Reverence for the Mundane

Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Phil 2:8-10

My Sisters who love Jesus, 

Upon waking, as I drifted in and out of sleep, my thoughts turned to His Name. How easy to fall into repetitively speaking His name without much thought or consideration relegating it to the mundane... necessary but boring, losing its shine. 

mundane-   adjective

1 lacking interest or excitement; dull 

2 of this earthly world rather than a heavenly or spiritual one

Hebrews 12:3

Consider Him...  (If you skipped the familiar scripture above, I ask you to back track and read it as though it were the first time and glean Truth.)  There is nothing mundane regarding the Name of Jesus. Dare i utter His Holy Name lightly? 

Sovereign God, You portray  Jesus in all Holiness and Majesty... and still You allow me to draw near to You. Let the name of Jesus work mightily in my life drawing me to my knees before You.  Do not allow His name to simply be the name i read in the Gospel! The name so easily tacked on at the end of my prayer as a religious obligation, like a magic seal guaranteeing acceptance of said prayer and bordering on the vain? Open my eyes to who You are Jesus and who i am in You! Stir my heart to love You like it matters- for who am i without You? Not a pretty picture! 

Day after day i can live removed from the truth of how needy i am, until a trial sends me running in panic to You.  Am i not treating You as though You were a divine vending machine where i slip my quarter prayer in and wait impatiently for You to 'do something' to rescue or repair or heal me? LORD, forgive me. i repent of pride and presumption, for often I have not drawn near to you with the purpose of knowing You intimately, but to have my needs met.  How painful are the lessons of Your Sovereignty for my independent heart. Forgive me as i drink deeply of Your forgiveness and grace in the Truth of who You are Jesus. Such Light empales me and I fall on my face before You. In Your holy, righteous, majestic, uncommon Name, Jesus, I pray. amen

The second part of the definition is wonderfully applicable to our daily walk in Christ Jesus. He was 100% God and 100% man. As the earthly He was the Son of Man and as the heavenly He was Son of God. I am dancing with this Truth: He is daily our Savior, we are to receive what He gives to us daily and bring Him praise and worship daily. His strength and wisdom for us is daily. We are to feed on Him daily through His word. He is gracious daily. Whew... is your cup full? Are you dancing, arms lifted high? We are to praise Him now and forever. The word ‘Now’ is today, right now!  Daily.

 Like Jacob we often cry “Bless me.” And God asks us just as God asked Jacob: ‘What is your name?’ God did not ask Jacob his name because He did not know. He needed Jacob to admit who he was before He would bless him. We only commune with God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24) He answered "Jacob." Gen 32:27 (Deceiver)  This was truth. It was who he was. What will we answer? It is only as we admit who we are that God is able to help us. RZ

If I regard sin in my heart the Lord will not hear me. Psalm 66:18 (daily)

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now (daily) and forever! Amen. 2 Peter 3:18

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23  (Prov 8:34, Luke 9:23, I Cor 15:31, Matt 6:11, Numbers 28:1-3) 

Find great joy in reverencing the mundane. Praise God He chose to leave the heavenly and become a man and walk this earth. What an amazing High Priest forever. 

Teach my precious sisters to find You in the mundane, the daily, and worship.
Establish Your word to us, as that which produces reverence for You! Psalm 119:38 nas




az

When things are outside our control, there is one thing we can choose...

Not to us, LORD, not to us 

   but to your name be the glory, 

   because of your love and faithfulness. Psalm 115:1

To my Sisters who are running the race marked out for them,

It was a sunny afternoon for the Bar Mitzvah celebration in a beautiful backyard. A small boy was running as fast as he was able, attempting to keep up with the older children. He fell tearing his pants and scraping his knee. His Father, the Rabbi, deep in conversation with other men heard the cry from afar and turned to see his precious son running to him with arms reaching up. "Abba, Abba" he cried through his tears. As my friend observed this tender scene, God spoke silently to her and she saw herself in the little boy running to his Abba, Daddy! The Father bent low and caught his son up in his arms to console him. Our Father, our Abba, bends low to lift us up! He is filled with compassion for His children. He cares about the smallest detail of our lives.

Learning moment by moment to endure comes from enduring. Refusing to feel sorry for myself, refusing to quit, refusing to give in or give up is enduring. I hear the echo of words spoken in the past: "I just can't do this any more, i can't do this one more minute......"My daughter, I know you cannot, but I can." Enduring for one more minute was not an option, for the next moment was not yet mine. I had only the present moment, and my choice. A friend once said, "It is greater pain not to endure." I have found this true.

Chip Ingram said "Trials are inevitable. Trials make us or break us. Victims refuse to move beyond asking 'why' and are stuck in their pain. Conquerers and survivors stop asking why and ask what."

I rejoiced to hear such a simple statement with so much power behind it. Believing God is in control, always good, all-wise, full of compassion and never makes a mistake can change everything! The only thing we may have a choice in during a trial is our attitude. 

A holocaust survivor was beaten, stripped and searched. Everything was taken from him. The only thing he had was his wedding band. When they took that last thing, something seemed to break inside him. He choose to keep a good attitude, refusing to be bitter as his right. Another prisoner questioned him as to why he did not hate the Nazi's and was not bitter. He answered:' The only thing I have which they cannot take from me is my attitude. I refuse to give them that power over me.'

 Even when i am at an all time low and want to throw in the towel and run, i can choose to endure. God has given me a 'will' which is my 'chooser'. I can choose not to live by my feelings, refuse to feel sorry for myself and trust God. To trust Him i need to know Him. If i are Biblically illiterate i will not think clearly and i will blame God for my suffering. I live in a fallen world, people lose jobs, suffer great loss personally and financially, experience broken relationships and ill health. Asking why briefly is not wrong, but to stay there is like a grave.... death to life and all that is good, resulting in bitterness.

I can choose instead to embrace the brokenness. Run to Him in faith and to His word. I am told to 'consider it all joy' when i encounter various trials.  The word ‘consider’ indicates a 'choice'. The testing of my faith produces endurance. I am to expect fiery trials; they are a gift. God has grace for me every moment of every trial. He wraps each trial in His loving kindness. Choice: Do i believe God chose this trial and it is the best to accomplish His perfect will in me? If there had been a better, kinder, more simple test to accomplish what He desires, He would have taken me by that path. The test is for me to pass because God is for me.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. James 1:1-2

I only know something wonderful happens inside of me through the trials He allows. If i wait to feel good about a situation or wait to feel my God is in control; that may never happen. It is a fruitless venture to spend much time asking “why?” This side of heaven may have no answer for my 'why'. God has given me a 'will' to exercise even while struggling with my attitude. With that 'will' I will choose to ask "what" instead of 'why"! I will embrace the Truth of who He is. Lord You are good, kind and faithful!

What do You want to teach me through this trial? 

What will You reveal to me about Yourself?

What do You want to do in me? 

What do You want to do through me?

He will cover you with his feathers,
   and under his wings you will find refuge;
   his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Psalm 91:4

If God has singled you out to be a special object of His grace you may expect Him to honor you with stricter discipline and greater suffering than less favored ones are called upon to endure. To do His supreme work of grace in you He will take from your heart everything you love most. AWT

 The sculptor does not use a manicure set to shape the rough stone into a thing of beauty. The saw, the hammer and chisel are His tools.  Amy Carmichael lay for 35 years on her bed in pain inspite of a great many faithfu, l believing prayers for her healing and she left a treasure of writings that live to minister to many today.

Abba, Daddy, i run to You. I know You so much better because the trials have caused me to cast myself at Your feet. You make no mistakes... You are life and breath and Hope and I choose to trust You. Thank You for taking the hard things and using them to benefit me. Who but You O LORD could redeem even trouble? Wasted time? Wrong choices? and every hard thing that comes my way? There is no God but You. You alone are worthy of all praise and honor and glory. You alone will perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish me, enabling me to trust You at a whole new level! Thank You, Abba. In Your Son's most precious name.

Brokenness comes from Your hand, teach me to trust You fully,

az

"Abba, Daddy!"

But He knows the way that I take;

      When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. Job 23:10

Greetings in Jesus Name to fellow believers running the race marked out for you,

My friend was at a Bar Mitzvah celebration on a beautiful sunny day. She saw a small boy running in an effort to keep up with the older children. He fell, tearing his pants and scraping his knee. Tears burst forth as he cried out, "Abba, Abba". His Father, the Rabbi, deep in conversation with other men, heard his cry from afar and turned to see his precious son running toward him with arms out stretched. Each step lessened the distance to his Daddy who scooped him up in strong, comforting arms. As my friend observed this tender scene, God spoke to her.... 'Am I not a Father to you?' and tears brimmed for she saw herself in this little boy running to his Abba, Daddy! Just as the Father bent low and caught his son up in his arms to console him. Our Father, our Abba, bends low to lift us up! He is filled with compassion for His children. He cares about the smallest detail of our lives.

This loving Father allows trials in our life to teach us to trust Him and prove Him faithful. Learning to endure comes by enduring. I do not like trials and this past week was one of enduring rejection, accusation, emotional attack and disdain. It is so hard to choose to refuse self pity (and comfort food). Feeling no strength to deal with it, I chose to go a step fartherand forgive, resulting in freedom for me in Christ. Chip Ingram said "Trials are inevitable. Trials make us or break us. Victims refuse to move beyond asking 'why' and are stuck in their pain. Conquerers and survivors stop asking why and ask what.

A holocaust survivor was beaten, stripped and searched. Everything was taken from him. The only thing he had was his wedding band. When they took this last thing, something seemed to break inside him and yet he chose his attitude, refusing to be bitter as his right. Another prisoner questioned him as to why he didn't hate the Nazi's and why he wasn't bitter. He answered:' The only thing I have they cannot take from me is my attitude. I refuse to give them that power over me.'

My attitude may be the only thing in a trial, in which I have a choice. Often in the battle my feelings shout, "I can't do this one more minute... i just can't do this any more..." the Holy Spirit says, 'Daughter, I know you can’t, I will endure through you'. God gives us a 'will' (which is our 'chooser') and we are to choose to walk by faith and not live by feelings. The world's message is counter to this teaching. The world says "do what you feel in your heart, don't deny yourself, you have rights". God’s word says: “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?  Jer 17:9 

He not only works in us to 'will' but also to 'do' (giving us His power to endure). To trust a person requires knowing them. If we are Biblically illiterate we will lack discernment and in bitterness blame God for our pain. His love for you is immeasurable and He is filled with compassion knowing the way you take. Such Comfort! 

His word says to rejoice in our trials for we know He is creating the character and beauty of Jesus in us. 

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. Phil 2:13 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. Romans 5:3  

The tests are for us to pass because God is for us. Question: "Am I rejoicing?"

We live in a fallen world, people lose jobs, suffer great loss personally and financially, experience broken relationships and ill health. These things being a catalyst to turn away from God but He alone gives His children strength to endure brokenness. What privilege is ours to run to His word! It says 'consider it all joy' when we encounter various trials. The word 'consider' indicates 'choice'. I am reminded the testing of my faith produces endurance. I am to expect fiery trials; they are a gift. God has grace for every moment of every trial and wraps every trial in His loving-kindness. Do I believe God measured the trial into my life as the best way to accomplish His perfect will in me? Do I believe if there was a better, kinder, more simple way to accomplish His desire, He would have taken me by that path?

God may have singled you out to be a special object of His grace. You may expect to be honored with stricter discipline and greater suffering than less favored ones are called upon to endure. To accompish His supreme work of grace in you He may take from your heart everything you love most. The sculptor does not use a manicure set to shape the rough stone into a thing of beauty; but the rasp, hammer and chisel. Amy Carmichael lay for 35 years on a bed of pain inspite of a great many faithful believing prayers for her healing. She left a treasure of writings that live to minister to many today.

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. I Peter 5:10-11

What a promise! I know, something wonderful happens inside me because of trials when I choose to trust rather than waiting to feel good over a situation or feel God is in control. Feelings have nothing to do with faith and demanding to know 'why' may be a fruitless venture. Some answers will not be given on earth, but He gives all we need to endure this moment. O that His will would consume my heart! 

Abba, Daddy, i run to You. I know You so much better because the trials have caused me to cast myself at Your feet. You make no mistakes... You are life and breath and Hope and I choose to trust You. Thank You for taking the hard things and using them to benefit me. Who but You O LORD could redeem even trouble, wasted time, wrong choices or the hard things that comes my way? There is no God but You. You alone are worthy of all praise and honor and glory. You alone will perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish me, enabling me to trust You at a whole new level! Thank You, Abba. In Your Son's most precious name.

Loved by my Abba,

az

Running the Race Marked Out for Us

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles... And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus Hebrews 12:1-2 Dearest Sisters who are in the LORD, You who are His treasure, God's greatest agony and His greatest glory are revealed in the Cross. Also obvious is God's great love for mankind and mankind's great hatred toward God. The Cross means daily death to us who love our Lord. Jesus could not return to His glory in heaven until he first surrendered to death. The Holy Spirit applied this principle to me letting me see its importance: in my life and fellowship with the Lord Jesus, it is impossible for me to share the fulness of His life until i have first surrender myself  daily as having died to sin and the world. There are believers who think once they have claimed Christ's death in the fellowship of the Cross, and have counted themselves crucified with Him, they now consider it as past and done with, but this is where we are to abide unceasingly in our daily walk.  The attitude that was my Lords is to be the disposition that marks my life daily.  AW Tozer writes: A bad disposition has been called 'the vice of the virtuous,' which brings us directly to the conclusion that it is time we Christians stop trying to excuse our un-Christike dispositions and frankly admit our failure to live as we should! Ephesians 4 speaks of putting off the old (that which is of the flesh) and putting on the new (that which is of the new nature.) So Bartimaeus the blind man threw off his begging cloak, representing his old life and all he was, when he came to Jesus. He was dead to the old. He could not rightfully go back to his old life of begging.  We too, leave behind the old and put on Christ. Hebrews 12 instructs us as believers to throw off everything which hinders and the sin which so easily entangles. We do this by counting ourselves dead to sin and alive to Christ; daily denying ourselves and taking up our Cross. God's provided no other way.  If we are weak in understanding the principle of complete justification by faith, we will be strong in seeking to produce our own sanctification. mjs Paul speaks in Philippians 3:7-8  I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom i have suffered the loss of all things, and count them rubbish that I may gain (know intimately) Christ. Beware this hunger consumes the heart and it is in loss we gain Christ. Counting myself dead to sin I am alive in Christ. Loss for gain.  It is easy to make excuses of why we behave badly blaming our weakness we rationalizing our repeated struggle with sins of our disposition.  "I'm just naturally impatient" or "sensative or resentful or I speak my mind and give my honest opinion or I was born with a temper it's just how I am made." To walk by faith is not  to live by how I feel, but daily allow the Holy Spirit to apply the Cross to my flesh, my old sin nature and know the freedom that resulted from Christ taking us to the Cross with Him. It is so amazing that this God who is beyond definition, too great to explain or understand, bends low sharing our tears. His love meets us where we are and lifts us up, enabling us to walk in strength and obedience to Him. He knows our struggles and waits for us to surrender our 'rights' and die to self so we might know Him and become like Christ.  It is what we are that tells. It sends us to the cleansing blood, to Calvary. AC Let His words in John 14 move you to pursue Him and know Him intimately: "If you love Me, you will keep my commandments."  Oh that we might receive all that He has provided. Our reward? Himself! Let this promise of Jesus to disclose Himself to You, lift you up. As I allow God to fill my heart with this Truth i throw down my begging cloak and run to Him " Lord i want to love you well, fill my heart with love for You!" Then I hear this conditional promise and my heart skips knowing in myself i cannot 'keep' His commandments, only as i die to self do i know His life in me. He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him." John 14:21 I it any wonder Paul counted all things loss for the excellency of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord?! Adonai, You who left the glory of heaven to save me, I am in awe of You. Search me and reveal where there are things that 'hinder' and any sin that so easily 'entangles' that i may repent and be cleansed in the fountain of blood. Abba, You who know where i struggle to trust You fill me with faith and teach me to count myself dead to sin and alive to You daily taking up my cross. I love Your word and ask to be given a greedy hunger to know You through Your living word. Thank You for lifting me up for being Strength and giving me a heavenly perspective of this temporal life. i want my life to count eternally and this will only happen if You do the impossible through me. i pray in dependence on You my King and Daddy. In the holy Name of Jesus who promised to disclose Himself to me, amen Running the race marked out for me, az

Consider Him

Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:3 Dear Sisters of my heart,  May the sweetness of who He is be the perfume of your spirit this week. And now.. "Consider Him." The heavens are telling of the glory of God;          And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.  Psalm 19:1 So limited. We see sun, moon,  and a minimal sprinkling of stars. Unless you are seated in the Omnitheater viewing 'The Hubble", as I was privileged to do this past week. The difficulty was in remaining seated vs shooting up from my seat shouting 'Glory to God, Hallelujah to my Creator!'  This was no birds eye view, but an up close, in-my-face experience leaving me minuscule and breathless! Viewing star clusters trillion of light years away and moving through space amongst stars is surreal. Consider Him...... He who knows the names of every star and unbelievably He knows my name!  Our faith in this All-powerful God gains us approval. When I consider Him, I am cognizant in a small measure of who He is and I taste His terror. Job cried out God terrified him! "For God has made my heart faint, timid, and broken, and the Almighty has terrified me..." Job 23:16 "For the Lord Most High excites terror, awe, and dread; He is a great King over all the earth." Ps 47:2  O God, awe-inspiring, profoundly impressive, and terrible are You out of Your holy places; Ps 68:35 Listed in Hebrews 11 Hall of Faith are saints we recognize (ex: Moses, Abraham, Daniel), who 'considered God' and experienced the miraculous. Some were delivered, some healed and some empowered to accomplish mighty things in Jehovah's name, bringing Him glory. Reading, I was inclined to place a final period after vs 35a ending the chapter. God in His perfection does not stop but transitions in vs 35 using two words: 'and others'. This transition is important: not all men and women of faith experienced miraculous release, but were sawn in two or tortured, tempted, stoned, some died, while others were destitute with no place to call 'home' and lived in caves and holes in the ground. Was it their lack of faith? It was God's will to heal and deliver but they just didn't have faith? Not according to the scriptures. The 'others' had faith but God chose in His Sovereign and perfect will, to deal differently with them than with those just mentioned. God will not to be manipulated by our attempts at 'believing hard enough that He is obligated to answer our prayers". That is not faith. It is pride. Faith is a heart that seeks God's will not our own way. He will work His perfect will as we trust Him. I have personally been healed many times and not healed at others. Digest God's powerful pronouncement in verses 38-39 regarding those who were not part of the miraculous mentioned first, God states: "Men of whom the world was not worthy...  And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised,"  " Such as these have said goodbye to the world's toys; they have chosen to suffer affliction with the people of God. They have accepted toil and suffering as their earthly portion.' AWT  Oh to be willing to trust God to deliver or not to deliver, to heal or not to heal. And still truly believe He is good, faithful and wise. He desires us to trust Him in whatever circumstance we are being tried. I have so often heard in a praise service dozens of testimonies of God meeting needs miraculously, providing amazingly, then they acclaim His faithfulness and goodness.  Is their testimony based on who God is or the miracle He provided? Is He not good to those who have prayed and believed, who have not experienced the miraculous? Is it their lack of faith as many believers insist? Oh, how we wound each other when we insist on being God in another's life. I remember a family who lost a young daughter to cancer and some 'godly' believers felt led to visit and lay a merciless burden on two grieving parents; telling them their lack of faith was responsible. A wounded young woman going through a divorce was told her lack of faith was why God didn't bring restoration. This from one whose marriage was mercifully healed! I grieve over such cruelty. May God deliver us from the pitiful, prideful presumption of thinking we can be the Holy Spirit in another life. Consider this: God is Infinite. He never makes a mistake. God alone knows what is in someone's heart. God is good and faithful if He never answered a prayer! It is who He is and because of who God is He bends low to lift us up. Because He is Love, He loves us immeasurably. Let that Truth wrap around you and encourage You from head to toes. You are precious my sisters. Look up at the night sky and try and number a few stars. Now imagine (not possible) trillions of stars and that God counts and names each one. He knows your name and desires your love. Blessed be your name Adonai, Most High God, You who knows our secrets, our pride and failure. You who are Perfect in all your ways, I bow in awe as I consider there is no limit to Your greatness and no words to begin to describe You. How do I grasp what You endured on the Cross, despising the shame and have sat down at the right hand of the throne of God? Teach me. I want to 'consider' Your greatness, for with You God is a terrible majesty. Your Cross is my cross. Your resurrection is my resurrection. Your Peace is my peace. As feeble as an attempt to measure the ocean with a spoon, so I feel deficient to consider Your person. I pray in your Holy Name, the great name of Yeshua, amen Considering the love of Him who calls the stars by name, az

Rewarded

 O God, you are my God,
   earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
   my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
   where there is no water. Psalm 63:1


My Sisters in whom is the very life of Christ,
David expressed his heart hunger in this Psalm. We enter a new month with it's pocket full of difficulty, joys and sorrows. Our faith will be renewed and strengthened and tested in ways we would not choose. Experience teaches 'difficulty' is a severe instructor. 


Isaiah wrote:


But I said, “I have labored in vain;
   I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand,
   and my reward is with my God.” Is 49:4


How often a trial has trampled through your life, leaving in its wake rubble and brokenness with nothing of value visible? You have stood strong in the Lord believing God rewards the righteous and your palm is outstretched waiting for the 'good' promised; but nothing.... You feel left alone and vulnerable, stripped, unrewarded, abandon and forgotten. Testing of our faith is full of what God wants to teach us and I remember the day God showed me a promise I believe is true for us as well as it was for Abram. Hold on and be blessed.

 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

Genesis 15:1 KJ

Feeling like a pawn on God's divine chess board, expendable and of very little value in the cosmic plan, I balked at the taste of God's Sovereignty crying out for mercy with all my heart. Slowly learning over many bitter trials "God Himself is my reward". Ask God to plant this truth deep in your heart. Growing in Christ is knowing Him more and more intimately. Sweeter and sweeter grows the wine of His Presence until no earthly offering, nor temporal possession nor reward proffered will ever compare to this sacred invasion of my being.

The Levites were given no possession in Israel: Ezekiel 44:28  “‘I am to be the only inheritance the priests have. You are to give them no possession in Israel; I will be their possession.

My heart is quickened reading His promise to the Levites and these words to Abram: 

1. Do not fear

2. I am your shield

3. Your exceeding and great reward

Add your name to the end of each of the 3 statements. Read it again. How can we remain discouraged when we embrace such an amazing Truth?

Let me only enjoy the sweet company of the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ in my trial, and I ask no  more. I do not want even the power of His hand to deprive me of one drop of consolation supplied by the tender love and profound sympathy of His heart. I know He can deliver me, but if He does not see fit to do so, if it does not fall in with His unsearchable counsels, and harmonize with His wise and faithful purpose concerning me so to do, I know it is only to lead me into deeper and richer realization of His most precious sympathy. C.H.M.

 The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want. The Shepherd is my exceeding and great reward. 

I am praying again Father, You who are my exceeding and great Reward. Who is so great as to say "Fear not, I am your Shield!" Only You. Your greatness is unsearchable. Give us heart-hunger for You and allow us to know You more and more intimately. Help us to trust You for all we do not understand and all we do understand. You are our possession and we are Yours! I am provoked to worship as I tap these keys. I need to stop, get on my knees and cry out holy praise to You. I am in awe of You, You who love perfectly. Enable my sisters and I to receive all that You so lavishly give. I pray in Jesus my Savior.

Only the mistakes are mine,
az

Glory in the Cross

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.  Galatians 6:14

Dear Sisters who share in an inheritance that can never perish!

The world, in all its glitz and glamor is merciless in it's pursuit to woo the human heart. Pressure comes to us through the world, the flesh and the devil.  Hear the his diabolical whisper, "Come, follow! You will be famous. All you need is to make a lot of money and you will be happy serving the changing winds of compromise! Were you not created to fill your cup and glory in the world's applause? I hear the hiss-ss of deceit in such words for it is the world's system of thinking. Even the hearts of our little children are crowded with so much 'stuff'. 

Do not love the world nor the things in the world If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. I john 2:15-17

At some time in our life, we have each wanted to perform better than someone else and be noticed for it. Whether academically or a 'win' in sports or in music and acting, or any other accomplishment, longing to have glory for ourselves. Beauty and talent controlled by the flesh is a formula for disaster. Blind to God's purpose for their lives they are numb to all God's promises. Many of us have family who are deceived and chasing the wind. Countless lives have been destroyed on the world's stages seeking the ever elusive riches, and fame, few survive their successes. Others are blindly convinced happiness is found in a change of job, or their marriage partner and move on to satisfy the flesh and their futile thinking.

But we are called to the Cross. The Cross is an instrument of death just as ugly as a guillotine. Called to a paradoxical life of dying to self to live, losing ourself to find ourself, giving to keep, washing another's stinky feet, serving instead of being served, taking the lowest seat, expecting and welcoming trials and taking up death (our cross). Have you ever heard a young person respond to the question of their future and what they plan to be? "Well, I really, really want to be a servant. You see, it requires dying to my flesh and I have always been attracted to washing stinky, dirty feet."

Hear Jesus garden-words echoing  from the great struggle between two spiritual worlds: 'not my will, but yours be done.” Even God had to choose the Cross. And He  chose to glory in the very Cross where He would suffer immeasurably and die. We are called to glory in His Cross... our daily choice. 

Created to bring Him glory by being transformed into the image of His Son Jesus. Understanding and appropriating the facts of the cross prove to be the most frustrating and arduous phase for a growing believer. Calvary is the secret of it all. It is all He accomplished on the Cross which counts; becoming a force in our lives as we appropriate it by faith; it is the starting point at which all godly living begins. 

"We shall never know the experience of Christ's victory in our lives until we are prepared to count (reckon) upon His victory at the Cross as the secret of our personal victory today.  There is no victory for us which was not first His."ms  Calvary is as much the foundation of sanctification as justification; as both are birthed from the Cross.  We have been delivered from what we deserve, hell, and we are daily in need of deliverance from what we are.

When I look at the Cross, I see my cross. When I look at the Cross, I see Love poured out through His pure and holy sacrifice, for He became sin for me 'who knew no sin, that I might be made the righteousness of God in Him.' II Cor 5:21 Standing on the Truth of what Jesus accomplished at Calvary, His dying for me,  gives the Holy Spirit freedom to apply this finished work in my life, giving me freedom from the penalty of sin (justification). As I stand on the Truth of my dying with Christ in His death to sin, the Holy Spirit gives me freedom from sin's power, (progressive sanctification). I am completely freed from sin's grip. It has no more power over me than I allow moment by moment. How can I not glory in the Cross? I will lose all else. The storage areas in my house hold all I will leave behind. Glorying in the Cross moves me to dance and worship spills out on my knees. Both joy and sorrow compete in my heart for there are those I love, who love this world. I am entrusted to pray faithfully for them. The Truth we embrace is foolishness to those who do not believe. Stand strong on His word for it will enable you to glory in the Cross and that is eternal.

It's a fact of life. We will ultimately lose whatever or whoever we've been hanging onto except for the love of Jesus Christ, poured out on that cross. It's not just a cross. It is the only anchor that will be there when there's nothing else to hold onto. RH

and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. I Peter 2:24

God of all glory, You who cause the sunrise and sunset to shout for joy as they glory in You,

 I bow in awe of You. I 'feel'  as though I cannot truly glory until I am free from this body and before the throne. Until then, work in me to be content to glory in the Cross and in the Lamb here, daily, as I wait for Your return. I lift up my sisters to You asking You to teach them to glory in the Cross. To glory in the grace and mercy and love that You pour out continually day and night. Fill our hearts with faith to trust You and to realize that to glory in You, is to draw near to You. Thank You. As we become more and more like Jesus, You teach us how important the Cross is to our daily living. You have planned this to cause us to be dependent on You. Thank You for Your word, it is true and unchanging. We are so grateful. We love You Jesus. I pray in dependence on You my Sacrifice Lamb,

In the shadow of the Cross I glory,

az