So my mentor asked that I focus on one particular scripture for 1 year. 1 YEAR. I was struggling with that for a bit until I realized....what's the hurry? Really. Think about it. What are we in such a big hurry about down here. If I had, from the beginning of my Christian walk studied each scripture for a year, I would have truth so deeply embedded in my heart there would be no moving it. Or take even a subject....the Love of the Father, and search out only that for a year. What would I have right now?
So the scripture is Ephesians 3:17-19.
That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
So....here we go. October 15-20014 to October 15-2015 God willing!
(Selah is a word that's kind of debated over its meaning, but most agree that it is a pause to praise, or a pause to meditate on what's been sung or spoken. My interpretation of selah, is a time to "put that in your pipe and smoke it awhile." Ask God questions...chew it up and get every last bit of flavor you can squeeze out. ) so....chew your Word well everybody!
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Rest
A unique opportunity came along last week. The opportunity to be discipled. I use to beg God for a mentor. I consider Francis Frangipane one, though we have only met once, and that was to hand me a diploma from his online school. But I studied everything he wrote, and got his weekly messages for years. It definitely turned my walk with Jesus in a different direction. I was on the road to being a great Pharisee. Francis was the spiritual bungee cord jerking me back to pursue a Person, not ministry.
And yet.....I still ended up pursueing ministry because that was how I thought I would connect with the Person more deeply.
I was taught that my call was my purpose. Wrong.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. So tired of being wrong....so grateful someone is investing in a total stranger to bring correction to my life. Like Francis says....if you don't like to be wrong, pray for someone to correct you!
I had a dream when I first found Jesus. Brad and I were looking at a house...and it was perfect! It had everything we wanted and dreamed of. The previous owners had even left the basement full of antiques and things we loved and wanted. The price was ridiculously low and as we were walking through, marveling and getting so excited when I felt the floor shift and move a little. Concerned we went outside. The whole house had slid partly off its foundation. I turned to Brad and asked, "can the foundation be fixed?"
I knew the Lord was pointing to my foundation being faulty, and maybe the church as well, but I just have not been able to grasp the extent and meaning of that message.
I suddenly have a feeling the fog is lifting.
So what is the purpose of our life? To glorify God? To worship Him? To minister in His name?
At IHOP I kept hearing that I was made for love. I realized I wasn't really letting God love me, but
how does one do that? All I was told was to love God. That will be a short trip, friend. We don't have much staying power on our own. I began to ask for God to help me love him pretty soon out of the gate, because I came to the end of mine pretty quickly.
So at IHOP I began to pray that I would let God love ME. To open my spirit wide to receive His love.
The spirit of legalism is so clever. He clothes himself as an angel of light. The church is saturated in it. And the foundation is beginning to crumble as ministers fall to every manner of sin, as believers worldwide begin to harvest what they have sown in darkness. Let us return to our first love, quickly.
His first love. The love we simply responded to and entered into when it was held out to us. We have fallen from HIS first love, not ours. Go ahead and stir up your emotions and see how long that lasts. No....it has to be received from our Father, and only then do we have rivers of living water flowing out. Love that brings life to others.
So let's all "give up on ourselves" as my mentor said. Let's stop trying to fix ourselves and let's return to our first love, and receive it again. Our purpose is to love Him and others. Our purpose, is to love Him and others. Our purpose is relationship.
And yet.....I still ended up pursueing ministry because that was how I thought I would connect with the Person more deeply.
I was taught that my call was my purpose. Wrong.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. So tired of being wrong....so grateful someone is investing in a total stranger to bring correction to my life. Like Francis says....if you don't like to be wrong, pray for someone to correct you!
I had a dream when I first found Jesus. Brad and I were looking at a house...and it was perfect! It had everything we wanted and dreamed of. The previous owners had even left the basement full of antiques and things we loved and wanted. The price was ridiculously low and as we were walking through, marveling and getting so excited when I felt the floor shift and move a little. Concerned we went outside. The whole house had slid partly off its foundation. I turned to Brad and asked, "can the foundation be fixed?"
I knew the Lord was pointing to my foundation being faulty, and maybe the church as well, but I just have not been able to grasp the extent and meaning of that message.
I suddenly have a feeling the fog is lifting.
So what is the purpose of our life? To glorify God? To worship Him? To minister in His name?
At IHOP I kept hearing that I was made for love. I realized I wasn't really letting God love me, but
how does one do that? All I was told was to love God. That will be a short trip, friend. We don't have much staying power on our own. I began to ask for God to help me love him pretty soon out of the gate, because I came to the end of mine pretty quickly.
So at IHOP I began to pray that I would let God love ME. To open my spirit wide to receive His love.
The spirit of legalism is so clever. He clothes himself as an angel of light. The church is saturated in it. And the foundation is beginning to crumble as ministers fall to every manner of sin, as believers worldwide begin to harvest what they have sown in darkness. Let us return to our first love, quickly.
His first love. The love we simply responded to and entered into when it was held out to us. We have fallen from HIS first love, not ours. Go ahead and stir up your emotions and see how long that lasts. No....it has to be received from our Father, and only then do we have rivers of living water flowing out. Love that brings life to others.
So let's all "give up on ourselves" as my mentor said. Let's stop trying to fix ourselves and let's return to our first love, and receive it again. Our purpose is to love Him and others. Our purpose, is to love Him and others. Our purpose is relationship.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Offenses
Offenses are an opportunity to learn where your love borders end....and to have them stretched out with help from the Father's love....should you choose to say yes and accept your mission. (Cue Mission Impossible music here)
I just woke up in a stinking muddy puddle of cynicism today. You would think you would feel that, but in retrospect it makes sense...if your not letting yourself love, the rest of your senses are pretty dead too. You can't be alive without love. I was thinking how it only took me 54 years to get this hard, and He has been loving for ages past. Since man began and sinned, He has loved, and not given up on mankind. What kind of God is this that loves like that?!
My humanity gives me a headache...often. I'm tired of being so "wrong." But....maybe it just points out how "right" and "good" and "beautiful" He IS. I'm not such a great example but I am an excellant poster child. Like Paul, I will boast in my weakness because He is my sufficiency.
Lord, I'm signing back up for love. I know....it's a blank contract....we don't know who your going to ask us to love and whether they will ever love us back. As long as I have Yours, it makes the mission possible. Take this rock in my chest Lord, and make it tender once more. Amen.
I just woke up in a stinking muddy puddle of cynicism today. You would think you would feel that, but in retrospect it makes sense...if your not letting yourself love, the rest of your senses are pretty dead too. You can't be alive without love. I was thinking how it only took me 54 years to get this hard, and He has been loving for ages past. Since man began and sinned, He has loved, and not given up on mankind. What kind of God is this that loves like that?!
My humanity gives me a headache...often. I'm tired of being so "wrong." But....maybe it just points out how "right" and "good" and "beautiful" He IS. I'm not such a great example but I am an excellant poster child. Like Paul, I will boast in my weakness because He is my sufficiency.
Lord, I'm signing back up for love. I know....it's a blank contract....we don't know who your going to ask us to love and whether they will ever love us back. As long as I have Yours, it makes the mission possible. Take this rock in my chest Lord, and make it tender once more. Amen.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Quote
Oh the infinite value and worth of one human being made in the image of God!
Ed Boasso - angelic encounter
Sunday, August 24, 2014
First Love
First Love in the letter to the Ephesians in Revelation 2, Jesus says.. 4 But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.
I then hear, "We love, because He first loved us." ( 1 John 4 :19)
So whose "first love" have we fallen from? Our own? I think that would be a pretty short hop!
He drew me back in my memory of when we "officially" met. I had no real love for God yet.....I was responding to His love.....I was overwhelmed by His love for me. That He would suffer torture and die for me, to make sure I spent eternity with Him. I just had the response of whole hearted gratitude..relief...peace....the love was pretty much one sided technically speaking. I didn't know this God that had just declared His love and desire for me. Yes...love started to blossom as a direct result of love being shown. And I had a honeymoon....but I still say, my love was small. What I was celebrating in the honeymoon was being wanted. I'm just a baby that has been cuddled and hugged tight for the first time.
I believe the love we have fallen such a great distance from is His for us. It wasn't long before I was trying to "serve" God as a way to love Him back. This is how the church teaches us to love God.
I'm going to depart from that teaching and say, the way to love Him, is to receive His love. Again and again. Works is just a natural out working of that great gift given. It's His love spilling over onto others! We will truly love what He loves, when we are filled to overflow with His love!
I don't know about you, but I can't remember any first deeds except just praise and worship, gratitude....marveling.....in awe of God....of desiring now to be "good" and make Him happy.
I enjoyed Him.
If the height we have fallen from was receiving His love and enjoying Him....it is a great height indeed. Repent and receive.
If you focus on your love for God it will never be enough. If you focus on His love for you, it will be enough. Bob Hartley
I then hear, "We love, because He first loved us." ( 1 John 4 :19)
So whose "first love" have we fallen from? Our own? I think that would be a pretty short hop!
He drew me back in my memory of when we "officially" met. I had no real love for God yet.....I was responding to His love.....I was overwhelmed by His love for me. That He would suffer torture and die for me, to make sure I spent eternity with Him. I just had the response of whole hearted gratitude..relief...peace....the love was pretty much one sided technically speaking. I didn't know this God that had just declared His love and desire for me. Yes...love started to blossom as a direct result of love being shown. And I had a honeymoon....but I still say, my love was small. What I was celebrating in the honeymoon was being wanted. I'm just a baby that has been cuddled and hugged tight for the first time.
I believe the love we have fallen such a great distance from is His for us. It wasn't long before I was trying to "serve" God as a way to love Him back. This is how the church teaches us to love God.
I'm going to depart from that teaching and say, the way to love Him, is to receive His love. Again and again. Works is just a natural out working of that great gift given. It's His love spilling over onto others! We will truly love what He loves, when we are filled to overflow with His love!
I don't know about you, but I can't remember any first deeds except just praise and worship, gratitude....marveling.....in awe of God....of desiring now to be "good" and make Him happy.
I enjoyed Him.
If the height we have fallen from was receiving His love and enjoying Him....it is a great height indeed. Repent and receive.
If you focus on your love for God it will never be enough. If you focus on His love for you, it will be enough. Bob Hartley
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
In the Garden with God
So....I haven't written in quite a while. It's been a journey to say the very least. I may reference it from time to time, but really don't want to relive it all here. Instead, I find myself in a beautiful garden with God, and it needs talked about....shared....pondered and revealed!
I have been placed in a garden. Just like Eve. God put me here to tend something. It will all unfold in the coming seasons and man....I am beside myself with expectation, joy and excitement. Not that there aren't hard days...they will always be with us, but I am standing someplace new. It brings some anxiousness as all transitions do. But it's good.
I'm living in a garden called Hope Ranch, in Evansville, Indiana.
It's a beautiful 25 acre tract of trees, set back a long gravel road. It has a destiny. And oh, what a fun story this is! But I will start at its beginning....so you don't miss one moment of how God has sovereignly orchestrated this ministry and place we find ourselves in.
Many years ago....about 20 or so, I found myself in a time of correction. Deep correction. The details can be found on a previous post, but suffice to say, I heard the internal audible voice of The Lord, say " lay your desires, your ambitions, and your dreams on the alter of sacrifice and I will have a feast for you there."
Today....I feel like I am in line for the buffet! I actually have a taste of that feast, and oh is it more than my puny dreams, selfish ambitions, and shallow desires could have begun to imagine. He is good! And He has been good to me! Amen!
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