge Him and run to and fro on Facebook and elsewhere looking for the 'words' of people or the Enemy to guide me. LORD.. help us.