What do I know of holy?

Have you ever felt too sinful to come to Jesus?
Have you ever felt like God is too holy to draw near to?
Sometimes I am blown away by the power of God.
Sometimes it brings me to tears.

The other day I was driving home from a ladies bible study that I attend at my daughters school.  Our time together was awesome, we prayed together for all our prayer needs, and there were many.  A few ladies layed hands on me and they all prayed for me.  As I began to drive home I had my worship music playing and I began to worship and pray.  As I sought the Lord in prayer I could feel his presence in the car.  As I was praying it came to me - I just turned my head and said "you are right here" - Holiness, the Almighty God, who is holy, was next to me in my car.  I didn't have to try to get to him, he was right there.  As I worshipped tears filled my eyes and I felt overwhelmed to be in his presence.

He is here in my presence right now.  He is there, right by you now.  Are you struggling with a sin?  He is there right next to you, not judging you, but beckoning for you to release it to him.  Are you lonely?  He is right there next to you and wants you to know that.  Are you afraid?  He is right there next to you, with his arms wrapped around you telling you "do not be afraid."

I think so many of us have made God way too small.  We have packaged him just the way we want him.  To fit our life.  Lay it all down and open yourself up to him completely.  Lay aside all the man made teachings of God and look to the bible.  This Almighty God, creator of everything, creator of YOU is bigger than what your little mind can comprehend.  There is nothing too big for him, no circumstance that he cannot handle.    He loves you with a love that will never fail you.

Take a moment to worship.

REAL PROMISES

Do you believe that all the promises in the bible are true?
Do you believe that you can claim these promises personally in your life?
I do - well - sometimes - well - yes I believe them but I often don't act like I do.

I was reading toward the end of Joshua how the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers.  The people took possession and settled.  And the Lord gave them rest on every side.  Take these words to heart today: Joshua 21:45 "Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass."

God's promises all came to pass - ALL OF THEM. 

His promises in the bible will all come to pass in your and my life too.  For example: "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you." - "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - "The Lord your God is with you wherever you go." - "Fear not, for I have redeemed you." - "But whoever listens to me will live in safety and at ease, without fear or harm." - "God is our refuge and strength."

Reading the promises that God gives us and living them out are two different things.  We can see that in the lives of the Isrealites.  The verse above reminds me of this amazing, powerful and loving God that we have.  His promises still were true even though they failed time after time.  Such is the case with you and me.  We fail, time after time but God's promises will never fail us - ever!

Pray this prayer with me:  Father God, I love you.  I want your promises to be alive in my life.  I want to not just know them but to know and believe them deep within my soul.  You are a God of love and a God of peace.  Pour an extra measure of your Spirit within me to overflowing and I submit to you all of my life.  I desire your promises fill me to my core.  Thank you Jesus.

Lean on Me

Someone reminded me that my blog is out of date.  I have sat down a few times to write but words either didn't come clearly or I was too busy.  A week ago my grandson arrived into the world.  Matthew Timothy - his middle name is my husbands name.  He is a beautiful gift from God.

The other day my daughter Angela came home from school all excited and told me she had something to show me.  "Hold on", she said, and ran up to her room.  I had a feeling what it was.  Within minutes she walked down wearing her cap and gown.  Yup, it happened, tears filled my eyes.  She is my last one to graduate.  Her long blonde hair surrounding a light blue cap and gown was so beautiful.

Life does move on whether we like it or not.  Sure I wish that life was not so fragile right now.  I would love it if there wasn't so much unknown.  Having faith sounds awesome doesn't it?  We all want to live a life that in whatever circumstances we face we will have faith.  But if we are honest, having faith is just plane hard.  You see, for us to have a stronger faith we have to be in situations that will strengthen our faith.  I was reading this morning about Joshua's instructions to take over Jericho.  Those were some pretty crazy instructions but he knew that he heard from the Lord.  He had faith.  Sometimes in life we are faced with situations where we are forced to have faith, trusting in God when we do not see the answer.  We have days when we cry (I do), we have days when we are strong but knowing that God has our life in the palm of his hand should bring us more comfort than it does.  When suddenly we are in a situation where we don't see the outcome we so often try to take things into our own hands.  We do all the planning and forget to seek God.  What, like we can do a better job them him?  Sometimes we think we can.  That never works out very well.

Proverbs 3:5-6  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight."

Father God, may I/we trust you above what is around us.  I seek your face this day above anything else that is a distraction.  Your will be done in my life. 

What and who are you leaning on?  Lean on Jesus.

Choose Life!

Sometime in life we have to make choices.  Some are simple some are not.  I think about our attitudes in life, mine today as I read Deuteronomy 30:19-20.  "I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.  Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days."  These verses brought tears to my eyes. 

Sometimes life is just hard.  But God has before us choices - we can choose to live in the hard stuff of life or we can choose to live in the blessings.  I know sometimes we can't even find the blessings but they are there.  We cannot allow the hard stuff to be bigger than the blessings.  When we do that we begin to forget all the great things God has done in our life. 

So when you find yourself wallowing, we all do that sometimes, say to yourself "I choose life, for God is my life and the length of my days.  I will hold fast to him." 

Take a moment to worship.

Are you stubborn?

Are you ever stubborn?  I am sure you said yes.  We all are sometimes.  Some of us more than others.  I know I can be and it often makes things more difficult.  Life is just going along, we hit those nasty speed bumps and we get annoyed and downright stubborn because we don't like the direction we are going.  I was reading Psalm 32 this morning.

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.  Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you."

All I could picture is myself being that stubbord horse or mule and God having to curb me with a bit and/or a bridle.  A very painful picture.  I believe that so often when things in my life have become hard it's because God is having to do this to me.  The next verse says "but steadfast love surrounds the one who trust in the Lord."  The dictionary definition of steadfast is "fixed in direction, firm in purpose, unwavering."  This is the kind of love that will surround us when we just trust in the Lord.  Is it not easy but the more we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus the stronger we become and the more we recognize that we have become that stubborn mule again.

It is such a beautiful picture when you read the first part.  God, instucting me and teaching me the way to go.  Even more, with his eye upon me.  How comforting to know that his eye is always upon me.  Even on those days when I don't "feel" close to him, when I feel far off from God.  His eye is still upon me, wanting me to just release the tension on the rope and walk with him.

What is it in your life that is keeping you from walking with God instead of fighting him like the mule?  Release it and let it go!

Tell your story

I love hearing God stories.  I love hearing stories about lives changed, miracles and God interacting in peoples lives.  The other day we received an email from a pastor in Illinois.  He has been sick for a long time and has a tumor in his lung.  Not anymore!  His email of God's miraculous healing brought tears to my eyes.  He even wrote "I would even think I was crazy if it didn't happen to me."  You see, he has had prayer intercessors praying for him for two years now.  God spoke to him and told him "I am answering their prayers."  And the tumor was instantly gone.  He felt it leave.  These stories inspire me, encourage me and fill my heart with joy.

This morning I read the story in Mark 14 about the woman who poured expensive ointment over Jesus head.  Jesus said "She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.  And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her."  Now here I am blogging her story, we read it in the bible.  It is as Jesus said - told in memory of her.  What a beautiful story.  I would have loved to be her friend.  I bet she would have had some awesome God stories to share.  I bet we could have sat all day and talked about our faith together.  I bet she would have encouraged me as her story does today.  

Do you have a story to tell?  How God has stepped in your life?  Tell the story, it may be just what someone else needs to hear.

Open Hands

This morning I felt convicted.  A good thing.  As I read the following scripture I thought of being the person on the receiving end of this and on the giving end.

⁷"If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, ⁸but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. ⁹Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, 'The seventh year, the year of release is near,' and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the LORD against you, and you be guilty of sin. ¹⁰You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. ¹¹For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.'  Deuteronomy 15:7-11

We live in a society that thinks of themselves.  People look out for their own needs, even looking down on those who are in need as if they are better than them.  Many churches are more concerned about themselves and keeping their church safe, than they are the body of Christ.  What the Lord commanded the people in the old testament is still a command for us today.  Take care of each other!  It's pretty simple but our society has complicated it.  I know I am guilty.  Our society also makes it hard for those who are in need to let those around them know.  Shame, embarassment and fear of being judged keep them quiet.  Isn't that sad?

I love the picture of an open hand.  I just thought of the scripture that says "freely you have received, freely give" so I looked it up online to find out where in the bible it's from.  Much to my surprise this is the whole verse.  "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give."  Matthew 10:8  Think about that one!

On that note, I pray that you have a great day.  I pray that we all open up our hands to those in need - and pray about the Matthew verse.  God is bigger than what we could ever imagine.