The words God spoke in Ezekiel 35 & 36 really excited me today! To hear God speak commands of life and prosperity, of rebuilding and replanting to the very mountains, the soil, fields, cities was just what i needed to read today!
But you, Mountains of Israel, will burst with new growth ... you'll be plowed and planted as before!
The country will burst into life, life and more life...
I'll give personal orders to the wheat fields, telling them to grow bumper crops...
I'll make sure your fruit trees and field crops flourish.
There are things in my life ... well, one house-shaped thing for sure, that i haven't been physically speaking to and commanding it to obey the will of God!
But reading God's directives to the physical circumstances of Israel's homeland, has really boosted my faith today!
What have you spoken to in your life and seen it move under the power of God?
Monday, November 29, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
So Thankful
So much to be thankful for ...
He [Jesus] used His servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin,
free to live the right way.
His wounds became your healing.
You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going.
Now you're named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.
1 Peter 2:24,25
He [Jesus] used His servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin,
free to live the right way.
His wounds became your healing.
You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going.
Now you're named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.
1 Peter 2:24,25
Friday, November 12, 2010
Cruise Director Goes Prophetic
I just love how God will use those who are available, no matter what their field of work or if they are serving full time in the ministry or not ... doesn't matter to God!
Availability, Availability, Availability!
Jeremiah the prophet gave a job to Seraiah ... when Seraiah went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon. ...
Seraiah was in charge of travel arrangements. ...
Jeremiah had written down in a little booklet all the bad things that would come down on Babylon. He told Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, read this out in public. Read, 'You, O God, said that you would destroy this place so that nothing could live here, neither human nor animal—a wasteland to top all wastelands, an eternal nothing.'
Availability, Availability, Availability!
Jeremiah the prophet gave a job to Seraiah ... when Seraiah went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon. ...
Seraiah was in charge of travel arrangements. ...
Jeremiah had written down in a little booklet all the bad things that would come down on Babylon. He told Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, read this out in public. Read, 'You, O God, said that you would destroy this place so that nothing could live here, neither human nor animal—a wasteland to top all wastelands, an eternal nothing.'
"When you've finished reading the page, tie a stone to it, throw it into the River Euphrates, and watch it sink. Then say, 'That's how Babylon will sink to the bottom and stay there after the disaster I'm going to bring upon her.'"
Jeremiah 51:59-64
Every "job," every role we fulfill daily has the opportunity to be used by God. He's placed us in our spheres of work, school, community, neighborhoods, church for a divine purpose.
Lord, open my eyes and ears to be aware of Your purpose for my life.
And please help me to carry it out for Your glory.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
No More Middle Man
God is so wonderful!
And merciful,
Loving,
Forgiving,
Personal.
I'll be their God, and they'll be my people. They won't go to school to learn about Me, or buy a book called "God in Five Easy Lessons."
They'll get to know Me firsthand...
(Hebrews 8:10b-11)
No longer do we have to get to God through a third party! No more priest middle-man between us and God experiencing God's presence and then coming out of the sanctuary to tell us how great He Is.
How cool is it to be able to experience God's presence touching our individual lives even in the midst of our homes, our cars, our church, the grocery store, the park.... At any time!
Just me and God. Firsthand. Hand in hand.
They'll get to know Me by being kindly forgiven, with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.
(Hebrews 8:13)
Feeling my slate being wiped clean ...
Feeling and sensing and knowing the presence of God in my life, changing me, cleaning up my sins ...
I agree, there is a whole lot more to THAT experience than to that of roping a perfect goat, dragging it to the tabernacle, giving it a push into the inner sanctuary and letting the priests take it from there.
What a wonderful, open, very real relationship God seeks to have with His people.
My life mixes with His,
My heart beats with His,
Together we carry out the new plan, the new covenant;
And the old plan stays on the shelf, gathering dust (8:13).
And merciful,
Loving,
Forgiving,
Personal.
I'll be their God, and they'll be my people. They won't go to school to learn about Me, or buy a book called "God in Five Easy Lessons."
They'll get to know Me firsthand...
(Hebrews 8:10b-11)
No longer do we have to get to God through a third party! No more priest middle-man between us and God experiencing God's presence and then coming out of the sanctuary to tell us how great He Is.
How cool is it to be able to experience God's presence touching our individual lives even in the midst of our homes, our cars, our church, the grocery store, the park.... At any time!
Just me and God. Firsthand. Hand in hand.
They'll get to know Me by being kindly forgiven, with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.
(Hebrews 8:13)
Feeling my slate being wiped clean ...
Feeling and sensing and knowing the presence of God in my life, changing me, cleaning up my sins ...
I agree, there is a whole lot more to THAT experience than to that of roping a perfect goat, dragging it to the tabernacle, giving it a push into the inner sanctuary and letting the priests take it from there.
What a wonderful, open, very real relationship God seeks to have with His people.
My life mixes with His,
My heart beats with His,
Together we carry out the new plan, the new covenant;
And the old plan stays on the shelf, gathering dust (8:13).
Monday, November 1, 2010
Exiled Figs
God showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of God. This was after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken Jehoiachin son of Jehoaikim king of Judah from Jerusalem into exile in Babylon, along with the leaders of Judah, the craftsmen, and the skilled laborers. In one basket the figs were of the finest quality, ripe and ready to eat. In the other basket the figs were rotten, so rotten they couldn't be eaten...
God told me ... The exiles... are like the good figs, and I'll make sure they get good treatment. I'll keep my eye on them so that their lives are good, and I'll bring them back to this land. I'll build them up, not tear them down; I'll plant them, not uproot them.
And I'll give them a heart to know Me, God. They'll be My people and I'll be their God, for they'll have returned to Me with all their hearts.
Jeremiah 24:1-7
These verses really spoke to me, to a place I'm in right now in my life --- not in exile, but neither in a place that is totally the promised place God has for me and my family. And in such a place, in the place of exile that Jeremiah and the peoples' lives centered around, is that a place where one would typically expect to find good, fresh, unspoiled, mouth-watering, guest-worthy figs? I did a double-take when i read that passage.
Seems to me, at first thought, that the place to find such figs would be in a place of freedom and life and blessing.
But it was in that place of exile that God promised to "make sure they get good treatment," to keep His "eye on them so that their lives are good."
And the part that really medicated my very souly soul and smoothed my ruffled spiritual feathers was: and I'll bring them back to this land. I'll build them up, not tear them down; I'll plant them, not uproot them.
And in the process, what will happen to the people, to the proverbial figs? What's been happening to me?
And I'll give them a heart to know Me, God. They'll be My people and I'll be their God, for they'll have returned to Me with all their hearts.
I haven't taken my heart away from God, but there is always room for me to know God more, to desire to know Him more. To climb up beside Him, under His wing, with the whole of my heart in my outstretched hands.
Thank You, Lord God, for keeping Your eye on Your children and the promised place You have for us in our lives, families, jobs, ministries .... Thank You building us up and planting us, even in the midst of circumstances that might smell suspiciously of exile. Thank You for being in that place now and in the place to come.
God told me ... The exiles... are like the good figs, and I'll make sure they get good treatment. I'll keep my eye on them so that their lives are good, and I'll bring them back to this land. I'll build them up, not tear them down; I'll plant them, not uproot them.
And I'll give them a heart to know Me, God. They'll be My people and I'll be their God, for they'll have returned to Me with all their hearts.
Jeremiah 24:1-7
These verses really spoke to me, to a place I'm in right now in my life --- not in exile, but neither in a place that is totally the promised place God has for me and my family. And in such a place, in the place of exile that Jeremiah and the peoples' lives centered around, is that a place where one would typically expect to find good, fresh, unspoiled, mouth-watering, guest-worthy figs? I did a double-take when i read that passage.
Seems to me, at first thought, that the place to find such figs would be in a place of freedom and life and blessing.
But it was in that place of exile that God promised to "make sure they get good treatment," to keep His "eye on them so that their lives are good."
And the part that really medicated my very souly soul and smoothed my ruffled spiritual feathers was: and I'll bring them back to this land. I'll build them up, not tear them down; I'll plant them, not uproot them.
And in the process, what will happen to the people, to the proverbial figs? What's been happening to me?
And I'll give them a heart to know Me, God. They'll be My people and I'll be their God, for they'll have returned to Me with all their hearts.
I haven't taken my heart away from God, but there is always room for me to know God more, to desire to know Him more. To climb up beside Him, under His wing, with the whole of my heart in my outstretched hands.
Thank You, Lord God, for keeping Your eye on Your children and the promised place You have for us in our lives, families, jobs, ministries .... Thank You building us up and planting us, even in the midst of circumstances that might smell suspiciously of exile. Thank You for being in that place now and in the place to come.
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