Back to Trust

Trust in the Lord your God with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5

Just when I think I'm trusting God with all my heart, He points out to me that there are a few details in my life that need a little work. Just a few!

I have felt some pressure in my chest over a particular topic lately and I am realizing that trust factors into it. But, I don't really know exactly how....

I  know that when my heart get hurts it takes a long time for it to recover. I do not trust easily again.

I know that when my heart hurts it takes a long time for me to sort it all out, and I want to be alone.

I  know that when my heart hurts, I loose my words.  I hear God tell me that He will bring them back to me I just need to be patient.

I  know that God binds up every wound. He heals every broken heart. He brings reconciliation to loved ones.

I  know that God builds trust in those that love Him. He has healed me by His stripes and His victory is mine.

I  know that as I pray to God, Jesus, and His Spirit, he will continue to reveal to me His truth and He will cover me with comfort, healing, power, and strength.

I know that God continually points me to trust. Am I going to trust that He will work it out? Am I going  to press into Him? Am I going to believe Him? Am I going to walk in His victory? Am I going to live in His healing power? Am I going to trust that He will provide a trustworthy Body?

I will say YES.

Say That Again! 

The Faith of a Friend

A crowd gathered, jamming the entrance so no one could get in or out. He was teaching the Word. They brought a paraplegic to Him, carried by four men. When they weren't able to get in because of the crowd, they removed part of the roof and lowered the paraplegic on his stretcher. Impressed by their bold belief, Jesus said to the paraplegic, "Son, I forgive your sins." Mark 2: 2-5

Jesus continues to bring this story to my mind, and the words, "Rise up, and walk." The man on the stretcher was healed and Jesus told him to rise up and walk.  Another pivotal moment in this story is when his friends decided to actually pick up his stretcher and carry him to Jesus, but that's not all! I find it even more compelling when they got to the house, saw that it was far too crowded for them to enter, yet because of their faith they carried their friend to the roof, cut a hole in the roof, and lifted him down through the hole to Jesus!  Because of the faith of the paraplegics friends, he was taken on a stretcher, to the roof, through a hole, down to Jesus, and told that his sins were forgiven, then told to    rise up and walk! 

The significance of a friend's faith in my walk is beyond measure! 

When two or three are gathered together, there is strength.  I know that when I am feeling weak, I can go to my friend for love and encouragement.  Her faith can lift me up and hold me in times of weakness. She can speak words of blessing and life over me and remind me that God has given me the power to RISE UP and WALK.  She can carry me to Jesus when I do not have strength and she can bring me before him in prayer.  I can do the same for my friends when there is need.  My faith can be a sturdy shelter that holds them before Jesus for healing.

So, again I am praising Jesus for His Words to me, RISE UP and WALK, for I am understanding that there are many connections to these words.

Jesus, Say That Again to me, I will continue to listen to you.

Rise up and Walk

This last weekend I went with a friend to a weekend retreat. It was good. I enjoyed it mostly because I had a lot of time alone with Jesus.  I was able to take a long afternoon hike to the top of a rock and sit in the sun. I read my Bible, prayed, and journaled. Lately, every time I pray, God has been saying one main thing, "Rise up, and walk" ! 

 I have felt mystified by His statement. But then, I realized this evening, that He is telling me that I am completely adequate in Him.  There is nothing that will ever hold me back, because He resides within my heart, NOTHING! 

Just like the man that was lowered through the roof  so Jesus could heal him. Then Jesus told him to take up his bed and walk. There was nothing that could hold that man back, he was healed and he was ready to go! Jesus  had restored him, renewed him, and certainly revived him!  Can you imagine how he must have felt? He got up off his bed and he walked, just like that! 

Rise up and walk! Every step is a next step of faith. And, I have to RISE UP AND WALK right into that step of faith. I will do it because He is calling me. 

He has restored the brokenness. He has renewed and revived the broken-hearted and brought His Spirit of completion. He never stops working to show me the areas to surrender to Him. What a Mighty God I have! Each day I will Rise up and Walk with Him and I know it will be good. 

Say That Again, My Jesus, Rise up and Walk!

Women of God-part 2

All of these women are Warriors for Jesus, filled with His Spirit. Every one of us have the voice of the Spirit within us, and He uses us to spread the WORD of His kingdom. It is good.
He uses me to teach both female and male, to pray for them, love them, prophecy over them, and minister to them. I know this because His Spirit is within me, and it is His Spirit that is working through me and speaking through me, using me, and each of these women. It is the Spirit using my husband, and my children, creating us as equals under the Head, which is Christ.

 Old Testament prophetes and judge Deborah, led Israel. There were a lot of men in Israel. She was a Warrior women.
There were other women prophets as well: Miriam, Huldah, Noadiah, and Isaiah's wife.
In the New Testament I encountered more women prophetesses:  Philips daughters. Philip was an evangelist and he had four daughters with the gift of prophecy.
I also love the story of the Women at the well. After she left Jesus, she went back to her town and taught the people there everything that she had learned. It was because of her the town became convicted. She was used to teach many men!
Before God, men and women are equal. We both have His Spirit within us, and we both are used to speak, to teach, to love, to be used for His Kingdom.
What do you think?