His Purposes

At the beginning of our walk with Christ, we see Him begin to heal us, change us, make us new in new ways. We bask in the joy of getting it! Of knowing Grace, mercy! It is the beginning of a journey. We love Him.

Satan will do everything he can to distract you from continuing from there. Not because you aren’t saved – our salvation is a gift – we can’t earn it.

He tries to distract us so we don’t grow stronger and more able to be used for our purpose. To keep moving forward. Deep roots.

Those of us who push through battle after battle and continue to grow through failure and hardships, those of us who always turn back to Him, over and over, grow to understand Him. We understand who He is and we achieve this place of knowing who we are in Christ.

Many stop here loving the blessings of being loved and provided for. Maybe leading bible studies. Teaching believers.

And then there are some of us that go deeper with Him still and grow to understand it’s not about Satan or who is against us or for us, it is about who we are for. Our whole purpose and passion shifts.

It becomes all about Him. Not about us at all.

We get to this place where we feel urgency to bring others to Him, to shed the light of Hope in this dark world. We don’t care about the world and it’s distractions/ we enjoy them but our passion remains in Him.

Satan will do everything he can to stop you, warfare becomes very real.

But if not us, then who?

We will take up the sword, we will walk confidently in His power, not our own strength. We will seek Him in everything, and see the blessings are not houses when His house sits empty. It is not money or love, when His lost are still lost and need us to love them to help them never go hungry again.

I read the last of Daniel today.

And yes, urgency is burning in my soul. The minute I knew I was useful to God was when I stopped thinking it was about me, but rather it was His purpose for me.

I am already empowered, embraced, equipped and loved. It is about Him.

He who dwells within me. I can do all things- because of Him. For Hm. His purposes.

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:31-34‬ ‭NLT‬‬

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Love, Just Do It

My blessed and beloved Christian brothers and sisters. This is on my heart so big… It isn’t your command to Christianize the world. Your command is to Love. To Love God, to Love your neighbor (believer or not) as you Love yourself.

Your sermon should be your walk.

Are you walking in biblical direction? Are you the peacemaker, the grace giver, the light on a hill, the one that doesn’t forget the lost sheep, what does your faith look like in great trial, are you the one that refuses to gossip, do you have an inner eyeroll when someone is talking, or… are you humble enough to know you haven’t perfected it. are you the one that examines their own heart and not the hearts of others. are you the one that loves your fellow church goers, encouraging them? Are your thoughts the thoughts of God? Did you spent your whole day processing it all through His eyes? Did you seek wisdom.. His thoughts, His desires. Are you fully submitted to the word of God at all times?

I think unless we have it all perfected, we’re not really equipped to stand in judgement of anyone. Matthew 5-7 Sermon on the mount. This broken world that needs us to be on the same page.. desperately..

Do you know what I have discovered? I spend most of my day in communication with God, I begin and end my day in scripture,and prayer.. I listen to Christian music all day.. and still I can’t even trust my own heart to not betray me!

You are not different from me. … You are not different than I am. We can’t do it right. He does. We just need Him.We need Him badly…

Can we remember: It isn’t about the sin, or the sinner, it is about Our Lord! It’s about His amazing love and His incredible gift of Grace. He saved a wretch like me. This wretch that loves Him with all I have to give and still can’t get it all right.

Please…remember.. it is about God’s pursuit of the lost and broken. The non-believers.

If your words do not point to His Glory, I pray for your mouth to not open.

Temple

I was thinking about the words I speak. God said the words that come out of our mouth show what’s in our hearts.

Do I speak like Christ? Do I speak like one who’s heart is “The temple of God”?

No! Not even most of the time.

His Glory dwells inside of us. Every believer. Our hearts, not our body. He tells us to guard our hearts because if we make room for bitterness or envy or pride or hate or arrogance or evil or lust or attention or judgement or gossip, how does that exist beside the Glory of God? It really can’t! We choose one over the other!

Can you imagine if we spent as much time and care of our heart as we do our appearance? Weight, fashion, hair, accessories, shoes, what we eat, what is bad to eat, meal planning, prepping, working out?

If we spent as much time thinking on His glory within us as we do about our dissatisfaction or fear or sorrow or hurts or marriages or illnesses or seeking love?

How would it be for us if God were to actually show us His glory that is within us next to our thoughts! Showed His Glory like he showed Solomon and His people and like Isaiah -sending him to his knees in despairing repentance?

Maybe some of us do give “some” time and attention to this, but none of us are living in an “awestruck state” of the Glory dwelling within. I’m not, for sure. But what if we did? Can you imagine?

Oh Lord, help me set my mind right, glorifying God, help me to dwell on and seek after and have the mind of Christ, let Your Word transform me, and Holy Spirit, speak life into my heart that betrays me. Build in me a strength and a longing to always do the will of God.

Lord I’m so like Paul when he said – why do I do what I shouldn’t do and not do what I should? Amen!

“Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭3:16-17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Turn back again, and again…

I received news yesterday that I didn’t anticipate. Permanent damage to the nerves controlling my hand. I was so disappointed. Crushed actually.

He finished by saying – we may do an MRI, maybe repair something that may be causing this result. What I heard was “No hope”.

I let one person speak into my spirit. A person.

A friend reminded me “ we will see what God says”. Amen!!

Important timing for my mind and heart to be set right as a precious friend reached out for prayers as she begins her own battle with cancer. My instant thought for her was -“We’ll see what God does and says”!

This morning reading my one year Chronological bible, Jeremiah and Ezekiel-it hit me.

It’s about staying focused at all times, in ALL circumstances, who God is. Infinite, immutable, omnipotent, omnipresent, eternal, and sovereign. Our firm foundation and our Father just to name a few.

We tend to stay away from the Old Testament God (I did) thinking he was different, more of an angry God. We cling to the New Testament God thinking that he has changed somehow into a new God. A kinder God, a more forgiving God. More lax-He hasn’t changed at all.

As my friend and I read the Old Testament together, we see that the greatest sin of all, was the people, God’s people, forgetting about God altogether. We have all done this quite well. Politics, kids, marriage, work, hurts, illness, money.. life!

I forgot about God yesterday. I took to a different idol- me,myself and I.

But God! He reminded me in a friends words – to turn back to Him. Let go of fear or idols. Return to Him.

As I return my thoughts to Him, I thankfully accept His grace. We turn back again and again and again.

“~‘I will give them a heart to know Me, [understanding fully] that I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.”

‭‭JEREMIAH‬ ‭24:7‬ ‭AMP‬‬

Fair-weathered

We’ve all had that friend that kind of blows you off all the time.Makes plans with you, but never follows thru, or ditches you for someone or something else. Just calls when nothing else is going on or when they need something.

It struck me as I read these scriptures, that’s exactly what we do to God.

We ditch him for fear, for control, for love, for popularity, for attention, for fun, for sin, for money, for pride .. for our kids, our dreams, our spouse … our hurts.

We turn away from Him constantly and do we want to do knowing His word says differently, thinking well, he gives us grace.

How does it make you feel when you are treated so irrelevantly?

Matthew 22:37

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind

❤️

Turn Back

As I begin to really get into the prophecies now, I am prompted to share. One commentary brought me to 2 Peter 3:9,15.
We that are called have to first come to a deep understanding of who God is. The old testament tells us clearly that this world is a fallen world. Nothing is new under the sun.  Sin runs rampant and always has. Time after time, we lost our way from Him and His desires for our living.
Time and time again, we turn back. This new age of believers – harmed by legalism, have swung a bit too far from really knowing His desire for our obedience, and how it protects. New age Christianity will tell you that sin is not that big of a deal because you have Grace. Grace doesn’t exclude the law, it just made you saved regardless of your sin. But you have to know Him, you have to know His laws. Others may attend church, they may believe but really don’t know Him or what His word says. It’s not about punishment or judgement. It’s about freedom. The law was written for our protection and also to give Him praise. What pleasure to Him when we choose to obey rather than sin. When we choose to really be like the disciples, like Paul.
We are not meant to correct the behavior of others, we are called to love our sister’s and brother’s and help them stay the course! What is that course?

Do you ever stop to think about the way you see your Christian Life through God’s eyes?

We are not condemned. We are blessed. We have been set free and Satan knows he can’t steal our salvation, but he will try everything to steal our reputation, our legitimacy in this world, so we can’t be the hands and feet, so we can’t be the light!
He will encourage other’s to lie about you, to discredit you. He will use other’s to negatively affect your ability to touch more lives. He will use your pride, your ego to poke at you. He will use your mistakes and your past to hold you back from really surrendering. He will lie and tell you that to go all in, is to be the church lady! None of those are true. He is a liar. He is very smart and very cunning. But his power is beneath ours that walk in faith.
Every one of our sins, great and small, is still known by God, whether we ever bring it to His feet or not. You are not so far gone that Grace can’t reach you. If we are so self focused, so worried about our lives, so panicked about provision or loneliness or what other’s think of us, how can we honestly give Him glory, how can we be ready if He calls?
This is not the religion of right and wrong, this is the religion of faith, of worship, or trust, of being a disciple! We are saved, and we all sin. Every single one of us. Our salvation happened the moment we turned back. the minute we surrendered, whether we sin or not. He died for us while we were still lost. Sin is what we always battle.. for sure, but our sin, if not observed by us, acknowledged by us, repented by us, is giving Satan a handle on our lives. We give him tools to hold over us.  It causes us to harm ourselves and other’s.  Only the truth will ever set you free. God already knows it all.

Peace comes from knowing we are set free because we can take our unholiness and bring it Christ and we are forgiven. It doesn’t mean we can ignore our unholiness and continue to just be who we are. We must surrender, we must turn to him. Submit to Him. It isn’t the finger pointing, shaming of our sin but rather the “tell me everything so we have nothing between us, so we can be close and I can do everything I promised to do for you. He says to confess to one another, and forgive and ask forgiveness of other sinners. It removes all power from darkness when you do that. You break the chains that hold you back. God say’s I will protect you, love you, grow you, help you and lead you to lead others”.
Deep thoughts!! But my fellow believers, we are Babylon!! We are Isreal! We are Judah! We are Nineveh. Clean your hearts of the sin that is there. Stop living in hiding! No one can judge you as harshly as you do! Go to Him and worship Him. Give him your sin, break the chains that Satan uses to hold you back from a full relationship with Christ!! 
Amen!

Discernment

As a Christian we are given many gifts. The Holy Spirit,  our intercessor and helper, is an important gift.  The Word of God is also His precious gift. In the pages of His amazing book, chapter after chapter, God shows Himself to us fully. He speaks to us. He directs our steps. He gives us the gift of discernment.

Discernment is something we as women are not very good at when it comes to our heart. We tend to lead with our hearts. He tells us to put our faith and trust in Him, yet we can discount discernment for fear of not being loved or liked. Fear of upsetting someone.

We are to love people, and trust God.  Why does He tell us this? He tells us this to protect us. Not because we are weaker, or because we a gullible, but because we all fall short. When we place our trust in God, and not in the words man tells us, when we seek Him first, seek discernment, He protects us. Whether or not we listen to Him, He is trying to protect us.

Broken people do what ever they need to do, to not have discomfort.  I have ignored God’s voice, the Holy Spirit, when He has been cautioning me.  I  have defended people, even when I found them in lies. I have been unconsciously unwilling to really hear God, worse, unwilling to trust Him fully instead. I have ended up with mighty painful lessons.

In the end, what they choose isn’t about us. It is about their battle. What we choose is. We absolutely may suffer, we may be collateral damage, and it can be painful, but in the end, all sin is vertical. Theirs is, and ours is. Everything we do, praise, obedience, sin, is between us and God. We hide nothing from God. Not one thing we do is ever a surprise to Him. If we are not living according to His word, we sin and all of us sin, daily.

But God, But Grace.

The beauty of our relationship to Christ, when we are believers, is though we are not kept from the consequences of our sin, we are still loved and not condemned. The gift is the conviction so we can bring our sin to Him as soon as it is revealed.  God loves us and washes us clean and we don’t live under the weight of sin.   Repentance is freedom. Lies are prison.

Brokenness in people is like the poisoned water’s surrounding Florida.  Suddenly there is a crisis. There has been damage being done, for years, lots of history of it. We all see it, but we just don’t do anything about it because we think something will be done by someone else. One day, the damage is too far reaching, there is too much harm. Lies are like that. People stuck in sin are like that.

We don’t hate people caught in sin, we hate Satan’s hold on a person, that causes the damage, we hate the fallout. God allows things, over time, but when those lies do damage to His Glory and His purposes, He says, we are at crisis, be a warrior for me now.

God says to live in peace with everyone. Ecclesiastes tells us there is a time for peace and a time for war.  Sometimes, even as a woman, God says, I need you to stand on truth. I need you strong and I need you to go to battle.  Ephesians gives us the Armor to stand firm against the attacks from the darkness. For me, peace is the obvious option, I fear even though God has made me very strong.

I learned recently, sometimes God calls us up, arms us to do battle. He will arm His people to stand firm.  Sometimes it is to be still. Sometimes it is to speak the truth. Our reputation in this world truly doesn’t matter in the big picture, that is God’s protection for us. All that matters in the end is God’s purposes,  God’s glory. Discernment is vital for our walk and our well-being.  We must be close to Him to be able to hear when He says go or stay. Not our own voices or our own offense. We only have one enemy. We do battle with Satan, His lies.   If we stand on truth, refute the lies, and then let God do the work;   The truth will always set us free. God hates lies more than anything. Lies are the greatest tool of darkness. We do not fight to win a war, we simply battle for truth.

In the end, we are here for a breathe. When we answer His call, when we are working for the Kingdom of God, our purpose is to be His hands and feet, to bring light where there is dark. To shine Him in all we do. Satan knows he cannot change our salvation. He isn’t trying to steal our redemption, He knows when we are chosen and answering the call. What He is doing is trying to steal our influence, our ability to touch the lost.  He will use anything to do that.  Even when we are afraid to stand against the enemy, God will fight for us. Sometimes, we have to go to war for that.  Sometimes, Peace at all costs is not peace at all.

Ephesians 6:10-18 (NIV)

The Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Proverbs 28:26  (NIV)

²⁶ Those who trust in themselves are fools,
    but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.

Psalm 119  (MSG)

119 ^1-8 You’re blessed when you stay on course,
    walking steadily on the road revealed by God.
You’re blessed when you follow his directions,
    doing your best to find him.
That’s right—you don’t go off on your own;
    you walk straight along the road he set.
You, God, prescribed the right way to live;
    now you expect us to live it.
Oh, that my steps might be steady,
    keeping to the course you set;