Simply Ask!

When I went to bed last night, I was dealing with some mouth pain.

I have a wisdom tooth that’s been causing some grief for way too long now and I have another tooth that has been sore for the past few days.

 I wasn’t really thinking about the teeth when I went to bed, but as I lay there trying to fall asleep, a little rhyme from childhood popped into my head.

It goes, “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. – John 14:14”

That’s it.

 It repeats itself over and over again to some little tune that, I am sure, the Sunday School Teacher made up but the line is straight out of the Bible and is oh so true!

As the rhyme coursed through my mind, I spoke to my teeth, mouth and gums, saying to them that they are healed & healthy.

 Not only did I speak these words, but I believed them.

And guess what, my mouth stopped hurting and I went to sleep.

For the past two years, I have been conversing with the Lord about John 14:14 (the whole chapter really).

I have been trying to “figure out” how to do the things Jesus said I (and every other Spirit-filled believer) would do.

This morning He had me reread the whole chapter and as I did I realized that in all my attempts at “figuring it out” I had actually missed the simplicity of it.

Here’s what I re-realized; Jesus said it, therefore it is done.

 I can do all things because of Him.

So if I ask it in His name, it is done.

Because Jesus ascended back into heaven, Holy Spirit came to empower me.

And because it is already accomplished in and through Him, I believe that it is so.

John 14:12-14 says, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever trusts in me will also do the works that I do! Indeed, he will do greater ones, because I am going to the Father.

In fact, whatever you ask in my name, I will do; so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask something in my name, I will do it.”

Jesus healed and cared for people.

He went about doing good things; things that were “super”natural and awe inspiring.

 It is the Father’s goal that His children would be taken care of; healthy and whole.

And He intends to use us to bring those good things about.

The fact is, God is good.

Sure, bad things happen and evil is all around, but when we serve an all-powerful God who is nothing but goodness, why wouldn’t we expect good, indeed, great, things from Him?

I mean if we believe the Bible, why would we worry, doubt or fear?

Now, I am not saying that I’ve got it all figured out or that I never slip into worry or doubt, but what I am realizing is that it is so much simpler than we make it.

My motto has become, “Jesus (God/Holy Spirit) said it so I believe it!” - plain and simple.

Know what else?

 With that perspective, my heart is light, my mind is clear and my spirit is free!

 Yes!

Confirmation!

I just absolutely love confirmation;

when the Lord says or shows me something

which confirms to me that I am on the right track;

hearing clearly what He is saying to me.

This morning, I asked Him what He wanted me to read

from His written Word and He said, “Isaiah 60.”

My thoughts was,

“Lord, you gave me verse one of Isaiah as an encouraging word just two days ago.

You want me to read it again?”

He said, “Yes, but read the whole chapter carefully.”

So I did.

Three things stood out to me.

First, verse 9,

“The coastlands are putting their hope in me,

with the ships of Tarshish in the lead,

to bring your children from far away,

and with them their silver and gold,

for the sake of Adonai your God,

the Holy one of Israel,

who glorifies you.”

Now Isaiah is speaking to Israel; revealing the promises of God

to His people so that they may be filled with hope.

He is promising prosperity!

He is promising to glorify them!

How amazing that this verse parallels my own life

and that He is showing me that He has,

indeed, promised me (and my household) prosperity.

And the fact that He glorifies us is truly awesome!

The second part which stood out to me was verses 19-20,

“No more will the sun be your light by day,

nor the moonlight shine on you;

instead, Adonai will be your light forever

and your God your glory.

No longer will your sun go down;

Your moon will no longer wane;

For Adonai will be your light forever;

Your days of mourning will end.”

My initial response to this was,

“Yes, this is exactly what I wrote about yesterday;

learning to live and see by His perspective.

When I live and see by His perspective,

There is no darkness

Because He is light!”

Wow!

This is mind-blowing stuff!

And finally, the third thing was verse 22b,

“I, Adonai, when the right time comes,

will quickly bring it about.”

It’s just like I said the other day.

When God says something,

it is done!

It is simply waiting on Him to bring it about

~quickly~

at the right time!

When He promises something we can believe it;

bank on it;

expect it!

There is no need to worry, doubt or fear

because He has done it!

Hallelujah!

I am so excited

and can’t wait for the manifestation

of all He has promised!

Amen!

Perspective

What man sees as supernatural,

God sees as natural.

What man calls a miracle,

God calls a normal occurance.

God sees the beginning from the end.

Man sees only in-part.

What God speaks is already done.

It's simply a matter of it manifesting at the appointed time.

I love the passage in 2 Kings where Elisha and his servant are surrounded by the enemy

and the servant falls into despair; hopelessness.

Then Elisha prays to the Lord for his eyes to be opened.

Here's how it goes,

"So [the Syrian king] sent there horses, chariots, and a great army.

 They came by night and surrounded the city.

When the servant of the man of God rose early and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was around the city.

Elisha's servant said to him, Alas, my master! What shall we do?

 [Elisha] answered, Fear not; for those with us are more than those with them.

Then Elisha prayed, Lord, I pray You, open his eyes that he may see.

And the Lord opened the young man's eyes, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."

Elisha knew his God.

He trusted Him.

And he knew how to see through heaven's eyes.

Now that's perspective for you!

It delights the Lord to share, with His children,

the plans and purposes of heaven.

Jesus told us to pray,

"Your will be done on earth as it is (already)  done in heaven."

I spent a great deal of 2011 asking the Lord

to teach me how to see through His eyes more clearly;

to learn how to remain in His perspective continually.

I have learned that it is mostly a choice.

I can choose to see things from a worldly persprective

OR

 I can purpose to see from a heavenly perspective.

I have made it my habit

 to take captive those thoughts which are not of heaven

and to replace them with God thoughts.

I still have a way to go.

Forty years of wordly thinking hasn't gone away as quickly as I would like.

But I have found that learning to live in heaven's perspective

is as simple as saying the name, "Jesus".

Because all evil flees at His name!

By the power of Holy Spirit and because of

Jesus' life, death & resurrection,

God's perspective is available to everyone who believes

~ in Christ, as Messiah (Savior, God with us).

Woot! Halleljuah!

How about you?

Whose perspective do you want to live by this year?

First Gift of 2012!

About an hour or so into the new year,

I received a present-

yes a gracious gift from a gracious Father!

I had sat down and began logging on to social media

to see what New Year posts people were sharing

when the Lord spoke to me and said,

"Read Isaiah 60:1. It's for you."

So, I did and this is what it says,

"ARISE [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you--rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!"

I am so excited!

The past several days have been filled with excitement and a feeling of expectancy.

The Lord has been whispering in my ear that 2012 is to be a year of new beginnings

~and I believe Him!

We can see that He has already "started the ball rolling".

We can actually see beyond the horizon as things are beginning to take shape.

No longer stuck in the mire of despondency and hopelessness,

but filled with great anticipation and a sense of freedom, hopes fulfilled & promises manifested.

We truly serve a great and mighty God.

Jesus is, indeed, a Savior of varying degrees.

Holy Spirit is so multi-faceted that what we know of Him

only begins to scratch the surface of who He really is.

I am so thankful for the fact that God is always on the move.

His greatest desire is to have loving relationship with His children.

He is always there; with each and every one of us.

It is we who choose to listen-

or not.

I thank Him and praise Him for His wondrous gifts

and for the fact that He chose to bless me

"right off the bat"

with a wonderful gift of encouragement

from His written Word.

What a loving,

extravagant Father!

Praying you realize, see, and grasp

 all that He has for you in this

new year!

God Thoughts No. Forty Two

I've noticed that a lot of bloggers are posting summaries, highlights & "best of's" for 2011.

I began thinking about what I should post for the end of 2011

and all that seems right is to sum up my life

and to declare, once again,  who God is...

No matter what happens on this earth,

God is good.

No matter what trials, tribulations, tragedies or challenges befall us,

Jesus has overcome them all.

Because of these two facts,

there is Hope

and

we have Victory.

Over the past year,

Holy Spirit has put a new song in my heart

and it is

Praise to the King!

With this perspective,

I can look back on 2011 and smile a bittersweet smile

while looking forward to 2012

with great excitement & anticipation.

Holy Spirit says,

"Expect great things!"

Hallelujah!

AND



Job, George & Me

At midnight,

I awoke, burning up and in writhing pain.

Whether it is something hormonal, something I ate,

or simply an attack from Satan,

I don't know.

But as I lay there in fetal position,

I began thinking about my life as compared to that of

Job (the Bible) and of

George Bailey (It's A Wonderful Life).

Like Job, I have lovingly, fearfully and willingly served God for as long as I can remember.

And as with Job, in many ways, my life has fallen apart.

Thankfully, unlike Job, my children remain alive and well and I still have a roof over my head.

I have, however, been stripped of many, many things

and have spent plenty of time lamenting the day of my birth.

To have been born only to end up where I am right now makes very little sense to me.

Job didn't understand why he was allowed to go through all he went through.

He was, after all, a righteous man.

In fact, God said that there was no one else on the earth like him.

Yet, God allowed Satan to test him, sift him and attempt to destroy him.

 I clearly see that the same is true in my own life.

Though Job and I have struggled, we remain faithful.

In fact, through each trial,

we gain new revelation of the LORD

and our relationship with Him is strengthened.

Like Job, I understand that God is sovereign and that He does as He wills.

It does not matter what happens on this earth;

I am His and He is mine.

Yes, His banner over me is Love.

In comparison to George Bailey, I understand what it is like to be thrust

into situations by a sense of duty and responsibility and mostly due to

circumstances beyond my control.

My life has reached a place where all odds are against me.

Though no one has (yet) come to arrest me, things are a hopeless mess.

People judge and do not (even try to) understand.

All the while, things spin out of control.

As with George, Satan attempts to destroy me.

But as I stand on the brink, I remember that Jesus said

in this world would be trial and; testing.

But He also said to not fear because He had overcome it all.

And because He is victoriuos, I am victorious.

I have yet to see this victory manifested in my life,

but I must hold onto this promise

and remember,

His banner over me is Love.

Something the Lord revealed to me this morning (as I lay writhing)

was that both Job and George's stories have happy endings.

Interestingly, God used people to restore both Job and George,

which is, indeed, a miracle!

Both men came out victorious and better off than when they had begun.

Whether my story has a happy ending or not remains to be seen.

But I have come to realize that

all that truly matters is that I remain faithful (to the end) to the One whose

Banner over me is Love.

God Thoughts No. Forty One

In His goodness and love,

God never ceases to amaze me.

As I persist with determination to know Him more,

He is faithful to reveal Himself anew to me every day.

He is so multi-faceted that we will never know the fullness of Him

until we are with Him in heaven.

Never-the-less,

each moment with Him is a wonderful revelation of His goodness.

The past couple of weeks have been "interesting" for me.

Though I lay down each night feeling exhausted and ready for sleep,

as soon as I try to snuggle in,

my mind kicks into gear.

I toss and turn and I am wide awake.

As I toss, I pray.

With every turn, I converse with God.

Holy Spirit brings to mind

thoughts, dreams, hopes & people.

He gives me ideas, places desires in my heart & speaks to me of others' needs.

With each idea, hope & revelation,

I am infused with an overwhelming sense of expectancy.

As I pray for Him to manifest the promises which He has made to me,

I vow to go about fulfilling the desires He has placed upon my heart;

to bless those that He desires to bless.

Then it occurs to me;

He doesn't really need me to carry out His blessings

(though He delights in sharing with me the desires of His heart).

In the past week,

He has allowed me to bear witness to His goodness

 by answering my prayers for some of those He has laid upon my heart. 

Though He didn't used me to manifest those blessings in their lives,

He gave me a sneak peak into what He was already doing for them!

How exciting!

How amazing!

How humbling that He would share with me what He was planning to do

in the lives of those whom I love.

He truly is an amazing, loving Father!