1 year

Today, I reflect on a day, very special to me that happen a year ago.

One woman, my dearest friend, encouraged me to attend a "meeting". She offered herself, her time, her home and her friend. It was designed especially for me. The results of it were life changing. I keep writing about this "inner healing". It was then, when I experienced more freedom and more intimacy with Jesus. I was forever changed and will forever be grateful.

Jesus, it's been that day when for the first time I saw You standing next to me. When I walked with You, even though I have known You for years.

Lord, I am so thankful for You arranging time and places and for having Your daughters help and invest in and love each other. 

"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ."

~1 Corinthians 15:57

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Another kind of love

I saw a movie inspired by a Nicolas Sparks novel and I liked one of the lines about love. 

There is another kind of love, one that gives you the courage to be better than you are, not less than you are, one that makes you feel that anything is possible.

It made me think of God. How His love changed me, gave me courage to be better, made me believe, made me feel that anything is possible. It also reminded me of another Sparks' novel that was made into a movie that has my favorite quote in it.

"I am no one special; just a common man with common thoughts. I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten. But in one respect I have succeeded as gloriously as anyone who've ever lived: I've loved another with all my heart and soul; and for me, that has always been enough."

It makes me go, ohhhh, that a man would say that. It is what God commands also.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart

and with all your soul and with all your strength

and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."

~Luke 10:27

 

The challenge is the "and for me, that has always been enough" part. Really knowing God, "tasting" that He is good and that being completely enough in every moment of every day. His love is enough. And if we feel like it isn't, we don't know Him completely yet, I think.

Lord, may I really know You. Your love is enough.

 

I think of Paul and how God's love changed him. And as the character in a movie confessed his love for his love, I marvel at what Paul confessed as a man, as a male. He knew God and was able to say:

 

"I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live,

but Christ who lives in me.

And the life I now live in the flesh

I live by faith in the Son of God,

who loved me and gave himself for me."

~Galatians 2:20

 

The same goes for Abraham, Moses, David, etc.

Lots of songs were written about that kind of love. Like the following words, courtesy of Celine Dion. It makes me think of God also.

For all those times You stood by me
For all the truth that You made me see
For all the joy You brought to my life
For all the wrong that You made right
For every dream You made come true
For all the love I found in You
I'll be forever thankful
You're the one who held me up
Never let me fall
You're the one who saw me through, through it all

You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith because You believed
I'm everything I am
Because You loved me

You gave me wings and made me fly
You touched my hand I could touch the sky
I lost my faith, You gave it back to me
You said no star was out of reach
You stood by me and I stood tall
I had Your love I had it all
I'm grateful for each day You gave me
Maybe I don't know that much
But I know this much is true
I was blessed because I was loved by You

You were always there for me
The tender wind that carried me
A light in the dark shining Your love into my life
You've been my inspiration
Through the lies You were the truth
My world is a better place because of You

I'm everything I am
Because You loved me

Jesus, I'm everything I am because You love me. Thank You for Your love.

 

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Courage

I keep thinking about my previous post and how I wrote that I get discouraged. At one point as the word passed through my mind, I realized that "discouraged" has "courage" in it. Courage has a special meaning for me as it came up during my inner healing; what Jesus thinks of me. One of it's definition on dictionary.com is - the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear. From that definition it would appear that it depends on my mind, whether I will be courageous or not. And the Bible seems to tell that courage is for the taking, as it commends to "take courage".

"Wait for the Lord; be strong,

and let your heart take courage;

wait for the Lord!"

~Psalm 27:14

I also looked up the dreaded "discourage". And here are the words that came up: deprive of courage, hope, or confidence; dispirit; dishearten - to depress the hope, courage - to make sad or gloomy; lower in spirits; to lower in force, vigor, activity; weaken; make dull; to lower in amount or value; to put in a lower position.

All of which I don't want but could relate to. No wonder I feel awful. 
 

Today I read in my daily devotional that it was said of Jesus - "He shall not fail nor be discouraged," because He never worked from His own individual standpoint but always from the standpoint of His Father, and we have to learn to do the same.

 

And one more word came up - encourage. Which means to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence; to stimulate by assistance, approval; to promote, advance, or foster. All of which I would gladly receive.
 

"May the God of endurance and encouragement
grant you to live in such harmony with one another,

in accord with Christ Jesus."

~Romans 15:5

 

And wouldn't you know it, tomorrows devotional title is "Individual discouragement and personal enlargement", which I could not resist reading today.

 

Moses saw the oppression of his people and felt certain that he was the one to deliver them, and in the righteous indignation of his own spirit he started to right their wrongs. After the first strike for God and for the right, God allowed Moses to be driven into blank discouragement, He sent him into the desert to feed sheep for forty years. At the end of that time, God appeared and told Moses to go and bring forth His people, and Moses said- "Who am I, that I should go?" In the beginning Moses realized that he was the man to deliver the people, but he had to be trained and disciplined by God first. He was right in the individual aspect, but he was not the man for the work until he had learned communion with God.

 

We may have the vision of God and a very clear understanding of what God wants, and we start to do the thing, then comes something equivalent to the forty years in the wilderness, as if God had ignored the whole thing, and when we are thoroughly discouraged God comes back and revives the call, and we get the quaver in and say - "Oh, who am I?" We have to learn the first great stride of God - "I AM THAT I AM hath sent thee." We have to learn that our individual effort for God is an impertinence; our individuality is to be rendered incandescent by a personal relationship to God (see Matthew 3:17). We fix on the individual aspect of things; we have the vision - "This is what God wants me to do"; but we have not got into God's stride. If you are going through a time of discouragement, there is a big personal enlargement ahead. (My Utmost for His Highest - O. Chambers)

 

When I think of courage, I don't feel it's me - courageous. But I can choose to set my mind and let Jesus enable me to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear, because of His love for me.

 

"There is no fear in love,

but perfect love casts out fear.

For fear has to do with punishment,

and whoever fears has not been perfected in love."

~1 John 4:18

 

Father, help me to never work from my own individual standpoint but always from Yours. Jesus, may we encourage one another and build one another up (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Lord, help me to take courage, to be strong and courageous.

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Poured-out wine

"God can never make us wine if we object to the fingers He uses to crush us with. If God would only use His own fingers, and make me broken bread and poured-out wine in a special way! But when He uses someone whom we dislike, or some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, and makes those the crushers, we object. We must never choose the scene of our own martyrdom. If ever we are going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed; you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed." (O. Chambers)

More often than not, when things don't go as I expected, when circumstances are of those that I never would choose for myself, my tendency is to object. When I cannot "see" a situation changing or what can be with God, I get discouraged. And after reading this I feel like saying, I am sorry. Then, I don't understand, I don't like it, followed by I am sorry again. I am sorry that I don't let God "squeeze" me without me objecting lot of times. I am sorry that I cannot go without my understanding, trusting God and liking it. I realize that I am not living life in faith, but in my own understanding in times and am giving the enemy an opportunity. Which I know not to do.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make straight your paths."

~Proverbs 3:5,6

Lord, may I acknowledge You in all my ways. Thank You for making my path straight. Lord, I do not choose the scene of my own martyrdom. May I trust You with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding.

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Glorious day

Not at myself, not at others, but looking at Jesus...

Living He loved me, dying He saved me...

 One day when Heaven was filled with His praises
One day when sin was as black as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin
Dwelt among men, my example is He
Word became flesh and the light shined among us
His glory revealed

Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He's coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

One day they led Him up Calvary's mountain
One day they nailed Him to die on a tree
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He
Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree
And took the nails for me

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer
One day the stone rolled away from the door
Then He arose, over death He had conquered
Now He's ascended, my Lord evermore
Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him
From rising again

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming
One day the skies with His glories will shine
Wonderful day, my Beloved One, bringing
My Savior, Jesus, is mine

Glorious day, Oh, Glorious day

Jesus, thank You for revealing Your glory. For loving me, for saving me, for carrying my sins far away, for justifying me forever. That makes this a glorious day. Thank You for dying for me, for rising to be my Lord evermore. Thank You for coming for me. Oh what a glorious day!

"Therefore you also must be ready,

for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

~Matthew 24:44

 

"And then they will see the Son of Man

coming in clouds with great power and glory."

~Mark 13:26

 

"Behold, he is coming with the clouds,

and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him,

and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen."

~Revelation 1:7

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Spirit lead me

Two of my other friends sent me these.

 

I received this song, which I never heard before, but reminds me of her heart and the times we worship together. I keep listing to it. Thank you for sharing.

 

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior

"Teach me to do your will, for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!"
~Psalm 143:10

And I received this picture, which reminds me of the times we spent together on the trail. I have always loved the sunshine shining through the trees. Thank you for capturing it for me, since I can no longer be there.

Jesus, thank You for my friends that are far, yet so close. Bless them, Lord. Spirit lead us where our trust is without borders, may our faith be made stronger in the presence of our Savior.

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One "month" left

There is one full month left in my P40 journey.

My dearest faithful friend shared with me a statement that I keep meditating on and that will stay with me.

When we look into ourselves we get depressed, when we look at others we get distressed, when we look at Jesus we can rest. (Joseph Prince)

Oh, Lord, how true, especially the first part.

Jesus, may I look to You. To You only. As You promise also that Your presence will go with me and that if I come, You'll give me rest.

"My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

~Exodus 33:14

"Come to Me, and I will give you rest "

~Matthew 11:25

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