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Posts Tagged ‘truth’

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The Lord himself goes before you

and will be with you;

he will never leave you

nor forsake you.

Do not be afraid;

do not be discouraged.”

~Deuteronomy 31:8

Hello.

It is January 1, 2020.

Who knew we’d make it this far?

Who knew our heart

would still be beating this long?

God. 

God did.

And for that reason we rest.

And for that reason we trust. 

And for that reason we unclench our fists

and let go of control.

(What are we trying to control anyway…?)

During the past 365 days of 2019

How Many Times

did we get our own heart to beat?

Zero.

We did absolutely nothing to cause it to beat…

Yet here we are.

Here we are.

God has already gone before us

into 2020

and prepared our days.

He has prepared our moments

He has prepared our lives.

He took care of us yesterday

He will take care of us today

He will take care of us tomorrow.

So do not fear.

One of His Names is Jehovah El Roi,

The God Who Sees Me…..

even me.

He is that Big. 

He is that Good. 

Hello New Year. 

Hello 2020.

I need not fear.

God Himself has gone before me. 

Sigh…..

(Thank You Precious LORD)

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monochrome photo of a homeless man

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“Let the stable still astonish;

Straw, dirt floor, dull eye;

Dusty flanks of donkeys, oxen;

Crumbling, crooked walls;

No bed to carry that pain;

And then, the child;

Rag-wrapped, laid to cry;

In a trough,

Who would have chosen this?

Who would have said:

“Yes,

Let the God of all the Heavens and Earth

Be born here in this place?”

Who but the same God

Who stands in the darker, fouler rooms

of our hearts

and says,

‘Yes.’

Let the God of Heaven and Earth be

Born Here…”

~Jan Karon

The Christmas story makes no sense to human beings.

Here is not just

A god,

but THE GOD

Who Created The Universe,

Choosing to be born in a barn.

Yet the filthy,

foul smelling,

contaminated room

He chose to be birthed in

Compares not

To the depraved,

nefarious rooms

In our hearts

That He wishes to occupy.

He wishes to dwell in our hearts,

So that we may also

Experience a birth as well.

A New birth of our heart.

Who IS this GOD who does this?

Who IS this God that chooses us?

He is TOO GREAT to comprehend,

work out,

grasp,

fathom…

Who is THIS GOD

And What is His Name?

Wonderful.

Counselor.

Ever-Lasting God.

Prince of Peace.

I AM.

Jesus.

His Name is Jesus…

 

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man sitting on street

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Are you tired?

Worn out?

Burned out on religion?

Come to me.

Get away with me

And you’ll recover your life.

I’ll show you how to take a real rest.

Walk with me,

And work with me,

Watch how I do it.

~Matthew 11 The Message Bible

So let God work His will in you.

Yell a loud No to the devil

And watch him scamper.

Say a quiet Yes to God

And He’ll be there in no time.

Quit dabbling in sin.

Purify your inner life.

Quit playing the field.

Hit bottom

And cry your eyes out.

The fun and games are over.

Get serious,

Really serious.

Get down on your knees before the Master,

It’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.

~James 4 The Message Bible

Casting all your cares,

All your anxieties,

All your worries,

And all your concerns,

All on Him.

For He cares about you

With deepest affection.

And watches over you very carefully.

~1 Peter 5 The Message Bible

Trust God from the bottom of your heart,

Don’t try to figure out everything on your own.

Listen for God’s voice in everything you do,

Everywhere you go.

He’s the One who will keep you on track.

Don’t assume that you know it all.

~Proverbs 3 Amplified Bible

 God told them,

“I’ve never quit loving you

And never will.

Expect love,

Love,

And more love!

And so now,

I’ll start over with you,

And build you up again…

 You’ll resume your singing,

Grabbing tambourines

And joining the dance.

~Jeremiah 31:3 The Message Bible

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Grace Alone…

pharisee-

“Not everyone who calls out to me,

‘Lord! Lord!’

will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Only those who actually do the will

 of my Father in heaven

will enter.

 On judgment day

many will say to me,

‘Lord! Lord!

We prophesied

in your name

and cast out demons

in your name

and performed many miracles

in your name.’

 But I will reply,

‘I never knew you.

Get away from me,

you who break God’s laws.’

~Matthew 7: 21-23

These religious people repeated to God

what they did.

They thought themselves

so important

and their works

so important

that they had to tell God Almighty

exactly their worth

based on their works. 

They didn’t know Grace. 

They didn’t acknowledge

the precious work

of Jesus 

on the cross,

but instead spoke of

 their own work

to Him. 

As if His work

wasn’t quite enough. 

God’s answer to them?

~Get away from me

you pharisees,

you who break

my law of Grace. 

I never knew you.

Bottom line. 

It’s Grace and Grace Alone.

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God has many names.

Many  names.

He is Jehovah Nissi,

My Victory.

Jehovah Rapha,

My Healer.

Jehovah Shalom,

My Peace.

Jesus called Him Father.

But lately,

We have needed

The God-of-Angel-Armies.

So that is the Name I cry out to.

We’ve needed a

Warrior God,

A Rush-To-Our-Defense-God,

 An I-Will-FIGHT-For-You-God.

And that is the name I call upon.

Whenever I cry out,

‘Oh God-Of-Angel-Armies come to our rescue!’

He Does.

I INSTANTLY feel His Presence.

Instantly.

We’ve felt such a need for a Redeemer,

For an All-Conquering,

All-Powerful,

Fearsome Warrior,

So I cry out and He is near…

I feel Him by my side…

Yes, the Holy Spirit dwells within me

and comforts me,

But He is also the one that quickens me

with the Name of God that we need for the moment.

And recently He has told me

God-Of-Angel-Armies…

Think of that name.

Lord-of-Hosts,

God-Of-Angel-Armies….

Angel ARMIES…

Mighty to Save…

All-Powerful!

CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH!!!

Who is like Him?

NO ONE!!! 

Not one single person or thing.

He is Great,

And Greatly To Be Praised.

That is the God I’ve been talking with lately.

That is the God I’ve been walking with lately.

That is the God Who has been showing me

situations, people and things around me

to pray about and to pray for.

He is the same God my mother used to pray to

and her mother used to pray to

and her mother’s mother,

and on and on.

With that legacy behind me

how can I not call out to

The Name Above All Names,

Who comes to our rescue?

God-Of-Angel Armies

is right by my side.

lightning in land

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Gods Annointing comes from crushed oil

I have a choice.

Because I have a voice I have a choice.

I can choose the easy way with little to no pain

and more comfort,

or I can choose a harder way which produces more pain,

but Character Growth.

~If I had the opportunity to choose what kind of life

I would be given before I was born,

I would’ve chosen a life

where the road was smooth.

Where the path was easy…

I would never have chosen heartache and grief.

No,

I would have planned my life

very carefully and purposefully

with little to no suffering involved…

~Good thing I wasn’t in charge...

The heartache I encountered

actually made my heart softer...

The suffering I shivered thru

gave me empathy…

The abandonment I experienced

made me look towards the lonely…

If you think about it,

the sweetest part of a peach

is actually the part that is bruised.

The bruise produced the sugar…

The crushing of the olive

produces the oil,

and the oil heals…

The oil heals.

How would I know what True Love feels like

without knowing rejection?

How would I know what Peace feels like

if I had never touched war?

I am Grateful for my scars.

I am Grateful for the times

my heart quivered inside me from doubt.

How would I know the Deliverer

if I’d never needed delivering?

  ~Am I through being crushed?

I hope not. 

I pray not.

Is it fun?

Absolutely not. 

But the fragrance that comes from a rose

when it’s petals are smashed

is Beautiful.

And one day,

when I am old and gray,

I want to be the most fragrant crushed flower

that produces healing…

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green grass field

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The Bible says that we will cast our crowns at Jesus feet when we get to Heaven.

This act will be done out of gratitude for what He has done for us during our lives.

But here’s a question for you:

“What if our crowns are not made of jewels but instead

Made of our scars we accumulated here on earth?”

What if the crowns are our own Crown-of-Thorns that showed

How we overcame by the Blood of the Lamb

(Our salvation thru Jesus)

And the Word of our Testimony

(What we overcame with the help of Jesus?)

The Bible says that our thoughts are not His thoughts,

And our ways are not His ways,

But His thoughts and ways are higher than ours. Isaiah 58:8-9

~In other words, what we think is important is not what He thinks is important.

We deem cars and houses important and

He thinks human hearts and souls are important.

So the trials and tribulations we go thru here on earth

Are merely precious jewels of testimonies of how He helped us,

And are viewed thru completely

Different lenses in two different places.

In this life scars caused by trials are viewed with disdain,

But in the Heavenly Realm our scars are viewed as

Breathtakingly beautiful.

The difference is the lens.

The difference is the vantage point.

If we can see HOW God sees, then we would have perfect peace in our heart.

(Perfect Peace is the Peace-that-passes-understanding,

NOT the false peace that we get from the world.)

If we view hardships as God punishing us

And not loving us,

And if we view the rich people around us as

God loving them and blessing them because of their wealth

Then we will forever be forlorn,

We will forever feel abandoned

By our Heavenly Father.

And, we will view God as bad, not as loving.

What is Joy?

What is Peace?

Simple.

Joy and Peace equate to choosing the path of God

And trusting Him,

Even when it doesn’t make sense.

Why?

Because God is Good.

God is Good.

Never forget that everyone here on earth is walking towards some destination. Everyone.

No exceptions.

All of us are walking towards our Forever Home.

Our forever home is not earth,

If it was then we could talk to Abraham Lincoln

And all the others who lived before.

But we can’t, cause their dead.

They walked their journey here on earth,

Once-upon-a-time.

They each took their last breath here on earth

And took their next breath Over There,

In their Forever Home.

We each have had a choice to choose as we stood at the crossroads of life.

Just like they did.

The beauty of us,

The ones who are still alive,

Is we can still choose between two roads.

Our predecessors, who have died,

Can no longer choose…

Some sojourners, as they were walking, stepped off of the hard path

And began skating on the easier path of pleasure here on earth.

Nothing is wrong with pleasure,

But there are two types of pleasure, good and bad,

Just like there are two types of eternal homes, good and bad.

God refuses to be our puppet master, and allows us free-will to choose.

(Freedom-To-Choose.)

The choice is ours.

If we choose to go the more difficult way of the more narrow path of God,

Then odds are good, we will suffer scars, here on earth.

But those scars will turn into crowns in Heaven.

However, if we choose to reject God and go for the easier route here on earth,

Our reward will not be a Crown-of-Joy but instead

A Chain-of-Regret.

And both rewards are results of choices.

And both rewards are Forever.

The Bible says, ‘Choose you this day whom you will serve.’

Bob Dillon put it this way, “You gotta serve somebody”…

If you are reading this there is Tremendous Good News.

~It’s not too late for you.

Each day is a crossroad of decision.

As the new year begins and yesterday is but

A memory-vapor in-the-mind;

You can choose your Forever-Home.

You, like Abraham Lincoln,

(And the rest of the people who have gone before us,)

Will definitely live Somewhere

After your time here on earth is gone.

But it’s a choice, that you make today,

And if you are still alive tomorrow,

You will get the Beautiful Gift of another

Day-of-Choices.

The choice may bring scars with it.

But if you view your scars thru the lens of Eternity,

Than the scar might turn into a crown and

Bring you an Everlasting Joy.

(Smile)

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sheep looking at us

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found,

Leaves the ninety-nine

I couldn’t earn it,

And I don’t deserve it,

Still, You give Yourself away

 When I was Your foe,

Still Your love fought for me
You have been so, so good to me

When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me

You have been so, so kind to me

There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up

Coming after me

There’s no wall You won’t kick down

Lie You won’t tear down

Coming after me.

~Reckless Love

By Cory Asbury  

A while back Manny and I ran into someone we hadn’t seen in a while.

As this guy walked by I nudged Manny and said, ‘Isn’t that so-and-so?’

I almost didn’t recognize him because he looked kinda different…

Manny called him over to where we were sitting and he talked to us.

Very quickly it became clear why we didn’t recognize him at first.

His whole countenance had changed.

He walked into the room with his arm around a woman who wasn’t his wife.

Manny and I showed him Love and Manny gave him a hug,

But we both grew quiet.

We both knew what was going on.

  All day long my heart was heavy when I thought of our friend.

My knee-jerk reaction was anger.

But as I prayed about him the song ‘Reckless Love’ came to mind.

Our friend had wandered away.

He left the ninety-nine.

~I remember a day in my life when I too had left.

I was angry, not at God, but at the people that called themselves Christians.

   They spat at me (But God didn’t)

They turned their back on me, (But God didn’t) 

They spoke condemnation over me, (But God didn’t) 

God didn’t.

No,

God showed me such kindness

God showed me such goodness 

 That I had to come back to Him..

He came running, not walking,

But running after me.

I simply had to crumble into His arms..

How then could I show any less love to our friend?

  ‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.’ ~John 8:7

Why oh why do we so quickly forget that it is

God’s Kindness that leads us to repentance?  ~Romans 2:4

‘Even if you think you can stand up to temptation,

Be careful lest you fall’, ~1 Corinthians 10:12

Religion tells us to cluck our tongue at those we see in sin.

It tells us; ‘At least you haven’t done that!’

As if our sins are any better than the other guys sin…

In the eyes of God, all of our sins are equal.

His Great Love for us is not based upon our works,

He knew we could never be good enough

So He stepped down into earth

To walk with us,

To commune with us,

To take the punishment for our sins,

 So that we may be with Him.

He longs to be with us!

He leaves the ninety-nine to run after us.

Jesus runs after us

Scoops us into His arms,

Kisses us

And holds us close to His heart.

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found,

Leaves the ninety-nine.

 

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‘Try to stop Your Love, and You would wage a war

Try to take the very thing, You gave Your life for,

And You would come running, tear down every wall,

All the while shouting,

“My love you’re worth it all!”

No sin, no shame, no past, no pain

Can separate me from Your love,

No height, no depth, no fear, no death

Can separate me from Your love’

~Unstoppable Love

Kim Walker Smith

 Do you remember the scene in the ‘Last of the Mohicans’

Where Hawkeye is running to get Cora

And the drums are beating frantically in the background,

As he runs to rescue his love?

That is how God is towards you.

Do you know God Loves you?

Do you know God Enjoys you?

That God Listens to you?

And Hears you?

God Himself Sings over you?

Did you know that God Thinks about you all the time?

(All the time…)

‘His thoughts about you are more numerous than the sand on the seashore….’

(Psalm 139:18)

But No.

You probably didn’t know that.

And if you heard it before,

You just thought it was a kindly lie,

A pat on the back to make you feel better.

You’ve probably been told that even though you are a Christian,

God still holds your sins against you.

That He is counting up your wrong doings

One-by-one

As He holds His great Calculator-In-The-Sky,

That is adding up all your transgressions…

All your mistakes…

Listen. 

Let me tell you the Truth.

There is No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

God will Never speak condemnation to you.

He will only speak His Promises.

He doesn’t call you out.

He calls you up.

He calls you up to His Amazing Plans for you,

And He laughs while He is calling.

He laughs because His Great Plans for you

Are wrapped inside His Great Love for you….

His Great Love for you.

You.

You are Absolutely Priceless,

And how do I know?

Because the Price Jesus paid for you,

Is Greater than the universe itself..

“Try to stop Your Love,

and You would wage a war,

Try to take the very thing,

You gave Your life for,

And You would come running,

tear down every wall,

All the while shouting,

“My love you’re worth it all!”

 

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A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance:

But by sorrow of the heart

The spirit is broken.

~Proverbs 15:13

Have you ever seen someone pretend?

 Some people are good at pretending and some people aren’t.

 I’ve never been good at pretending.

Thats why I could never play poker…

 My face gives it away each time.

When I was a child I could pretend.

 As a child I lived in fantasy land and that was OK.

But, I guess my question is,

‘Have you ever seen a grown-up pretend?’

 Have you ever seen someone try to Fake it until you Make it?

 (I don’t think I’ve ever seen that one work…)

The Proverbs up above says,

‘A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance…

But by sorrow of the heart,

The spirit is broken…’

 Here’s two more questions:

What brings sorrow to the heart?

 Why is the heart sorrowful?

Have you ever had someone demand you dance when you didn’t want to?

‘Dance Damnit!

 Perform!

Do It!’

Do you remember the scene from Back to the Future III

Where the bad guy with the gun demands Marty McFly ‘dance!’

And he starts shooting at him so Marty dances…

Marty dances.

His face was full of fear,

But his feet were moving.

 If you want to see if someone is Truly Happy,

Look into their eyes.

The eyes are the window of the soul.

 A face can be smiling,

But the eyes never lie.

The eyes reflect the heart,

The heart reflects the soul,

And the soul yearns...

The soul yearns.

Here’s another question:

‘Have you ever seen someone whose eyes were so full of light

That you felt like a moth drawn to a flame

And you wanted to draw closer to them?’

That person is rare.

Extremely rare.

Maybe Once-Upon-A-Time you could find someone like that,

Back in the days when people had a heart to seek after God,

And weren’t distracted,

By flashing brilliant lights that make false promises,

Fake fulfillments…

Luring Lies.

But nowadays everyone walks around with a sad smile,

A question mark inside their eyes,

 A question mark inside their heart,

A question mark inside their soul...

Their face is laughing,

While their soul is crying…

They slip on the smiling mask,

While their eyes reflect,

The Sorrow of Their Heart.  

The Eyes can only reflect what is in the heart,

And the heart can only reflect what is in the soul,

And the longing of the soul can only be filled

With the Love of God,

And until that day comes…

People will wear The Mask

Pretending to be Ok…

Pretending to dance.

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