Monday, April 27, 2015

Help me find it...... Sidewalk Prophets

 
Are things in your life not as clear as they use to be? Have you been making a lot of life decisions without talking with God first?
 
Maybe you’ve gone off the road that you once felt the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit and His guidance when you spent intimate time with Him. That’s where you really felt and heard Him so clearly.  Are you now wondering where God is? He didn’t go anywhere. It’s usually us who drift off into other things that take our precious time away from our First Love. So if there is a road you should walk, just ask God …… “Help me find it” Talk with Him, then listen.
 
Here is the hard part……. Be still, but keep praying. Lift your empty hands, and He will fill you again. He will help you to see things from His view. Even when it hurts, let Him have His way.
 
Once you’ve tasted the power of the Holy Spirit you never forget it, and you don’t want to go a day without Him. But we all tend to get on our busy schedules, and time spent with God is not our first choice anymore. Here is a good word from God for that. Galatians 3:3, “Are you so foolish? After beginning by the means of the Spirit, are you trying to finish by means of the flesh?” Yes, we all tend to make excuses of why we don’t pray. When we move in life without talking to God, we are walking in the flesh.
 
2 Corinthians 3: 3, “You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.” This is the only way to rest in the Lord and trust Him with everything, and every area of your life. He is in you. Let Him walk you through, and learn from Him along the way of waiting.
 
Here is a devotional I read the other day and I hope it helps you too….. “When Jesus was in agony the night before His crucifixion, He prayed fervently, dreading the cross but submitting Himself to His Father’s higher purpose. We will face deep anguish in our lives, everyone does. When that happens we can do what Jesus did: Pray….. Pray hard, pray deep, pray honestly, pray out all your feelings. Pray until you sweat and cry and fall down in exhaustion. Pray with others, pray alone, pray as long as it takes….and then pray longer. Pray because nothing else works, and keep praying when it doesn’t seem to work. Pray because Jesus prayed, pray because you want to pray, pray because you don’t want to pray. Pray out loud, pray quietly. Pray whenever you think about it. Pray instead of just thinking about it. Pray when you walk, and when you drive, and when you wake up, and before you go to sleep. Pray before you forget. Pray right now!”
 
 
…..mvdevotional.blogspot.com
Kim
 
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Monday, April 20, 2015

How can it be?..... Laure Daigle

 
WOW…. GREAT SONG!!
 
“These hands are guilty, ashamed of what I’ve done, what I’ve become. These hands are dirty, I dare not lift them up to the Holy One.” But Jesus says that I am free. “How can it be?”
 
How can it be that we are made free by the suffering and death of Jesus Christ? We are all invited, not forced, to come to God through believing that Jesus Christ gave His life so we can have ours.
John 1: 12 … All we have to do is receive, and believe the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, repent and turn from sin, to become a child of God. (John 8: 11) Then rise to a new life in Jesus!
 
I am so thankful for the grace to be free of my sins. This doesn’t give me the freedom to pervert grace and what Jesus died for…. Sin…   A lot of people I’ve heard say, “Oh I could do and believe how I want to, God understands me, all I have to do is ask God for forgiveness.” That is perverting the grace of God. Maybe you need to understand God more. Hosea 4: 6, The bible tells us that suffering would be because of our own lack of knowledge. Hebrews 12: 9-11, It is God’s way of disciplining us to try and get our attention. We can’t just do what we want. You can’t do whatever you want when you are growing up as a child either. Every parent, out of love, has rules to live by to protect their child from harm. When we don’t listen, why is it we wished we did, because what follows is punishment.
 
1 John 2: 1, … “I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin we have an advocate with the Father-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” Just because we know that there is forgiveness through Jesus Christ, doesn’t mean that gives us a “get out of jail free card.” God offered up His Son as a gift for the freedom of our sins. We have a choice to receive this truth. God will never take your decision lightly, should you choose to pervert this truth.
 
When you understand the gift of grace, and receive it in your heart, soul, and mind, it sets our hearts against sin. You will never doubt again that God doesn’t love you. When you look at the cross, you will see only grace. You will be lost for words, and so lost in love.
 
God’s grace is AMAZING! So good that we don’t have to be ashamed anymore. “How can it be?” Only by the grace of God!......   Romans 8: 1, “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”
 
 
…..mvdevotional.blogspot.com
Kim
 
 
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Monday, April 13, 2015

Faithful God.... Laura Story

 
Are you in a relationship that is going on for years now? Are the words still as sweet? Do you still have a lot in common? Are you still having fun together? You agree on almost everything but one thing…..You’re ready for a commitment but he, or she is not ready, and sadly to say, some people never are. They never seem to grow up. I hear it all the time from people who are in long relationships and feel like they wasted so much time. No, that isn’t true. Take what you have learned and trust God as you move on.
 
Definition of flattery…. Excessive and insincere praise, especially that given to further one’s own interests, or win favor. I pray that you don’t fall for someone because they speak the words that you love to hear. Have you ever heard the saying, “flattery will get you nowhere.” That’s because words don’t last. Oh, and be careful for those crocodile tears. They may keep the relationship going for a long while, but eventually they fade. True love commits. True love grows up and takes responsibility.
Love is a commitment, a surrendered life. When I said “I do” to my husband, I was giving him my life. That was the beginning of a lifelong relationship. That’s what most of us want eventually, and it is certainly what God desires of us. Not just knowing Him, or even agreeing with everything in the bible. That still isn’t commitment.
 
We can’t flatter God into a relationship. One of the scriptures in the bible that I find very unsettling, is when Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father Who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord’ did we not prophesy in your name….performed many miracles?”  But Jesus will one day say to those who have not committed their life to Him, “I never knew you. Away from me.” Why, because love doesn’t just do and say the right things, love commits.
 
When I listen to the lyrics of this song it fills my heart with such contentment. I feel so secure and at peace knowing every word is so true. “He is the love that never leaves, the friend that won’t deceive. He’s the One sure thing. And all I am, and all I’ll ever be, is all because He loves faithfully. How deep how wide the love, that pierced His side the love. Redemptions mine oh love, THAT WILL NOT LET ME GO!” That’s love, that’s my Jesus!
 
…..mvdevotional.blogspot.com
Kim
 
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Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Anchor..... Hillsong

 
I can’t get enough of this song, and just love this group.
 
The bible tells us in Deuteronomy 7:9, To know the Lord our God. He is faithful, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and obey His commands. The choice is ours. Do we love Him and obey His commands? Can people tell we are His by how we live our life? How we go through the tough storms of life? How we stay committed to Jesus NO MATTER WHAT?
Or do we just look like fans of Jesus? All for selfish reasons like Judas. Jesus doesn’t want fans. He doesn’t even need them. Some fans are not committed to still being a fan if they see it as they are always loosing.  If you look at things from an eternal point of view, instead of the here and now, you win if you stay committed. Jesus wants followers. The kind that show that they are built upon a rock, no matter we go through, or how we try to understand them. Stand on the unshakable rock, because Jesus is unshakable.
 
Matthew 7: 24-27…….. Storms in life are inevitable. We will all face them more than once, and some hit a lot harder than others. Are you ready for them when they hit? What is your house(you, your faith) Built upon? You will surly find out when the storm hits. Build your life on Jesus Christ now. Don’t wait till it hits. Strength, faith, peace, hope, trust, these are all built up in us. It just doesn’t happen when you decide you want it. Don’t just get through each day, thrive  through each day with joy, with Jesus. The less you have of Him, the quicker you sink when the storm comes.
The storm will reveal the reality of your faith. If you are a Christian, your faith will be tested. That is a fact. So it is very important that you build your house on the rock. Your marriage could be tested, your health could be tested, or the health of a loved one. Even in death, where does your strength and hope come from? Our stability is only from Jesus Christ. When these times come, depending on what your building your life on, sand or rock, that will determine whether you are going to stand and see through the storm to the other side.
 
This life is not all there is. I feel bad for you if you think it is. You miss what your purpose is here, but most important, eternity. There is an eternity. Life on earth is brief. We are going to spend more time in eternity than we are here on earth. It makes no sense just to live for this life. Life will offer us many choices. Life in eternity offers us 2 …. Life with God, or without Him. So all choices that we make in life will come down to these 2 choices in the end. If you choose to build your life without God, than you choose to live eternity without Him too. Life here and now is a preparation for the life to come. So build your life on what lasts forever. This world will pass away. ……What last forever? …..1 John 2:17, ………. “Whoever does the will of God lives forever.”
 
…..mvdevotional.blogspot.com
Kim
 
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