This is IT!

Isaiah 43:16-19 (NLT), "I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea. I called forth the mighty army of Egypt with all its chariots and horses. I drew them beneath the waves, and they drowned, their lives snuffed out like a smoldering candlewick. “But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland."

Oh how I love that God is the creator. He who creates can change and can do something new. Knowing that he has the ability to create every thing that I see. From these mountains to the ocean of my youth. I have faith in him and all of his provision for my life.

2007 has been a challenge for so many people that I know. People are hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Their finances, their family, their health. I know that personally it's been a really rough few months. Where we had security before we don't have now. Where we had savings before we don't have now. Where we had a plan for a future, a bright future we are going to bed at night crying out to God for mercy and for wisdom. I have cried more tears in the last few weeks than I can remember in years. It all seems so overwhelming, it all seems like it's just too much and I cry out like David. Psalm 22:14, "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me."

As my husband and I laid in bed last night discussing our business, discussing our finances, going over where we are at....I just wanted to crawl up in a ball and die. Nothing short of that. Not just find temporary relief, but go home to Jesus kind of relief. I know what the numbers are, I know that the possibility of he and I pulling this off without God is impossible. I told him that we are very successful at failure. We have been here before. We know what worked last time to bring relief and that just isn't an option for us any more. Right now we don't have a choice but to put our nose to the grind and keep moving forward. No matter how scary or overwhelming it may appear.

Acts 10:40,"but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen."

Acts 13:30, "But God raised him from the dead,"

Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Hebrews 3:4, "For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything."

Jeremiah 10:12, "But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding."

Psalm 73:26, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

Psalm 66:19, "but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer."

Acts 2:24, "But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him."

I love that we have a But God. There are times that we have nothing but God. But God is merciful, God is the creator of all things, the builder of all things, the redeemer sender, the fail safe provider. Psalm 139:16, "your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." He knows where we are. He knows what we are going through. He has promised us Jeremiah 29:11. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Yes he knows it all however, he is a But God.

Just when you think it's all over, just when you think you have breathed your last breathe, God is a God of resurrection power. He is a God of breathing life. He has the ability to bring back the dead...oh how I love But God.

Genesis 2:7, "the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."

Ezekiel 37:4-6, "Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!"This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.' "

Lord as we go through this I pray for your protection. Lord, I give you my life, I give you my home, I give you my heart and everything that you have created for me. Lord, I pray that you send your breathe in 2008, not just for me Lord but for all of those that are suffering. For all of those that you are drawing to yourself. Lord, you are all we have, our only hope. We have tried to do it on our own and Lord we are not capable of anything more than what we have done. Lord, we repent of our lackadaisical ways. Lord, your word says faith without works is dead. Lord, I ask for an exponential outpouring of faith on us right now. I pray Lord that we will take that faith and work it in ways that change us, our church, our communities, our country and our world. Lord, I take the cap off of our ability to receive from you. You have such a desire to bless us and Lord all we have been able to do is choke on it or waste it. Lord, I pray for your wisdom, that you would send others into our lives that can teach us. People that have breathed onto dead bones before and seen them live. Lord, be with us as we leave the past, as we leave 2007 and move forward into 2008. You are our strength, our joy and our provision. You will net let us die, and for that I praise you in advance for the new rivers that you are going to bring to this dry land. Lord, I long to swim in the river of your presence and I call out to you today and say YOU ARE MY GOD, YOU ARE MY SALVATION, MY REDEEMER AND MY PROVIDER. I bless you Lord, I bless you with everything I am, with every breath that enters my body. I am done, this is it, I am moving forward in you, with you. I know where I came from but God is with me. Thank you, I love you, I worship you with all of myself. In Jesus Precious Holy Name. Amen.

How to get Peace

Romans 5:1-5, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

Do you have peace?

When we read Romans 5:1 we know that we have been justified by our faith. We know that because it has been told to us the entirety of our lives. We are able to stand among the unrighteous and say that we are righteous because Jesus paid the price with His blood for our sin. Dikaioo, justification, I love this word. The implication of the word is that it does not negate the violation but it does liberate us from the sentence of guilt. If we read further into Romans 5, verse 8 states, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Still sinners. Still, even today. Still sinners. How do we have peace in that place? There is a difference between condemnation and conviction. It is excruciatingly painful and unattainable to have peace when we are living under the condemnation of Satan. He wants to convince us that the sacrifice was enough for everyone else, but not for ourselves. He lays upon us shame and guilt for our humanness, for our inability to walk in the perfect footsteps of Christ.

Yet, God Himself knew in the beginning that we would need a Savior. Jesus was set aside from the beginning of the separation of time, when God decided he wanted a family, he set Him aside as our redeemer. God’s grace created provision for us before he ever set our feet upon the earth. He gave us access to Himself through Christ Jesus. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He knows that he will have victory in the end, and he worked from the point of victory back to today to set us up for righteousness. He gave us an all access pass to his throne. He wants to commune with us. He wants us to come up on the Mount and be there. He wants us to glory at his power, to glory at how he has predestined our lives. He wants us to glow like Moses with his presence and with his love. He wants to share revelation with us that we can take to the congregation whom chose to not climb the mount.

How are we able to “be there” and commune with God, through Christ if we are so busy running through our lives. How can we attain the peace if we don’t take the time to just be there?

God who predestined us, loves us enough to train us and to teach us. He will create tribulations in our life to get us to our knees. He calls out to us and says, come sit with me. Come be with me. Come bring to me your burden, let me share it with you. Let me drive the yoke and let you rest in my power. So often we want to carry the burden all our self and curse him for the rain or lack thereof in our lives. There are so many neigh sayers that will blame God for everything and not see the blessing of the circumstance. We all have had painful circumstances. We have experienced death, divorce, bankruptcy. We have lost everything in the earth and yet we still continue to bless the name Jesus and God.

When we can see God’s hand in the circumstances, when we can see his provision through the times of lack, when we can praise him in the storm we are learning the character that comes in experience. I have faith in Jesus because I have experience with him. He has saved me before and I know that he will save me again. I know that when I learn and understand the circumference of my tree, when I realize what fields God has set me to work that with practice I will be able to teach others how to cultivate the same soil. Through tribulations we are driven to our knees. We are driven to call upon the name of Jesus. Then we see someone else faces the same giants we know which rock it will take to slay them.

Patience is an act of obedience. Like with my own children. When I ask them to wait, I am giving them a direct assignment. I am asking them to not grumble, not to question me, not to jump up and down in rebellion. I am asking them to wait. It is of my opinion that patience is the most difficult act of obedience that we encounter as humans. We want to fix it our way, right now. Jesus does it immediately, but for us that isn’t fast enough. Matthew 14:31 states, “Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" Poor Peter. He had the courage to step out of the boat, he had the courage to walk and take the first steps but as he got closer to Jesus, the goal, he started to give up, get tired and lose his faith. Jesus, immediately reached out for him. He didn’t wait until he was 6 foot under. He grabbed him as soon as he started to slip. There is hope in that.

Experience is in the simplest terms practice. We practice our righteousness, we practice our character traits, we practice crying out to Jesus first. I know that when my grandfather was alive he was my first phone call, whether trouble or celebration he got that call. When I lost him I had to retrain myself to call Jesus first. I had to learn to not turn to that phone for encouragement but to get on my knees. The experience brought me practice. I had to replace one savior with another. It was through that time of tribulation that my experience resulted in change within myself. I was able to learn, to react with reflex the ability to call upon the name of Jesus in times of crisis, or ceremony. Just like we would know to not sit on a broken chair, it’s not something we would even have to think about, our experience would tell us that it can’t hold us and we would walk past it and find another chair without even thinking. With practice and experience all of us can learn to let Jesus be that first call. He can be that friend that love us like no other and can encourage us in a way that no one but he can do.

Our hope comes when we trust God to do what he says he is going to do. When we quit trying to do it our way. When we can be patient and wait for his hand, we can receive the love and the grace that waits in abundance for us. The kind of grace and love that can produce peace. There is not guilt and condemnation, there is no need to be ashamed. One of the most profound things anyone has ever said to me, Drew Russe looked me in the eye and said, “Never be ashamed of how he got you there”. I walked in shame of my past, I walked in shame of my present. I had the thought that I was disposable and never enough. I would never measure up to the bar that God set for my life. I would never have the character to minister in the way that I felt called and lead to do. That one sentence, despite the fact that I knew that to be true, set me free. I can look at my life now and see God’s hand in it. I can see him holding the spoon stirring me gently over a refining fire. I have learned that in the face of adversity, and there will be adversity, that Jesus and God are more interested in being intimate with me than me getting it right.

I often ask my children if it is better to be right or to be happy. I want to walk in the peace of the Lord. I want to be able to know that everyday when I wake up his grace and mercies are new for me. I want to have a peace that passes all understanding and I believe that only comes with realizing that our time here on earth is a process. Tommy Tenney said, “Our King does not alter the robe of righteousness to fit the person. He alters the person to fit the robe of righteousness.” It takes time, it takes patience but what it produces is a person capable of love, capable of pouring for the love of God to others and for others.

The Holy Spirit is our guide. He is our teacher and our comforter. He can nudge us in the right direction if we are there in the presence of God. He can prompt us to talk, to listen or just to hug. We are in this process not for ourselves. We can’t be content with chasing after the footsteps of Jesus just for our own good. When we can get a hold of Jesus, when we can wrap our heads around the fact that God so loved us, that he sent his only begotten son, even while we were sinners. That he set in place a fail safe way to keep us in his company even as we fail, even as we fall. It is in those failures, in those falls that we are able to teach others. That we are able to see the unfailing love of our Father God. We are able to see ourselves and our circumstances next to Jesus on the cross and realize that ours circumstances are temporary and that God is using them to our good. Every day. Every circumstance.

That’s where we find the peace that passes all understanding. Where we can get up on a Sunday morning, not only to get dressed for church but to take time to get into the presence before we get there. We are able to show up with something to offer and not to stand in the spiritual welfare line. We don’t have to slide in the parking lot sideways cussing the brother that took our spot. We can love from the abundance of God’s love, we can look at the others who act like we used to act and give them grace and mercy, a cup of coffee and a hug.

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas

With the hustle and bustle of the holidays I am going to take a few days to spend with my family and friends. I will be back after Christmas.

It is my prayer that we will all enjoy the reason of the season, that we will all be salt and light in the world around us, for the next few days and for the remainder of our days. We are an abundantly blessed people. There seems to be a lot of travesty going on this time of year. I can't count the amount of people who have lost loved ones in the past few weeks. Know that my heart is breaking for you. We will be overcomers, God will be victorious if we will just submit to his will.

I love all of you and will miss you as you travel. You are in my heart, my prayers and I just pray for blessings in abundance in your life. I am humbled by your support and your love for me.

Let us pour out of the overflow and encourage others around us.

In Christ's holy precious name. Amen.

Be There!

Exodus 24:12, "And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them." KJV emphasis added.

Isn't it funny that God had to tell Moses to be there. Come and then be here. It's kind of like waiting to have a date night with my husband, come and be with me, except he is watching the TV behind my head at the restaurant. He is physically with me but he is not engaged. His mind is else where and despite the fact that I love to be physically close to him, I long for the intimacy that comes when he is "being there". When he has turned his attention to me and isn't distracted by anything else going on.

I truly believe that is what God is saying to Moses. Come up to the mount, and be there. Just be. Be engaged, be filled up with my presence. I think that is what God wants from all of us. He is the bridegroom, he has chosen us, he is courting us, and he wants our full attention. Oh believe me this time of year especially we can get wrapped up in the hustle and the bustle of the holidays, but when it comes down to it, what is more important to God? That my house be decorated perfectly or that I take the time to look him in the face and "be there". We all want to say that the holiday is about Christ, but how much time do we really spend with him running to and fro to gather goods from far away merchants?

The consensus among my friends this year is that this year God is impressing on all of us that less is more. We have all been the living the commercial Christmas all of our lives. But even now as we are growing, there is this calling to get back to the truth, the truth can and will set you free from sin, from debt and from trying to keep up with the Jones'. Christmas has it's roots in paganism, more so than Christianity. Every year Satan convinces us that we need more, our kids need more, we need bigger decorations. We lie to our kids about the "magic" of the holiday and tell them that some man is going to come down the chimney and leave them gifts. We drag them to the mall to have pictures taken on this man's lap then the other 364 days of the year we tell them not to talk to strangers, or to take candy from them.

God is calling us to righteousness, he is calling us to be faithful, he is calling us to patience and to obedience. I had quite a few people balk at me over the last few days as I told them I hadn't done any shopping yet. I haven't baked anything yet. See the thing is, we know that 2008 is going to be a year of exponential growth. But you can't have exponential without a base number. You have to have a base number to be multiplied. I am not a math whiz but I do remember that. So we have the option of entering 2008 with a positive number, a larger base number, or we have the option to enter in with a negative number, which no matter how many times you multiply it exponentially is a negative number. So we decided to not go into debt to pay for Christmas. We could, we have just opted not to.

All this revelation came with being with God. By taking the time to sit before him snot flowing and pouring out a mother's heart. By being real, and telling him that it was breaking my heart, that I wanted to do so much more for my family. It was arching off when I was a kid and my parents split around Christmas but we still had Christmas and if they could pull it off so could we. That was when God revealed the lies about credit and the fact that yes my parents had pulled it off but they paid for it for many years to come. I sat with him and let him hold my face in his hand and remind me once again that he is enough. The blessings that have come from that are exponential. I am already beginning to see the fruit of the faithfulness.

My daughter yesterday, my mini-me, preached to her grandmother about "It is better to give than to receive", even finding the reference in Acts. She is 8, that warms my heart better than any new robe or sweater could ever do. My husband and I came home last night and checked the mail, there was an anonymous card with a cashiers check in it. We have no way to know who sent it, but I do have my suspicions. I will be able to do something for my kids without going into debt. I will be able to have dinner Christmas Eve and bless other's around me out of the generosity of someone else. Isn't that what family is for? God provided in a way that I never would have imagined. How humbling it is to be on the receiving end.

So I say all of this to say, Be there. Be fully engaged with God. Even during the preparations, even while wrapping the gifts and singing Christmas carols. Find time to get with God, one on one face to face. You may be amazed at what he is trying to tell you. My word was patience is obedience. Just when I thought I couldn't hold out anymore he showed me his hand. He called me on it, so this morning I sit here finding his face to give him thanksgiving and praise. Yes I know that someone sent us a check, but I also know that the Holy Spirit laid it upon their heart. Ah HA...you know what else....they had to "Be there" to hear God's heart. They had to "Be There" to be obedient.

Deuteronomy 31:6, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

Lord, let us know that you are always wanting to meet with us. You are never too busy, you are never too tired. You are always faithful, always loving, always waiting for us to be there. Lord, I am sorry that some days I make you wait all day on me. I am sorry that I consider my agenda more important than yours. Lord my heart for 2008 is to be exponentially a better woman of devotion to you. Lord, it is my heart to seek you every day first thing. Lord, if I can talk to you first every other conversation that happens throughout the day will be radically different. Lord, I can minister out of the overflow of your presence instead of out of the overflow of my caffeine. Lord, you knit my heart to yours more and more everyday. On the days that I do find you, that I do make time for you, Lord your revelation is overwhelming, the knowledge of you is powerful and it changes me day by day. I love you Lord, I am in love with you and your ways. I love your surprises and I love your Son and your Spirit. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.

Love is a Verb

Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained. ~CS Lewis.

Deuteronomy 7:7-16, "The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him. Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today. If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers. He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you. You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor any of your livestock without young. The LORD will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you. You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you. "

I often joke that I need a YouTube player that I can use all the time. Because as I read this passage this morning I was thinking, Tina Turner, What's Love Got to Do With It? The answer is everything. Because of God's love for us, and oh how I love CS Lewis's definition, God did everything to get a hold of us. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Proverbs 31:12, "She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life." That is love. That is what love is all about. Hoping for good, no matter what the current circumstances, looking towards the future with expectation. The circumstances may be rough, the forecast may be bleak, but the Lord, who still lives his covenant of Love is still loving us and creating ways for us to find him again and do him good and not harm all the days of our lives.

God created us for the sole purpose of having a family to love. Imagine being love and having nothing to pour it into. Now imagine being love, creating creation, pouring love into it and then seeing them not hogging it all but sharing it amongst themselves. If we are saved we all sit in the same position to God, what is possible to change is the personal relationship with have with him. The amount of meddling power we give him in our lives, the amount of time and energy we devote to him. You have heard me say it before that there is a major difference between being a Christian and being a disciple. Have you ever heard Joyce Meyer sing, "This is the way we go to church, go to church, go to church, this is the way we go to church every Sunday morning." That is what a Christian does, they come, sometimes, they come looking for something, get filled up and then walk out. A disciple, comes in and has prepared before the got there. They have been in the Word all week. When the pastor starts preaching, there is an agreement in their Spirit because the Lord has already been putting His finger on this area of their life. They come full, they come to give to others. That's what devotion and love can do to a person. We can tap into the source ourselves and quit standing in the Spiritual Welfare line looking for handouts.

Just because you had it once doesn't mean you have it now. I know people that have walked in the anointing, that have been true disciples and now are too weak, too frail to even stand in the welfare line. They want to sit an be beggars, looking for someone, anyone to walk by. They have great giftings of the Lord, they flowed so easily in them once but circumstances, have left them full of shame and guilt and now they don't feel "worthy" to do anything with them. They know that they want it, that they need it, but their lack of self worth keeps them sitting begging instead of walking in the authority that God gave them. Then they are so full of excuses in why they think it is okay to rob the body of Christ of their gifts, of the provision that God placed in them for the corporate church. God left the flock to find the one, why? Why would he leave 99 to find one? Because he loves them and wants them to be 100 instead of 99 and that one.

God's purpose was family. It was for us to look at him at the head of the table and know that he is our Daddy, but beyond that it is to look around the table, and know that we are all family. If we believe by faith, in the Lord Jesus, we are saved and we are family. I have Baptist sisters, Methodist brothers, does the denomination really matter? If we are redeemed, if we accept the cross as the only means to get to God, if we trust Jesus as the High Priest and Intercessor, then guess what, we are family. When we sit at the banquet table when Jesus comes to get his bride, we will all have a very special thing to place on the table. It's about sharing of ourselves, not hording, not getting spiritually constipated. Sometimes we have to retreat back into ourselves to find God again, sometimes the circumstances are there just for that reason. So that we will cry out to Jesus once more, so that he can come in and remove some more clutter from our hearts so that he has more room to work. Let us not get stuck there. Let's continue to learn, to love, to grow and move from glory to glory. Let's take our claws out of the door jams, quit fighting to cover our mess, and let use it for his glory. They whole reason it was placed there anyway.

1 Corinthians 13 (The Message)

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

Lord, thank you for your love. Thank you Father. I can't even begin to fathom your love for me. Even as I struggle, even as I retreat back into myself you are awesome to call my name, you find me in the night when I am at rest in you. Father, your heart for me exceeds my comprehension, your love for me keeps me on my knees. You picked me Father, you chose me, for such a time as this. You know every day Lord before it gets here and you give provision before I have even opened my eyes. You dance over me with joy even when I sit at the foot of my bed and cry. You are good to bring me to the river of snot, and then you are even more awesome to sit there and wrap your arms around me. I continue to see you in everything. I love you, I will continue to do you good and not harm all the days of my life. Bless you, all glory and honor to you...in Jesus Name. Amen.