THE GARDEN

God’s beauty is so evident in the garden; glorious yellow irises, snow white peonies, purple alum standing so regally , a cacophony of columbine colors and carpets of green grass barbered just so.  With such a cold Spring, we’ve just planted small tomato plants whose labels promise fruit within 80 days – an eternity!

  Did those plants try to grow?  Did they try to be what God created them to be? Did they water themselves? Or grow their roots?  Hmmm…

What about us?  We’re God’s creation created for His enjoyment.  But boy it’s hard to be what God wants me to be. I have to make intentional decisions to do what’s right, to live right, to make myself behave properly and act like a Christian.  it takes a lot of effort to water and feed myself so I’ll grow up to be beautiful and strong.  I know the plants don’t have to do anything for themselves but that’s the way they’re created. It’s different for me. I’ll end up a failure, good for nothing if I don’t take care of myself I don’t want to make God angry or disappoint Him after all He did or me! Right?

Wrong! We can accomplish nothing without God’s enabling power. We are only who we are because of Christ in us, the hope of glory. We have His beauty inside us and the more we surrender to Him, the more that aroma of beauty and love is released in our lives.  He is all the while in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure.  And   ”the good work HE’s begun in us, HE will complete”. 
It’s not about what we DO, but what we BEcome by drawing c lose to Him and allowing Him to work in us and through us – by cooperating with Him, seeking His heart in all things.

He’s planted us on this earth to grow and be a demonstration of His love and beauty.  All we have to do is say “yes” and watch how His garden grows.

JESUS IS OUR DELIVERER

 

2 Timothy 4:18 And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve [me] for His heavenly kingdom. To Him [be] glory forever and ever. Amen!

Jesus is the one who delivers us from evil; He is our Deliverer.

Initially, He delivers us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Light. But His work of deliverance continues as we realize and acknowledge our need for freedom in certain areas. If we’re controlled by anything, we are captive to it.

I was a prisoner of alcohol, cigarettes, fear of heights, and emotional wounds but Jesus set me free from it all.  Food, shopping, jealousy, and pornography, are but a few additional areas where one can be held in bondage.

The good news is that Jesus, the Deliverer, is able and willing to set us free from all that has kept us imprisoned.   We must set our hearts and minds on Him and His love for us, and His forgiveness which was accomplished on the cross before we even sinned. We ask Him to set us free. We invite His Spirit to take control of us and then we enjoy His freedom, peace and love.

We mustn’t allow ourselves to be discouraged.  Jesus is the one who will be doing the work.  Our job is simply to allow the enabling power of His grace to complete the work He has already begun in us.

Jesus is our Deliverer and His love is powerful! 

If you have an area in your life where you desire freedom and would like some prayer support, please let me know and I would be honored to pray for your need.  There is victory in Jesus!

WORDS THAT BLESS

PROBLEM
How am I to speak words that edify and bless
If I ahve no skill for separating
Dull from audacious
Rude from tact
Surely there are rules on how to supply
Words sthat encourage
Rather than words that deny
Words that inspire, cheer, and hearten
A person in quest of his worth.

SOLUTION
Jesus is the Word
Planted in our hearts
Words of love and acceptance
Declaring we have value
Words spoken forth that bring harvest of gold
Yielding an abundance of God's goodness

But beware the tares that grow up with the wheat
Words of bitterness and anger, envy, pride and greed
Those words produce a harvest as well
They're words that destroy
They're from the pit of hell!

So speak words of life, words of peace
Let words that discourage and criticize cease
Bless those who hurt you
Bless those who hate
Bless those who persecute you
And forgive all for Jesus' sake.

HEALING

 

Precious Jesus, King of mine,
On Your holy Word
My spirit dines.
Within my very being
I receive Your healing light.
My heart rejoices,
My soul has peace,
My mouth Your wondrous praises sing.

 

 

MASKS

Have you ever worn a mask?  I’m not referring to a Halloween mask or a costume ball mask….I’m  talking about hiding behind a mask.  Is who we see really you?  Do you even know who the “real you” is?

We’ve probably all donned masks at some point or another in our lives and may continually wear one. Why do we do that?!

Well, perhaps we’re not happy with who we perceive ourselves to be.  Notice I said, “ perceive” ourselves to be.  You’d think we’d know ourselves but the enemy of our soul is very adept at lying to us about our real identity which is a beloved and accepted child of the most high God!   Sadly, we are so ready to believe the negative about ourselves!  And we certainly would like to hide that “bad” part of us as completely as possible, so, we wear masks.

There’s the mask, EVERYTHING IS GREAT!;  I HAVE IT ALL TOGETHER – TOO BAD YOU DON’T. Then there’s the mask, I’M SO HAPPY; and MY MARRIAGE IS FANTASTIC; MY CHILDREN ARE BRILLIANT AND WELL-ADJUSTED; I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU THINK OF ME, and on and on!

I wonder to what extent we are harming ourselves spiritually by this seemingly “normal” behavior of hiding our true identity.  I have a friend who years ago told me that when something is exposed to the light, the enemy doesn’t have the advantage anymore.  We are giving the devil and his cohorts the advantage over us by not being vulnerable and transparent, by not allowing people to really see us.

One thing I’ve noticed over the years in my own struggle with being real is that people who allow themselves to be transparent are people I’m more comfortable with, more likely to share my problems with and ask for prayer or counsel.  Likewise, those who appear “put-together” are ones I tend to hold at arm’s length, feeling they might judge me if I’m open and honest about my life.

Now, is that the way the body of Christ is supposed to operate?! I don’t think so! After all, Jesus is the Spirit of Truth and His Holy Spirit dwells within us! So what can we do to eliminate this ploy of the enemy and bring liberty to ourselves and so many who have been living a lie?

I believe we need to begin by taking off our own masks.  That’s quite possibly a very discomforting idea.

But if we consider that action in the light of the Truth, what harm could there be? Do we want to be like Jesus – or like everyone else?  Take a chance; start with someone safe – someone who has had the courage to be real with you.  And then continue one person, one group, at a time.  Surely the Lord will back us up, give us favor and acceptance as we follow in the footsteps of Jesus who is Truth. But even if acceptance doesn’t occur, “we will be true to Thee till death”,* living the rest of our days demonstrating  the spirit of Truth in a life of freedom!

Oh Lord, help us to be like YOU!  Enable us to embrace all the freedom you died to make available to us.  Grant us an extra measure of Your grace for this adventure in “realness”.

Amen!

REST

REST

Teach me to rest, oh Lord,
To trust You each step of the way.
Help me, Lord, to believe the Truth
That Your work is completed,
It’s an eternal Sabbath day.
 
I don’t want to struggle to do
What You’ve already done.
Teach me to rest in You, oh Lord,
To truly believe
You and I are one.

 

 

 

I just heard Joyce Meyer say something that I  want to remember this coming year.

She said that getting serious about God is putting Him and His Word first in our lists of priorities; not working God around our schedules but working our schedules around God.  We really can find time for that which is most important to us.  I believe God is thrilled with any attempt we make to pay attention to Him and show Him our love.

I pray that Holy Spirit will encourage us and that God's grace will enable us to spend time with Him and in His Word. We mustn't allow it to become a "have-to", or feel a pressure to do this.  Instead, we ask Father to draw us and give us a desire and passion to commune with Him, that it will be a sacred and blessed time that we look forward to.