Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Open up the Heavens....Meridith Andrews

 
Revival starts when we look in the mirror. Like the famous Michael Jackson lyrics from “Man in the mirror” “I’m starting with the man in the mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways. No message could have been any clearer. If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make that change.”
 
God is relentless in His pursuit of His called out ones. We want, want, want from God, and all He wants is for us to acknowledge our sin and seek His face. Read His living word and let the message from His word begin the change in our hearts.
 
Every Sunday we gather in church and I look forward to the worship music. It really prepares your heart for the message. When I sing songs, it’s like a prayer flowing from my heart.
When you sing verses like this … “Open up the heavens we want to see You…..Your standing with us now. Lord unveil our eyes.”…. Be ready, because God just might make you take a good look in the mirror and reveal to you His holiness. Revelations 4: 8, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty.”
 
Don’t de value Who God is. Don’t over estimate His love, and don’t underestimate His justice. I believe today, many have lost sight of just how Holy, and Almighty God is. Yes He is a loving God, but He is also a just God who hates sin. God’s Holiness is the core of His being. If love was the core than everyone would go to heaven when they die. But that isn’t biblical. Sin was paid for by the blood of His Only Son, Jesus. Then love found a way.
 
Do you think God gives us up? If you think not, READ THESE VERSES below, and think again. Or better than thinking, PRAY!  Especially verses 24, 26, and 28. If we exchange the truth for a lie, than we are the foolish ones.
 
Romans 1: 18-32, This scripture is so powerful. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart.
 
We serve a Holy God, and He deserves His rightful place in our hearts. He has given us free will to choose, Deuteronomy 30: 18-19. If we choose to continue to sin, or make right of wrongs, than we will suffer the consequences. If we continue to be foolish in our thinking, what we want, verses what God wants for us, He will give us over to just that. What is your life substitution for God? Here are a few other verses of God’s word to show you that God won’t wait forever, and will give us up to ourselves and our way of thinking…. Genesis 6: 3-5, Matthew 15: 14.    
 
Romans 3: 10, Not one of us is without sin, not anyone! Look at this list and see if any of these fit you. I sure fit in and I want revival within myself. So I  constantly talk to God for help daily…. Envy, murder, lying, gossip, pride, boastful, disobedient to parents, anger, anxiety, fear, gluttony, addictions, bitterness, controlled by emotions, drunkenness, drug dependent, greediness, hatred, homosexuality, idolatry, impatience, impure thoughts… and the list goes on…… Do you still think you don’t need a Savior, you don’t need to change, you  have it all under control? I think you really need to fall on your knees and talk to God.
 
So what do we do? First confess your sin to God. Ask God to search your heart, Psalm 139: 23. He is faithful and just to forgive us, 1 John 1: 9, Psalm 32: 5.
 
 
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mountain-Valley-Devotionals/508413785852066
…..mvdevotional.blogspot.com
Kim
 
at No comments:

Monday, May 18, 2015

Soul on Fire....Third Day

 
How do we have the Holy Spirit power without knowing God through intimacy? We don’t. . . No intimacy, no power to press through life’s toughest situations. We can have all the knowledge of the bible, but unless we have that intimate relationship with God that He desires of us, we won’t have the power to get through.
 
Philippians 3: 10-11, “I want to know Christ-yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in death, and so, somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead. That scripture tells me that Paul was a “Soul on Fire” for Jesus Christ. He knew the price that was paid to free him of his sins. He would never be satisfied just staying an average follower and either should we.
2 Peter 1: 8-9“For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.”  This scripture basically  tells us if we fail to develop, we must have forgotten the price Jesus paid for our sins.
The 2000 years since the resurrection of Jesus Christ, has brought many changes in the hearts and souls of people who say that they are followers of Jesus. Some are satisfied being pacified, some stay milk fed, and some are still very hungry for the meat and potatoes of God’s word.
 
Sooner or later a pacifier doesn’t satisfy the babies hunger. They will cry for the bottle. Then the milk doesn’t satisfy them anymore and they will cry out for solid food. This is how it should be with our Christian walk. On fire, not satisfied with just being pacified. Pacified works for a little while as long as life throws you no curves. But that just isn’t reality. Life will take you through tough circumstances and you will find yourself crying out for more answers. In order to get more answers and understanding, you will need to know God more. That pacified relationship that you have with God now, will have to become more intimate to know Him better. That is the only way to have the power of the Holy Spirit that Paul is talking about in this scripture, and God wants us to have it! He is a good God and offers us all we need through His Spirit.
 
Paul wanted to  know the power that raises things up that are dead. Our suffering situations should cause us to become more intimate with God. No one wants, or asks for suffering situations, but there is nothing like knowing God as you go through them.
 
I don’t want to be an average Christian. I want to be a “soul on fire.” One who begins to feel the power, and see the Joy, inside every trial, James 1: 2-4.
 
 
 
…..mvdevotional.blogspot.com
Kim
 
at No comments:

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Your Renown.....Shaun Groves

 
 
I love this verse, John 6: 67-68, Jesus asks “You do not want to leave too, do you?”
 
Knowing my Savior as I do now, I would find that question heartbreaking. But really, He is asking us all that question. Why are we giving Him just our leftovers? After we do everything else in our day, then we find time for Him. Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of life.”
 
I don’t know about you, but once you’ve tasted Jesus, there truly is no turning around for anything else.  Psalm 34: 8, I remember where I was without the presence of Him in my life, but now that I have tasted a new walk in life with Him, my life has never been the same. Good and bad times, God is still good. You view things that once drove you to fear and doubt, to hope and faith. You can’t help but see how good God is. It’s like you’re on the outside looking in. The world has gone crazy, and they don’t understand why you’re not shaken with them.
 
God’s word will either cause you to want to know Him more, or turn away from Him. His teachings are difficult, and often people are tempted to turn away because they think that is easier than changing. I don’t know what your life is bringing you, but mine is truly been bringing me strength, peace, and understanding to all the chaos this life can bring.  Even though the road down here can be full of troubles and trials, it’s easier when you travel with Jesus.
 
There truly is no middle ground contentment. When Jesus asked His disciples if they would also leave, He was showing that they (we) could either accept or reject Him. When it comes to hearing the truth of His teachings, you will either be a true seeker, and want to go deeper into God’s word to gain more understanding and a better relationship. Or you will be those who reject Jesus because you don’t like what you hear.
 
On this journey home I am learning to trade my selfishness for His Holiness, and I will not turn around for another.
 
“To whom shall we go?”………………….. Peter answered for us all. There is no other way, JESUS ALONE has the words of eternal life.
 
Colossians 1: 18, …. “So He is first in everything.”…… Lord it’s “Your Renown” that I live for now. More of You, and less of me. Thank You for carrying me through this life and making my pathway straight. I hold dear Your every word.
 
 
…..mvdevotional.blogspot.com
Kim
 
at No comments:

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

God of my Everything..... Bebo Norman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T18E58vOTus   ---- Oyster video(Must watch)
 
Oh how I love how God wraps Himself around us, and comforts us in times of affliction and pain. Look at this awesome visual in the video above, when affliction is comforted and turns to beauty in an oyster.
“‘Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your naked body. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.  Ezekiel 16:8  ………. Beautiful visual from God’s word.
 
 
 
God sees our pain and wraps Himself around us.
 
2 Corinthians 1: 3-5…  “the Father of compassion, and the God of all comfort”…
 
I just had to share the video because it is such a great analogy of how our Heavenly Father comforts us in times of trouble. Isn’t God amazing on how He speaks to us through even the smallest of His creations. That just amazes me! This visual of great affliction and pain of an intruder in an oyster, is comforted by a substance that produces such beauty. What is really amazing, is that with all the knowledge of science, and the technology of man, they can’t recreate an original pearl.
 
Real Pearls are very expensive.  Most people buy imitation. The Spiritual Shelter Jesus invites us to is real. There is no substitute, and no other way to the Father but through Jesus Christ, John 14: 6. The way has been very lovingly prepared for us by the Father, and very expensively prepared for us. There was no other way to a relationship with God without the shedding of blood for our sins. John 3:16, God loved us so, He gave us His One and only Son.
What a painful price Jesus paid for us to be made beautiful in His Father’s eyesight. Salvation can’t be bout, and you can’t ever be good enough. You can be the most religious person, and do all kinds of work for the church. Ephesians 2: 8-9 says, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith---and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God---not by works, so that no one can boast.” Much too high a price was paid.
Jesus paid it all for us when He willingly gave His life up on the cross. The only way to receive salvation, is to confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord. Repent and turn from our selfish, sinful lives.
 
What a gift from God, more precious than any diamond or pearl. Won’t you receive this truth by faith?
 
…..mvdevotional.blogspot.com
Kim
 
at No comments: