Saturday, March 31, 2012

Commissioned


The Great Commission
 is to testify of the Gospel.

The Gospel is The Good News.
The good news that
Jesus IS Messiah;
The Savior of the world.
He has come
And (already) saved us.

This IS Good News!

Believe it.
Receive it.
Testify it.
Shout it from the roof tops.
Live it.

Keep it simple!

I AM FREE!
You ARE Free!


Get excited!
Hallelujah!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Jesus-Hearted

All I want 
is for those whom I love
to love me back;
in deed & in Truth.

Is that really
too much to ask?

I wonder
 if
Jesus ever feels this way...

Thursday, March 15, 2012

A Salvation Parable


Salvation is like a guilty criminal who has received an acquittal by the judge, 
yet chooses to remain in prison and carry on with his original sentence.

Every person is guilty and sentenced to death
because we are born into a world which Adam & Eve gave Satan control of.

But Jesus (who is God) 
came to the earth, died for every sin of every human being, 
rose from the dead & ascended (back) into heaven,
 thus completing the sentence for every one of our condemned lives; 
granting each of us an acquittal,
destroying our records
and giving us complete freedom.

Yet, those who choose to reject
 who He is and deny what He has (already) done, 
choose to remain imprisoned, 
thus carrying on with their original sentence.

It really is a choice.

God Thoughts No. Fifty Six


Here’s a thought for you:
You are perfect.
I am perfect.
Because, Jesus is perfect.

Everything Jesus said and did was perfect.
The world faulted His words and His actions,
but God did not.

So, the question isn’t whether or not the world can find fault with you.
It (already) does.
The question, rather, is;
Do your words and actions fault you before God?

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

God Thoughts No. Fifty Five


When I think of all of the 
religions, denominations, congregations, 
organizations, groups, causes, 
preachers, teachers, evangelists and speakers
 in the world, 
I am amazed at how God chooses to work, 
even within the confines man attempts to place upon Him; 
thus remaining true to His very nature and purpose 
which is to show His glory within and in spite of each said situation.

What a truly wondrous God He is!

God Thoughts No. Fifty Four


Jesus modeled sinless life.

Anything contrary to Christ and His life,
be it, 
thought, deed, word or action-
is sin.

Our sin-nature has (already)
been crucified with Christ.

Why call it back to life with
sinful behavior?

Thursday, March 8, 2012

God Thoughts No. Fifty Three


For the past couple of mornings, 
certain snippets of Scripture have been running through my mind; 
part of Matthew 6 where Jesus says that we ought to pray,
 “Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is (already) done in heaven”. 
And the many, various places where Jesus walks into a situation and says, 
“the kingdom of heaven is at hand”.

In thinking about my own life and rolling these words of Jesus around in my mind,
 Holy Spirit reminded me that because of Jesus,
 indeed, heaven has come to the earth. 
And it is He (Holy Spirit) who keeps it here.
Before Jesus ascended back into heaven, 
He told us that He was leaving the power of the kingdom of heaven here for us 
and that we would do all of the things He did
 – and MORE!

Because Jesus came to earth 
and by the power of Holy Spirit, 
we create heaven on earth!

I wonder, 
when people interact with us 
(those who profess to be Believers & disciples of Jesus-the Christ), 
do they feel that they have encountered a little bit of heaven on earth?
If not, 
perhaps it is time to re-evaluate who our lives truly emulate…

Monday, March 5, 2012

God Thoughts No. Fifty Two


“Always treat others as you would like them to treat you; 
this sums up the teachings of the Law and the Prophets.” 
Matthew 7:12

If you desire to be shown kindness; be kind.
If you desire friendship; be a friend.
If you desire to be heard; listen to others.
If you desire respect; show respect.
If you desire wealth; be generous.
If you desire wisdom; follow the leading of Holy Spirit.
If you desire to know God better; study the person of Jesus.

It may sound simplistic, but it is what Jesus said to do.

Instead, we make things more difficult by placing conditions on everything.
Human philosophy says, “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.”
Jesus says, “If you want your back scratched, scratch someone else’s first.”

It really is that simple.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

God Thoughts No. Fifty One


The other day I shared a (John Crowder) video whose basic message is that we have all 
(every single person) 
already been made perfect in Christ, and because of this, it is best to allow ourselves to see others through His eyes rather than through our own perceptions or emotions.

With Holy Spirit having already spoken that to us quite a while back, a couple of weeks ago, as my husband and I set out on an overnight adventure in celebration of our twenty-second wedding anniversary (yay us!),
we decided that we were going to make it a point to purpose to see everyone we encountered through the eyes of Jesus.
There are two particular situations that stand out the most.

To start with, we had an early dinner of sushi (yum!). 
The restaurant we chose was crowded.
Now, anyone who knows about all-you-can-eat sushi knows that it’s always best to sit at the bar; 
that way you have the personal attention of the sushi chef and get what you want, when you want it.
Well, that day we were both super hungry and super excited for sushi 
(it had been a year since we’d been out for it!) 
so we chose to sit at a table rather than wait twenty minutes for a space at the bar (eek!).
Suffice it to say; about five minutes into it, we realized we’d made a mistake.
Our waitress (bless her heart) was not attentive,
 she made many mistakes with our order 
(and with every other table she was serving as well) 
and she was lacking severely in enthusiasm.

Just as I was tempted to allow annoyance to take over my attitude, my husband looked at me and said, “She’s in over her head.”
Smacking annoyance aside, I replied, 
“Yes, she certainly is.”
 Upon which we chose to close our mouths and to continue to observe her with the eyes of Holy Spirit.

While listening to Holy Spirit, I realized that this was a young lady whose personality was not at all suited to her job. She was fearful, overwhelmed and doing the best that she could.
With this I mind and the presence of Holy Spirit working in our hearts,
 when it came time to pay our bill and leave her tip, the temptation to leave less than the standard percentage fled and as my husband and I looked at one another, 
Holy Spirit said to leave her an amount that was above the standard percentage. 
We paid our check, smiled graciously at our waitress, blessed her and went about our adventure.

Then next morning found us at a Café for breakfast.
 When we arrived it was moderately busy and the hostess seated us in the back of the restaurant. 
There were two waiters attending the dining area we were in. 
Our waiter had a vibrant, cheerful personality.
Though his personality was pleasant, he, also, was lacking in attentiveness. 
(In fact, both of the waiters were, but the other one was also lacking in enthusiasm.)
Anyway, as we sat observing these men (which we had plenty of time to do!), 
my husband discerned that these men were both “out of their element”. 
Through further observation, we were able to ascertain that the food service industry was not their normal business. In fact, it is likely that they both had come from some sort of “office jobs”.
Once again, at the end of our (long) meal, Holy Spirit spoke and we left a generous amount for the tip.

As we left the restaurant, we were overwhelmed by the generosity of God.
You see, God loves extravagantly; 
not because our actions deserve it, but because that is who He is and what he does.

Jesus’ life gave us the standard for living and loving.
We have chosen and purposed to live, 
not by the world’s standards 
but by Jesus’ standards and by the leading of Holy Spirit.
It by His grace and power alone that we are able to do so.
And what a blessing it is!

“Not by might, nor by power but by My Spirit”, says the Lord. (Zechariah 4:6)

It’s our motto.
 What’s yours?

Friday, March 2, 2012

God Thoughts No. Fifty

Our perception of God
does not change who He is.
The Truth of who He is
changes us.

The Truth of who He is
exists all around.
It is we who choose to remain blind
or to see.

This Creator of all
 does not force people to change.
Neither is it our job to do so either.

Changing people is the work of Holy Spirit,
as established by God
since before the beginning of time.

Our work is to Love,
as Jesus did
and said.

This Love at work in us
is the very thing 
which changes human perception 
into Truth in action.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

God Thoughts No. Forty-Nine

I am in constant marvel & awe of the
consistent goodness, generosity & graciousness
of God.

The fact that He uses people
in magnificent ways
to bless other people
is simply amazing.

He created us,
not only for His pleasure,
but for the pleasure of one another.

Jesus
came to earth to model the perfect relationship
between God & man
and in His mind-blowing grace
opened the door to free, loving 
relationship with Him.

When we realize that relationship 
with Him is simple,
all other relationships
become simple as well.

I am so thankful for 
those
 He has placed in my (family's) life
who model
His consistent goodness 
by their consistent obedience & generosity.

Astounding!
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