Thankful Thursday - Complete access

On this Thankful Thursday I am thankful for the access we have with our King.  We are able to call out to Him day or night and He is all ears.  We have special privileges with our King which has been delightfully given to us.  Doesn’t that make you feel special to know that YOU are the closest to the King?  There is nobody that has to be the in-between…YOU get to go straight to Him! 

1 John 5:13-15 (The Message) “My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond that shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion.  And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he’s listening.  And if we’re confident that he’s listening, we know that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours.”

I am thankful we serve a God that loves us so much and has given us complete and total access to Him!!  All we have to do is start talking…He’s already there waiting for you to speak.

Today, I am linking up over at Thankful Thursday.  LYNN is our host this month, visit http://unequalmarriage.typepad.com/ for more Thankful Thursday posts.

Laced With Grace - The ultimate price

I have joined the Laced With Grace writing team.  I have shared a devotion today entitled "The Ultimate Price"

John 3:16 (NIV) “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Visit Laced With Grace for the devotion!

Thankful Thursday - Brave missionaries

  I am thankful for brave the missionaries all over the world!

I read a news article yesterday click here for article about a missionary named Andrew Palau preaching a two-day Love Kampala Festival in Uganda, in spite of the heavy terrorist threats.  More than 80,000 appeared to hear his preaching in spite of heavy security, metal detectors and the fear of attack. 

It takes great commitment, determination and trust in the Lord to go to dangerous places and preach the gospel.  The sacrifices that missionaries make are remarkable. 

Mark 16:15 “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”

I am thankful for the missionaries God has raised up to such a high calling.  I pray more will rise up to go out and reach our hurting and lost world. 

Today, I am linking up over at Thankful Thursday.  Lynn is the host for the month of October; visit Spiritually Unequal Marriage for more Thankful Thursday posts.

WFW - It’s time to expect more!

I walked past this advertisement slogan on a poster hanging on a wall “It’s time to expect more” and I started wondering how true that is when we pray!  I know I have found myself time after time sending off my prayers and then clinch my teeth tight and holding my breath hoping and wishing that God will hear my prayers and answer my despite cry; while in the back of my mind I am full of doubt and worry that my cry will not be heard.  Why would we not expect Him to hear and answer our prayers?  We are what matters the most to Him.  He notices everything in our lives…right down to the smallest detail; nothing happens without Him knowing it!  If he collects our tears in a bottle then there is no doubt about it that He will hear our prayers and answer!

Luke 12:6-7 (NIV) “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?  Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.  Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

I have learned over the years that He is listening and He is a million steps ahead of me! He wants us to come to Him with all of our concerns, worries, and problems.  He longs to listen to how we feel, what’s on our minds and what we need from Him.  He wants us to come to Him for help (Psalm 46:1).  He keeps record of every sleepless night we toss and turn and wrestle with our troubles.  We should pray with confidence knowing that He hears us and expect Him to move on our behalf. 

 Matthew 7:7-8 (CEV) “Ask, and you will receive.  Search, and you will find.  Knock, and the door will be opened for you.  Everyone who asks will receive.  Everyone who searches will find.  And the door will be opened for everyone who knocks.”

What are your expectations when you pray?  If your expectations are like mine were years ago, Stop expecting NOTHING and start expecting SOMETHING!!!  It’s time to expect more!!

It's Word Filled Wednesday and I'm linking up on the Internet Café.  Visit Internet Cafe for more Word-filled Wednesday posts.

Thankful Thursday - Dancing in the rain

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”  

I’m not sure who wrote that quote but they are right.  Life isn’t about waiting until the storm is over so we can resume our lives and pick up where we left off when it was rudely interrupted us by its down pour.  It’s not about focusing on the storm; it’s about embracing the storm.  It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.

James 1:2 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.”

So why would he say consider it pure joy?  Trials are not joyful!!  They are hard and sometimes painful and I’m sure none of us look forward to them!!  Why would we want to consider the storms in our lives pure joy?  I think he says this because he understands the purpose of trials and what they bring.  After the storm clears and the darkness turns into light you are left with an experience that will help you grow!  Growing is a good thing and that’s what James learned about the storms of life.  He learned that we should consider it pure joy during those times because good things are going to come out of it!

No pain…No gain

If you were to go to the gym and lift weights and work out for hours each day overtime you will begin to see the results of your hard work.  It’s not fun to work out and most of us dread it, but the results are well worth the hard work it takes!  You know the saying…NO PAIN NO GAIN!!  Very true!  If you don’t put the effort into working hard then you can’t enjoy the wonderful results.  We have to endure these storms so we can mature and develop spiritually or we will stay where we are and never grow.  Like growing pains we experience as we begin to grow from a child to an adult.  If we didn’t have growing pains that would indicate that we are not growing.

You never know who is watching you

Laurie from Women Taking A Stand taught a Sunday school class last week on how people are watching our actions and listening to our words; judging us by what we prove to them.  She had a very good point when she explained it’s a lot like if we were on trial.  The judge and jury will judge you on the evidence alone!  It won’t make any difference what you say, everything is judged on evidence…proof!

What evidence are you giving to prove that you are a Christian?  Are you proving that you are a Christian by the way you act and what you say each and everyday?  You never know who is watching you to see how you react to the rain fall of grief and heartache.  What if God divinely appointed them there to witness your faith?  Are you proving your faith during the rainfall? 

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

Each difficulty is a learning opportunity, a chance to prove what kind of faith you have in God!  A chance to witness!  The dark is always before the morning.  When the morning finally arrives it will be more than you could have imagined.  

Philippians 4:13 (NLT) “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

On this Thankful Thursday I am thankful for the strength that God supplies to endure the storms of life.  May we never forget we don’t have to do it alone, but with the strength He supplies we can endure anything that comes our way! 

Today, I am linking up over at Thankful Thursday.  IRIS is our host this week, visit Grace Alone for more Thankful Thursday posts.

WFW - Where Are You Walking?

HIS way or OUR way

To walk is to pursue a course of action or way of life.  We ALL are walking each and everyday of our lives.   The question is WHERE?  Are you walking the course that God specially constructed for YOU?  He has designed a particular course for each of us.  Are you traveling down the road he designed for YOU?  We are going to pursue either HIS WAY or OUR WAY…one of the two. 

There are only two routes to choose from…Your route or God’s route.

Divinely arranged for you

Psalm 37:23 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord… ”

In my words:  “If you are a righteous man living for the Lord delighting in his ways, the path you travel will be divinely arranged for you.”

He has divinely arranged your future!!  Who better to arrange my future than God!! 

He has good things for us!

Good things are waiting for you

The Lord desires for us to have abundant life!!!  He wants us to be happy and have a successful future!!!  He desires only good things for us.  You can’t have an abundant life without God.  It’s just not possible.  I’ve been there; there was nothing abundant about my life before I started pursuing and living for Jesus Christ.

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 a hope and a future.”

In my words:  “I know what your future holds because I have designed it, I see the end which is good for I only want good things for you in the time that is yet to come.”

Trusting in Him

We think we can start traveling down our own route thinking that we know what we want, we know what is good for us and we can make our own good decisions without God.  After traveling that route we created for ourselves we realize that we were wrong and we don’t know what we want, we can’t make our own decisions without God and we don’t know what’s best for us. 

Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and he shall direct your paths.”

In my words:  “Trust the Lord completely without any doubt even if we can’t understand or comprehend it in our minds; in every way follow Him and he will give us direction to where he desires us to go.”

Pursing HIS route in our lives is not always easy and we won’t always understand why things happen the way they do and for what purpose.  He has wonderful things in store for ALL of us!  Just because we experience hard times doesn’t mean he is mad or angry with us.  That is just LIFE!  We will ALL face difficult times in our lives and circumstances that we would rather not experience.  When it doesn’t make sense to us; we MUST trust him that he wouldn’t take us down a road without purpose.  When things happen that we don’t understand, trust in Him that he knows what’s best for us and knows what he is doing.  We have a different perspective than he does. 

To read more on God’s perspective visit “His Perspective” http://fromthepagesoflove.blogspot.com/2010/09/his-perspective.html

He will guide you

Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.”

In my words:  “I will give you knowledge and give you guidance to where I desire for you to go; I will give you wise actions to follow and will keep my eyes on you 24/7 without taking breaks.”

Take a closer look at Psalm 32:8 ....

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.”  There are 4 promises found in this scripture!

o   He promises to instruct you (give you knowledge)

o   He promises to teach you (guidance)

o   He promises to counsel you (give you wise actions to follow)

o   He promises to watch over you (keep his eyes on you 24/7)

Now that’s comforting!!  He promises to guide us the whole way!!  Sometimes we get this idea that God doesn’t know what’s going on in our lives.  We ask the questions “Is he aware of what’s going on?”… “Is he paying attention?”  The scripture says that He is ALWAYS watching us.  He doesn’t just watch us some of the time; he is watching around the clock never taking is eyes off of us.  He doesn’t take breaks!!

What route are you taking?  Are you on traveling down a road you designed for yourself or the one God designed for you?

It's Word Filled Wednesday and I'm linking up on the Internet Café.  Visit http://internetcafedevotions.com/ for more Word-filled Wednesday posts.

Desire

The word Desire means to long or hope for…it’s a longing, a craving!  When you have a desire for God with your whole heart you will seek him.  When you seek him you will find him.  When you find him you will love him.  When you love him you will desire what he desires.  You will love what he loves and hate what he hates.  You will have the same desires of who you serve.  You think the same, act the same and talk the same. 

Things God Hates…

Proverbs 6:16-19 “There are six things that Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.”

·         Haughty eyes (proud look)

·         Blatantly and disdainfully proud

·         Excessive self-esteem

·         Lying tongue

·         Making untrue statements with intent to deceive

·         Hands that shed innocent blood

·         To harm those who are free from guilt or sin especially through lack of knowledge of evil; harmless

·         A heart that devises wicked schemes

·         Plan to bring about; plot. 

·         To form evil plans

·         Feet that are quick to rush into evil

·         Established a position in acting with speed to eagerly move toward evil; sinful, wicked

·         A False witness who pours out lies

·         Testifying intentionally untrue information

·         A man who stirs up dissension among brothers

·         To cause quarreling

He doesn’t hate YOU…he hates the SIN

If we are longing for things that are mentioned in Proverbs 6:16-19 then we do not love God.  If we loved Him we wouldn’t desire to have ANY part of those things.

John 14:21 “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me….”

Do you hate the things God hates?

Things God Loves…

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”

·         Truth

·         The property (as a statement) of being in accord with fact or reality

·         Noble

·         Possession, characterized by, or arising from superiority of mind or character or of ideals or morals

·         Right

·         Conforming to facts or truth

·         Acting or judging in accordance with truth or fact

·         Pure

·         Unmixed with any other matter

·         Free from dust, dirt, or taint

·         Spotless, stainless

·         Lovely

·         Delightful for beauty, harmony, or grace

·         Admirable

·         To have qualities worthy of admiration

We should desire the things he loves and those things that are detestable to him should be detestable to us!

He is a God of… love, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, forgiveness, purity, joy, peace, patient, merciful, understanding, etc…

Mark 12:28-33 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

”The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no commandment greater than these."

 Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To Love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

We should desire these things.  We should have a craving to be more like him in everyway. What things do you desire?  Do you love the things God loves?

Read:  Colossians 3:1-15, 1 Corinthians 13:4-13, Galatians 5:22-23, Proverbs 11:23

LACED WITH GRACE - You are on your way

Today I have shared a devotion over at the Laced With Grace site.  It is entitled "You are on your way"

Philippians 1:6 “I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

We are like caterpillars when we start our spiritual walk with God.  We were made to fly, but first we have to grow and mature to get there.  It takes time before we turn into beautiful butterflies and begin to fly.  We must understand that the journey from being a caterpillar to becoming a butterfly is a process that takes time, patients and grace from God.

For the rest of the devotion please visit Laced With Grace