Spiritual Sisters
Spiritual Healing Serene Salad
Spiritual Voices Creativity Bakery
Musings It's basketball time and I do enjoy the ball games. When I sit down to watch a game, if I am not emotionally attached to either team, I automatically root for the underdog. Why do I do that? The better team has won its distinction by virtue of hard work, determination, and skill. Nevertheless, I emotionally respond by wanting the underdog to rise victorious. This response to sports led me to think about our inclination for cheering the underdogs in all of life's situations--even good and evil. The Word reveals both the beginning and the ending of evil which makes the devil the underdog. I could never understand the fascination people have with the forces of evil, the underdog by declaration of The Word, till I found myself, for no rational reason, rooting for the underdog. Is that it? Do we already know deep within that Love is the ultimate victor and instead of completely embracing the Spirit of Love, do we continue to mindlessly root for the underdog? Is this how we humans keep the conflict going, by unintentionally embracing the battle through our emotional attachment to that which has less chance of victory? I have observed something else in this world of ours. The fastest runner doesn't always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn't always win the battle. The wise are often poor, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don't always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being at the right place at the right time. Ecclesiastes 9:11 (NIV)
Teachings Counsel has arrived through my spirit, "take it easy and enjoy each moment--including the mundane". I do not know how to do this. Among very early childhood memories are the guilt feelings generated by not doing enough. At the same time I was resisting my chores with wholehearted childish rebellion, I was secretly feeling ashamed of myself. For a lifetime these gnawing voices have repeated, "not enough, not good enough, not measuring up". I find I do not know how to be "good enough". Neither do I know how to "take it easy and enjoy each moment." For too many decades I have concentrated on going faster and faster and I am astonished to realize I must make a U turn and work at relaxing. That's me! Work at relaxing! Nevertheless, I am thankful to a Heavenly Father who loves me. By giving up my self-assertiveness and turning me over to Him, I can succeed. Youth may be admired for vigor, but gray hair gives prestige to old age. Proverbs 20:29, The Message It is not just a question of giving up sin, but of giving up my natural independence and self-assertiveness, and this is where the battle has to be fought. It is the things that are right and noble and good from the natural standpoint that keep us back from God's best. To discern that natural virtues antagonize surrender to God is to bring our soul into the center of its greatest battle. Very few of us debate with the sordid and evil and wrong, but we do debate with the good. It is the good that hates the best, and the higher up you get in the scale of the natural virtues, the more intense is the opposition to Jesus Christ. "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh" (Gal. 5:24). It is going to cost the natural in you everything, not something. Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself," and a person has to realize who Jesus Christ is before he will do it. Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence. --Oswald Chambers
Musings "We must relearn to be alone. Instead of planting our solitude with dream blossoms, we choke the space with continuous music, chatter and companionship to which we do not even listen. It is simply there to fill the vacuum." -Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea Can you handle the stillness of solitude? Is it unnerving to sit and listen to. . . nothing? Are you an activity addict? Are the noises in your head so loud that you can't hear God talking to you? His still, small voice won't try to out-shout the noise. It will always be a still small voice. He's waiting for you to be quiet, to listen, to relax, so that you can be restored. -H. Norman Wright Not everyone knows how to be alone with others, how to share solitude. We have to help each other to understand how to be in our solitude, so that we can relate to each other without grabbing on to each other. We can be interdependent but not dependent. Loneliness is rejected dependency. Solitude is shared interdependency. -David Spangler "But now I find that solitude, far from being the price, is turning out to be the prize." -Alix Kates Shulman "To dare to live alone is the rarest courage; since there are many who had rather meet their bitterest enemy in the field, than their own hearts in their closet." -Charles Caleb Colton, Lacon, 1825 "Only in solitude do we find ourselves; and in finding ourselves, we find in ourselves all our brothers in solitude." -Miguel de Unanimo, Essays and Soliloquies, 1924 "He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything." -Baltasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom, 1647
Teachings
Meditations While we talk of our dealings with Him, others ask us, "Where are you going to get enough money to live? How will you live and who will take care of you?" I left nice, warm Florida to return to snowy Indiana because of a vision relating to hurting people. God eventually got me into the inner city and into a dilapidated duplex. Renovation monies were spent where they don't show--high efficiency furnace, insulation and caulking. People close to me worried I was spending too much money to rent one of the duplexes for the amount required to give me an adequate return on my investment. They were right. I failed to find anyone who understood reducing the gas bill $300 per month in the winter months and the A/C bill in the summer months allowed one to pay $100 more in rent and still come out ahead. The real reason I failed to find anyone, however, was because God was still holding me to the vision. While others were concerned with, "Where are you going to get enough money to live?" God was saying, "Trust Me". I am presently waiting and watching in awe as I see God working out the details--who will take care of me? My Father in Heaven will. The woman said to [Jesus], 'Sir, You have nothing to draw [water] with, and the well is deep' --John 4:11 Have you ever said to yourself, "I am impressed with the wonderful truths of God's Word, but He can't really expect me to live up to that and work all those details into my life!" When it comes to confronting Jesus Christ on the basis of His qualities and abilities, our attitudes reflect religious superiority. We think His ideals are lofty and they impress us, but we believe He is not in touch with reality— that what He says cannot actually be done. Each of us thinks this about Jesus in one area of our life or another. These doubts or misgivings about Jesus begin as we consider questions that divert our focus away from God. While we talk of our dealings with Him, others ask us, "Where are you going to get enough money to live? How will you live and who will take care of you?" Or our misgivings begin within ourselves when we tell Jesus that our circumstances are just a little too difficult for Him. We say, "It's easy to say, 'Trust in the Lord,' but a person has to live; and besides, Jesus has nothing with which to draw water— no means to be able to give us these things." And beware of exhibiting religious deceit by saying, "Oh, I have no misgivings about Jesus, only misgivings about myself." If we are honest, we will admit that we never have misgivings or doubts about ourselves, because we know exactly what we are capable or incapable of doing. But we do have misgivings about Jesus. And our pride is hurt even at the thought that He can do what we can't. My misgivings arise from the fact that I search within to find how He will do what He says. My doubts spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, I should bring them into the light and confess them openly— "Lord, I have had misgivings about You. I have not believed in Your abilities, but only my own. And I have not believed in Your almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it." --Oswald Chambers
Rants I awakened the other morning to the most devastating news a web junkie could receive. I turned on my computer and there, covering the screen, was this message in bold red print, "System Status--Service Canceled" and thus it was that I learned my internet security (firewall and antivirus) was gone....canceled....and to me that was about the same as saying I'd been stamped into oblivion. I staggered through the day in my debilitated state, spending endless hours on the phone being told my internet security was showing active at their end even though it was showing canceled at my end. By the third phone call, they were quick to tell me my problem had been given a "highest priority" rating and I must do nothing. Do nothing! Can't get on the Internet! what else is there to do but Nothing! Finally, this afternoon's phone call was rewarded with the necessary steps to remove the bold, red, cancellation notice from my browser. Finally I had been rescued from oblivion and returned to a living status. As my spirit soared, I zoomed down the superwebway, thanking God for the blessing of having lived and enjoyed the Age of Immediate Communication. Faith is the sail which we raise in hopes of catching a friendly breeze bringing us at last to the safe harbor of our desires and dreams. --Ray S. Anderson
Teachings Doubts are the messengers of the Living One to the honest. They are the first knock at our door of things that are not yet, but have to be, understood. . . . Doubts must precede every deeper assurance; for uncertainties are what we first see when we look into a region hitherto unknown, unexplored, unannexed. --George MacDonald Nothing makes one so aware of the difficulties of being honest with oneself as those moments when we bring our doubts into the light and attempt to objectively and impartially examine them. These are the times we want a rule book which will tell us exactly what to think and what to do so we can be confident our way is the only correct way. Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep, inexpressible certitude of the contemplative experience awakens a tragic anguish and opens many questions in the depths of the heart like wounds that cannot stop bleeding. For every gain in deep certitude there is a corresponding growth of superficial ‘doubt.’ This doubt is by no means opposed to genuine faith, but it mercilessly examines and questions the spurious ‘faith’ of everyday life, the human faith which is nothing but the passive acceptance of conventional opinion. --Thomas Merton
Musings My car battery acted sluggish yesterday and I was concerned about depending on my car today for I had committed to helping a handicapped person get to an appointment. I made a special effort to get up very early and headed to the garage for an oil change and a new battery arriving at the garage early enough to be the second person in line. Good effort, right? I thought so. Soon after me the third person arrived and plead his case to be moved ahead of everyone else because his battery was dead and he was afraid to shut his car off. I certainly had no problem with his being pulled in first so he could shut his engine off, but by the time an hour had passed and with three mechanics, only he--please note HE--was getting service on his battery and all other parts of his car as well. After what seemed like an eternity, HE made the mistake of coming into the waiting area and telling us he was retired and had all the time in the world!! The two people who got there first displayed frozen smiles and I got up to plead the case for beginning on my "nearly dead" battery because of the appointment commitment. They got my car into a bay but before anything could be done someone backed into someone else in the parking lot and all work ceased as the three mechanics waited to be interviewed by a police officer. Another hour passed. The attendant kindly suggested everyone who was waiting should do some shopping! I told them I didn't have time to shop and sat down to talk things over with myself for I did not need to let these inconveniences get to me like they were. There was nothing to be done about the situation and I knew it. I sat there and I talked to My Heavenly Father about how I always overreacted and harmed myself by raising my blood pressure. Gradually I calmed; gradually I relaxed. Having known myself for many years, having known I cannot work my way out of a funk, I am deeply grateful for the One who helped me. Every once in a while our Lord gives us a glimpse of what we would be like if it were not for Him. This is a confirmation of what He said— ". . . without Me you can do nothing" ( John 15:5 ). That is why the underlying foundation of Christianity is personal, passionate devotion to the Lord Jesus. We mistake the joy of our first introduction into God's kingdom as His purpose for getting us there. Yet God's purpose in getting us into His kingdom is that we may realize all that identification with Jesus Christ means. --Oswald Chambers When we discover the longing which fuels faith and passion which inspires hope, we begin to experience its power in our lives. --Ray S. Anderson
Meditations There is nothing that makes us love a man so much as praying for him. When believers commit themselves in prayer, things do happen. The Bible is filled with examples such as:
The amazing thing about a network of prayer partners is that as we come together on one accord that the Lord will be in the midst of it. We ourselves become a vessel by which we speak spirit and life into every situation. --Cedric and Anna Harmon, Intercessory Prayer Network
"Intercession is a great and necessary part of Christian Devotion. The first followers of Christ seem to support all their love, and to maintain all their intercourse and correspondence, by mutual prayers for one another. This was the ancient friendship of Christians, uniting and cementing their hearts.
"A frequent intercession with God, earnestly beseeching him to forgive the sins of all mankind, to bless them with his providence, enlighten them with his Spirit, and bring them to everlasting happiness, is the divinest exercise that the heart of man can be engaged in. Be daily therefore on your knees, in a solemn, deliberate performance of this devotion, and you will find all little, ill-natured passions die away, your heart grow great and generous, delighting in the common happiness of others, as you used only to delight in your own. This is the natural effect of a general intercession for all mankind.
"Though we are to treat all mankind as neighbours and brethren, as any occasion offers; yet as we can only live in the actual society of a few, therefore you should always change and alter your intercessions, according as the needs and necessities of your neighbours or acquaintance seem to require; such intercessions, besides the great charity of them, would have a mighty effect upon your own heart for there is nothing that makes us love a man so much, as praying for him. That will give you a better and sweeter behaviour than anything that is called fine breeding and good manners." --William Law, 1686-1761. Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life.
Praise As a young person, I would look upon joy as something so unspeakably evasive as to not be obtainable without more sacrifice than I was willing to make. Happiness exuding from the countenances of old people, poor people, people in poor health, caused 'eye-rolling' episodes on my part. I just didn't get it. I understood achievement and ambition but didn't see joy fitting into my model for life. I obviously had no comprehension of JOY: Joy is not something we can achieve by pursuing it. It is rather something born in the heart of one who has found companionship with God and which overflows into a life in harmony with God. Regardless of outer circumstances, wealth or poverty, health or sickness, it visits the souls of those who are committed in their journey with him. If we look upon all as under God’s influence, life will become increasingly full of joy, which no one can take from us. No life can be dull when there is always that watchful expectancy, that anticipation of glad surprise and wonder of how God is using those seemingly little incidents in our lives to his glory and honor. --Esther Carls Dodgen Joy is everywhere; it is in the earth’s green covering of grass; in the blue serenity of the sky; in the reckless exuberance of spring; in the severe abstinence of grey winter; in the living flesh that animates our bodily frame; in the perfect poise of the human figure, noble and upright; in living, in the exercise of all our powers; in the acquisition of knowledge. . . Joy is there everywhere. --Rabindranath Tagore Thanks, livinglifefully.com, for helping me with these wonderful quotes.
Debra Gil Saga In the article on Joy I included the following quote and I would now like to show an example of what Esther Carls Dodgen is describing when she says, "If we look upon all as under God’s influence, life will become increasingly full of joy, which no one can take from us. No life can be dull when there is always that watchful expectancy, that anticipation of glad surprise and wonder of how God is using those seemingly little incidents in our lives to his glory and honor." --Esther Carls Dodgen Maria and I have been furnishing one duplex in The Living in Simple Faith House as a community center. This block in the inner city was once a friendly neighborhood where all the residents knew each other well and looked after each other. Forty years ago there was a true bonding in a sharing community and Maria (who lived here forty years ago) and I have made a commitment to use the duplex as a community center where some of the block's residents can learn English, others can learn to use the computer, all can gather for block 'potluck' dinners. God has made his plans for this duplex, too, and he's rapidly putting everything in place for his purposes. E. S. Pittman, a retired minister/carpenter/farmer lives in the mountains hundreds of miles from the city of Indianapolis and had never heard of me or my house. Some months back, he received a supernatural message to sell his cattle and be prepared to travel. After the cattle were sold, instead of packing suitcases so he and his wife could travel, he fell sick. One day as he lay in bed, the message came to go to Indianapolis to pray. E. S. didn't try to explain to God that he was too sick nor did he ask what he was to pray about. He agreed to go if God would see he was well enough to make the trip--his recovery was instantaneous--E.S. and his wife, Lily, arrived in Indianapolis the next afternoon. As they visited with the people they knew, E.S. continued to listen intently for clues as to whom or what he was to pray over. When they arrived at his wife's sister's home, Maria was bubbling with excitement about the duplex project. After E.S. listened to her talk a while, he knew where he must go to learn more about his purpose for the trip to Indianapolis. E.S. and Maria spent the evening in the duplex and as he talked, and shared and prayed, he knew those suitcases would be making many trips to Indianapolis. While we continued preparations for E.S and Lily's return, Maria's daughter who was working on the house at the time of her death Thanksgiving evening, was spiritually visiting with many friends and relatives. When her co-worker, Marti, tried to return alone to complete their work on the house, she was aware of Debbie's perfume in her truck. Marti was so astounded at the thought of Debbie's presence, she was unable to return and complete the work and we have moved on without the carpentry work being completed. I have wondered out loud to God why Debbie's presence has been felt by so many, yet she had not returned to her last project or visited me. Shortly thereafter, Debbie came to Maria in a very short but intense dream and told her, "I see sickness differently now; I see everything differently; I even see prayer differently." Maria and I have gone over this dream many times, so wishing Debbie could tell us just how she sees things differently. We realize we are not likely to have the complete answer on this side of the Great Divide. We are satisfied to know God has a purpose in our being told this much and its purpose will become clear with the passage of time. In the meantime, we have been alerted to reexamine our attitudes and to be open to possible adjustments in our beliefs. Most recently, I went shopping for those few miscellaneous odds and ends one always forgets till the last minute. As I moved from the home furnishings aisle to the home and office area, I brushed by the posters. The display was opened to the most beautiful poster, "And He Shall Be Called (listed all the names by which he is known) Jesus Christ." When I got home with the poster, I laid it on the one remaining picture frame which had been donated to the center. It fit perfectly! We had been puzzling over the appropriate handling of the landing at the head of the stairs and the picture seemed like it would be good there. After I hung it, I moved back down the stairs, turned to look and was nearly knocked over by the power emanating from the picture, especially the words 'Jesus Christ'. I knelt on the steps, read all the names out loud while praising God for His Awesome Being. I left the duplex for the evening, but could not stay away. I fixed a dried floral arrangement to place under the poster and returned. As I climbed the steps with the arrangement, I smelled Debbie's perfume and I knew she was there. Jesus and the angels were visiting the duplex. Maria had been saying all along that Debbie was there, but that's just not the same as experiencing it for oneself. Another day has passed and I cannot look up those stairs without trembling and feeling the awesome rush of power flowing downward from the poster reading AND HE SHALL BE CALLED The second night after the poster went up was a sleepless night. There were no concerns plaguing me, yet no sign of drowsiness was apparent. The poster was in my thoughts--the poster seemed to be pulling me--so in the middle of the night I grabbed my pillow and headed for the duplex. Sleep came easily as I lay down below the poster, next to the wall where the sunlight has once displayed a dagger superimposed upon a cross in answer to a question I had asked God. I was not aware of dreaming, but I awakened feeling as those I had been speaking with someone who had explained my emotional reactions to the poster. The powerfulness of the force emanating from the words Jesus Christ, was not representative of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, but of Jesus the Conqueror. It was necessary for Debbie and I to have an opportunity to meet and to get to know each other before her spirit transitioned in order for Maria, E.S. and Lily, to assume their roles in the project. My first group of carpenters was doing a good job so the street bullies were allowed to harass them until they left the job. Marti and Debbie had been chosen to do the work on God’s project; my error in hiring the wrong carpenters had to be corrected. I have been left with the understanding that, like Debbie, my part in the project has been completed. The new leadership has arrived.
Musings God is telling me I talk too much. He is trying to show me all the things I can accomplish by being still. If I have said nothing at all, I cannot say things which will unknowingly hurt others. If I have said nothing at all, my words cannot be taken out of context and used differently than I had intended. If I have said nothing at all, someone I don't even know is needing reassurance can believe I am with them in their pain. As a young woman, the two people I most admired and tried to model myself after were my mother and my father-in-law. They both had loving expressions, big smiles, and said very little. When they did speak, the words were carefully chosen, allowing God's wisdom to cover their own human inadequacies and convey what he desired to be heard. Many sermons were preached around our household, but these two were the ones to whom we listened. Silence is as full of potential wisdom and wit as the unhewn marble of great sculpture. The silent bear no witness against themselves. --Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), English writer & critic
Musings It's a rainy, gloomy day and I am nonchalantly browsing websites with uplifting and supportive messages. Only half awake and quite contented, from out of nowhere, I'm feeling pressured to read a particular text. I finally follow the spirit's inclination and my mind is now sharply focused on the mission of the spirit: "So come on, let's leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on "salvation by self-help" and turning in trust toward God; baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment. God helping us, we'll stay true to all that. But there's so much more. Let's get on with it! Once people have seen the light, gotten a taste of heaven and been part of the work of the Holy Spirit, once they've personally experienced the sheer goodness of God's Word and the powers breaking in on us--if then they turn their backs on it, washing their hands of the whole thing, well, they can't start over as if nothing happened. That's impossible. Why, they've re-crucified Jesus! They've repudiated him in public! Parched ground that soaks up the rain and then produces an abundance of carrots and corn for its gardener gets God's "Well done!" But if it produces weeds and thistles, it's more likely to get cussed out. Fields like that are burned, not harvested. I'm sure that won't happen to you, friends. I have better things in mind for you--salvation things! God doesn't miss anything. He knows perfectly well all the love you've shown him by helping needy Christians, and that you keep at it. And now I want each of you to extend that same intensity toward a full-bodied hope, and keep at it till the finish. Don't drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised to them." --Hebrews 6:1-12, The Message Jean-Pierre de Caussade writes, “when God lives in us, we have nothing to help us beyond what he gives us moment by moment. Nothing else is provided and no road is marked out. We are like a child who can be led about wherever one wishes and who is ignorant of everything except what is put in front of it…. …Other people have great difficulty in discovering spiritual truths, but we, who have given ourselves to God, have no trouble. These others hold on to their spiritual discoveries, keep coming back and brooding over them, but we in whom God lives seize what each moment brings and then forget it, eager only to be alert to respond to God and live for him alone. They who live in God perform countless good works for his glory, but those in whom God lives are often flung into a corner like a useless bit of broken pottery. There they lie, forsaken by everyone, but yet enjoying God’s very real and active love and knowing they have to do nothing but stay in his hands and be used as he wishes. The world thinks them useless and it seems as if they are. Yet it is quite certain that by various means and through hidden channels they pour out spiritual help on people who are often quite unaware of it and of whom they themselves never think. For those who have surrendered themselves completely to God, all they are and do has power. Their lives are sermons. They are apostles. God gives a special force to all they say and do, even to their silence, their tranquility and their detachment, which, quite unknown to them, profoundly influences other people. God works through them by unexpected and hidden impulses…." Click here to read more of this essay, The Life of God in the Soul
Meditations People strive for wealth and power before death so their memories will be honored. The great desire is for our lives to have an impact in the world because we know it is the only way for us to live on after we are dead. Interesting, isn't it, that thousands of years later we are still aware of the death of Jesus Christ who had no worldly possessions which he could leave behind at his time of passing from the world. Do not gather and heap up and store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust and worm consume and destroy, and where thieves break through and steal.. -- Matthew 6:19 Jesus answered him, If you would be perfect [that is, have that spiritual maturity which accompanies self-sacrificing character], go and sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; and come, be My disciple [side with My party and follow Me]. -- Matthew 19:21 Let us seek and gather riches of the spirit--they are the eternal riches. It is far better to be remembered by God than by man. "People who know nothing of God and whose lives are centered on themselves, imagine that they can only find themselves by asserting their own desires and ambitions and appetites in a struggle with the rest of the world. They try to become real by imposing themselves on other people, by appropriating for themselves some share of the limited supply of created goods and thus emphasizing the difference between themselves and the other men who have less than they, or nothing at all. They can only conceive one way of becoming real: cutting themselves off from other people and building a barrier of contrast and distinction between themselves and other men. They do not know that reality is to be sought not in division but in unity, for we are 'members one of another.' " --From New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton
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Praise The limitless miracle of life, as conceived by the Spirit of Love, seems so contrary to the ways of the world that one can only stand in awe at the Divine One who created this entire system. "The more one studies Nature, the more he will discover that death is not opposed to life, or decay to growth, but that they are mutually dependent; that just as the seed will only grow if the outer mass of it decays and thus generates the germ of life in its midst, so the individual can only complete his being through absorbing the creative energy released by the continuous death of his private self and its exclusive appetites. "The intimate dependence of growth on decomposition in the physical world may seem at first to bear but remotely upon the processes of the spiritual world. But the more we study the chemistry of the body, the more kindred it appears to the chemistry of the soul. That we must give, for example, if we are to receive, is not a rule, as is so often supposed, in defiance of Nature. Rather all the processes of Nature reflect its unconscious action. Life could sustain its being in no other way. And the same is true of the law, that in dying we live and in living, die. "Those, therefore, who no longer feel instinctively the subtle ties which knit together the diverse forces of Nature's energy and no longer obey instinctively her laws can only cease to be alien to the earth on which they dwell and at cross-purposes with life even in their yearning for some heavenly home, by rediscovering these ties rationally as a prelude to re-experiencing them imaginatively." --Hugh l'Anson Fausset "The underlying foundation of the Christian faith is the undeserved, limitless miracle of the love of God that was exhibited on the Cross of Calvary; a love that is not earned and can never be." --Oswald Chambers
Copyright Jane Mullikin used by permission of Project Ripple
Rooting for the Underdog
The fastest runner doesn't always win the race
April 02, 2006
Enjoying moments in fellowship with God
It is the things that are right and noble and good from the natural standpoint that keep us back from God's best
April 04, 2006
Solitude
Only in solitude do we find ourselves
April 06, 2006
Into the Midst of the Purposes of God
Tell God you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him then accept the consequences as they come
April 08, 2006
Do we dream of living life effortlessly? Do we dream of floating along an uncharted river; of gliding aimlessly over life's traumas? Can we imagine standing, as an observer, beside our own problems watching someone else take over and fight for us? Gospel music says it so well in the song "order my steps in your Word" for a life totally surrendered to our Lord can make it happen:
Order my steps in your Word dear Lord
Lead me
Guide me every day
Send your anointing
Father I pray
Order my steps in your Word
We are all aware of our guardian angels but do we stop to consider our guardian demons? They are brilliantly portrayed in the C.S. Lewis satire, The Screwtape Letters. This little book is most enlightening. After many years of being abused by my guardian demons, I have embraced the surrendered life and have found it to be as completely fulfilling as I am capable of being completely surrendered.
Tell God you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him. Then accept the consequences as they come, without any complaints, in spite of what God may send your way. God sends you through a crisis in private, where no other person can help you. From the outside your life may appear to be the same, but the difference is taking place in your will. Once you have experienced the crisis in your will, you will take no thought of the cost when it begins to affect you externally. If you don't deal with God on the level of your will first, the result will be only to arouse sympathy for yourself. --Oswald Chambers
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Our Misgivings About Jesus
If we are honest, we will admit that we never have misgivings or doubts about ourselves, because we know exactly what we are capable or incapable of doing
April 10, 2006
I was Canceled into Oblivion
Patience is not an easy virtue in this instant gratification world
April 12, 2006
Doubts
Doubts are the messengers of the Living One to the honest
April 14, 2006
Glimpses of our real selves
About letting go of the stupid stuff which invariably bugs us way too much
April 16, 2006
Intercessory Prayer
There is nothing that makes us love a man so much as praying for him
April 18, 2006
Joy
Joy is not something we can achieve by pursuing it
April 20, 2006
When God Moves
A sequence of events, apparently unrelated, came together to create a real happening on earth and in the spiritual world
April 22, 2006
Lover Of Your Soul, Author & Perfector Of Your Faith, Foundation
Almighty God, High Priest, Man of Sorrows, Root Of David
Chief Cornerstone, Comforter, Advisor, King of Kings
Lord of Lords, Redeemer of Your Soul, Great Healer, Rock
The Answer to Our Prayers, the Right Hand of God, Mountain
Prince of Peace, Only Perfect Man, Sinless & Blameless One
Son Of God, God's Faithful Servant, the Double Edged Sword
The Truth, Our Fortress, Our Vengeance, Father of the Fatherless
Our Salvation, the Forgiveness of Our Sins, Our Footprints In The Sand
The Everlasting Father, the Destroyer of Death, the End Of Darkness
The Bright & Morning Star, the Coming Glory, the Gentle Sheperd
The Lily of The Valley, the Rose Of Sharon, Our Advocate
Adversary of Evil, Alpha & the Omega, First & the Last
Beginning & the End, Blessed Assurance, Savior of the Oppressed
The Beautiful Savior, the Apple of Our Eye, the Sacred Heart
The Healer of the Broken-Hearted, Burden Carrier, Champion
The Great "I Am", Jewish Carpenter, Our Superior, Bridegroom
Commander of Righteousness, Messiah, Incorruptible Judge
The Ancient of Day's, Our Victorious Leader, Master Disciple
Word that became Flesh, Word of God, Bringer of Our Inheritance
Owner of the Heavens, Way, the Truth & the Light, Glory Of God
End of Sorrows, the Finder of the Lost, Our Majesty
Master Teacher, Narrow Gate, Immanuel, Son of Man
The Only Begotten Son, the Amen, the Dayspring, Shiloh
Image of the Invisible God, Light of the World, Our Anchor
King of the Jews, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Branch
The Mediator, the Living Water, the Door, the Bread of Life
The Faithful & True Witness, the Beloved, the Resurrection
Bishop of Souls, the Ultimate Father, The Word, Author Of Life
JESUS CHRIST
Talk too much; Say too little
Words carefully chosen allow God's wisdom to cover human inadequacies
April 24, 2006
When God Lives in Us
Stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised
April 26, 2006
Who Will Remember Me?
Let us seek and gather riches of the spirit--they are the eternal riches
April 28, 2006
The Limitless Miracle
That we must give if we are to receive, is not a rule in defiance of Nature
April 30, 2006