dam release

Shower of Blessings

I remember days of thinking, “Oh no – I still have to blog!” So I would stay up later, put something else aside and often force something out. I’m definitely not finding that pressure in this season of life but instead a desire to share some of the deeper things God has been showing me.

This message from my personal journals is a great example. I was surprised to have this be as if I were speaking compared to His usual direct way and felt it should be shared.

“When we build walls – we think we are protecting ourselves, but we really are building a dam that also keeps His blessing from pouring out. It’s not that blessings stop, but the wall/dam holds them back. It’s not until we dare to break down the wall and destroy the dam that we will see the fullness He’s been releasing consistently. It’s not God’s nature to withhold but we are not always ready or willing to receive. He is patient and knows the time will come when our hearts are ready and we can walk in the fullness of His treasure. Much of it is up to us when we dare to tear down our man-made structure and allow God to rebuild.”

No good thing does God withhold from those who walk uprightly. (Psalm 84:11)

Are you ready to break down those walls and dismantle the dam?

The heavens have been opened through Jesus…there is no need for His fullness and blessings to be held behind any wall or dam.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Ephesians 1:3

Lord, we repent for building walls and dams that limit Your work in and through our lives. Today we come to tear them down so nothing further will separate us from You. And when we find another boulder going into place, let us recognize it so we can move it out of the way!

thanks in all things

 

1 Thessalonians 1 – ¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Seems like a mighty tall order and I ponder and ask,
“Am I doing this?”
“What does this mean to my life?”

What does it really look like to –
REJOICE ALWAYS?
PRAY CONTINUALLY?
GIVE THANKS IN ALL?

Then to read further that it’s God’s will…which says to me it’s not just a suggestion.

I think of John 10:10 – the bad of the thief or the abundance of God – where will we focus?Some may feel we need to rejoice, pray and thank for the bad in our lives. Which it does bring character, strength and more. But I feel Paul is saying for us to remember always God’s promises, His words of encouragement and Christ’s victory at the cross.

I think this verse brings some great leftovers to continue this Thanksgiving week.
May your days be filled with His goodness and grace! God’s blessings to you and yours.

Jesus prays for glory

 

For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. Isaiah 60:2

Jesus Prays to Be Glorified

17 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³ Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. ⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

⁶ “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. ⁸ For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. ⁹ I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰ All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. ¹¹ I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. ¹² While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

¹³ “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. ¹⁴ I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. ¹⁵ My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Jesus Prays for All Believers

²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

²⁵ “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

John 17

 

glory to all

holy and blameless

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

This verse may be deeply implanted to keep you humble since you’re only human right?

When this verse is used by itself, it keeps us in an identity of shame and unworthiness which is not of God. Jesus came to set us FREE! As with most verses, there is much more to the story.

The discussion was on the law and Jew and Gentile – that there was not one group worthy and making the others outcasts.

Jesus did not die for some – but for ALL.
It’s not that only the good people are created in His image, but ALL.
Grace isn’t just for those in need or who are humble, but for ALL.
Jesus didn’t surrender to the cross just for those “predestined” but for ALL. 

Many will not receive this gift, many seem beyond His reach or ours, but the truth remains that Jesus wants to see ALL come to the saving knowledge of His truth.

And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Romans 3:24-26

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Romans 6:4

 

 

For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. Romans 11:36

Thank you Lord that when we receive Your good and perfect gift of grace, we are made new! We are no longer sinners but saints. We might sin, but that is no longer our nature or our identity. The old is dead and the new eternal life starts here on this earth and will reach it’s fulfillment when You return. We are no longer just human – we are one with You and called redeemed! Thank You for these precious gifts!

be strong

Sword is the Word

A Fight to the Finish
And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.
Ephesians 6:10-12 MSG

conform or transform

One of my most impacting verses…

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2 NIV

I’ve prayed in these verses for years and still love how they challenge me. I kind of liked my mind before and was learning to conform well. But oh what wonderful things happen when you give up what you are comfortable with or what seems good to get God’s much better perspective!

Renewing is a continual process – not a once and done thing. And transformed – means a dramatic change in form, appearance or character. When I first “came to Jesus” my life still looked pretty conformed to the rest of the world. Now is a different kind of messy that is definitely dramatically different!!

The first circle encaustic painting (wax w/oil pigment) was later melted and transformed.

Blues

Wings

What does this speak to you today?

To me it says – “Don’t settle for a pretty puddle when God wants to give you wings!”

fullness in Christ

Swims – mixed media

What does it mean to have Christ dwell in us?
How does it change us?
Have we really received His fullness?

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Colossians 1:19-20

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. Colossians 2:9

Fullness has been strong in my mind as I read and pray so I have stayed in Colossians asking – What are You trying to show me Lord?

Some sense a lack of God’s fullness and attention, maybe feeling unworthiness or it has to be earned. And I examine myself and see I too can see life from that perspective and it’s not what His word says or His message of grace…

How GREAT is our Fathers love!

Now you know why I don’t post all of my journals here :0)

full hearts

New Discovery

What are you pondering in your heart?

Luke has several areas on the heart that are catching my attention.

Mary – treasuring and pondering the words spoken about her son Jesus. Luke 2
Jesus – knows the thoughts, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Luke 5

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Luke 6:45

The parable of seed and soil is about the heart. Luke 8

Love the Lord your God with all your heart… Luke 10:25

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Luke 12

It’s not about what you know, where you go, how others see you, what you own, where you live, how much you can memorize – it’s about your heart…

He loves you BEYOND measure!
Will you love Him back the same way?

like a river

Garden Flow

Sometimes you just need to go with the song in your head…

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Horatio Spafford

ahhh the moon

In the Distance III

You may have noticed I don’t keep up with the news in a timely manner. I did get to see the blood moon on Sunday. Our clouds parted like a curtain to let us enjoy the show. I left the fabulous photography to those with extreme equipment but even two days later, I can still picture it in my mind.

What things do you remember each day?

We all have rough sections in the journey but there are bright spots we need to hold onto. God moments that bring an “ahhh” of refreshing. Those are the times we need to keep in the forefront as we press on through this thing called life.

The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
you call forth songs of joy.
Psalm 65:8

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
John 16:33