Shalom

Shalom is the Hebrew word understood around the world to mean "peace," but that is only one small part of the meaning...

Hebrew words convey feeling, intent and emotion. Shalom is more then just simply peace; it is a complete peace. It is a feeling of contentment, completeness, wholeness, well being and harmony.

According to Strong's Concordance 7965 Shalom means completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord. Shalom comes from the root verb shalom meaning to be complete, perfect and full. 

Keeping this in mind, when Jesus says  "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid" in John 14:27 He is saying I leave with you completeness,  rest, contentment and fullness..

This morning I heard Him whisper to me "be at peace dear daughter... Shalom, be complete, content, and rest, bring my fullness to where I have placed you, be my light, my energy, my love, my flavour, right now, right where you are at."

Are you at peace? Are you continent, complete, full, and at rest? We need to first be this before we can bring shalom to the world around us. 

The same Spirit that empowered Jesus is at work in you, producing His fruit of peace (continent, completeness, fullness) and just as an apple tree bears fruit to be enjoyed by others, so do we produce (by the Spirit) peace, contentment, fullness, and completeness for the enrichment and enjoyment of everything and everyone around us!

A Meditation on Psalm 1:1-3

(Psalm 1:1-3 AMP)

BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather.  - I think the question here for me is who are my closest friends, my inner circle, who I spend the majority of my time with? Do they encourage me to walk in the way of The Lord? Or do they distract and encourage me to walk in the way of my own selfishness?

But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night. - What is the law of the  Lord? Love, to love God and people. I hear a call to mediate on the love of God, so that it can saturate our minds and hearts and then we will love Him and people.

And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity]. - As we surround ourselves with brothers and sisters that can encourage and challenge us, and mediate on the deep deep love of our Father for us, we will in time bear fruit. Note that we will bear fruit in its season, my understanding is that there are than seasons when we are drinking in the water (the Spirit), soaking in the sun (the love of God), and growing (in our identities as children of the Father) before we will be in "season" to produce fruit. Like fruit trees, we have cycles - seasons of growth and seasons of bearing fruit. 

Where are you at right now? Are you being encouraged and challenged in The Way? Or are you being distracted and encouraged to walk in your own way? If you are, start by finding one person that can be an encourager in The Way for you and meet with them once a week for coffee, chat, and prayer, for some much needed soul care.

Are you spending time drinking in the Spirit, soaking in the love of God, in prayer and praise? Or are you thirsty, hungry and tired? If you are feeling grey, remember Jesus promises to give all who are weary rest, so turn to Him, now!

Do not stress about "bearing fruit" your only role in the process is to abide (being in fellowship with other believers, studying the Word, praying and praising The Lord), Holy Spirit will take care of the rest, producing in you His fruit,  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, and self-control...

 

Really Great News!

God wants to adopt you into His family. If you have said yes, this means you are now fully and completely accepted by Him as a daughter or son! Now there is nothing that can ever ever separate you from His family, you are and will forever be His beloved child, no matter how far you run away from Him, or what kind of insults you hurl at His face, He will come find you, He will wait patiently for you to come home (depending on what He knows you need, some need to run away from home and be chased, while other need to be left to come home on their own terms). Oh what a gracious and merciful father we have! Not only are we forever His child and Him our Father, but He also will take care of us, providing for us, and even blessings us with good gifts, so we have nothing to fear or worry about because our dad is the King of the universe!

Oh this is really GREAT NEWS!

I praise your name King Jesus, thank you for making away for us to come into the family! Amen YES! :)

Please Forgive and Help Us

Day 19 - please help and forgive us... forgive and help? 

Please. Jesus, yes I need your help, and I do know I need your forgiveness, but the seriousness of my offences, my responsibility in it does not run deep in my mind and heart. I know that I need forgiveness, because that is what the church and Bible tells me....

but I confess that I have a sense of entitlement to your forgiveness, like "yeah of course Jesus forgives me." I really really get that I need help, and I kind of forget about your forgiveness because in the back of my mind I think, I am asking for help and if you would only help me... That's not quite right, but somthing like that, I do not have a true sense of the gravity of my sins nor my responsibility. 

Please Jesus give me a fresh revelation of my sin so that I can go deeper in my revelation of how much you have forgiven, and how deep your love is for me. Amen

You do not deserve God's forgiveness, He has given it to you because He is a perfectly gracious, merciful, and loving God. You deserved eternal death and punishment, but Jesus' sacrifice on the cross took your punishment and offers you forgiveness and reconciliation with God, praise The Lord! Never never forget that it is nothing you have done, because you actually do what condemns yourself, but He has made the way you! It is all for, from and in Jesus, praise His Name! Amen

Straight up Jesus

Where there is life there is love, where there is love there is Jesus.
Saviour of love, joy, and peace. He has come to earth as a baby boy, born into a manger, into the margins.
He died as an outcast, a criminal, rejected, shamed, a cursed!
But that is not the end of His story, or ours, PRAISE GOD, because Jesus was raised up from the grave, out of death to be crowned King of kings and Lord of lords.
Through His broken body, spilled blood, and resurrection we are more than conquers!
I have, you have, we have power over death and sin, we have new life! Praise His Name forever and ever...
Amen!?

Pain and Suffering

The devotional I am reading is Journey to the Cross: Readings & Devotions for Lent © 2013 by Providence Church.

Day 18

"Jesus’ death does not take away our suffering, but it gives profound meaning and purpose to it."

- OK this sounds great and all, very old man wise like... but is it true? 

I think so, now I may not have suffered compared to others, but in my own context I have endured my own pain and hardships, and I know that those have either driven me into the arms of Jesus, creating in me a deeper faith, peace and trust in Him OR it has caused me to run and fall flat on my face causing in the end even more pain and suffering. So it is a choice, I need to chose to run to Jesus in times of trial, whether that is loosing a loved one, being rejected because of my faith, being stressed and anxious about money issues or the temptation to do things I know are unhealthy for me. In everything we all have a choice, to either allow God to use our suffering to shape, stretch and grow us OR to let it make us bitter and angry people. We have a choice life OR death, I urge you dear brothers and sisters CHOSE LIFE! 

So now is the time to get personal. How are you currently experiencing pain, hardship, and suffering? Are you choosing to run to Jesus and allow Him to use it for your good? OR are you getting angry and bitter (trust me this is a really tempting way to go)? How do you think God could be using your hardship to shape you? How are you preventing Him from doing so? Get out of His way, let Him into the pain, and He promises to give you new life! 

Note: it is not by escaping the hard stuff but it by going through the hard stuff with Him that you will live, even if you feel like you are dyeing.

Consider James’ exhortation to those who suffer: “Count  it all  joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And  let  steadfastness have its  full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4).

Lent Reflections: Day 17

It has been requested that I start blogging again... You want to hear my thoughts!? OK! Haha

I have been following a devotional for the Lent season, so my blogs mostly will be quick little reflections on those...

Day 17


Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. The
Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. I shall not die, but
I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord. The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
[SELECTED VERSES FROM PSALM 118]

Jesus has set us FREE, He has given us LIFE! OK yeah I have heard that before... when I stop to think of how I can "recount", give testimony, to his deeds in my life, there are many, and I mean a lot! But when I think of death and life, him being my strength and my song, I start to realize that I am in to many ways walking in ways that are death (yes sin, but it is more then that, unhealthy (physical, emtotional, and spiritual) patterns that are killing me!). In fact I may be walking in more death then life? Praise The Lord that he is faithful to us and will continue to save us from death, just call upon his name and he will help you (whether it is physical, emotional, or spiritual death patterns) right now! Furthermore, I was thinking is HE my strength and song? And again, waaay to often I am my own strength (that's not working out so well for me) and I try to find other things (friends, beer, chocolate, having a good time) to be my joy (song) and oh that is not sustainable because they all will let me down sooner or later, they don't bring me lasting joy or a true deep in my soul forever and ever joy! Only the Spirit can do that, since one of his fruits in our lives is JOY!

OK so ask yourself am I walking in any death patterns? If you are (and most of us are) call on Jesus and ask him to save you once again, because he has given you freedom and life, so let's walk in it!
Next ask yourself (now be really honest with yourself, it doesn't work if you lie) who or what is my strength and song? Is it working for you? Even if it is, I am warning eventually if it is not God, it will crash and burn. So once again ask Jesus to save you, and ask him to produce his good fruits in you.

I know that this might sound a little obvious, but I think often we miss the obvious. So stop, take some time to read the Word and talk to Jesus, ask yourself these questions, reflect on them, then pray and praise him for your salvation! Repeat repeat repeat...

Jesus, thank you for saving me from death, giving me life and joy. I confess I am walking in some death patterns, I try to be in control not trusting you to be my strength, and look to so many things other than you to be my source of joy. Please forgive me. Thank you for your forgiveness, thank you that you are quick to show us mercy. Jesus you are forever faithful, you stick with us, you do complete the good works you have began in us! Oh praise you holy gracious name! Help us to keep our eyes fixed on you so that we can walk in freedom and life! We love you Jesus because you first loved us, thank you. Amen