Month: September 2015

“Find Joy in the Ordinary!” – Max Lucado

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And today, I did just that. Yes, I have deadlines. Yes, I have responsibilities. But, yes, I also have me think about.

Sometimes we get so caught up in all the things we “have” to do in life that we forget to take time to enjoy the life God has given us.

So, today, I purposely and temporarily walked away from assignments with my face buried in books; I walked away from looming projects that have yet to be started and declared, “I need to do this for me.” After lunch, I took off around my neighborhood on a slow, leisurely walk and tried not to think about all that had to be done.

The days are getting shorter. Soon the colder weather will be upon us and we will crave for a day when we can once again take a leisurely walk outside.

This was my treat for myself today. I wanted something that would bring me joy in the midst of the mundane, everyday ordinary business of life.

It might not seem like much to you, but for me it was and is a big deal.  This is what put a smile on my face today, knowing I did this for me. Sometimes we just have to get juvenile with it and stick your tongue out at all the “have to’s” and do something pleasurable for ourselves.

This was mine. I hope you are enjoying your ordinary day. Even more, I hope you find something in it that puts a smile on your face, too.

Blessings!

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You don’t have to do life alone!

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You are not in this alone. You don’t have to do life alone. Let these small words of encouragement refresh your soul. Blessings ~

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“LORD, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O LORD our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O LORD, You are God; do not let man prevail against You!” 2 Chronicles 14:11, NKJV.

The great thing about being in a relationship with God is you don’t have to do life alone. Things that may confuse and overwhelm you will never be too much for God. He can LITERALLY carry the weight of the world on His shoulders. Whatever is stressing you or messing with you, ask God for help. He’s there. He’s here, and you don’t have to do this life alone. Blessings ~

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“Your Anointing is Dangerous, but it’s Worth It!”

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My Project 440-001

A shepherd boy who had been forgotten when Samuel came to call, David was treated as a “less than” by everyone who knew him the most, except God.

God, looking past his outer array saw something special in him. He instructed Samuel to, “Arise, anoint him: for this is he,” (1 Samuel 16:12). Following God’s lead, “Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward,” (1 Samuel 16:13).

Not only had he been empowered and anointed by God’s Spirit on that day, but ever since then his life has never been the same. Because of the anointing on his life David experienced ups and downs; he experienced victories, and he experienced times of loss. But, in the end, he is still known as one of Israel’s greatest kings; as the blood line through whom our Lord Jesus Christ came, and as a man after God’s own heart, Acts 13:22.

What David gained, Saul lost. As David became empowered by God’s Spirit, Saul was stripped of this anointed pleasure and replaced by something evil, 1 Samuel 16:14. This made David a continual target of hatred and adversity. What started out as a relationship of love (1 Samuel 16:21) quickly turned to envy and hatred after David returned from the slaughter of the Philistines because the women of the city sang, “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands,” (1 Samuel 18:7).

Saul knew he was on a downward spiral and as a bird of prey perched to claim his next victim, “Saul eyed David from that day and forward,” (1 Samuel 18:9). Even when David was sent to relieve Saul of the distressing spirit that had come upon him, his life became an endangered treasure as the javelin of hatred whisked through the air intent on taking his life, 1 Samuel 18:10-11.

The LORD was with David. The people loved David. The anointing was on David, but that didn’t mean people wouldn’t try to squash what God was trying to accomplish in his life. David was at times a fugitive, constantly on the run, but he escaped time and again in what I am attributing to the providence of God.

At one point, in a dark cave in the wilderness of En-gedi, David had the opportunity to rid himself of the provocation of Saul once and for all. Yet, David refused to come against anything or anyone who had once been anointed by God, 1 Samuel 24:6.

This did not immediately vanquish Saul’s pursuit of David. Not until Saul perished in the battle against the Philistines did David become free of this enemy who pursued his life, 1 Samuel 31.

Hear this, we may not be aligned to be a great king of Israel or the like, but the Bible tells us, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people,” (1 Peter 2:9a). The anointing on your life makes you and me something and someone special before God.

The rest of 1 Peter 2:9 states, “That ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” Because God has poured His oil of anointing, through the power of His Holy Spirit, upon each and every one that belongs to Him, we are designed to make a mark for Him in this world.

This anointing will bring enemies and battles, and yes, at times may seem dangerous, yet, “He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God,” (2 Corinthians 1:21). God is the one that has anointed us, and “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

Through Jesus Christ; through the power of His Spirit in us, we have been called and blessed to walk in the power of all God designed each one of us to be. Don’t let your circumstances dictate your anointing. Don’t let the Saul’s of your life pierce through what God has divinely appointed for you. David ran for his life yet God’s plan for him never faltered. He was set aside for the Master’s use, and so are we.

There will always been adversity against God’s anointing, but if God anointed you choose today to walk in all that He has blessed you to be. Your anointing may seem dangerous at times, but in the end it is well worth it. Just ask David.

Words To Live By: “Stay Anchored in Jesus!”

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Jesus is the anchor to our soul. He is our solid true Source. He is our staying power. If you feel yourself drifting, call out to Him for He that walks on water will lift you up out of the raging seas of this life and set you on His solid rock.

This encouraging poster will remind you that we are not left adrift without a sail. Our hope is in Him, “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul . . .” Hebrews 6:19.

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Jesus is the anchor to our soul.  He is our solid true Source.  He is our staying power.  If you feel yourself drifting, call out to Him for He that walks on water will lift you up out of the raging seas of this life and set you on His solid rock. 

This encouraging poster will remind you that we are not left adrift without a sail.  Our hope is in Him, “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul . . .” Hebrews 6:19.

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“No Weapon!”

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No weapon! It’s not hard to see,
Every one that’s formed, propelled against me.
It’s vanished, thrown into the dust.
It won’t prosper, in the Lord I trust.

I am fortified in the Holy Ghost.
Your condemning tongues falsify your boast.
Darts aimed, ready to take flight.
Target unreached, by His might.

Shielded in the heritage, I belong to the Lord.
Bought with a price I could not afford.
Redeemed and covered, renewed to excel.
All arrows and swords, He did dispel.

“No weapon formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD,” Isaiah 54:17

 

 

“What would it have been like in the Garden with God?”

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One of my favorite times of the day is waking up.  Not the actual waking up part (sometimes that’s a little hard 😉 ), but when I finally get up, I get to draw back the curtains and see the new day.  It’s untouched.  It’s filled with hope and promise.  Whatever happened yesterday is not here for this is today.  It’s that freshness that draws me in and gets my soul stirred for the possibilities ahead.

When we go on vacation one of the places we stay at is a condo in the mountains.  It’s so peaceful.  With coffee in hand in the morning, I head out onto the balcony and sit to admire the new day.  The only thing I hear is the birds singing their song.  The deer break twigs and rustle leaves when they walk.  Sometimes you see the groundhogs and other animals eating their meals for the day.  You get this sense about you that this is the way it was meant to be.

And it makes me wonder about a time when all days were meant to be like this.  When there was a time when all days started in innocence and nothing was yet corrupted.  When there was a time that man walked freely in the Garden with God.

I love gardens and I declare one day I will have a nice one.  I’m working on it.  We were meant to live the garden lifestyle.  We were designed to reign in innocence and peace.  The world we live in today contradicts the fellowship we were created to have with God.  We were to have an up-close relationship with Him.  After the fall the Bible tells us,  “And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…” (Gen. 3:8).

Let your mind go back, not to the sin, but to the experience of being with God in the garden.  Adam and Eve experienced God on a level that no other being will have the privilege to.  Surely this was not the first time God had paid them a visit in this fashion for they knew what it sounded like when they heard Him in the garden.  They had a realistic divine view of the Almighty here on earth.

What would it have been like to have the Sovereign of the universe, day by day to come and see about me?  What would it have been like to verbally hear the mouth that spoke things into existence speaking to me?  What would it have been like to hear Him moving among the garden with my own ears and to know it was the Lord?  What would it have been like?

There, thinking back before the Fall, fellowship with God was uninterrupted by evil.  There the beauty of all God is could be seen by those He created.  There, peace was the predominant feeling because the shaker of peace had not entered the scene.  There, God spoke directly to man unhindered by fleshly desires.  There, it’s hard to imagine, but life was nothing but good because the man knew nothing but God.

Imagine the best backyard barbeque.  We sit around laughing and enjoying the company of others.  Not that we are bringing the Sacred down to our level but in our finite understanding can we imagine in the garden, Adam and God chit-chatting about the day, about the animals, or about life in general?  Can we imagine the way Adam’s heart must have felt assured every time He heard the voice of God speak to him?  Can we imagine that when Eve was presented to her husband there was no fear, only love, because that’s all they ever received was love on the earth?  Can we really imagine?

It may be hard for our minds to fathom such an age of innocence and honesty.  It’s hard for us to see what this must have been like because now our view has been corrupted by sin.  But I imagine it was glorious.  It was nothing like we’ll ever know here on earth.  In that garden, during that time, beauty is all that was seen with our eyes and with our hearts.  God was all that was known.  Oh, imagine.

It’s hard to put into words when everyone was right before God.  It’s hard to describe from one’s soul a place of longing but never viewing.  It’s hard to capture the essence of what being with God was like there, and yet my heart still yearns to know what would it have been like?

What do you think it would have been like to see the world at its best?  What do think it would have been like to fellowship with God at your best?  Where we live in the mid-Atlantic region we are expected to have rain most of the day.  Even in this dreariest of settings, I’m looking at the trees swaying outside my window and imagining the beauty of that time.  I guess that’s what it would have been like, beautiful because everything was in harmony with God.  Beautiful represents their relationship with God and it represents the surroundings that God created for them.

One day we will experience that garden lifestyle again, that age of beautiful unbroken relationship with Him when we meet Him in our heavenly home.  And I can’t wait.

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