Spiritual Correlation in every day living

I remember what my mom told me. When you have to clean your room and it is a total disaster. Start in the corner and work your way out.

After a conversation this AM about cleaning I came to a realization of a spiritual correlation that has me extremely thankful. I am thankful for my Beloved, Ron. His spiritual leadership, that he may not even realize he is doing, always makes me think. When he cleans a room. First, Clean out the trash. Second, Pick up the clothes. Third, Make your bed. This is basic right?!?! An easy way to clean a room for a young child. 1 task at a time. But this has me thinking of the spiritual correlation.

First, Clean up the trash. Get rid of the sin in my life. Confessing our sin before God. “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 He forgives our guilt. And we then turn from the sin. Repenting means: to turn away from. Imagine walking the wrong direction and seeing it is wrong and turning the complete opposite direction and never going back. The bad is behind you. We don’t do as Lot’s wife and look back at it. We keep on walking in the right direction.

Second, Pick up your clothes. This immediately had me thinking about the armor of God from Ephesian 6:10 -18. BUT then, I felt this strong pull to the fruit of the Spirit. Trading the ‘bad traits’ for “Christ traits’ Galatians 5:22–23. Picking up the products of His Good Holy Spirit. So for me. The Holy Spirit is saying The Fruit of the Spirit. Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self control. When I pick up these things then in my day to day life I am transformed. THIS is not always easy but just like cleaning my room. Cleaning HIS room in me gets easier each day. And then as in Romans 5. Suffering produces perseverance, character, and hope.

Third, Make your bed. We know how this goes. Put on the fitted sheet, Tuck the corners of the flat sheet, add the comforter placing it neatly and even on the sides. Fluffing the pillows and placing them neatly. It is clean and neat, looks safe and you have to un-tuck it to get in. The Armor. God, You are so good! Now we place our armor. Placing it neatly, being meticulous about each and every piece.Not forgetting any part to protect us from harm. Ephesians 6:10–18

When we clean up our ‘room’ we are READY and ABLE to do His good work. HIS Will for our lives. We can love the unlovable. Pray for our enemies. Bless those who persecute us. Be joyful in the sorrow. Be patient with the things in this world that try to disrupt our lives. And we grow. Our ‘room’ grows and is filled with His ways. Isaiah 55:8–9 His ways are higher than mine.

What do you need to do in your “room”?

Be Blessed. I know that I am. He has placed a fantastic leader in my life that always brings me to focusing on inner growth for an outward expression.

Why is this not working??

Quick study. Jesus, you delight me with the ways you reveal yourself. I spend time studying and reading each morning and learn something new, don't get me wrong. I do learn in those time. But then there are those times that some one reads something, a short little conversation and this thing smacks you right in the face and you face plant into a deep hard core truth of the ONE. Thank you Jesus. For your constant reminders. You are so good to me.


Today. 


Haggai 1: 3-7 Then the Lord sent this message through the prophet Haggai:  “Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins?  This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you!  You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes!


Haggai 1:8  Now go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honored, says the LORD.


You are attempting to all this on your own and it is failing. You are living in this world but you are not supposed to be of this world. As a result you need to...

GO to the Hill----- Worship the Lord Your God, confess and leave it on the altar. 

Bring down the Timber ----- Take up your cross. Choose to follow Jesus. His ways. His Path. It is not easy. You have to choose NOT to sin. It starts in your mind and works its way out. Sin starts with a thought and leads to death. Taking up our Cross is a choice to LAY ourSELVES down. And follow His way of thinking. Taking every thought captive and checking them for His Light and Way.

Rebuild my house----- Rebuild your relationship and your soul to align with the ONE who laid His all down for you. Grow in the Lord. Reading the word, Praying. Loving Others. He did say. Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength AND Love your neighbor as yourself. 

THEN.

THEN I will take pleasure in you. You can not have a 'rich' life on the outside if you proclaim God with your lips and yet your inside is as a white washed tomb. Full of death. Empty of Godliness. Seeking the world and not seeking God. 
Seek First the Kingdom Of Heaven and all else will be added to you! 

Be Blessed. 

Establishing your purpose.

Establishing your purpose.

We all have been there. Wonder what our purpose is. Wonder what God has planned for us. Pleading with the throne room wishing He would answer not understanding why. Reviewing our life over and over trying to find why He is quiet about direction and leading. Is it something I have done? Is it something I have not confessed? I know I am not the only one that has felt that. I pleaded with the Lord for a great job. God wants me to be a good provider for my family? He has come through with so many other blessings beyond all  I could imagine so why would a great job be any different or even simpler given what had happened in years prior that were MIRACULOUS. But it seemed that no matter how hard I prayed and begged. The great job never came across which caused me to questions my purpose. When I desperately desire to have my purpose revealed because lets face life is short. Living for God's Will and purpose is what we as Christians LONG for.  So in the last 4 years of rebuilding hearing and seeing God move. Blessing upon Blessing every step of the way and yet... in my humanity my impatience on the one thing that I felt was my purpose He was silent. I knew and have known my entire Christian Life that God had something in store for me. I believe when someone goes through great trials does so for a purpose. That the Lord uses our pain, healing and restoration to build His Kingdom, to show love to others, to partner with them in a true ME TOO.
So given that. I knew. There is a purpose. But where is it? Where is the provision part for my family? My desires. My plan. My way. Was not coming to pass. That may seem almost comically because well I said MY.. God's time and His plan is not mine. I want HIS desires, His Plan and His way. So my impatience is on me. I want to establish His Purpose. When I had let go of my way and desires suddenly God revealed Himself. My passion for 'crafts', helping others, serving others using my past experiences to lift others up was suddenly in my face.  Your passion is something that you could do all day long and all evening and not be tired. Something you are willing to lose sleep over. A deep desire deep within your soul.
Was I prepared?
It has been 3 days. And I feel awesome!  I HAVE slept. Maybe less. Worked a longer day.  There are growing pains. My youngest no longer goes to daycare and finding the balance of caring for him and working with in my gifts is a bit challenging.  But it is all about finding that balance for us. And we WILL. 

So. What have I learned in the last 4 years about finding God's purpose?
1. Don't rush it. He is an ON TIME GOD!
2. Yes, There are people in my life that are encouraging and have their thoughts BUT is that God's? For example Zechariah when John the Baptist was born and everyone wanted to name him after him instead of what GOD told him to do through the Angel Gabriel. I hate to say this. YES. Fellow Christians CAN help...but they can also hinder. You have to pray and seek and knock and be patient for GOD's plan.
3. Patience truly is a virtue. Think about what He is trying to teach you in this time of waiting. Reminds me of the song 'Waiting here for you'.
4. I have seen God move mightily in the past. Don't think He is done yet! I write it down. Recount my blessing. Places He moved so I DO NOT FORGET. So I am not like an Israelite wander the wilderness and forgetting what HE took me out of. The slavery HE freed me from, the path HE laid out. The Foundation HE built for me and mine.
He moves beyond anything we can ask for or imagine. Don't put Him in a box of what He can do in your life!!
5. To not be afraid to ask for BOLD things. Not settling. Not compromising. I know this is hard. This was difficult for me. Because of self doubt, lack of self worth. All because the evil one wants nothing more than to push you back in to the miry pit of destruction. he tried to destroy me. But my refuge and strength comes from the LORD MY GOD. There is nothing that can separate me from Him. NOTHING.
6. He wants to give good gifts to His Children and I am His child.




I pray this gives you hope in His will and plan for your life. It is not easy. But HIS ways are perfect. And I would much rather have HIS Perfection then my own plan.


Your Love Never Fails

Day 1 - See I am doing a New Thing!

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” Isaiah 43:18-19


Day 1
October 25th
61 days until Christmas

After weeks of discussing, reasoning, praying, trying to understand the path that the Lord has set before us. For one. I had been looking for other employment for a long time to be a better provider for my family. I am accomplished and good at what I do. But no matter how hard I tried, begged God, asked Him to open the doors the doors never opened. And then things changed. As things do so often in life and things of God. He pretty much did a 360 in my life. Not just causing my repentance from my old self but in 'life'. I felt I was going thru the valley. That at some point and time after much prayer and sacrifice God would provide the right job and My Person I had been praying for my entire life. I had reconciled to the fact that it would be many years before either would happen. That this would just be my cross to bear and it was making me a better person. 
June 25th. Things changed. I don't deny the significance of that date. And I am rather shocked that it just happens to be the same number as today. But this day. I had a first date with a man of God. Who, instead of taking me to dinner, or bowling. Who did not do a 'date'. He had a bible study with me. NOT your typical first date. And it was the most amazing evening I had in my entire life. 
"I make all things new".
 In this I saw that when you least expect it GOD will change it all. And make it new. I love this man. He has stretched me in ways I did not think possible. We knew from the start that it was no accident that we had met. And that He had something big instore for us.  And both realizing we just could not find one another sooner because we just were not ready for one another.. God was not finished preparing us. 

That job I had been praying for just was not ready for me yet. So I needed to be patient. Well. He heard my cries. He answered my prayers. And yesterday was my last day at my old job. And today is day 1 of my new job. The job of my dreams. A job that is for HIS glory. And I get to work with, for and along side My Beloved in this journey. This new beginning, that might seem scary to some, has brought such joy in the anticipation of it that I can't contain my happiness and expectancy of what HE IS GOING TO DO! 
He makes all things new. The old has passed away and the new has come. 

When He promises He is with you when you go thru the deep waters,  rivers of difficulty, fire of oppression He is not kidding. He calls us HIS. He calls you by name. He calls me by name. And in this journey, stepping out in faith and trusting that He has control, HE will make a way in the wilderness. HE will make that stream in the wasteland.  And He has. 

I can not wait. I am ready. We are ready. Ready to build for His Kingdom. The workers may be few. BUT with HIM. We Lack Nothing!


Peace.

I hope you dance.

The Lord’s Chosen Servant

42 Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my Spirit upon him;

he will bring forth justice to the nations.

 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

a bruised reed he will not break,

and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

he will faithfully bring forth justice.

 He will not grow faint or be discouraged

till he has established justice in the earth;

and the coastlands wait for his law.

  Thus says God, the Lord,

who created the heavens and stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

who gives breath to the people on it

and spirit to those who walk in it:

 “I am the Lord; oI have called you in righteousness;

I will take you by the hand and keep you;

I will give you as a covenant for the people,

a light for the nations


The Messiah was, said in Isaiah 42, to be the Light for the nations of the world. This is a bold prophecy of the coming Savior. The old testament has 42 prophecies of Christ's coming. And Jesus, Our Lord fulfilled them all! Isaiah 42 from verse 1 through verse 6 speaks about Jesus and what He is, what He will go through and God's promise to us.  God's spirit in the form of a dove rest upon Jesus as the messenger to hail him in baptized him. He would be bruised but not broken. He will not let us down. He will be the Light to a dark world.

Jesus went to the cross to save us all. He laid down His life to give us life. When we go through the troubles that this life brings instead of cowering in the corner or allowing the trouble to get the best of us we should trust Jesus. Step out into the storm. And trust in Him. Dance in the storm with Him by our side. Seek His lessons in the trials. Boldly come to Him with the troubles. Knowing deep within us we will see the light at the end of the tunnel. We will get through it with His Grace and His Mercy. We can do all things through Christ. We lack Nothing. We need only to have the faith the size of a mustard seed.  Dance in the storm my friends. Dance in the arms of our Savior. Who calms the storm. Who says Peace be still. Who calls us out of the boat to walk on the water.
Be at peace Child of God. And boldly step up on the feet of Jesus and let Him lead the dance.




~L


Kingdom Christmas Lights
WHY Kingdom Ministries
Kingdom Christmas Lights on YouTube

Sixty-Five Days. What He said about the coming of Christ.

Genesis 22: 18

The Angel of the Lord shares with Abraham what the Lord will do because of His obedience. HE will bless him more than Abraham may have even been able to comprehend. HE tells him that he will have so many descendants that they will be as the numbers of stars in the sky and sand on the seashore. They will be conquers. AND through his descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed- ALL because he obeyed God.

Scholars believe that this is the Lord's first prophecy of Jesus. Why did the Lord choose Abraham's line to ? Because he obeyed God. Our obedience  to the Lord can cause ramifications that can and will change the world. Just as God chose Abraham's line to bring forth the Savior of the world so can we imprint with our obedience that will result in blessings on generations to come.

Do you have commitment issues?

Commit your actions to the LORD, and your plans will succeed.
Proverbs 16:3


Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you.
Psalm 37:5


Two verse, Two different locations. Both saying the same exact thing. 
Commit your self to God.
Actions- It is one thing to think. To think about doing the right thing. 
To want to do the right thing. To desire to. To need to. He says DO. Our actions. 
James says to be Doers of the word. Not just hearers. Because we deceive ourselves.
Why is that? 
If you tell some one you love them and never have actions to back it. How can you say you love them? We are a people of actions. We get up and DO. OR at least we should be. 
If we commit the things we do to the Lord. EVERYTHING. Trusting Him to make our paths straight won't He direct us on our path?!? OF COURSE. Even if we veer off course He will redirect us back to His path. I heard My Beloved speak about this today. And for whatever reason it has come up so many times ( I know it was you Lord). We beg God to lead, guide and direct us. But do we commit our action and everything we do TO HIM?

 I will admit that there are times I think. I got this. No need to interrupt God on it. The truth of the matter is. I don't have it. I need Him. I need His guidance. HIS direction. And so I let the GPS of my life redirect me back on His path. His will for my life. Not wasting more of my life on the taking the long way around. Even though we may need to learn some lessons. And yes we seem to repeat past mistakes and obviously God has to teach us some more to turn from those repeat mistakes and not even look at them again. Call it what you want. Character building perhaps. We are stubborn children. Thank GOD we have a gracious and merciful Father who LOVES His children. 
Just like a relationship where we commit ourselves and trust them to care for us and our hearts so must we be ALL in to what God has in store for us. And when we do. How much more can He do? 

Good Character is never built on good intentions. Good Character is built on doing something about it. 

If we trust in the Lord. And commit all we do. HE will help us. HE will guide us. It may not be what we had in mind. Lord KNOWS my life has NOT gone the way I wanted. As I have gotten older and matured I can see ever time God tried to redirect me. Tried to get me to pay attention to the long way around, the cliff I was about to walk off of. In my stubbornness and frankly disobedience I made things harder on myself. And if I could change anything would I? I heard someone once say that the desire to change your past means you live with regret. I think I will have to disagree. My "regret" is that IF I had obeyed God what would have been different? Would I be further in my walk? Ministry? And life? I do not have that answer. HE knew I would do this and He is still there. Ready for me to give it over to Him. I desire to. I want to. And I need to. There are days it is a every minute conscience decision to do so. And that is A-OKAY. If that is what it takes to reach my destination. I will commit to that. I will Commit to the Lord Everything.
We are children of the Most High. As we enter into this season of rejoicing let us also reflect on the greatest Gift we have ever been given. And the free will that He instilled in us to choose His ways. To choose to commit to Him. How Great He IS!

How Great is Our God