Been A Long Time

Since my last blog, much time has passed, and many changes within me as well.  Talk about losing your muse, your inspiration.  Isn't it true that the only place to go from the top of a mountain but down?  My God is the God of the valley, and He is God of the mountain!  He is there, wherever I may think I have lost "it":  He is never lost.  In the deepest pit, He is there.  In the highest of heights, He is there.  Okay, so I'm not going to rewrite the Psalms, but I have again found the joy of overcoming some "momentary light afflictions", by God's grace and for His glory.  In the light of eternity, we who are in Christ will wake up as from a bad dream to the glorious reality of all realities, to bliss beyond anything experienced here...far, far beyond what we could imagine or dream of!  If that thought doesn't bring one peace, know that you can find the One who is our Peace:  Jesus Christ.

We cannot allow ourselves to put too much confidence in others, for they will let us down, just as we have let others down.  What's so great about that is that the One whom we can tell everything to is the One who can never mess up, will never reject us or forget about us, or can never be unable to carry our heavy loads.  He promised to help us, and He promised to unconditionally accept us, "warts and all".  His love is not based on whether we appear to be worthy of that love or not, but it is because HE IS LOVE.  He can ONLY love, ONLY accept, not conditionally, but regardless of how filthy, bloody, or helpless we are.  In fact, that's when we are MOST loved by HIM, the God of mercy, grace, justice, love, peace, and all kindness, who is the Father to the fatherless.  And it is when we know that kind of love, that we ourselves can love from the same heart, the father-heart of God, who is longing to have His "little ones" run to His protective embrace.  It is then that we can extend the grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness that comes from a clean heart, recreated and renewed by the everlasting love of the Father.

Over the years I have come to understand this one thing:  Only God can heal a broken heart.  Others can come alongside and help lead us in the right way, and that is from God, too.  Nobody can fix us, but with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can comfort one another with the comfort with which WE were comforted.  We all have experienced being cold, lost, and afraid, and hopefully, if we are reading these words, we have been comforted by someone else seeing the state of need that we were in.  The Holy Spirit, Who is our COMFORTER, knows exactly how to help us, and when we are truly needy, He knows how to bring loving people into our lives to help us find our way again.

I have just read today that those gifted with high intelligence are more emotionally sensitive, which has both positive and negative sides.  The positive side of being sensitive is treating people with kindness and respect.  The negative side is that the realm of the mind can be the torture chamber the enemy, Satan, uses to try to immobilize God's children.  The Good News is this:  God won't tolerate His children being bullied.  He stands between you and Satan and declares "Enough!".  End of discussion.  We don't have to fight in our own strength, but we DO have to remind Satan who we belong to.  The thief (Satan) only comes to steal, kill, and destroy (bad news), but Jesus said He came that we could have life to the full (GOOD news!).  Anyone reading this has the intelligence factor that can fall prey to Satan's lies (more bad news), but if we come to Jesus as a little child, He will give us the keys to His kingdom (the BEST news!!!!!!!).  Take those keys and open the doors to abundant life in Christ!                                  

Abundant Grace, Peace, and Joy! Part One

I have experienced another "renaissance", another renewal, another rekindling of the fire of God within and upon me, and I can't help but want to share it.  Outwardly, we are perishing, as Paul the apostle said, but our inward Man is being renewed day by day.  Amen!  I have had another almost impossible week, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, I was supernaturally able to get through it, and do it well--praise the Lord Jesus for He deserves all the glory!  I know it was because of the prayers of my brothers and sisters in the Lord that I was able to handle some extremely difficult situations that I just didn't have the mental or physical energy to do on my own.  And so I am most humbled by the thought of people who care enough to pray for me in my time of need, and I am amazed by the absolute peace that passes understanding that has been guarding my heart and mind through all this.

Let us all remember that Jesus said that the thief, or Satan, comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but JESUS came that we would have ABUNDANT life.  What does that look like?  Jesus also said in this world we would have tribulation, but BE OF GOOD CHEER.  Why?  Because, He said He OVERCAME the world, and therefore, if we are in Christ, guess what?  We overcome, too!  It might not be right during the trial, and it might mean that He keeps us safe in the midst of the trial.  The fact that we face trials is part of the human condition.  The same sun that melts the wax also hardens the clay.  And so we must ask ourselves, what are we made of?  Is our heart like wax, pliable when heat is applied?  Or does our heart harden, like clay, not able any more to be pliable?

I desire more than anything to have a heart of wax, to be the fuel for the fire of the Holy Spirit to burn bright in the dark world.  Also, the finest gold is wrought in the hottest fire.  Abundant gold, abundant wax, abundant fire.  Be bold, be bright, and let your light shine!  The opposite of abundant life is what the thief comes to do:  To take away all that has already been provided for us through the finished work of Christ.  He is Victor, and so are we!  We who are the children of God have been given the legal right to use the Name which is above all names, Jesus Christ, not as a little magic token or a rote powerless afterthought, but as our birthright.  We have been re-fathered when we were born again, and now our heavenly Father has made us accepted in the Beloved.   

So what this means to us is that we have been given all we need to obtain life and godliness in this present age.  We have the name of Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit, and we have a new Father, Who IS Love.  He is Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides, and He promised to provide a way of escape when we are faced with impossible situations.  Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing--nothing is too difficult for our God!  Hallelujah!  His grace is more than enough, His peace is more than enough, His joy is more than enough.  Thank you, Lord, for your strength that helps us when we most need it, when we are weakest, then Your strength is made known.  In Your presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore!  I'll praise You in the storm, even though it looks bad, for You are Lord of the storm and You are Life.  I could go on and on, but I'm going to have to continue next time.  May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you with every spiritual blessing!  Amen.