So Beautiful!

This year is amazing for the trees and flowers! Everything is so beautiful! 

Luke 10:20

Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”

Luke 10:20

Disciplers

     When you walk with God as your Heavenly Father you need to pray about your choices. It takes awhile to get into this pattern of thinking but it is essential.
     The world has many preachers but it needs more "Disciplers", I'm making that word up but I don't really know any other word that would fit what i'm trying to say here. There are many people that tell the unbelieving world that they need Jesus, but they don't tell them what to do with Him once they have Him.
     I'm not telling all of the things that you need to do with Him now, but I am telling you that you need to take your life to Him in prayer. Not part of your life, but all of it.
     When you choose to believe in Jesus and to be His follower that means that you have moved into a new realm. You are no longer in the realm of the world, you are now in God's realm! You probably will think one realm looks a lot the same as the other, but that's because it's a change in the spirit part of life not the physical.
     We are spirit beings with a physical body (quote from CS Lewis, because I can't say it any better!). You have to accept that or how can you truly accept Jesus? With that understanding covered, you are now ready to see that you are in a new spiritual realm! and now the Holy Spirit has come to live within you. The Spirit has not come to just walk with you, but to actually live within you! How amazing is that?
     The next thing to try to grab hold of and understand is that you are a "work in progress", you are now a disciple of Jesus. The definition of disciple is "a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another; follower". So your job now is to learn the doctrines of Jesus, and follow them!
     That brings us back to needing more "Disciplers", we need more people that are helping others in their pursuit of following Jesus.

Favorite Psalm.,...along with all of my other favorites, but this rates in the top 5!

139 O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
5 You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,”
12 Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.

13 For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.

17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.

19 O that You would slay the wicked, O God;
Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.
20 For they speak against You wickedly,
And Your enemies take Your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22 I hate them with the utmost hatred;
They have become my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

Our Father is Holy

     A few years ago I heard a message that God is calling His people to holiness, and more recently I've been reading the scripture that talks about Uzzah and his lack of respect for God's holiness. I don't know if you remember him, and I wouldn't have known him by name until now, but now I'm taking note of his story! You know....Uzzah could be a slang term for "you was"!
     Uzzah is the man in 2 Samuel 6:1-7 that reached up, touched the Ark of the Covenant and was struck down by God.
     Now I realize that Uzzah could represent a lot of people in the Christian life today. Uzzah had lived with the Ark in his father's house for a period of time....many of today's Christians have grown up in a Christian home, Uzzah didn't recognize the importance of the holiness of the Ark, many Christians also don't consider the holiness of our Heavenly Father and are very casual about their approach to Him ( I've been guilty of this too!), Uzzah had lived around the Ark and yet knew so little about it! Is that us? We've grown up in a Christian nation and yet know so little about the holiness of our God?
     Do you go to church Sunday morning and figure you've taken care of your relationship with God for the week? Do you reach up and touch the Ark once a week and think you've played your role in the Christian walk of bringing God to the world? Are you in danger of walking casually with your God and treating Him less than holy?
     Remember even the angels who have been with Him for a very long time are only able to sing “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” Isaiah 6:3

     I know we walk in our Father's love and we are given a great access to Him through that venue, but that does not remove His holiness or the respect that we should approach Him with.

     There is so much involved in encountering our Heavenly Father, way more than I can bring in a blog entry without turning it into a book! The main purpose of this article is to encourage each of us to approach our walk with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit with an attitude of stepping into  a Holy realm, a realm we may not fully understand, so let's do it with respect and caution. Let's not be  casual "you was" or a casualty like Uzzah! Our Heavenly Father is a loving Father, but He is still Holy.

     (While writing this I was shown that there are properties that exist in our world that have to be respected....like don't use electricity in a bathtub full of water, and don't touch an open flame...it's  not that the electricity or flames desire to hurt us, it's the nature of their existence that brings the shock or the burn. God does not desire to hurt us but it is the nature of Holiness that it requires we deal with it with caution and respect.)

Do You Have An Adversary?

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8


     We read this scripture and at first we're alarmed, then we go to work, to the store, to school, etc and we don't encounter any lions, so we think maybe this is an exaggeration? Maybe in those there was an enemy and a lion, but these days there are too many people for him to bother with me! 

     Do you take this scripture seriously? Are you sober spirited, on the alert? My purpose here is not to teach how to be "sober minded" or on the "alert", my purpose is simply to point out the need to be!  

     As Followers of Christ we have been instructed to be aware that we do have an adversary, an enemy! 

     Do we understand the word "Adversary"? The definition is "someone or something that struggles with, opposes, or resists", they are our enemy! Please let these definitions soak in. This is not a video game where you start the game over with more hearts when you die, this is life and your choices can bring repercussions to not only you, but your family and friends. Now the definition for enemy, "One who feels hatred toward, intends injury to, or opposes another; a foe".

     Please wake up to the idea that you do have a very real enemy that opposes you, hates you and desires to destroy you and all that you love. 

     You probably won't see a lion walking into your life, but maybe your adversary will have a more desirable appearance? Maybe it's a friend, a hobby, a habit, a neighbor and maybe those are just things that hold the door open for the enemy of your soul to enter your life.

     Consider your life, be on guard that you are not devoured by your enemy!

Faith

Unanswered yet? Faith cannot be unanswered ,
Her feet were firmly planted on the Rock;
Amid the wildest storms she stands undaunted,
Nor quails before the loudest thunder shock.
She knows Omnipotence has heard her prayer
And cries, "It shall be done" -- sometime, somewhere.
     by Ophelia G. Browning