I'm Free

He Is! Strength, Love, Lord of All!

Stronger than we believe?

Narrow daylight entered my room
Shining hours were brief
Winter is over
Summer is near
Are we stronger than we believe?

I walked through halls of reputation
Among the infamous too
As the camera clings to the common thread
Beyond all vanity
Into a gaze to shoot you through

Is the kindness we count upon
Hidden in everyone?

I stepped out in a sunlit groove
Although deep down I wished it would rain
Washing away all the sadness and tears
That will never fall so heavily again

Is the kindness we count upon
Hidden in everyone

I stood there in the salt spray air
Felt the wind sweeping over my face
Ran up through the rocks to the old
wooden cross
It's a place where I can find some peace

Narrow daylight entered my room
Shining hours were brief
Winter is over
Summer is near
Are we stronger than we believe?

Again.....the fight is a hard one but we know the Truth!

Thanks Jesus for living through Frank this a.m. to minister to me. How awesome!

How cool that the message that I heard this a.m. was on how we stand against the campaign of demons and lies. The battle that rages in our minds. How do we? With all the things that Jesus is.....Truth, Love, Significance, and that...is how we deal with warfare....by the renewing of our mind in faith. We choose to believe what God says....despite what we see around us ....or how we feel.

Struggling? No need.

From the devotion based on Ray Stedman's teaching.

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes (Ephesians 6:11).

Our experience confirms the suggestion of this passage—that life is basically a struggle. Life never conforms to the rosy idealism of our dreams or to the romanticism of our songs. The explanation of this struggle lies deeper than we ordinarily think. The common view of our struggle has been that we are engaged in conflict against flesh and blood, against other men and women. But Paul says the battle is not against flesh and blood; it lies deeper than that. The basic problem is that this is a battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan and that people themselves are the battlefield. The battle is visible not only in the wars, revolutions, and crime waves that fill our newspapers, but it is also seen in the inner tensions and fears of individual lives, in the neurotic problems and mental illnesses that afflict us today, in family fights and church struggles. It is even visible in nature, where all of life competes in a ruthless, deadly struggle to survive.
The whole race has fallen under the control of satanic forces, which Paul calls, "the world rulers of this present darkness" (6:12 RSV)—a most significant phrase. The picture of the Bible from beginning to end is that all human beings without Christ, without exception, regardless of how clever or educated or cultured they may be, are the helpless victims of satanic control. Under the control of satanic forces human beings are uncomfortable and unhappy but also completely unable to escape by any wisdom or power of their own.
But the good news is that some have been set free through the coming of that "stronger one," Jesus Himself, who came, as John tells us, "to destroy the devil's work" (1 John 3:8b). Through Him deliverance is obtained. Through the amazing mystery of the cross and the resurrection, Jesus has broken the power and bondage of Satan over human lives. Those who individually receive and acknowledge this are set free to live in the freedom and liberty of the children of God.
They are not set free to live unto themselves. They are set free in order to battle. That is the call that comes to all Christians. We are not set free in order to enjoy ourselves. We are set free to do battle, to engage in the fight, to overcome in our own lives, and to become the channels by which others are set free. How do you do this? Paul's answer is in one phrase: "Put on the whole armor of God." Full provision has been made that you might win in this battle. This is the amazing thing we must learn. God has made full provision for us to fight these forces that hold the world in their grip.

Today the sun is shining .....

The Theme is Rain

We have had much rain. Family and friend's basements or basement apartments are flooding and just really making things difficult for everyone. I live on the eighth floor and I still have trouble with rain and windows. Rain can be an interesting and inconvenient thing, eh? Rain can be a truly awesome and beautiful thing as well as noted in the video above.

Some people look for rain from God by way of I guess His Holy Spirit for refreshment as do parched, barren and dry arid lands look for rain for relief. It does not always come.

So circumstances dictate to us the need for rain. Or is the rain an answer to anything spiritual at all? Some have said we need not ask for an anointing or a drenching of the Holy Spirit because everything is already there waiting to be called upon, if you are a child of the King.

There have been some sadnesses of late. Deaths of friends, sicknesses, difficult circumstances....do we look for the rain....or do we know that the Creator of the rain and all other things is in control. The basements will dry out....the barren lands may see some moistening. Will our lives, minds and hearts be renewed by the knowledge that God is in Control and in Jesus, is our Life and all rainstorms have a purpose, unknown by us at times....but a Heavenly purpose nonetheless. Cry out to Him, cry for the rain to fall on crusted lands and dry-bone hearts, by all means....but if you know Him ...know that He hears and understands the sorrow, the pain but that He is the only answer to every care - despite how we feel. He is Peace, Love, Joy, Comfort and all of those things that we desperately search for outside ourselves.

What do you think of the rain?

Let it Rain

No more guilt - Let it Rain!

Let it Rain

No Sweeter Name

Reaching Out - Making Sense

Jason Upton

Revelation Song

Everlasting God

Ramblings

This quote has resonated with me since I read it. Isn't that thought just remarkable? I mean the worst act of their life....I have done a lot of terrible things.....some have done worse, some have done less...but to God we are worth so much more than that particular action. I love this thought and it addresses the whole what or who I am versus what I do philosophy that has taught me much about the Grace and Love of an Awesome Father. I mean, just apply that statement to your own life. Who but Jesus? No one is excluded!

Quote brought to light to me From Mike at on coffee

len sweet posts this great quote via twitter

"People are worth more than the worst act of their life."

Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking,

on the worth of every human being.

Today's Invisible Reality in the Heavenlies only In Christ.

On Ephesians 1:3-24

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 1:3).

Remember that all these blessings are available to us in the realm that Paul calls the heavenlies. He is not referring to heaven here; he does not mean going to heaven when you die. We get such distorted concepts of heaven! Heaven, as most people envision it, is not an attractive place to me—damp, rainy clouds; unstrung harps out of tune; and white robes. A good travel brochure could make west Texas look preferable to heaven. And yet most people think that this is what Paul is talking about when he speaks of the heavenlies.

No, "in the heavenly realms" is a reference to the invisible realities of our life now. These realities certainly reach on into eternity, but they are something to be experienced now in your inner life—your thought life, where you feel conflict and pressure, struggle and disaster—that is part of the heavenlies. It is where we are exposed to the attack of the principalities and powers , those dark spirits in high places who get to us and depress us and frighten us and make us anxious or hostile. The heavenlies is not only the realm of conflict but also where God can release us and deliver us, where the Spirit of God reaches us at the seat of our intellect, emotions, and our will. It is the realm of those deep, surging urges that rise within us and create either a restlessness or a sense of peace, depending on the source from which they come. So don't read this as though it were something out in space somewhere. These blessings are yours in your inner experience now if you are in Jesus Christ.

Obviously, all of this comes to us in one great package "in Christ." If you are not a Christian, you cannot possibly claim these benefits, because they are not yours—there is no way you can appropriate them unless you are in Christ. But if you are "in Christ," there is nothing to keep you from having all of them, every moment of every day. That is why it is so important that we discover what they are.

These are much more than mere theological ideas. They are facts, foundational truths that undergird us in every moment of our life. And unless you understand those facts, you can't utilize or benefit from them. In that way they are like natural laws. The laws of nature operate regardless of how we feel—they are impersonal in that respect.

In my experience of doing electrical work, I've discovered that electricity follows a pattern of its own and takes no notice of how I feel at the moment. That can be a shocking experience! It doesn't hesitate to retaliate for any violation of its laws that I commit. It is up to me to discover how it works and then to respect it if I want to utilize it. The same thing is true of these great facts. They will not do you a particle of good if you don't discover what they are and believe them enough to operate on the basis of them.

Father, thank You for these vast truths. I pray that my understanding may be made equal to them. I can't grasp them properly apart from the work of Your Spirit, and I pray that You will open my eyes and help me to see that these things are true indeed.

from a devotion based on Ray Steadman's writings.

Love is a person

Found this profound quote in "Today's Christian Woman" Magazine - January and February 1990 Edition

"I never read the Bible as a child, and I expected that it would be full of fire and brimstone. This notion has only been reinforced by hearing one angry, hateful person after another claim to represent all Christians, as they wagged and pounded the Bible. Reading the Bible disabused me of any sense that a hateful person could represent this faith. The book is beautiful and exquisitely written - but it is characterized by one quality that colors every page: love."

- actor Ben Affleck on naming the biblical book of Matthew as one of the books that made a difference in his life, as quoted in O: The Oprah Magazine, August 2008

Some Good Thoughts

"It’s tough in the desert. It’s bewildering. It’s destructive. It’s hellish. Yet the testimony of the Old Testament, and ever more strongly, of the New, is that out of it comes new growth, new insight, new certainty that a God of love is at home among us." (from This Day's Thoughts)

Charles Elliott

"I have great worth apart from my performance because Christ gave His life for me, and therefore, imparted great value to me. I am deeply loved, fully pleasing, totally forgiven, accepted and complete in Christ.... and you dear Christian....are deeply loved, fully pleasing, totally forgiven, accepted and complete in Christ."

unknown



"Man was never created to live by principles but by Life..."

unknown

I Am Loved!

Come To Me

Smile!

A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he can get along without it, and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it. A smile creates happiness in the home, fosters goodwill in business and is the countersign of friendship. It brings rest to the weary, cheer to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and is nature’s best antidote for trouble. Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.

Unknown

A Real Valentine's Song.....

One of my favourite story tellers of all times from his last recorded concert....
Harry Chapin - December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981
If you don't like the song....like he said... :)

Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Chapin



"I can see myself it's a golden sunrise
Young boy open up your eyes
It's supposed to be your day.
Now off you go horizon bound
And you won't stop until you've found
Your own kind of way.
And the wind will whip your tousled hair,
The sun, the rain, the sweet despair,
Great tales of love and strife.
And somewhere on your path to glory
You will write your story of a life.


And all the towns that you walk through
And all the people that you talk to
Sing you their songs.
And there are times you change your stride,
There are times you can't decide
Still you go on.
And then the young girls dance their gypsy tunes
And share the secrets of the moon
So soon you find a wife.
And though she sees your dreams go poorly
Still she joins your story of a life.

So you settle down and the children come
And you find a place that you come from.
Your wandering is done.
And all your dreams of open spaces
You find in your children's faces
One by one.
And all the trips you know you missed
And all the lips you never kissed
Cut through you like a knife.
And now you see stretched out before thee
Just another story of a life.


So what do you do now?
When she looks at you now?
You know those same old jokes all the jesters tell
You tell them to her now.
And all the same old songs all the minstrels sang
You sing 'em to her now.
But it don't matter anyhow
'Cause she knows by now.


So every chance you take don't mean a thing.
What variations can you bring
To this shopworn melody.
And every year goes by like a tollin' bell.
It's battered merchandise you sell.
Not well, she can see.
And though she's heard it all a thousand times
Couched in your attempted rhymes
She'll march to your drum and fife.
But the question echoes up before me
Where's the magic story of a life?


Now sometimes words can serve me well
Sometimes words can go to hell
For all that they do.
And for every dream that took me high
There's been a dream that's passed me by.
I know it's so true
And I can see it clear out to the end
And I'll whisper to her now again
Because she shared my life.
For more than all the ghosts of glory
She makes up the story,
She's the only story
Of my life."

The Deep Freeze Over?

Well, we have lost some of that snow.......we can now see the deer .....spring must be on its way!



Actually....thanks Brenda, what a great picture. Enough of the white stuff already. Poor little deers.

Sanctuary

Bears, oh my!

When people wanted to kill a bear in the ancient times, they hung a heavy log over a bowl of honey. The bear would push the log away in order to eat the honey. The log would swing back and hit the bear. The bear would become irritated and push the log even harder, and it would return and hit him harder in return. This would continue until the log killed the bear. People behave in the same way when they return evil for the evil they receive from other people. Can't people be wiser than bears?

Leo Tolstoy

Louie - Amazing Facts

Sitting in the Heavenly Places with Christ Jesus - Wow!

Ephesians 2:1-6 The Message

"It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah."

I'm Free (A Glorious Song)

When I Cry

Perfected Forever

Hebrews 10: 12 - 14

12. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,


13. from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.


14. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

Come, Now Is The Time To Worship

Too Much Thinking Goin' On....Let's Get On With It!

I have gone over some of the blogging of Simple Church aka House Church here.

I am throwing up a few points that seem to go along with my thinking of late but yet the word follower is jumping out and unnerving me. I prefer the word believer. I get the whole "I have decided to follow Jesus" idea but the emphasis seems wrong to me. This is not a new struggle for me. I love meeting together with fellow believers in many different settings and sometimes wonder if we are too easily willing to conform to a box be it one thing or another. Lately, an on-line community for me can "feel" like the following definition of church....also a group of three who met at my place last Sunday night can also feel like it as well. Is the definition all that important? Everyone is trying to move us to a certain type of thinking. I am just wanting, desiring, fervently attempting to be in relationship first with Jesus/Father/Spirit and then be in relationship with others in many different ways always changing and evolving according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. It is a much pondered and sometimes tough way to "do church", so I choose not to.....just to "be". Where He is, I am there. Big or little in numbers and sometimes that is just me and an internet community....I am learning to be obedient to His prompting. This has been a long and wearying process for me. I will gather with His Church in many different ways. I think that is ok with Him. It is my heart He sees. He knows it better than I know it myself. I also know that there has to be action of some kind (missional if you will) to demonstrate, to share the Gospel and I don't think that is by handing out tracts....or by just paying lip service...not for me anyway. Living His Life and committing time, money and whatever resources I have personally as He leads and not just talking about it. He wants us to give to others what He has given to us. Ultimately it is His. This life is not about what I can get....I have already received more than I ever deserved when He graced me with Himself. Now He wants to grace others through me. It is all part of what I think He has called me to. I am still working out the details with Him. This is all subject to change because He does tend to let me know when I am way off base. I have been listening and observing and seeing the inconsistencies and wondrousness of gatherings of believers of all shapes and sizes. So read the excerpts of the blog below....it is a starting point for thinking about living Life abundantly. It is not the final word on anything. I know of only One Who can give that.

"Let’s start with a basic New Testament definition of church. The Greek word for “church” is “ekklesia” which simply refers to those who were "called out" for an assembly or meeting. It was a *non-religious(*my emphasis) word. It just referred to a group of people. In this case, the group of people who were followers of Jesus.

It really is and must be that simple!

Robert Fitts provides some additional information at DAWN ministries:

Jesus used a common word when he said, "I will build my church." It was not a religious word. It simply meant a called out group, or crowd, or fellowship, or assembly. So we can use the word church when it communicates what we are saying, but we can also use the word fellowship, or gathering, or brethren, or saints, or disciples. It simply means a group of people.

Church is simply a collective group of followers.

Consider this definition of church:

A loose-knit network of Jesus followers who gather together to encourage each other in their spiritual life and who go out, moved by the Holy Spirit, sharing and demonstrating the Gospel.

Loose-knit. Not formal membership, just a love-commitment to God and each other.

Jesus followers. The basic requirement for membership in the church.

Who gather together. Gathering to build one another up and to worship.

Who go out. The purpose of believers… to GO with the message.

Moved by the Holy Spirit. The one and only LEADER of the church.

Sharing and demonstrating the gospel. The reason that the church GOES."


My reworked definition would be "An ever evolving group of believers who gather together to encourage each other in their spiritual life and who go out and Live and share the Life given to them to the unbelieving and desperately hurting world(whether they know this or not), (in so many and diversified and wonderfully inventive ways, lead by the Holy Spirit." It is a starting point for me. I know it will change....I know what He means. I am open for His changes.

Dinner and gathering at my place on Sunday evening....Come as you are....bring a contribution (that would be a food contribution...no offering bucket) or not. He has allowed me the opportunity to bless you with the simplest of things .... a meal together in His Name. Let us join and share together in His goodness and Life. I can wait no longer. He has moved me off my duff.

Hear Us From Heaven

Reigning in Life

NASB Romans 5:17

For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

The Message Romans 5: 15-17

Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man's sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God's gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do! There's no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man's wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?

Mercy Me - Bring The Rain

Tenth Avenue North

Let It Go



By Your Side

Simple Prayer

Oh how I pray this!

Lord, You have called me to this way of life, and You must empower it. Help me to be a loving instrument expressing Your quality of life today.

Courageous Church - Shaun King

I found a new friend...Shaun King

A great article....up for some interesting thoughts from a new found brother in Christ? He has some great posts. Check him out.

From Shaun King's Blog: Shaun in the City: On Courage and Corn Pops

Banning Women from Ministry is Sin: Why Mark Driscoll is Wrong, Eugene Cho is Right, and Rob Bell is Somewhere in the Middle

The man who....

The man who knows his sins is greater than one who raises a dead man by his prayer. He who sighs and grieves within himself for an hour is greater than one who teaches the entire universe. He who follows Christ, alone and contrite, is greater than one who enjoys the favor of crowds in the churches.

Isaac the Syrian

"My" ministry

If you can explain what God is doing in your ministry, then God is not really in it.

Warren Wiersbe

If only.....nothing like the Love of God

Dylan

There is Love

Where are all the husbands and wives?

"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." So they are no longer two, but one (Mark 10:7-8).

From a devotion (again) by the saint that speaks to me so clearly right now....Ray Stedman. Always an encouragement and cause for introspection but never to be taken as a reason for guilt or unacceptance. I love how he says it is a process.....not immediate....always anything instructed in His Word is worth mediation and revelation. I know I sadly missed the mark.

But what our Lord makes clear is that this relationship is the highest relationship possible in life (my emphasis, not Life as I know it anyway). It takes priority over all others. Closer even than the tie of blood is that of marriage, in the mind and heart of God. It is a closer relationship than with any children who follow. People are to become husbands and wives before they become fathers and mothers. This indicates a priority of relationship. A man is closer to his wife, and a wife to her husband, than they will ever be to their children. Though we may not feel that way, nevertheless, it is the truth.

What, then, is the purpose in marriage? It is to become one. This is what marriages are for. Two people who are disparate, distinct, and different individuals, with different personalities, different gifts, blending their lives together so that through the process of the years they become one flesh--that is what marriage is. It is not something that happens instantaneously when you get married. The wedding service does not make you one. The first act of sex after marriage does not make you one. It begins the process, but it does not finish it. It takes the whole marriage to accomplish this. Marriage is the process of two people becoming one.

Therefore man and woman are not to live together as roommates. Marriage is not going your separate ways and having your separate careers and merely sharing a house and a bed together. Nor are they to split up over every problem or difficulty that arises between them; they are to work them out. They are not to separate; they are to choose to be together, to spend the rest of their lives together, in order that they might merge their lives together. Therefore they stop being rivals and start to become partners. A successful marriage, therefore, is not one without problems; it is one where the problems are being worked out, where the husband and wife do not split but stick together, face up to their problems, discover the hardness of heart that is there, and learn how God can soften it. In other words, it is a process, not a single production. It is a pilgrimage, not a six weeks' performance. It is intended to be a public portrayal, not a private predicament. It is a lifelong contract, not a renegotiable franchise, as many presume today.

Thank You for these plain and clear words that help me understand what is involved when we choose a wife or husband and what Your purpose is in it. Help me to walk in these ways.

For Alvin, who knew?

Well, I just had to add this one in case Alvin hadn't seen it. You are loved!

Fun with a violin

Not the most "appropriate" song in the world....but I like her energy and she is having fun....and who knew the violin could be so ....so....fun?

Rites and wrongs....

This post ties in very well with Joel's study of last night....from a favourite of mine....Ray Stedman's devotional based on his teaching.

He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men" (Mark 7:6-7).

Those are insightful words. With our Lord's keen perceptiveness, He plunges right to the heart of the issue, When the Pharisees ask Him. "Why do your disciples not observe the traditions?" He points out to them, first of all, the effect that the observance of tradition has upon our lives. It produces hypocrites. "You hypocrites," He says. I am sometimes amazed as I read through the gospels at the bluntness of Jesus' language! In fact, Matthew's account tells us that the disciples said to Him afterward, "Do you realize that you offended those Pharisees?"

But notice what He is doing here. He is pointing out the result of traditional "worship." And He utilizes the word of the prophet Isaiah to show us what it is like. According to Isaiah, there is that which consists of right words but wrong attitudes. Everything outward is right, but inwardly the mind and heart are wrong. That, Jesus says, is hypocrisy--to look as if you are doing something religious and worshipful and God-related, but inside to have an entirely different attitude.

A few years ago, many of us were puzzled and offended when young people would say to us, in one way or another, "We don't want to come to church because churches are filled with hypocrites." Some of us could not understand what they meant. We knew there might be some churches that were filled with hypocrites, but not ours! We had honest difficulty with this. We could not see where there was any hypocrisy in a thoroughly Bible-centered, evangelical church such as ours. But what they were saying was this: "You use great words--wonderful words--but you don't really mean them. You talk about love, but you don't love. You talk about forgiveness, but you don't forgive. You talk about acceptance, but you don't accept." And they were right.

That is what tradition can do to us. It externalizes religion, makes it outward instead of inward. As long as we are fulfilling the prescribed outward form, we think we are acceptable before God. That is the terrible danger of tradition. This particular form that Isaiah mentions here--right words and wrong attitudes-is widespread among Christians. We all suffer from it at times, and we ought to recognize it and admit it. And it has resulted in what is probably the most deadly danger to the evangelistic message of the church--the self-righteousness of Christians--thinking that because we do things in the "right" way, and say the "right" words, and believe the "right" doctrines, we are thus pleasing to God.

Father, I confess the many, many times I have done the outward things with the inward heart far removed. Thank You that You know me, and You have already made provision for my forgiveness. Teach me to worship You in spirit and in truth.

Testify to Love - Wynona

Love without limitations.....I am still a mess in the process!

John 13:34 - A new Commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

John 15:12 - This is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.

John 15:17 - These things I command you, that ye love one another.


Does that mean everyone?....everyone? The stinky guy who crosses my path periodically? That women who is so incredibly annoying? Those teens on the street corner cussing up a blue storm (sometimes at me). Wow....that is so difficult (in my own strength, I think impossible). So I just can't talk about it. I must pray for this to manifest itself in my Life. I want to see it as fruit in my Life. If I don't exhibit it, is it Him? Love? I want to be that conduit of His Life, His Love which is Him. No guilt.....just Him. Let me Love unconditionally, freely from the bonds which hold me back from allowing Him to move in and through me at His will. Too easy, says you....I say it might be the hardest thing I have ever been asked to allow Him to do.

The Realities of God

From the devotional based on Stedman's teaching.

Mark 5:21-6:6
What is this all saying--this entire account of the healing of the woman, the raising of Jairus's daughter, and the reception given him by the people of Nazareth? It is saying to us today, "Lift up your eyes and look beyond the visible to the realities of God. Live in the full dimensions of life, as God intended life to be." Life can never be explained entirely in terms of the natural. We are left impoverished and despairing if all we have to depend on is our natural resources, natural power. But God is rich in grace, rich in power, rich in inward strength and sympathy, and His cry to us is, "No longer be unbelieving, but believe and have faith that I am at work, and I will enrich your life beyond your wildest dreams."


Nazereth could only look with limited vision to Jesus whom they had known as a man....and did not see Him for who He truly was.

"They took refuge in that final resort of all weak and small minds--they ridiculed Him. They took offense at Him and began to discount all He had done."

Always - Hillsong United

Homesick - Mercy Me

No One Loves you like He does!

Third Day

Doesn't Get Better Than Third Day

Third Day - Christmas Offerings DVD - "Who is This King of Glory" is such a powerful worship song with Mac doing what he does so wonderfully and acknowledging not only his faithful following but his Lord and Saviour in a prayer that comes deep from within his heart, but alas not available on YouTube yet. This version will bless you as well.

I Will Rise - Chris Tomlin

Close your eyes......

When the Holy Spirit comes on you...

From Ray Stedman's teaching. Gotta love the last paragraph!

"Do not think of this as something remote from us. All these things that happened to Jesus can happen and, indeed, must happen to us. That is the whole thrust of this teaching. He was taking our place; therefore, what happened to Him must happen to us. That is why Jesus, standing with His disciples after the resurrection, said to them, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you" (Acts 1:8). The Spirit of God must come upon us.

This is not so that we can perform dramatic acts, but, rather, so that we can have a new quality of life that is beautiful and resistless, yet quiet and gentle. Notice the symbol of the kind of power that is given here—it is a dove. Athletic teams sometimes use birds as emblems, signs of their power and ability. We have the Falcons and the Eagles—even the Ducks. But did you ever hear of a team called the Doves? No team would ever use a dove as a symbol of its power. A dove is a gentle, non-threatening bird, one that does not fight back and yet is irresistible.

This is the power that Jesus is describing—the power of love, of course—love that can be beaten and battered down and put to death and yet can rise again, until it wins the day—that amazing love Jesus released. The greatest force in the world today, without a doubt, is love. And yet it is the kind of power that does not threaten or break apart or destroy; it gathers and heals. It is rejected, turned aside, and beaten down; yet it rises again and again. So the dove is an apt symbol of the new life our Lord came to teach."

The One Thing - Paul Colman

A Prayer for 2009

"I do not pray for happiness or any earthly thing.
I do not ask to understand the way you lead me;
But this I ask—teach me to do the thing that pleases You.
I want to know Your guiding voice,
To walk with you each day.

Heavenly Father,
Make me swift to hear and ready to obey;
And thus the year I now begin
A happy year will be,

If I am seeking just to do
The thing that pleases You."

Very Interesting...

Brought to my attention by

Guy Muse

via You Tube (of course).

Perfected by Him

Here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.

John Henry Newman

Joy

Wishing all the Joy exhibited by this little one....my newest grandson, Carson! What a great picture, eh?

So In Love - Jeremy Camp

Heather Clark - Price of Love

Paul Wilbur - Adonai

They will bow

Sharon Wilbur

Kelanie Gloeckler - No One Like Jehovah

With Paul Wilbur Live - a night of EXTRAVAGANT WORSHIP

Enya - And Winter Came

And Winter Came

Enya - And Winter Came

Journey of the Angels

Enya - And Winter Came

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Peace on Earth - Casting Crowns

Out of focus?

About Worship

Clear the Stage - Ross King

Straight No Chaser

12 Days of Christmas....sort of?

To all my visitors

In the last year these are the numbers of visitors from Canada and other countries that come to my blog. I am overwhelmed that you took the time.....for those who just accidentally stopped in....sorry for your luck...:) May you all have a blessed Christmas. Enjoy Him and His Life within you if you are already there and if you are not....come on and join in His Family. The Party is always starting now and it is never too late. He loves you more than you could ever imagine, ever ever ever.


Canada (CA) 1,648
United States (US) 1,539
United Kingdom (GB) 71
Australia (AU) 42
South Africa (ZA) 33
Philippines (PH) 30
Ecuador (EC) 29
Germany (DE) 29
Netherlands (NL) 25
India (IN) 22
Singapore (SG) 22
Brazil (BR) 16
Malaysia (MY) 14
Spain (ES) 12
France (FR) 11
New Zealand (NZ) 11
Europe (EU) 11
Jamaica (JM) 8
Switzerland (CH) 7
Korea, Republic of (KR) 6
Poland (PL) 5
Mexico (MX) 5
Denmark (DK) 5
Sweden (SE) 5
Norway (NO) 5
Ireland (IE) 5
Kenya (KE) 5
Uganda (UG) 4
Saudi Arabia (SA) 4
Taiwan (TW) 4
Turkey (TR) 4
Chile (CL) 3
Egypt (EG) 3
Romania (RO) 3
Portugal (PT) 3
Nigeria (NG) 3
Indonesia (ID) 3
Italy (IT) 3
Uruguay (UY) 2
Albania (AL) 2
United Arab Emirates (AE) 2
Asia/Pacific Region (AP) 2
Slovakia (SK) 2
Argentina (AR) 2
Finland (FI) 2
Honduras (HN) 2
Cyprus (CY) 2
Thailand (TH) 2
Pakistan (PK) 2
Barbados (BB) 2
Japan (JP) 1
Croatia (HR) 1
Ukraine (UA) 1
Belgium (BE) 1
Greece (GR) 1
Hungary (HU) 1
Latvia (LV) 1
Estonia (EE) 1
Andorra (AD) 1
Vietnam (VN) 1
Guyana (GY) 1
Ghana (GH) 1
Sri Lanka (LK) 1
Panama (PA) 1
Costa Rica (CR) 1
Cote D'Ivoire (CI) 1
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the (CD) 1
Namibia (NA) 1
Swaziland (SZ) 1
American Samoa (AS) 1
Bolivia (BO) 1
Peru (PE) 1
Trinidad and Tobago (TT) 1
Colombia (CO) 1
Bahrain (BH) 1
Hong Kong (HK) 1
Kuwait (KW) 1
Iran, Islamic Republic of (IR) 1
Israel (IL) 1
Anguilla (AI) 1
Lao People's Democratic Republic (LA) 1
Nicaragua (NI) 1
Guam (GU) 1
Guatemala (GT) 1
Saint Kitts and Nevis (KN) 1
Tunisia (TN) 1

Nobody but Jesus - Vanessa Bell

Just an extra treat....found on my search for Christmas music....that's right, sing it out sister!

White Christmas - The Drifters

Awesome version!

White Christmas - Bing and Marjorie Reynolds

White being the operative word here....my maiden name.

Trent Austin - Emmanuel

Amazing things you find when you go looking!

Maiden Austin "Christmas Canon"

I like this....in going with the trend in blogland at present....it really has nothing to do with me, other than my last name, and this by marriage alone (I add). However check out my maiden name entry....classic for sure.

Classic James

The River

This haunting song....I wish I had one too!

Worthy the Lamb

Joy

"Joy is the echo of God’s life within us."

Joseph Marmion

I Then Shall Live

Posted before but as I was going through some older posts in regards to my sister's progress through her journey of cancer, I found this gem again. He is Faithful. He is Power! He is Comfort! He is Love! He is my Life! It is only through His strength and through His Spirit that we communicate effectively to others. He is a relational God! We must be relational it is His Nature.

Need to laugh?

Just Wondering.....

I have totally been thinking of getting an Interlinear Bible.....any thoughts?

Totally me

Did you ever stop to think and forget to start again?

Unknown

From Greg at "This Day's Thought"

...and they are still being sent...Remembrance Day 2008

Denying self or Self-denial ?

Based on the teaching of Ray Stedman in a devotional form.

There is a difference between self-denial and denying self. Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23). That is denying self. But that is easily confused with self-denial, which says, "I will give up this thing or that thing. I want to gain a special mark of favor before God, and I want to influence God to do something for me in return." When our motivation ultimately is to achieve something for ourselves by our actions, we are no longer denying self but practicing self-denial.

How subtle the differences are! Self-denial is an attempt to earn favor apart from faith in the gift of righteousness which makes us wholly acceptable before God right at the very beginning of our Christian life; denying self is a refusal to heed those silken arguments of the inner ego that appeal to us to show how good we are by giving up something.

Ever Being Born, Ever Dying

We are ever being born, or dying, and the thrill of choosing which is ours. Only once must we be born without our own consent. Only once must we die without our own permission.

Calvin Miller

Always and Everywhere

From This Day's Thought

In the days of His earthly ministry, only those could speak to Him who came where He was. If He was in Galilee, men could not find Him in Jerusalem; if He was in Jerusalem, men could not find Him in Galilee. But His Ascension means that He is perfectly united with God; we are with Him wherever we are present to God; and this is everywhere and always.

William Temple

Listen Up!

Devotional based on the teaching of Ray Stedman...

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts . . . (Psalm 95:7b-8a).

God speaks to us in this Psalm to tell us what it is that He essentially wants in worship, what makes worship true worship. It is that today we would listen to His voice! That is what He wants. He wants us to heed his voice--not just come together.

It is commendable for people to come to a church service, but the value of it soon vanishes if all we do is sit while our thoughts are elsewhere. The central fact of worship is to listen to the Word of God, the voice of God. That is why the exposition of Scripture must be the central thing in public worship. Those churches that have departed from this are making a travesty of worship. Worship must include listening to the voice of God, hearing what He has to say, and letting His Word correct our attitudes and our reactions. I wish it were possible for each of you to watch people during the hour of worship. Externally it looks as though you are all paying attention. You sit there quietly, with rapt, turned-up faces, your eyes open and staring straight ahead, apparently attracted by what the Word of God is saying. But having sat there myself, I know it is not always true. Some of you are playing golf. Others of you are rehearsing a business deal. Some of you are planning a trip. Some are going over a conversation you had two days ago. It would be fascinating at the end of a service to know where everybody has been! But God is desirous that whatever else you may do in a service, when His Word is speaking, listen! And not only listen, hearken! Hearken means to heed the Word, to do something about it, to let it really change you.

Where You Go I Go

The best sounding version of this song so far. I love it!

Food for Thought

To profit from good advice requires more wisdom than to give it.

J. Churton Collins

All Things

To forsake Christ for the world is to leave a treasure for a trifle, eternity for a moment, reality for a shadow, all things for nothing.

William Jenkyn

At Home

God's thoughts, his will, his love, his judgments are all man's home. To think his thoughts, to choose his will, to love his loves, to judge his judgments, and thus to know that he is in us, is to be at home.

George Macdonald

My Grandsons (two of the three)

Their first school picture. Junior Kindergarten. What trouble they have been giving the teachers. They aren't always into the rules etc. Sounds like their Grandma is rubbing off on them. Pray for them and little Carson, who looks like he is joining this family very soon. And, he is 17 months already. Does it sound like dysfunction to you. I thought so for a while but now....sounds like family in the process to me. :)