Refreshing....Renewal.....

I can remember in younger years thinking that it would be so great to take a respite in a spa somewhere in Hot Springs, AK..or the like....A place where you could pamper yourself physically and simply relax your mind....

HOW AWESOME that my Father has provided a constant, daily - even hourly renewal and refreshing of body, soul and spirit...and it doesn't cost me a dime, and I don't have to travel cross-country to get this...it is delivered (free shipping) to my door upon request.....

Ephesians 4:23-24 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

(What does the picture have to do with this? Absolutely nothing - I just like it)

Amazing Grace

As I "Googled" certain ministers of the Gospel who preach GRACE rather than legalism, I found exactly what I thought I'd find: Criticism and Name Calling (False Prophets).

This makes me a bit sad.

Grace is not a popular message. People would much rather be given a set of rules to follow - a standard to measure against. And if we accept the Gospel of Grace, it takes away our "scales" on which we measure another believer's "credibility." (God forbid that we should relax our stone throwing arms!). And if the believer cannot stand (in our sight) then the poor unbeliever has no chance at all.....

We are a people/society that has been birthed (physically) and nurtured on the "do's and don'ts" of society and the 10 commandments. Rules and regulations, we love them. It is foreign to us to even try to undertand that a person could be driven/compelled to do what is right unless we first point out to them what is WRONG.....

Grace doesn't work that way. The new covenant of Christ doesn't work that way. 

Do you realize that Jesus was beaten to the point that his internal organs were exposed so that we would NOT have to be bound by rules and regulations? Good works count for nothing.

Now, no doubt some will be "rising up" right now and thinking that I am endorsing "license" to sin....No, my friend, not at all....hear what the Apostle Paul says, and I agree

"For the love of Christ compels (to be "compelled" is to be driven/directed/guided) us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh (We cannot make an assumption about any person based on what we SEE). Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;old things have passed away  (we are compelled to do NEW things...things that follow after the teachings of Christ and the Scriptures); behold, all things have become new.  Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,  that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.  For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. "      2 Cor 5:14-21 - (words in italics are MINE and meant to be emphatic - not adding to).

Grace. Not works. Lest we brag (or condemn).

LOVE compells us to follow Christ, and love alone. GRACE is how we obtain that love. Grace alone.

No, Grace preaching is not popular. And although that makes me a bit sad, I know that God is in control...His Word will accomplish what He sent it to do (The WORD became Flesh)...through Grace.....regardless of the critics....Amen, and Amen.

(the picture may appear to have nothing to do with the writing, but when I painted this last year I entitled it,  "We are His Masterpiece - He applies the Blood"...hope that makes sense.)

Yes, OH YES.

A couple of years back, I had to make some major decisions...I had to let go of the things I held on to for comfort...I began a journey and it started with one step. I walked into a life where nothing was my own...resources depleted...and I stood before God an empty vessel...I had no where else to turn...The rigors and inconveniences of the life I led for 12 months were beyond what some would be willing to accept/do/commit to finish...I stood with my emptied out self and I refused to look back...I held my hands out until God took them in His...and He did...Today I forgo some of the things that others would think they have to have..but my life is full to overflowing...my needs are more than met and my wants are sometimes given to me before I ask....Was the "sacrifice" worth it?...There is not a "YES" that would echo far enough and loud enough sufficiently answer....I don't know what else to say. ~vsw 

Know Who You Are....

Lucifer had no power in Eden. None. He could not "mess it up." It wasn't in his power to touch a thing in the garden. Nothing. Man was in charge. It was "Adamville, Incorporated." Not one street light could be put up without Adam's seal of approval. Adam ruled. Adam ran the show. Adam was The Godfather (or in the case, The Godson)...

So how in Adam's name did it all go south?? (and by the way, why is it when bad things happen we say things "went south"?..being a southerner by birth and now by choice, I really don't like this.....but I digress)

Strategy, my friends. Trickery.

Satan wasn't really sure that Eve had been informed of her "status." I mean, Adam WAS in charge...and he MAY have told her about the authority thing..he MAY have told her she was created just a little lower than אלהים 'Elohiym...but maybe he HADN'T told her....It was worth a shot, huh?

So decked out in his Sunday best...looking like the Fred Astaire of the Garden....Satan sidles on up to Eve and strikes up an interesting conversation.

"My, my, Miss Eve, you are looking as lovely as usual on this fine Eden afternoon!" He bows to her.

"Well, thank you kind sir!" she batts her eyelashes, "I'm sorry, I don't believe we have met?"

"Indeed?" Satan asks, "Perhaps we have not, but I am fast friends with your husband, Adam. We worked on our thesis' together at the University." (remember, he is a LIAR)

"Oh, well then, any friend and colleague of Adam's......." Eve relpies coyly.

By this time, I imagine that they were strolling through the trees. Satan stops her at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He points out its beauty and says it's one of his favorites. He probably added that he and God had often shared it's fruit together. (At which point he reaches up and plucks of a succulant apple/pear/plum...)

Holding the fruit in his hand and extolling its goodness, he offers her a taste.

"Oh, no! I couldn't!" she stammers...."God said we could not eat from this tree!"

"Oh really???" I'm sure he winked at her here, "That God! He's a little dramatic at times. I've known Him a long, long time, and the truth is, He knows if you eat this fruit, you'll be as smart as Him. You will in fact, be LIKE Him."

Guys, at this point, Eve should have said, "Look, Dude. You don't know what you're talking about. I AM like God." (A little lower, but in the image and likeness)

Satan took a chance with Eve. He was speculating. He gambled on her NOT knowing the truth.

So, she took a bite.

Adam came home, saw the damage done, copped out, and HE took a bite.

At that point, and that point ONLY, was Satan given any authority over the Garden and its inhabitants.

Adam and Eve handed him the keys to the city. Mankind had fallen. Satan ruled.

It's a sad story of deceit and ignorance on Eve's part, but thank God, it doesn't end here.

Some centuries later, Jesus provided the avenue of redemption. He bought back, with His Blood, what man lost in the garden. Through Him, man is restored to his rightful place. Complete authority reinstated.

If you are in Christ, then Satan has no more authoity over you now, than he had over Eve BEFORE she bit into that fruit. He (Satan) will lie to you at every turn and try to convince you that he has more strength, more power, and more ability than you could possibly have. He is a LIAR. Always has been. Always will be. And that's all he is.

You are BOUGHT with a price.

Satan is UNDER your feet.

Don't let him trick you the way he tricked Eve.

You hear?

HOPE

"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

Can I just ask you this....If you belong to Him, I mean if you KNOW that you KNOW that you KNOW that you belong to Him, then why do you worry? (I f I need to wikipedia the word "worry" I can do that)

When I became a Child of the King, I became an heir to all that this implies. Joint-heirs with Jesus. And guys, it's not "pie in the sky" stuff...it's here and now stuff. It's not, "some glad morning, when this life is over, I'll fly away" stuff....it's December 21, 2011 stuff.

God is on the Throne. God is my father. God created the heavens and the earth. He owns it ALL, and because I am His child, it's all mine as well. You don't have to believe that, but your unbelief doesn't nullify fact.

We sing that Jesus could have called ten thousand angels. Same is true for us.

Do you think my Father wants me to worry about my future? In fact, did He not instruct us NOT to worry? I have a feeling that the devil would love to occupy our time working out solutions to all the coming woes of this civilization - as long as he keeps us from proclaiming Christ.

It is a natural thing for mankind to be concerned about his physical needs....and here's a clue....the word "NATURAL."

We are no longer of this world. We are IN this world, but not of this world. The "natural" is not our nature anymore.

We were never intended to live with our concern being focused on the physical...however, we have been conditioned by society to put physical needs first....It is up to US to change the way we think about this thing...it won't happen automatically.

We are 1/3 physical and 2/3 spiritual. We are not bodies with a spirit. We are Spirits wearing physical suits in order to live in a foreign environment.

I'm here to hold out HOPE. And when I say HOPE, I don't mean something you can "wish" for - I mean something God has promised. This is the Hope He gives....that if we are IN Him, we do not have to fear the future. Period. He owns it all, and He is going to take care of His children.

So....the message is not "the sky is falling!" (sorry to those who don't know the gloom and doom of Chicken Little) "hurry up and take cover"....the message is: He WILL supply all our needs according to HIS riches.

Now, why would I doubt this? Why would you?

We live in a high stress world - but we don't have to buy the lie. My Father owns the cattle on 1000 hills...He owns the hills...He CREATED the hills. Me worry? Nah.

The true URGENCY...the thing the devil doesn't want us to see...is the need to share the message of Christ to a world who does not know Him. Because in the long run guys....that is all that will ever really matter.

The Walk

There is a charming little man

Who loves to take me walking through the garden of my memories.

And he points to golden sunsets

 and sunrises the color of Jonagold apples….

He begs me pick a basket full of prolific wistfulness.

But I refuse

I will not hold his hand however much he beckons

For it is a sad enough fact that I uncloak my royalty and agree to walk with him at all.

He whimpers when I leave him, walk unfinished

For he knows that I have seen beneath his charm

And have returned to Father’s House.

My Future Husband

There is a man walking through life just as I,

With eyes on God, he lets his humanity show…

Asking Father if he will allow his latter years

To be blessed with the mate of Father’s choosing…

He isn’t looking, but his eyes are open to movement.

He isn’t longing,

 but he knows that holding hands can soothe

He doesn’t feel empty.

But he knows that overflow is priceless

And so he walks alone, content

Knowing that when the fullness of time has come,

God will lead him to me.