And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
Acts 1:7,8 (NIV)
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.
And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.
1 Corinthians 12:4-6 (NIV)
One morning in prayer when asking God for direction He said the following:
"Don't be concerned about how much of the Holy Spirit you have, but how much of the Holy Spirit has of you."
I am sure God had many purposes when He said that to me. Three things came to me as those words saturated my being:
1. God's words are always gentle, firm and life changing.
2. The necessity of going to our Father daily to be guided by the Holy Spirit. When we are in
surrender and obedience to God people will be touched by His light.
3. Through the Holy Spirit we will be anointed with gifts. The gifts He gives us carry a responsibility of helping others. God gives us gifts to give away. We are to hold and use these gifts humbly knowing that God is working through us to help His people.
Dear Father help us stay focused on You so we can hear you.
Help us to surrender and be obedient as the Holy Spirit convicts us.
Let us use the gifts You give us to help others come into intimacy with You.
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Thursday, September 15, 2016
When I Lay My Isaac Down
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.
Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." Genesis 22:1, 2 (NIV)
As a new Christian, I can't say I liked that scripture. In fact, I thought, " I think that's going a little too far God." Of course, the real truth is I didn't fully understand it.
Over the years I realized the scripture was about loving God first and more then any other person or thing. When my oldest daughter Jessica was a teenager, I remember giving her to God and; giving her to God again and again. When my second daughter, Samantha was a teenager, I repeated the same cycle. As a mom we can only teach and direct when our kids are in view. Our kids belong to God and He has them in view all the time. Was that like sacrificing them on an altar? No. Some of that cycle was out of: "I can't take much more of this." It was, however, a step in the right direction.
I have to say until a few years ago when I heard the song, When I Lay My Isaac Down, did I understand that scripture at a deeper level.
The words that stand out for me in that song go something like this:
…it's you and Isaac or it's you and Me.
At the altar I know it's not my Isaac You want, it's me.
Whatever you are putting ahead of God; God wants it. He wants no obstacle in the way of our relationship with Him. Initially, I believe we see some more obvious things that block our relationship with God and then God takes us a little deeper to smaller things. Smaller things that we dismissed as not being all that bad and or things we really don't want to give up.
In the spiritual world the smaller things are as important as the bigger. Why? The smaller things are still about doing it our way, not God's way. The world tells you that 90-95% of something is good, in fact real good. When it comes to God, He wants a 100% of us.
Some of things on that list could be unforgiveness, anger, negativity, pride, excess work, being a victim, rationalizing our behavior, justifying our behavior, and or the lies we believe about ourselves.
If we want to follow Christ then whatever He directs us to give up we are to give it up.
I listen to this song nearly every day. I find every day I have something to lay down. God knows we are sinners. I believe He wants us to understand that we need to be trimmed and; have a willingness on our part to be trimmed. If we allow Him to trim us , He will grow us.
Lord, I pray we want to follow you. I pray we lay our Isaac's down.
"Here I am," he replied.
Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." Genesis 22:1, 2 (NIV)
As a new Christian, I can't say I liked that scripture. In fact, I thought, " I think that's going a little too far God." Of course, the real truth is I didn't fully understand it.
Over the years I realized the scripture was about loving God first and more then any other person or thing. When my oldest daughter Jessica was a teenager, I remember giving her to God and; giving her to God again and again. When my second daughter, Samantha was a teenager, I repeated the same cycle. As a mom we can only teach and direct when our kids are in view. Our kids belong to God and He has them in view all the time. Was that like sacrificing them on an altar? No. Some of that cycle was out of: "I can't take much more of this." It was, however, a step in the right direction.
I have to say until a few years ago when I heard the song, When I Lay My Isaac Down, did I understand that scripture at a deeper level.
The words that stand out for me in that song go something like this:
…it's you and Isaac or it's you and Me.
At the altar I know it's not my Isaac You want, it's me.
Whatever you are putting ahead of God; God wants it. He wants no obstacle in the way of our relationship with Him. Initially, I believe we see some more obvious things that block our relationship with God and then God takes us a little deeper to smaller things. Smaller things that we dismissed as not being all that bad and or things we really don't want to give up.
In the spiritual world the smaller things are as important as the bigger. Why? The smaller things are still about doing it our way, not God's way. The world tells you that 90-95% of something is good, in fact real good. When it comes to God, He wants a 100% of us.
Some of things on that list could be unforgiveness, anger, negativity, pride, excess work, being a victim, rationalizing our behavior, justifying our behavior, and or the lies we believe about ourselves.
If we want to follow Christ then whatever He directs us to give up we are to give it up.
I listen to this song nearly every day. I find every day I have something to lay down. God knows we are sinners. I believe He wants us to understand that we need to be trimmed and; have a willingness on our part to be trimmed. If we allow Him to trim us , He will grow us.
Lord, I pray we want to follow you. I pray we lay our Isaac's down.
Monday, September 5, 2016
Just Be With Me
"If you love Me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you."
John 14:15-17 (NIV)
"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." John 14:26 (NIV)
We believe there is a physical world because we can see it. Our focus is in and on the physical world. We look to the physical world for answers to our questions. As we live and focus in the physical world we look to the world to make decisions, to solve our problems, and to receive comfort. We have trained ourselves to look "out there" for what we need.
Our focus on the physical world has developed our physical senses.
God tells us to come to Him to make decisions, to solve problems and to receive comfort.
God gave each of His children the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is within each of us. When we go to God for what we need our focus is in and on the spiritual world. It is in the spiritual world that our spiritual senses are developed. Our spiritual senses help us see and hear beyond the what we see and hear in the physical. Our spiritual senses develop only if we have our faith in and on what Jesus did at Calvary.
We are to train ourselves to go "within" to the Holy Spirit to have our needs met.
Before I was a Christian I would prepare, prepare and prepare for speeches I had to deliver. Early on as a Christian when I was asked to speak at a conference I tried to come up with the outline of the message. Try as I might I couldn't come up with a outline. What God would give me were scriptures.
I learned to sit with scriptures He gave me and meditate on those scriptures. After several hours of meditation God would slowly fill in the message. For the most part He wouldn't fill in the message until the night before I was to speak. At first this was scary because i didn't have control. What if I arrived at the conference, got up to speak and had nothing to say?
On one such time when I received only one scripture from Him it left me confused and somewhat anxious. I asked God for more scripture and clarity. He said: "listen to worship music." After doing that for 3 or 4 hours I asked Him for the message. He said, "listen to my music." After several more hours of listening to music he gave me more scripture.
On the way to the conference I felt a lot of anxiety over only having a partial message to deliver at the conference. A conference where I was to speak twice. In the middle of major anxiety with my stomach upset and feeling like I wanted to throw up God used a friend to deliver His message to me: "God wants less of you and more of Him." His message calmed my being. Why did it calm me? The answer is spiritual. In my spirit I knew that God would give the message He wanted delivered even though I had little physical evidence of a message. I realized that when I listened for several hours to the worship music He prepared a message in me that He would deliver through me. How did He do that? God has the answer. Although I live in the physical world my focus was on God in the spiritual world. I didn't go "out there" for what I needed I went "within" to the Holy Spirit.
God's message for that conference and for whatever we are facing is Just Be With Me.
Lord Jesus help us as we live in the physical world to focus on You and trust You. Train us Lord Jesus to go "within" to the Holy Spirit.
John 14:15-17 (NIV)
"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." John 14:26 (NIV)
We believe there is a physical world because we can see it. Our focus is in and on the physical world. We look to the physical world for answers to our questions. As we live and focus in the physical world we look to the world to make decisions, to solve our problems, and to receive comfort. We have trained ourselves to look "out there" for what we need.
Our focus on the physical world has developed our physical senses.
God tells us to come to Him to make decisions, to solve problems and to receive comfort.
God gave each of His children the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is within each of us. When we go to God for what we need our focus is in and on the spiritual world. It is in the spiritual world that our spiritual senses are developed. Our spiritual senses help us see and hear beyond the what we see and hear in the physical. Our spiritual senses develop only if we have our faith in and on what Jesus did at Calvary.
We are to train ourselves to go "within" to the Holy Spirit to have our needs met.
Before I was a Christian I would prepare, prepare and prepare for speeches I had to deliver. Early on as a Christian when I was asked to speak at a conference I tried to come up with the outline of the message. Try as I might I couldn't come up with a outline. What God would give me were scriptures.
I learned to sit with scriptures He gave me and meditate on those scriptures. After several hours of meditation God would slowly fill in the message. For the most part He wouldn't fill in the message until the night before I was to speak. At first this was scary because i didn't have control. What if I arrived at the conference, got up to speak and had nothing to say?
On one such time when I received only one scripture from Him it left me confused and somewhat anxious. I asked God for more scripture and clarity. He said: "listen to worship music." After doing that for 3 or 4 hours I asked Him for the message. He said, "listen to my music." After several more hours of listening to music he gave me more scripture.
On the way to the conference I felt a lot of anxiety over only having a partial message to deliver at the conference. A conference where I was to speak twice. In the middle of major anxiety with my stomach upset and feeling like I wanted to throw up God used a friend to deliver His message to me: "God wants less of you and more of Him." His message calmed my being. Why did it calm me? The answer is spiritual. In my spirit I knew that God would give the message He wanted delivered even though I had little physical evidence of a message. I realized that when I listened for several hours to the worship music He prepared a message in me that He would deliver through me. How did He do that? God has the answer. Although I live in the physical world my focus was on God in the spiritual world. I didn't go "out there" for what I needed I went "within" to the Holy Spirit.
God's message for that conference and for whatever we are facing is Just Be With Me.
Lord Jesus help us as we live in the physical world to focus on You and trust You. Train us Lord Jesus to go "within" to the Holy Spirit.
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