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The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.
Psalm 27:1-3
*** i love this great WORD FOR TODAY by life fm!
Picture it one more time – a boat lashed by huge waves, and 12 frightened disciples who thought they were going under. They forgot to look for Jesus to rescue them. Yet as the night advanced and things looked hopeless, ‘… Jesus went to them, walking on the sea’ (Matthew 14:25 NKJ). Did they rejoice? No, their fear intensified and they said, ‘… It’s a ghost…’ (Matthew 14:26 NKJ)
Your fear can distort your perceptions and make you see the answer as just another problem. Often what appears a threat is actually a blessing about to be revealed. Look to Jesus in your time of fear; when He takes away the lesser it’s always to give you the greater.
Very often, God’s best requires facing something you fear. Jesus called Peter to come to Him. Deciding it was safer in the storm with Jesus than in the boat without Him, Peter took the plunge. But there’s always a moment after you step out in faith when you hear, ‘What if I’m not up to this?’ Peter heard it, and the waves began to engulf him. Panicked, he called and Jesus immediately rescued him. Peter wasn’t drowning; he was learning and growing! When you walk by faith, even your failures will lead to success. So step out with Jesus; He won’t let you drown.
So what now? Rely on God more today. Do something today that’s way out of your comfort zone – maybe it’s offering to pray for someone’s healing or giving your testimony.
**** last night i had a major freak out moment. i was totally spooked. my husband and son are away on school camp so it is just girls week here, me and evangeline. something happened and it made me feel very afraid. i deadbolted the door with the lock we don’t use at night (because its key lock and the kids wouldn’t be able to open it in a fire… our usual lock is fine, but, i wanted to take extra precautions) i left the kitchen light on. i checked everything twice. paced. and then i remembered, what is the psalm i’m so into at the moment. psalm 27. of whom shall i be afraid? so i spoke to my soul and i declared the reign of jesus over our home and that no weapon formed against us would prosper. and i went to bed. punching fear in the face.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Romans 8:28-29
we know.
and we know.
and we have this awareness and revelation.
we know.
we know that God is good and that He is faithful and that He is our Heavenly Father.
we know that He is the same today as yesterday and will be tomorrow.
we know that He has done all that needs to be done to make us His children and that it is by grace and grace alone that we are saved.
we know that God is at work in our lives and His intentions are good.
He is at work in our lives turning what was meant for evil around for good and for His glory.
He is at work for the good.
but i am aware that sometimes OUR perception of good is very different from GOD’S perception of good.
God is at work in our lives to conform us to the likeness of His Son, Jesus.
He is at work in us forming godly character, at work creating a family resemblance.
sometimes character formation isnt a happy task.
but God isnt at work for the happiness of us. He is at work for the good.
like a Father.
because of that reality, that WE KNOWNESS, i choose to trust God and His handiwork in my life.
i can trust that He is at work for good and for His glory
there is a reward
there is a triumph
and in the process His heart cry is that we come to Him.
I need a song to sing to You
I stand in awe of what You do
I need words to describe
All that You are, what I feel inside
You whisper deep inside my heart
You show my glimpses of who You are
Iris Ministries & Will Reagan {I NEED A SONG}
i need a song. i need a song to communicate to others and TO MYSELF the greatness and goodness of God.
worship REMINDS us who God is, His greatness, His goodness, His power, His grace
it REFOCUSES our attention on Him, His greatness, His goodness, His power, His grace
it REFRESHES our heart and CONNECTS us in RELATIONSHIP
it is an expression of love, adoration, surrender
worship reinforces what matters most, reminds us of truths we forget and renews our desire to live what we believe. Rick Warren
a song comes from within me,
rising up and expresses my feelings towards God.
it rises up and declares faith in His power and majesty.
it rises up and gives Him the honour He is due, as Saviour, Creator, Lord.
a song sings to me, reminding me of His love, power and character.
there have being seasons and times which have had “a soundtrack” – a particular song that expresses how i feel or what God is doing at the moment. there are seasons when a song has resonated so within me that it becomes etched in my heart and allows the truth within the words to write comfort and hope in my mind and soul. these songs are God given, His graceful gift to me. His language to me is in songs.
One of note is COME TO ME by Bethel, that was released, as a pre release, on the day tony’s dad died. i downloaded it for free and had it on repeat for weeks. it was HIS song for me for that moment, His love song that He sung over me. (Zephaniah 3:17)
God is so worthy, there are not enough words in the universe to accurately express the wonder and wonderfulness He is. but i will sing. i will try.
Worship Songs I Love:
Oceans // Hillsong {my fav worship song at the moment}
Anchor // Bethel Church
you are the song I sing, you are the song I sing, Jesus, With every breath I breathe , With every song I sing, I want to shout it out, Lord I am listening Spirit Speaks
you’re the one that paints with light the night, you’re always not wrong, and never not right, there’s not enough words on earth to describe, or to put into song, or compare with the brightness of your majesty // MAJESTY
Psalm 5:11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
Psalm 7:17 I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.
Psalm 13:6 I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.
Psalm 57:9 I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.
Psalm 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
Psalm 101:1 I will sing of your love and justice; to you, Lord, I will sing praise.
Five Minute Friday is a feature over at Lisa-Jo Bakers TALES FROM A GYPSY MAMA blog. i first read about it on my friend Fee’s blog and thought it sounded fun!
So, let’s do this thing. Let’s write.
Set your timer, clear your head, for five minutes of free writing without worrying about getting it right.
1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. Galatians 5:16-17
Matthew 16:24 [ Take Up the Cross and Follow Him ] Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
when i became a christian i didnt know this verse – i didnt know any of the bible. but somewhere deep in my mind i thought that if i gave my life to God that it would mean for the rest of my life i would have to be boring, good, nice and wear gray. and listen to amy grant. but yet, because i had jsut discovered that God was real and that i had to respond to that and that he was awesome and had died to save me and give me life here on earth and for all eternity and that he loved me and had a plan for me… i was willing to wear gray and be boring. forever. the exchange was worth it. imagine my delight and surprize to discover that being a child of God ment more adventure and blessing and satisfaction than i could ever imagine!
yet. there is that passage. in black and white. take up your cross and DENY yourself.
it doesnt conjure up images of delight and dancing.
it brings to mind death and suffering and sacrifice and hardship.
but it doesnt mean wearing gray and living a boring life. it doesnt mean that we need to take a sledge hammer to our tv, melt our cds, burn our clothes apart from the really fugly ones, have only 1 pair of shoes, eat stale bread and sardines, no social life, no friends, no fun….
it does mean we need to be discerning and choose to live according to the ways of God – ways to bless us and keep us safe and ways that lead us into the adventures of God and His love.
sometimes we need to turn the tv off and keep a clean heart.
sometimes we need to reign in our materialism and be generous.
sometimes we need to make choices about relationships that distract and lead us astray.
but the reward is so good.
when we choose the flesh we reap death. when we choose obedience we reap spiritual rewards.
its about perspective. we need to shake loose that idea that the stuff we’re denying is good and good for us. its not. really, its not. we need to get in our heart that the reality is that God’s ways are sooo good and living for Him and living close is sooooo the way to live. the world doesnt offer even a fraction of what God offers.
“In a day when believers seem to be trying to please both the world and the Lord (which is an impossible thing), when people are far more concerned about offending their friends than offending God, there is only one answer… Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him!” — Keith Green, No Compromise album, 1978.
So first week back at school… everyone survive?
We had a really nice holiday in Turangi, went rockclimbing, fishing, through a huge maze in taupo, played a lot of board games, got addicted to icarly and did touristy things. Good times. But when we pulled out of the house we realized we had forgotten to plan for one very important thing. low techness. No usb plug in the car. Which meant that lifefm ran out once we hit the bombays and then it was either white noise, bad radio, or cds. Now I’m a mother. Which means my car has two kinds of cds in one particular ratio. 90% kid cds. 10% my cds. Which means when there are 10 cds that can fit down the pockets of the side doors… only one is mine. I ignored the other 9 and put on karnaga by cindy ruakere. For those that haven’t heard cindy – she is a fierce maori worshipper and she rocks it. Her cd became our holiday anthem.
And it stirred my heart.
How many of you know that as much as we know Gods love is unconditional and He is amazing and His grace is everlasting and He has saved us, how we can look out the window and the heavens declare the majesty of God, how we can drift into our own space of life and let the embers die? Now I’m not saying I was cold… but I was not white hot.
The holiday was like a turbo fan on my heart heat I am more passionate now about jesus. I am more passionate about other people being passionate about jesus. I am more passionate now about revival.
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He said to me, Prophesy to these bones and say to them, O you dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath and spirit to enter you, and you shall live;
I will wrap you with muscles and skin, and I will put breath and spirit in you, and you dry bones shall live; and you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord
So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a thundering noise and behold, a shaking and trembling and a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath or spirit in them.
Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”’” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2
I am fully forgiven and free from all shame and condemnation (Romans 8:1-2, Ephesians 1:7-8, 1 John 1:9).
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. Ephesians 1:7-8
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
i so love that. i am free from shame. forgiven. set free. released. cleansed. made whole and innocent and not guilty and new.
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You used to be far from God. Your thoughts made you his enemies, and you did evil things. But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent. Colossians 1:21-22
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How far has the LORD taken our sins from us? Farther than the distance from east to west! Psalm 103:12
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Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. Isaiah 1:18
Jesus totally sets me free from sin and the guilt that goes with it.
He removes my sin from me. a saying i’ve heard often says He throws it into the sea and posts a sign saying no fishing.
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Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean! Micah 7:19
i am free. free from guilt and shame and condemnation.
my sin is GONE. removed. taken away. not mine anymore. its been exchanged on the cross and i now have the righteousness of Christ.
i can live clean and whole and pure.
though the consequences of my sin may be outworked, because of the way life is, our sin has impact, that sin does not belong to me if i confess it and receive forgiveness. it is no longer on my record. isnt that GOOD NEWS.
so we no longer need to live burdened by our sin.
we need to live holy and responding lives to God (because of His great love poured out on the cross to us when we were enemies of God and not even aware of our need or thinking about Him)
we can with total confidence draw near to God because of this righteousness and freedom from sin. we are his beloved children. holy and acceptable.
So Paul warned them,"Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also." But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship. Acts 27: 9-11
How many times do we discount the voice of God and listen to the voice of “an expert”?
How many times do we allow ourselves to be influenced by others instead of the One who holds the universe in His hands?
Lets be people who listen to God’s voice and guidance?
Even though it may run contrary to the expert opinion or the buzz of the crowd HE IS THE ONE WHO KNOWS
“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.” Psalm 118:8
“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” Proverbs 16:9
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
Commit your way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. Psalm 37:5
Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” Psalm 32:8
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not upon your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your path.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are." Acts 15:10-11
we are saved by grace. pure simple wonderful amazing grace.
and we respond to that grace and salvation by how we live our lives.
i can never earn my salvation.
i can never pay it back.
anything i do for Jesus, do to know Jesus, do to live for Jesus, is a response to His love for me first.
bible study and personal worship – times of discipline – are fuelled by devotion
attending and being involved in church – are fuelled by devotion
sometimes those things don’t feel very inspiring or overflowing from a place of love and connection, but they’re so important
but not if you’re adding a burden to yourself to work out being a good Christian
you are rescued and redeemed, not because of anything we have done, we had done or we can do or could do
but because of the love and grace and power of God
God himself was pleased to live fully in his Son. And God was pleased for him to make peace by sacrificing his blood on the cross, so that all beings in heaven and on earth would be brought back to God. You used to be far from God. Your thoughts made you his enemies, and you did evil things. But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent. Colossians 1:19-22
God because of the imputed righteousness of Christ to me and his wrath absorbing death on the cross and his resurrection now sees me as perfect and spotless and holy, not because i am but because HE IS ~ Matt Chandler
The good news – the gospel – is that you and I have fallen short, we have worshiped things that are not God, we have belittled and mocked God with either our hearts, mouths or minds and God’s response to that has been to make a way for us to be reconciled to God in the person and work of Jesus Christ – so that the two-fold movement that occurs is that we get Christ’s righteousness and He takes upon Himself our rebellion and sinfulness so that when God then looks at us He sees Christ and deems us as perfect and spotless and blameless ~ Matt Chandler
The commands of God are given, not to rob me of joy, but to lead me into the fullness of joy ~ Matt Chandler
“God loves you simply because he has chosen to do so. He loves you when you don’t feel lovely. He loves you when no one else loves you. While we may theologically and intellectually understand the transaction, motivated by love, that took place at Calvary, the reality must reach our hearts in order to complete its course. We are loved. Let the words linger in our ears. We are loved.” ~ Max Lucado
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road-the desert road-that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it." Acts 8:26-29
i love Philip’s availability to God.
He was a man led by the Holy Spirit, and invited interruptions. The interruptions led to this Ethiopian leader becoming a believer, and who knows the follow on through affect of this one man that Philip talked to.
Be open to those divine appointments, those moments where the Holy Spirit leads you to talk to someone – be it a stranger as in Philips case, or a friend or a work mate. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, because where the Holy Spirit leads, He is moving!
i always count it such a privilege that God would choose to work in me and through me – as a witness to His reality – a demonstration of His love and grace.
A distinct memory i have is when the Spirit nudged me to talk to a guy outside our local library. I had just dropped some books in the return slot when a shadow passed behind me. i turned around and was about to go to my car when God said, talk to that guy. That guy was about 6foot6, Polynesian, with low riders and sunglasses on. so off i went. “excuse me” i said, looking up up up up up! at the end of the conversation i prayed for the guy and he took his glasses off. his eyes were misted over. i’m glad i said yes to the interruption, yes to the Holy Spirit.
those interruptions are opportunity for God to work in you and through you to communicate to another person. Philip explained the gospel contained in the passage of Isaiah. you might be nudged to encourage someone, tell them your story, give hope, speak life. God may give you insight and revelation into their life and destiny.
lets be bold and lets step out!
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