He's Got This

Fear is the most deadly emotion a person can struggle with in their spiritual life. Fear has the power to incapacitate to the point of rendering total disability.

Fear has a voice and it speaks.  But the voice of fear is not the voice of God. 

God has nothing to do with fear that assails the place where we are standing, making it impossible to move forward.  The enemy tries to paralyze us under the guise of “caution” while Jesus beckons us to change our position, our thinking, our ways of doing things. 

Fear robs us of the blessings that await those who respond to the sweet voice that gently bids us "this is the way, walk in it." (Isaiah 30:21) 

Fear has eyes. Fear sees what may happen if we choose to step outside our comfort zone. Fear of the unknown is terrifying because we might lose control.  And after all, it is the loss of controlling of our own lives of which we are the most fearful, is it not?

Fear… think about it.

How does this insidious invasion of our mind take place? When I am afraid, I desperately look for solutions to the problem.  I feel as if I must do something to counteract what might turn out to be hurtful or painful. Of course in attempting control of the situation my desire is to relieve the fear. 

What if I looked at God as a child looks at their mother or father?   What difference would that make? As a child, when afraid at night, I would run to my parent’s room seeking comfort and assurance. If I were too afraid to move, I would call out for my mamma to come to where I was.  I knew I could depend on her to come.

If, as a small child, I had stayed in my room, crippled by fear, I could have tried to control the situation by forcing myself to stay awake to insure that nothing would snatch me in the dark.  But that would be a foolish way for a child to deal with fear.
  

And yet, when gripped by fear, in our adult lives, our instinct is to take the control rather than take it to the Father. 

But the problem with that is that fear escalates when we depend on ourselves for the solution.  Our control does not dissipate the situation.  It does not make everything okay.  It just perpetuates the fears, growing them into irrational levels.

It is Satan’s gateway into our mind.  After all, spiritual warfare is the battle for the mind. 

So if we open the door to fear and choose to hang on to it, we allow the enemy to distort our ability to make good choices. He suggests all sorts of irrational “what ifs" in order to gain control.  Because, like it or not, whoever has control of the mind has control of us. But the choice of who we relinquish control to is ours to make.

But with God there are no irrational "what ifs," no “coincidences.”  Just the promise to guide our understanding and our decisions with His faithful hand. With God there are assurances and absolutes to hang on to.  He absolutely loves.  He absolutely works all things in our favor.  He absolutely forgives.  He absolutely frees. He absolutely directs us onto the right path and He absolutely never leaves us or forsakes us.  

So… Shut the door!…
  

Start choosing to open the door to Jesus and closing the door to fear. That decision is ours; the one thing we actually control. When that decision is solidified in our mind, God is then able to seal us with a seal of protection that is not penetrable by the enemy of fear. Jesus is emphatic in His statement in John 10:27, 28 "My sheep listen to my voice, I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand." 

copyright 7/17/2015

Love And Law

Obedience without a love relationship
capitulates to the letter of the law.

Obedience within a love relationship
results in the fulfillment of the law.

For without love the law is a set of rules.
with love the law is a natural offspring.



copyright 7/22/2015

From The Clouds - 4

When I began blogging about the clouds, I decided I would omit one of the five messages I had received from God.  I figured it wasn’t quite as meaningful as the rest.  Yet when I shared all five with the women in my study group, one of them was most impressed with the one I decided to omit.  So who am I to decide which of God’s messages I should share?  I understand, now, that all the messages He shared are equally important.  Otherwise, why would He have shared them.   

A couple a months ago I was looking out the window at a clear blue sky.  It was morning, and the day held promise to be beautiful and warm.  I thought about how it had been a while since I had received a message in the clouds.  As I looked at the open sky, I laughed and said to my Father, “It’d be pretty hard to speak through clouds that aren’t there, wouldn’t it.”  I went about my business, not giving it much more thought, since I didn’t know if the cloud messages were expected to continue or not.  Besides, there wouldn’t be a message in a clear sky anyway.  A few minutes later, I looked out the window once more and a smile spread across my face, for there in the middle of the sky was a small cloud in the shape of an “S.” 

Again I challenge you to consider what the "S" could represent. Actually this one is not as difficult as perhaps some of the others. Well, now that I know what it is, it doesn’t seem so difficult. 

So did you get any ideas?  

The right answer? 

Are you sure?

So the answer is……

**Soon**

I could feel His presence bending close to me, whispering, “Soon…”

A cloudless day wouldn’t stop my Jesus from sending forth His message.

The first message, was the warning of darkness swiftly covering the earth. 

Some time later came the second warning (or harbinger).  A great shaking was coming where we won’t be able to rely on any other person, church, denomination, belief, or theory. Our only safety is our trust in God alone.

The third cloud message was the four tornado-shaped clouds that represent the four angels of Revelation 7:1, holding back the winds of destruction on the earth for those servants who are not yet sealed.

And now the Lord of hosts has spoken again in His mercy, to warn us that these things are not far off in the future but SOON!  Yes, our God is merciful and not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  He has given these warnings so we can prepare; for along with His mercy He is also just. 

There is a day of judgement coming soon. We must decide for whom we will stand and now He’s given us that chance to take that stand.  How gracious and all-loving and patient He is.  I don’t want to make Him wait any longer than He needs.  I choose Jesus.  Today.  

copyright 7/14/2015

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From The Clouds - 3

Early one morning I stepped outside, before the sun had risen, to let out one of the dogs where I house-sit.  Henry is the youngest of the two dogs and the most anxious to take care of his morning routine.  He has quite the fetish in regard to this morning (and evening) ritual.  He can't seem to bring himself to do his "duty" without me accompanying him.  I actually don't mind this deviation from the norm because it gives me the opportunity to start my day with Jesus in His Creation; to absorb His goodness through the sights and sounds that nature makes as it stretches, yawns, and rehearses bird scales to warm up the vocal cords for the day. Then at night, when the birds are singing their goodnight prayers, those few quiet moments literally calm the soul.  It also doesn't hurt that the house I house-sit is nestled in several acres of trees, grass and flowers. 

During those little morning and evening moments, I never fail to raise my eyes heavenward from whence my salvation comes.  It fills me with His presence and infuses me with love for my Creator and tender regard for His children.

But, what is this that stands in the Eastern sky so stark, so unexpected, so out-of-place; large and imposing?  Certainly nothing I had visually encountered before this morning. 

Several columns of cloud rose up, resembling the shape of a tornado. They were such a realistic replica that it would have been frightening had I not quickly reminded myself that we don't live in tornado country.  I knew they were meaningful, but for the first time, God did not say what they represented right away.

Since it was early spring and rather cool, I went inside by the fireplace to contemplate what I had just seen. What could these columns possibly mean? 

"You didn't count them." 

What? 

"You didn't count them," Jesus repeated. 

I didn't count the pillars did I?  I said. And since He brought that to mind, it must be important.

I grabbed a bag of garbage that was waiting to be taken out to the trash bins and headed outside.  Looking up I wondered if the formations would still be there. The winds would surely have disfigured those stately columns by now. But although they were altered to some degree, there were still quite clearly four tornado-shaped pillars of clouds. 

So there are four of them.  Okay.  I waited for some sort of response, but nothing more was said about it at that time.  A little later in the day, I drove to town and contemplated the mystery in the sky.  Suddenly the significance of the four pillars hit me with confidence. 

The four winds of strife.

Of course, the four winds of strife, what else would they be?

Revelation 7:1: "And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree." 

Revelation 7:2 goes on to say, "Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God.  He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea. 'Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.'"

We are beginning to realize the truth of what has been foretold.  Perilous times are before us as we see the growing number of incidents where nature seems out of control. Heaving and convulsing; groaning as if in labor.

Nature is not alone in visible signs of Jesus' return, but humanity's war against itself tells us more than we would like to know of our condition. I don't need to reiterate what they are, we all see and hear.

The interesting thing that I noticed about the scripture in Revelation 7:1 is that the warning was addressed to believers as opposed to non-believers. Because it was the believers that were not prepared for the sealing. That seems to indicate today's truth, that there are still many people in the church that are not ready.  Am I one of those?  

   

copyright 7/9/2015 

The One I Love

Let me tell you of the One I love.
Let me tell you of the beauty of His Holiness;
The symmetry of His affections toward
the blind, the deaf, the willingly wayward.

Let me tell you of the One I love.
Let me tell you of the beauty on His face;
the tenderness in His eyes toward those
who stumble and falter on their journey.

Let me tell you of the hands I love.
Let me tell you how He caresses the furrowed brow
when under duress and the strain of life,
with hands that gave His life for mine.

The majesty of His presence I love!
Let me tell you the glory of hearing His words;
of fellowshipping His heart to my heart.
I wish I could tell you of the One I love. 


copyright 7/08/2015

All In A Day

Some days, like today, bring tears of wonder at how God seems to empty Himself into the bread-basket of life; feeding, nourishing, satisfying all emptiness with abundant grace, power and love.  I long for moments like these to never be disturbed.
  

But then it happens…

The jarring sound of a text coming through that steals away the luxury of heavenly solace. People fighting, tearing each other apart with words that shred the heart, never to be retrieved again. The wounded lay bleeding, and my God looks at His children and rejoices with the one and weeps with the other all in the span of a few hours.  The one causes the rectory of the mind to flourish, the other wrenches life from it's socket and shatters sensitivity into seemingly irreparable pieces.

I have no answers, no words of consolation; I cannot fix it even though I desperately search for the wisdom to do so. All I can do is pray and love. Pray and expressly love hard enough and deep enough to make a difference. God said it would, so I will.

copyright 7/5/2015

From The Clouds - 2

If my first blog on how the Lord speaks to me through the clouds didn't cause you to turn and run, maybe you are up for a second encounter with the same God, different clouds.

A significant thing happened early one morning when I stopped to look out the window. As some of you know, I house-sit for a couple who travels a lot; mostly on business, occasionally for pleasure. 

This particular morning I was taken with the oddity of the cloud formation. Actually it wasn’t a single cloud formation, but the formation of a massive amount of tiny little clouds like polka dots.  Of course they were not uniformly round, but none-the-less, the sky was covered from east to west with a blanket of polka dots. What actually made this so interesting to me was that the polka dots were not connected. So it didn’t “kind of" look like polka dots, it literally looked like polka dots.

At that point I said to myself, "I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before."  So my question to God was, "What does this mean?" 

The answer came without hesitation.  

But before I tell you what He shared, I’m asking you, the reader, to go ahead and see if you can conjure up something that makes sense.  I have time.  I’ll wait.......

Take your time…

Just for fun, think about what polka-dotted clouds might mean…

Well, this is what Jesus decided to share with me:

 “There is a great shaking coming where no one will be able to depend on another person, denomination, group, creed, or anything else that man clings to for support, other than Jesus Christ and Him alone."

That made me pause and evaluate where I am in relation with Him.  Am I connected to my Lord with ties strong enough to hold me if I’m standing alone?  In unity with Jesus, the body of believers is held together by the Holy Spirit.  But when the church is scattered, once again, will I be able to stand for Jesus, based on the evidence of the knowledge of my relationship with Him?  Will I be able to stand for Jesus, without the support network of fellow believers?  Is my friendship with Him strong enough to endure that isolation?   If everything I see and hear contradicts what I know of my God, can I still stand?

It was at this point that I realized that this was not just a friendly game of Guess-What’s-in-the-Clouds, this was a serious warning and I needed to pay attention.

Up until now, I viewed the cloud messages as warnings but was not altogether sure what to do with them.  But I did share them with like-minded believers who would not automatically think I was moving too close to the edge of insanity. 

So there you have it. That's the second message I have to share with you. May I encourage you to spend some time in circumspection as to what this means for you?  Is the shaking a shaking of a church, all churches, denomination, or a world-wide shaking of Christianity, or something else? The whole sky was covered with individual polka dots.  Ask Him to share with you what it means for you.  Is the enemy trying to shake you loose from your moorings?

I have two more messages to share, unless He chooses to reveal more.  These are messages of warning, but also hope.  They are not intended to frighten or discourage.  So don’t let it daunt your spirit.  God’s grace is sufficient for each day.  His love will carry us through the worst of storms.  Hang on!

copyright 7/3/2015