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.

OH Glorious Light.

John 11- When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled.
Just before He raised Lazarus from the dead. He has been dead 4 days. And the mourners are out waling. Martha is angry that Jesus is so late. 

Is this a glimpse of Jesus seeing the power of death? That His love for us is so deep that seeing the power of death taking us away caused him deep sorrow. As well as Him facing the fact that soon He would be the sacrifice for us all? Knowing His purpose was this over whelming?? There is many different thoughts to this question but what we DO know is:
Jesus raises the dead every single day. His gift of Himself Raises US from death. 


I was dead.
Put into a dark tomb. 
Cold.
Lonely.
Dark.
Emptiness. 
Helpless. 
Shamed.

And one day like a flash. 

I was called by name. 
Taken by the hand, heart and soul and brought to the Glorious Light. Redeemed. 
Saved from death.
I was made alive.
Made new. Ran into the Loving arms of My Savior.
Oh what a day it was. My eyes were opened and I could see and hear Him. 


We, as believers, are walking miracles. We were dead. 
We had been dead for years. 
We smelled terrible.  We had been rotting. 
And Jesus. In His INFINITE love, tender mercy and loving kindness plucked us from the bowels of death. The miry pit of destruction. The anchor to hell was cut. SET FREE. Made ALIVE. To live for eternity with Him. 

Beloved. Let us walk with gratitude to Jesus for calling us by name. Let us walk in who we are, walking miracles. And Let us show and tell others about the Love of our Lord Jesus Christ.






Glorious Day- Passion. Click for a worship song

Is that all you want?

Now to Him who is able to be immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus thru out all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Eph. 3:20-21


I heard something that made my head spin. And it makes me think... and actually strive for understand and how to live it out.
It comes from the section.. 

"Him who is able to be immeasurable more than ALL we ask or imagine"


It is like God saying "Is this all you want? There is SO much more!! You can't imagine the plans I have for you, Beloved!"
Because next He says "According to HIS power that is at work within us"
Are you happy with where you are? Do you know there is MORE? Do you see He willing and able to give that to you? I am not saying 'stuff'. 
 I am saying a PLAN. A Path. 
Better than you can plan.
 Better than your momma or daddy can plan. 

But the big question is... Are you willing?
That is my question to myself.. AM i willing? Willing to lay down what "I" want. Willing to step out.. blindly. Because  God who is higher than anything and anyone, outshining everything you can see in the skies. Who can compare with God, OUR God, so majestically enthroned has my back. He even goes before me. And prepares the way.  Trust Him. 


Ps. 113:4-5
Isaiah 52:12
Deuteronomy 31:8

Who is that masked man?

2 Corinthians 4 1-7

Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way, we never give up.  We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this.

 If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing.  Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.

 You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

"We miss Jesus' point entirely when we use His words as weapons against others" 

Brennan Manning

" A counterfeit gospel promotes mask wearing and fills churches with phonies but the true gospel promotes transparency & fills churches with stories of radical transformation"

Unkown

"Many Christians feel broken and angry but don't think they can express these real feelings around others--or to God. So we put on a mask to hide our identity. Feelings of embarrassment and shame make us hide from the One who truly loves us"

Brennan Manning

You have worn a mask for so long, you forgot who you were beneath it.

I do not have it all together. I DO NOT. I believe with out a doubt I am Blessed and Highly favored but it took a long time for me to get to that point. Maturity perhaps. I have gotten to the point when people speak to me about life. Their life. I can hear and see their body language, tones of voice and know that they have their mask on. I know because I have been there. I have sit through sermons on Sunday nodding in approval and yet deep down I was screaming because I did not believe what was being said. I have said no to prayer requests when asked because I was embarrassed as a 'grown' Christian to admit I was struggling.  I have come off 'holier than thou' when discussing a topic purely because I know the Bible. But had not allowed my self to be transformed by it. So when people talk about how they are and start throwing the B.S. I know it is B.S. As a Christian we want to seem we have it ALL TOGETHER but when it comes down to it. We have skeletons in our closets, sin we struggle with, doctrine we can't wrap our heads around and so we slip on a mask to cover our true self. And this is not what He intended for us to do. He intended on us to be transparent and letting HIS light shine through us. To live without fear. To express His love and mercy to others. To transform each others lives with HIS teachings. And we lost it my friends. The evil one has caused shame and fear. Blinded us to the hope we have.  What are we to do?

pull the mask off. admit when we dont have it together. Share with one another. Yoke with Christ and allow him to radically transform us. We are not perfect people. Which is why we need a PERFECT SAVIOR. And what is completely awesome. .HE KNEW WE WOULD NEED HIM!! 

We can't continue to wear a mask. NOT if we want to not only change this world but change ourselves for the great mission our Savior set our feet to.

Take off your mask Beloved. 

Be who God intended.

Love one another and lets walk together to transparent living in Christ

Sincere

Romans 12 :9

Love Must be sincere
Hate what is evil
Cling to what is good



This looks like a simple verse. Easy to comprehend. Maybe easy to do for a follower of the Christ. But lets break down what a certain word means.
We all know this word. It looks simple enough.

Sincere- True. Free from pretense. Genuine. Heartfelt. Wholehearted. Deep

And yet. This Latin word means a lot more than you may think.  The potters would label their clay pots with the word "Sinerus" Sincere. which means WITH OUT WAX.
It meant the pot had no hair line cracks that would be filled in with wax. They were true. Perfect.
The only way to see if this pot was true and free from cracks was to hold it up to the SUN. To the light. And look to see what cracks there may be. So you could KNOW what was true by exposing the cracks to the light.

Just as WE can be held up to the Light to see if we have cracks that are filled with falsehood. If we have a hidden agenda. Or are we true.  We all have sinned. We all have had hidden agendas. And we have all been faced with that still small voice of the Holy Spirit convicting us to be true. Without wax. To put our masks down and be our TRUE selves.  So that we may love, reject shameful deeds, underhanded methods and not trick anyone. But to TRULY LOVE.

LOVE must be Sincere.  Jesus Said LOVE.  honestly. openly.

It is very unfortunate that today we live in a time where people have no issue with 'Evil'. It is promoted in movie, books, internet and by our culture. This is NOT new to us tho. Christians were given to the lions as entertainment.  Worshiping false gods and idols was an everyday occurrence, along with every other sin that we still endure today. But God.. Says we should hate those things. Reject those things. And cling to good. HIS goodness.

Can you define the word good?  Think on it for just a moment. We have a strong intuitive knowledge of what the word GOOD means. Like it was put in us by the ultimate GOOD.

 God's Good goal for us is to make us like His Son. And how can we be like His Son?

Jesus Said... .Love.  Make it Sincere. Wholehearted.  True. Without wax.


Matthew 22: 37- 40
2 Corinthians 4:2
Galatians 5 :19


Take a moment and reflect. Ask God where you have cracks and flaws and ask him to rework His Masterpiece. .. YOU. It is you. His Beloved.  Love Sincerely Beloved.

I will give You all the praise even for the hard stuff.

We praise God for the good that happens in our life. Blessings. New jobs. Raise at work. Financial blessing. Health. Kids health. We are quick to give thanks for the good times. Proclaim our blessings from the rooftop of the GOODNESS of our God. And RIGHTLY SO! 

What happens in the bad? I for one pray more. Seem more desperate for answers and understanding. Looking for relief from what ever it is that has pained me to the point that I need to be praying for deliverance. And send it NOW Lord. Help me in my grief. Heal my heart. Make it so quickly. Deliver me. As fast as you can. 


I beg you to walk with me a moment.  We all go thru trials. Pain. Bad times. Hard times. Loss. GREAT loss. And we can not wait for the pain to be over. For the healing to be made complete.
Do we praise God in the middle of the storm? Do we thank God for such horrible things happening in our lives? We grow in the hard times. Like it or not. We are more likely to have an intimate relationship with God during times of difficulty. When is the last time you thanked God for the storm? What you learned in the storm? What He revealed? What growth you experienced? How He spoke? How you watched in front of your eyes the healing power of Jesus. I don't like storms when I am in the middle of them. I don't get excited.

In one of the most difficult storms of my life. I can recount the times God reminded me. I am with you. Where He whispered in my ear, Come this way my Beloved. Rest here my Precious. I will never leave you my child. You are mine.
And in that time. I thanked Him for who He was. And how He led me. But did I thank Him for the trial itself??  "Thank you Lord for trusting me, my character and my ability to rely on You in such a devastating point in my life. I can't wait to see what You do. And how I am going to glorify You in this situation. How You are going to grow me. And mold me to be more like You."

Beloved. Redeem EVERY opportunity to praise God. To rest in His word. To trust in His loving kindness. YOU have been redeemed for a purpose. Walk into that place. His holy place.

Psalm 34 

I will praise the Lord at all times.
    I will constantly speak his praises.
 I will boast only in the Lord;
    let all who are helpless take heart.
 Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness;
    let us exalt his name together.

 I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.
    He freed me from all my fears.
 Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;
    no shadow of shame will darken their faces.
 In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened;
    he saved me from all my troubles.
 For the angel of the Lord is a guard;
    he surrounds and defends all who fear him.

 Taste and see that the Lord is good.
    Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
 Fear the Lord, you his godly people,
    for those who fear him will have all they need.
 Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry,
    but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing.

 Come, my children, and listen to me,
    and I will teach you to fear the Lord.
 Does anyone want to live a life
    that is long and prosperous?
 Then keep your tongue from speaking evil
    and your lips from telling lies!
 Turn away from evil and do good.
    Search for peace, and work to maintain it.

 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right;
    his ears are open to their cries for help.
 But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil;
    he will erase their memory from the earth.
 The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help.
    He rescues them from all their troubles.
 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
    he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

 The righteous person faces many troubles,
    but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.
 For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous;
    not one of them is broken!

 Calamity will surely destroy the wicked,
    and those who hate the righteous will be punished.
 But the Lord will redeem those who serve him.
    No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

The Rock and a hard place.

We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5



Obstacles. 


They are small and big. They are proud and weak. They are busy and lazy. They will be there tomorrow. And cause you to dwell on yesterday. Some are good. Keeping you from harm. As a mother keeps her toddler from climbing a stair case. Some are bad. Like a constant distraction when you are reading or praying. Or trying to focus on an important task. 
There are times our important task. Is carrying out the Will of God. HIS plan for you. Something He has revealed to you over and over. But because of obstacles we put them on our to-do list. Save them for tomorrow. There will be time but not today. And we don't answer the call that God has placed before us. 

We--- ME have become a lazy people. People walked for days to be at the feet of Jesus. To just get a glimpse of Him from afar. Were lowered on pallets through the ceiling to get close to him. 
WE ----ME. Complain that church is 20 whole minutes away. The pastor is going on and causing the service to run over. The kids are complaining about being hungry. You have a million things to do when it is over. And how are you going to complete it and still get home in time to watch the game. Clean. Cook. Laundry. And all the while we have FORGOTTEN the FACT. 
God dwelt among us. 
He put on flesh and came to this earth and taught us HIS ways. 
We are in an instant gratification society. You want your church 45 minutes. Children in a separate area. New music. Big band. We have that. You want 30 minutes service. 1 song. NO offering collections and a guitar. We have that. You want a big mega concert with an inspiring uplifting feel good sermon.. oh We have that. 

You want to listen to the Holy Spirit? DO the will of God no matter how much TIME.. weeks month YEARS it takes?...... record scratch. But. I am busy. I want to but I am SO busy. Character was not built on good intentions. 

I heard a teacher once use the phrase SLOW OBEY IS NO OBEY. If your 4 year old is slow to do as you ask. It is the same as if he did not obey at all. Because he is doing it at his leisure. Which is rebellion. How much more are we as adults?? No one is there to tell you again. .or threat to ground you. or put you in time out.. OH sign me up for TIME OUT. 

We must become FULLY OBEDIENT.  Let's say that again.

I MUST BECOME FULLY OBEDIENT. 

When we become fully obedient there are a few things that happen. One. We please God. NUMBER 1... we please God. Like sweet incense. When we FULLY obey God. We please Him.  The creator of the universe. PLEASED because I obeyed Him. 

"Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations."


Second. He blesses us. He gives good gifts to his children. HE will bless you. 

"If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world."
Deuteronomy 28

"Understand, Therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him AND obey his commands"
Deuteronomy 7:9




I encourage you, Beloved. OBEY God. Do as He asks. DO what the word of God says. DO His commands. And He is faithful.

 HE. IS. FAITHFUL!!!! 

He can not deny himself. It is impossible for him to do. His faithfulness is a shield. Take refuge under it. And it will endure forever. His loving kindness will never cease. His compassion never fails. They are NEW every morning.

SO This day my friends. Step out and DO as He has requested. Fully Obey. And watch what happens! 

Bless you. 

Free and unmerited favor..bestowal of blessings

Hebrews 4:16  So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

John 15



Jesus tells us that He is the true vine, and His Father the gardener. He cuts the branches that don't produce fruit and prunes other to produce more. And this has me thinking about something. My imperfection. I am being referred to here in this verse as a tree in need of pruning. (As is anyone that professes faith in Jesus Christ) I am not perfect. I have branches that have been damaged thru storms. My roots run deep and sometimes pick up murky waters of doubt. My leaves are green but the fall of my life is coming. You can find great shade under my branches with my little seedlings that grow and try to grow faster than they are able. But this tree. This vessel in all her imperfections, broken spots is bearing fruit. Why? Because of Grace. God's grace.

grace. blessing despite the fact we do not deserve.

In nature a broken tree will not grow straight. It may die quickly depending on the damage. It does not flourish. But this tree. The tree covered by God's grace grows, is full and healthy despite the broken spots. He blesses it . He tends it. He prunes it and cultivates the soil around it. He makes sure a constant flow of abundantly clean water is fed to it.

Now Mercy.

mercy. not being punished as deserved

I deserve nothing I have done nothing to earn any blessing. And that is the point. WE can't earn our ways to heaven it is freely given.
My soul is deserving of Hell. Oh yes. I am a good person. I am kind to others. I willingly help those around me. But this will not get me to the gates of Heaven!!  Because of God's merciful loving kindness I have been redeemed and can enter His gates. Which gives me a thankful heart and as a result I do as He commands. And that is to Love.

Love Each Other.

Not because you have to. Not because of duty but because of the over flowing love and mercy that Jesus has shown you.
Jesus Said LOVE!!

Beloved. Love as you have been loved. And if we all loved to the measure that we have been shown love. OH!  how we could change the world!


BLESSINGS.

I am waiting here for you.

A narrow gate is hard to get thru. And Jesus refers to this in Matthew 7: 13-14. You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.  But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

The gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult and only a few ever find it.  There is a church on every corner. Especially here in the south. Every one believes. Every one knows Jesus. Everyone say bless your heart. I am gonna pray for that. And, I know, who am I to judge?

FEW FIND IT.
 It is a matter of the heart. Would be followers can say all the right things. Do the the right things, IN PUBLIC. But their hearts are black and corrupt. Their souls do not belong to Christ. They talk the talk but can't walk the walk. I have experienced both.. people that went to church all their life and never surrendered to Jesus and when they profess their faith after 10-20 years you look at them and think WOW. I thought they were a Christian. And those that knew the right words but secretly did not follow God and His desires. But the fact is you do not know the condition of the persons heart. OR. Do you? Not but a couple verses down from the gate is the fruit.
You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit.

Your fruit is your actions. What do you do as a result of your choices.  If you are known by your actions. What does your fruit look like?  Character was never built on good intentions. I can desire to pray, read the Bible, help those in my community. BUT if I do not DO it. What does that say about me. My intentions are good.. but my actions. Well they tell the truth of the matter.
As I discipline my body, heart and soul to train it in the way it should go I take time to get to know God. And when I get to know God. It is like Romans 5. We develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. Our reactions change. We are joyful during trials. We smile while being persecuted. We don't desire to sin. We don't encourage our flesh. We desire God and what He wants. We are blessed. Sometimes physically but EVERY TIME spiritually.
He never promised us easy. But He DID promise He would never leave nor forsake us.

So let's not just read and pray let us get out there and Do what it says! REACT to what God has revealed and taught. An outward expression to an inward growth.

James 1:22-27  But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.  For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.  You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.  But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.  If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.  Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.


If we stay on the path and grow, focus on becoming like Christ then when it comes time to walk through that narrow gate. We won't even notice that it was narrow. We won't see a gate. We will see our Savior standing there with His arms opened wide.  Pulling His Beloved into His arms. 

I AM a masterpiece.

Ephesians 2:10

We are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, So we can do the good things HE planned for us long ago.



The first thing I tried to gloss over is the word masterpiece. I was going straight for "good things He planned for us".  And God is so good! He brought be right back to what HE wanted me to see.  What HE wanted me to learn. Not what I said.. Oh this is an easy one. I know what He is saying to me. And quickly I get  "NO Laura. Let's look at this instead."

Masterpiece: an artist's BEST piece of work.


WE are God's masterpiece. GOT it.

You are God's masterpiece. TOTALLY.

I am God's masterpiece... Am I ?

I can name hundreds of people that I would say are God's masterpiece. Why am I not on that list?
He says it right there. And yet I am doubtful He means me. I doubt who I am and forget who He says I am. I see my broken pieces and HE sees the healed ones. I see the imprisonment and HE sees the redemption.  There is a point in time that we have to see who we are to Him. Not the self loathing and self hating But reminding ourselves that WE are a masterpiece. To be able to say to YOURSELF

I....... I AM HIS MASTERPIECE.
I am Chosen.
I am Blessed.
I am Forgiven
I am Valuable
I am NEW
I am Redeemed.
I AM LOVED


What part of you do you doubt? And what does GOD say about you? Ask Him.

My hope is that you see that you are HIS masterpiece. And today, I am going to remind myself that I am also His masterpiece. He formed me. He knew me. He knows me. He calls me blessed. He has set me free, made me righteous, an heir. I am Beloved.



Here are a few verses to remind you.

Romans 3:24
John 1:12
1 Cor 1:30
2 Cor 5:21
Gal 5:1
Eph 1:11
Col 3:12