Sowing and Reaping

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.

Galatians 6:7

In our garden we sometimes choose to sow judgments, the kind we have had against others, or ourselves. Judgments are thoughts that turn into seeds, and then grow into weeds. I have made judgments. And, they have turned into weeds.

God and I have had discussions about the weeds that have been sowed in my life, and I have asked Him to show me how my judgments against myself and others have made a garden of weeds rather than flowers. 

How do flowers grow? With grace and mercy. 

Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.

Matthew 5:7

Grace and mercy triumph over judgment. When I walk into the glorious liberty of Jesus there are flowers.

To step into grace and mercy I am free to rise to my full potential in Jesus Christ. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has triumphed over all the power of the enemy! The enemy is under my feet as I step into God's amazing grace.

I will Say That Again, because it's worth repeating.

Thoughts

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every  thought to make it obedient to Christ. 

2 Corinthians 10:5

I read a little book this morning. It pointed out that every negative thought is from the enemy, and every positive, life-giving, up-building thought is always of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is always positive, and the enemy negative. 80 percent of the time, our thoughts tend to be yielded towards negative and judgmental thinking!
Wow! 80 percent? He goes on to explain that we are in this position because of our pride and self-sufficiency. We think we have enough understanding and information to make fair and honest judgments in every situation. And, when we judge, it is almost always negative.
How can I take captive these thoughts? There are days in my life that this is true for me, I have negative thoughts that I come up against for much of the day, and it is WAR.  It is my flesh oozing all over the place, and the need for my Spirit and God's Spirit to walk together is desperate.
I have started to pray a simple prayer on days such as this:
"Dad, (Heavenly Father) I am over here in my soul ( all flesh) and I can't seem to find you. Please help me! Draw me back into my Spirit., back into You. I am living in my thoughts, emotions, fears, and insecurities. I feel alone. I need Your strong arms around me, Father.  Please run to me now and give to me the love, comfort and security that I need. I want to worship you in Spirit and truth."
This has been very helpful for me. I have found that with this prayer of surrender I have been flooded with His peace on days that I am challenged to take my thoughts captive. Sometimes it is a constant prayer, all day long, for some days are harder than others.
I met with my friends today just after I had read my little book, and we talked about the impact of words spoken.  Our tongues can be like poison, or they can be like the tree of life. We can bring blessing, or we can bring wounds. So, again I pray that God will guard my mouth, and my thoughts, so that I will not bring wounds or offenses. I do not want to grieve the heart of God with my tongue or my thoughts, I want to bless the heart of God.
I come before my Father and ask that He keeps my thoughts pure and innocent. Judgment free. Quick to forgive. Full of love. Peaceful. Yes, I will Say That Again!

Injustice

My heart is crying for the woman in Sudan that has been sentenced to death for being a Christian. She is currently pregnant and waiting in prison with her 20 month old son. Her husband, also a Christian, is in a wheelchair, and has depended on her help for his welfare. She is 27 years old, and she will not deny her faith! She stands strong, knowing she may die.

There's a lot of emotions that get stirred inside my heart when I think about this! I want to cry out, "What is going on here?" 

I feel so angry, sad, afraid. I want to rescue her. I wonder what I can possibly do to help? I do NOT understand! 

Of course, this is not the first time a horrific atrocity such as this has happened. Not too long ago, a large group of girls disappeared. Gone. And, they have not been found. It is said they are being sold as slaves. But, then again, girls disappear everyday and are sold as slaves. 

Then, we have the issue of abuse in homes. Isn't a home suppose to be a safe place? Yet, so many children are not safe in their homes. They are hurt from sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. And, it begins to feel like injustice in too many places.

Since I'm speaking of injustice; it brings me to the Body of Christ. Isn't it unjust for a body of Saints to be treating each other like Sinners? Is it an injustice to treat someone with anything other than love? If so, I am guilty. 

Our Father is a God of justice, honor, and love. As I read 1 Corinthians 13 this afternoon and put his name in place of love, it read like this:

Father is patient, Father is kind, and is not jealous; Father does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; He does not seek His own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

But, woman are still imprisoned, girls disappear, children abused, and saints treated like sinners.  It is unjust, yet we have a Father that is merciful and long suffering. My prayer is to be like Him. I need to Say That Again, every day of my life,  Father God, teach me to love as you do.

The Real Prodigal

The word prodigal means "one who spends or gives lavishly; recklessly extravagant." As I read the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, I began to wonder if maybe it should be called the Prodigal Father. This Father had two sons and he loved them both extravagantly. One of them came to him and asked for his inheritance early, which in their culture was an insult. The Father, loved his son so lavishly that he was willing to give to him all he wanted, so he passed on the inheritance. The son left his father's home. His father didn't give up on him, he watched for him, and waited for his return. 

The son did return, and when he did, he had nothing. The father was recklessly extravagant with him. He clothed him in all the best clothes. He had a welcome home party for him to show his excitement. He lavished him with his love.

This story is exactly how it is with God, our Father. He spends his time pursuing me and lavishly gives to my heart. He is recklessly extravagant to save me and to love me. He will always welcome me home. He covers me in his robes and protects me under his wings.

The enemy attempts to bring up lies of judgment and shame, and sometimes I battle with the truth of the Prodigal Father. I begin to feel that I am clothed in fig leaves rather than righteousness. I wallow in the pig pen, and do not recognize the lavish love right in front of me!

Say That Again, Father, your love is recklessly extravagant!

For I am convinced that neither death, not life, not angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8: 38-39

Healing Hands

This last weekend in church the Spirit of God surged through the room. He was thick upon the hearts of every soul, and the praise in the room was glorious. For me, not only could I feel the glory of God around me, but I knew He was deep within me, and it was good. 

God is our physician, he still brings healing to our hearts, minds, and bodies. He loves us and restores us. He does this through the Body, through our Healing Hands.

I experienced this as his Body gathered together and laid hands on those that needed healing. God used my hands to heal, along with many other hands. His light was shining in every corner.

"All of you together are Christ's body, and each of you is a part of it. Here are some of  the parts God has appointed for the church:

first are apostles,

second are prophets,

third are teachers,

then those who do miracles, 

those who have the gift of healing, 

those who can help others,

those who have the gift of

leadership,

those who speak in unknown languages.

Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers?

Do we all have the power to do miracles? Do we all have the gift of healing? Do

we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? 

Of course not! So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts." 

1 Corinthians 12:28-31

I love knowing that I am captured in His Hands, and in return His Spirit gifts me with Healing Hands. Say That Again, Sweet Jesus, Your Healing Hands envelope your people, and it is so very sweet and good.

Rule Keeper/Breaker

We live in a world of rules, and I grew up in a house of rules. I went to a church full of rules. As I have listened to the stories of many people and experienced a few more churches in my adult life, I am seeing that the majority of churches today are still based on rules. We like rules.

If someone breaks the rules, then there's a price to pay. Everyone else feels better that way. Crime equals time. When the church practices this same thing, we are also practicing earthly government. 

What about true restoration?  As the Body of Christ we have been given the gift of repentance which leads to restoration. Restoration is when the rule breaker is restored back to the place of honor. Restoration brings the rule breaker into relationship with God and man!

This doesn't sound like punishment.

Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!

Are you a rule keeper? Or are you living in freedom?

He wants to protect his relationship with you, not with the rules.

Oh Jesus, I am praising you for what you have done for me and for all your children. I am praising you for the position you are calling me to because you LOVE me and because you want to be with me. I am praising you for asking me to step up with honor as your daughter, and say "Jesus is KING." I will Say That Again!

Faith and Fun

Agape Celebration had our first Mother's Day Fun Tea yesterday.  It was fun. Our team worked exceptionally well together, and I knew that God's hand was upon each one of us. I felt very blessed.
Our Fun started at 3:00, we had about 2 hours to get the dining room set up. We had to work fast, and I felt a little anxious before hand about all the work set before us. We were able to bring all of our belongings in the night before and decorate the room, which was helpful. But, still we had a lot of tables to set up and food trays to prepare, with little time to do it in.
It all came together quickly! As 3:00 approached, we realized we didn't have enough tables. More people were coming, and we were full. Even though the first impulse was to turn them away, God's Spirit urged us to welcome everyone in. He would provide enough of everything. And, provide, He did.
God tested my faith, and celebrated with fun! It was a joyous occasion. I came away from the Fun Tea with some good lessons, and again recognizing that I have so much more to learn. We made several mistakes and need the grace of others. We also did some fun, wonderful and delightful things that I think brought God's Kingdom into the hearts of others. That is something to celebrate. And, my faith was strengthened, my fun muscles were exercised, and again my Sister's experienced the beauty of team work. Praise God!
Say That Again, Praise God!

Walking Together

It was a blessing for me to be able to spend last weekend with my Agape Sisters. We stayed at a cabin by the lake. We had a lot of time to talk to each other about God, our needs, our fears, our dreams, and much more. We learned about each others gifts, and God showed me the amazing ways he is answering my prayers. 

Some of these women have been in my life a long time, others for a shorter time. Two of them are my daughter in-laws. All of them have stayed by my side because we are friends, and because we all have the Spirit of God living inside of us. We have walked together.

We do not leave each other's sides.

I've prayed for God to bring his gifts into my life. The Gifts of his Spirit, and he has blessed my life with many. As I listened to my sisters talk of their gifts I realized that God had brought almost all the gifts into my life through them, just as I had asked!  God is my friend, he will never leave my side, and because of his great love he brings beauty into my life. Beauty like friendship.

Our weekend was full. We did a lot of planning for Agape. I learned new things about myself and about my sisters. I learned that I will always need others to walk beside me. I learned that God is calling me to step into a place of service for him that requires me to walk beside others and never leave. 

Jesus, this is what you do and your Spirit is rooted deep within me so we will walk together.  Say That Again,  we are walking together!