First Things First

Good morning friends and family,

I went to Jesus Culture last night, and I wanted to share with you what I heard God speaking to me...

We need to first receive healing and God's love for ourselves before we can ever hope to minister healing and God's love to other peoples lives. Nights like last night sometimes can seem sort of selfish to me, but Holy Spirit reminded me that I need to first be filled up with His everlasting love before I can go out and love others. If we try to minister from a place of our own strength (without the needed healing and love of God manifested in our own lives) we will not be effective nor sustainable, we will eventually burnout! PLUS it is good and right that we unite with other Christians from all over the city in praising our Lord and Saviour because He is WORTHY! Amen

May our lives ERUPT with His praises!

Be Apart of the Redemption Process

Day 23 - "... that we might bring redemption to the world, in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen."

I have been thinking about this lately. What does it mean for us to be part of redemptive process? We are not saved to just be saved, waiting it out on earth till we die and get to take off and go to heaven. No! We have a purpose for being here, and the more I think about it the more I am convinced that all Christians are called to be part of bringing redemption to the world. (2 Corinthians 5:18 (NIV) All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation). Note: this includes more than just humans, but it includes the whole earth and everything in it! (Colossians 1:20 (NIV) 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.).

How can you and I take up the ministry of reconciliation? I was thinking a couple ways we could join in on the redemption process are:

- to participate in the ending of injustice, not to just sit by and let evil persist but to get involved, in whatever small or large way we can. Buy fair trade? Get involved in the fight to end human sex slavery?

- to testify, to evangelize,  this does not mean you have to get on the street corner with a sandwich board or become the next Billy Graham, this can be as simple as taking every opportunity to share with others what God has done/is doing in your life.

- What about taking care of the physical space God has given you to steward? If we all did are part by recycling/reducing/reusing, planting a small garden, not littering, buying local, being carful with the electricity and water we use, maybe we could be a part of the redemption of the land to The Lord.

These are just some ideas, but the larger idea is GET INVOLVED! We are not here to "wait it out," we ALL have a calling to be agents of redemption and reconciliation, so get to it! Enough with the sitting around, there are injustices to end, people to love, and an earth to clean up! These are (some) of the markers of a follower of Jesus, so are you following Jesus?

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!?