Oh, how it feels like the last of the last days! Can it get any worse before my Lord and Master takes me out with a trumpet shout? He could come yet today but He could wait many more days for those who yet need to choose Him.
Summer 2012 was extremely hot and very dry. The woods thinned. Corn fields browned and crisped in the height of July making me sad and a bit worried as I drove to work and home in air condition each day. Pear trees had no pears for pear butter. Birds had daily pool parties at the bird bath that I kept filled for them. And the grapes? The sparse shriveled clusters on the vines had no promise left in them. Deep in the soul of today, it is hot dry summer with no juice left in the grape. Or is there a hint of that deep stain?
'In the later times many will abandon the faith' ( I Timothy 4:1). How disturbing! I look deep within. How do you keep the faith when all are forsaking? Then I found an interesting verse - a little something to quench the thirst: "As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes…don't destroy it, there is yet some good in it." Isaiah 65:8.
It is that age old promise again. God promised to Abraham that He would not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if there where still believers left. He promises that still today. We are still here so there is still juice in the grape! There is Hope. This is my job! Be ready for the harvest is near and then wine season will begin. So until then, keep the juice in the grape!
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
cup vs puddle…
I guess I thought freedom was a noble word where it was freeing a life from bondage whether it was slavery or persecution for beliefs not to spout off in name of free speech or rights to do whatever. All courtesy and self control have no value anymore. Morals are useless. Now every day is filled with protests, riots, twitter wars, & running up votes for a song to defame a prime minister for her controversial leadership. I hate say this but why are we surprised that everyday seems to be filled with shootings and bombings. Freedom of speech? How can I equate the two? How can you not? We've taken manners and respect from liberty. Let freedom ring leaves a ringing in my sore ears.
In the past I've described liberty as a fence for within the boundary both dog and master can be free. I know too well the tragedy of not have a fence with the lost of my Sam. Sadly, from the turmoil of today's earth, another vision or word picture comes …maybe to save a little generation that is in my household.
It comes from the Bible where we are to be at the ready with a cup of cold water for our dry and thirsty neighbor or enemy. The water is cool but contained in the confines of a cup. With this simple unassuming boundary, we can meet someone else's need. It generosity. It is saving. It is selfless. It is noble. I deem it freedom! Can you save a bound soul when you spill that water to have it trodden upon and muddied? Can you gather up that mud puddle and free someone of thirst? What do you get when you throw water at someone's face? This is an act of defiance and meanness. This is an act of anarchy!! Yes, anarchy!! Today we live loudly outside the box without restraint . There is no self control.
Why have rules? It is a question I like to ask the agnostic. Rules are of God to protect us and give us freedom. If there is no God, throw out all laws! Dead serious. Give me the cup. I cannot be happy without it. Interesting… "pursuit of happiness" isn't so happy when we are speeding headlong into the fiery depths of HELL.
Freedom without self control and courtesy is NOT freedom. It is sinking sludge hole, veracious and hellish. This gift of precious cold water that our founding forefathers gave us to preserve, we have acted like a spoiled brat and the cup is shattered. Now we are left with a puddle AND the Wrath of God.
In the past I've described liberty as a fence for within the boundary both dog and master can be free. I know too well the tragedy of not have a fence with the lost of my Sam. Sadly, from the turmoil of today's earth, another vision or word picture comes …maybe to save a little generation that is in my household.
It comes from the Bible where we are to be at the ready with a cup of cold water for our dry and thirsty neighbor or enemy. The water is cool but contained in the confines of a cup. With this simple unassuming boundary, we can meet someone else's need. It generosity. It is saving. It is selfless. It is noble. I deem it freedom! Can you save a bound soul when you spill that water to have it trodden upon and muddied? Can you gather up that mud puddle and free someone of thirst? What do you get when you throw water at someone's face? This is an act of defiance and meanness. This is an act of anarchy!! Yes, anarchy!! Today we live loudly outside the box without restraint . There is no self control.
Why have rules? It is a question I like to ask the agnostic. Rules are of God to protect us and give us freedom. If there is no God, throw out all laws! Dead serious. Give me the cup. I cannot be happy without it. Interesting… "pursuit of happiness" isn't so happy when we are speeding headlong into the fiery depths of HELL.
Freedom without self control and courtesy is NOT freedom. It is sinking sludge hole, veracious and hellish. This gift of precious cold water that our founding forefathers gave us to preserve, we have acted like a spoiled brat and the cup is shattered. Now we are left with a puddle AND the Wrath of God.
Monday, April 15, 2013
leanness …
It is erie to read history only to have it feel like today. We have forgotten our thankfulness to God. Scratch that. We have kicked God to the curb. We are so into OUR OWN INVENTIONS. We create things and defile them. God calls it whoring. We are definitely in the wilderness but we are blind to our own affliction. We don't cry out. God's wrath jealously burns but He would rather us to come running into His waiting Arms. We just go on whoring blind and dumb. What will it take to feel the leanness in our souls?
Psalms 106
As a believer what really caught my eye was the "leanness of the soul". I've had this leanness in my soul. I lacked His Joy. I embraced duplicity. It wasn't until God brought me low that I began to focus on thanksgiving because it was all I could do. It was hard to sing but I did even if all I could do was hum. God Who created me and begun a good work in me, begun to change and grow me.
You know that BBQ ribs are best when juicy, succulent, and fat. Where you are smacking your lips and the yumminess oozes all over your face and smile deepens and the eyes brighten in ecstasy… FAT. Fatness of soul … what a ministry a fatness of soul believer can have in a wasteland of leanness of soul earthbound pagans. Yet it will be like trying to get someone to eat after they have crossed the threshold of actively starving themselves but we must share… It is the hardest task in this age - to get an anorexic soul to come to Salvation's Feast laden table. Which means that believer's need to keep their soul's fat by feasting on the Word to keep fit in these days of famine and wasteland.
Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. ~Psalms 106:47
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up. ~ James 4:9, 10
Psalms 106
As a believer what really caught my eye was the "leanness of the soul". I've had this leanness in my soul. I lacked His Joy. I embraced duplicity. It wasn't until God brought me low that I began to focus on thanksgiving because it was all I could do. It was hard to sing but I did even if all I could do was hum. God Who created me and begun a good work in me, begun to change and grow me.
You know that BBQ ribs are best when juicy, succulent, and fat. Where you are smacking your lips and the yumminess oozes all over your face and smile deepens and the eyes brighten in ecstasy… FAT. Fatness of soul … what a ministry a fatness of soul believer can have in a wasteland of leanness of soul earthbound pagans. Yet it will be like trying to get someone to eat after they have crossed the threshold of actively starving themselves but we must share… It is the hardest task in this age - to get an anorexic soul to come to Salvation's Feast laden table. Which means that believer's need to keep their soul's fat by feasting on the Word to keep fit in these days of famine and wasteland.
Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. ~Psalms 106:47
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up. ~ James 4:9, 10
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
be the damsel…
When hearing damsel, we always hear distress. This should not be!
Here is the definition from Merriam-Webster dictionary: a) young woman: a young unmarried woman of noble birth; a noblewoman. b) girl. Nothing distressing. In fact I like the meaning.
I am a child of God. I am of nobility! I should be living as a damsel. So how should it damsel behave? Or I should say how should a damsel behave towards a man that she is interested in? Here is the list:
1. Trust & admire his manliness.
2. Trust & admire his hero nobility.
3. Trust he walks with God & that God directs his kingly heart.
4. Receive his manliness.
5. Receive who he is.
6. Receive his God-given gifts.
7. Celebrate him.
8. Allow him to make you happy.
9. Give plenty of manly adjectives.
10. Give bright eyes & fat bones with all of your greetings & sendings.
11. Speak highly of him.
It is about preferring him. When you trust that he walks with God and God directs his kingly heart, you can let go of the death grip that you might have on the relationship and enjoy the adventure ahead. The hero is always there to pursue you but a girl can be lethal and kill it in him. Try enjoying him instead of changing him. Be a Godly damsel and when you are in distress your hero will be there. This is a gentle quiet spirit at work that God calls us girls to be.
Your beauty … should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 1 Peter 3:3-4
Here is the definition from Merriam-Webster dictionary: a) young woman: a young unmarried woman of noble birth; a noblewoman. b) girl. Nothing distressing. In fact I like the meaning.
I am a child of God. I am of nobility! I should be living as a damsel. So how should it damsel behave? Or I should say how should a damsel behave towards a man that she is interested in? Here is the list:
1. Trust & admire his manliness.
2. Trust & admire his hero nobility.
3. Trust he walks with God & that God directs his kingly heart.
4. Receive his manliness.
5. Receive who he is.
6. Receive his God-given gifts.
7. Celebrate him.
8. Allow him to make you happy.
9. Give plenty of manly adjectives.
10. Give bright eyes & fat bones with all of your greetings & sendings.
11. Speak highly of him.
It is about preferring him. When you trust that he walks with God and God directs his kingly heart, you can let go of the death grip that you might have on the relationship and enjoy the adventure ahead. The hero is always there to pursue you but a girl can be lethal and kill it in him. Try enjoying him instead of changing him. Be a Godly damsel and when you are in distress your hero will be there. This is a gentle quiet spirit at work that God calls us girls to be.
Your beauty … should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 1 Peter 3:3-4
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