We Are Made to Worship Him

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. II Chron 7:14

We are made to worship Him , we are made to praise His name, but many times in my life, I have allowed myself to be ruled, and controlled by fear. His perfect love has cast off, and removed all fear.
I no longer need to spend any more wasted time worrying if He loves me, worrying that I have disappointed Him, yet again. He loves me in spite of myself, in spite of all my faults, He has delivered me from death's grip, and the defeating lies, that I have listened  longer than I should have.
I am a daughter of the Most High, clothed in righteousness of Christ, and written in the lamb's book of life. He is my comforter, when I have no strength left in me. When the winds an the waves are crashing around me, He is there. He speaks be still, and I find I am hidden, safely away, under the shadow of His wings. When I lay my head on my pillow, and feel the weight of the world on my shoulders, I give my cares to my Lord, and He gives me His peace, my heart fills with joy overflowing.

Thank you Lord,

Father, I am always grateful for your love that gives me confidence, and security.
I am being renewed day by day, by the resurrected power of Christ. /I am being brought
into your kingdom of light, and I can say with confidence, I am the righteousness of God in Christ. Thank you for your mercy that is new every morning, that you are faithful when I have been faithless.
I love you, and I worship at your feet.

In Christ name
Amen

Seek First the Kingdom of Heaven

Look at the birds in the sky! They don't plant or harvest. They don't even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in heaven takes care of them. Aren't you worth more than birds Can worry make you live longer. Seek first the kingdom of heaven and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Matt 6:26-27, 33

The Mother wren came back to her nest in my window sill again this year. I watched her for a couple of weeks, and her newborn birds  finally hatched one fine morning. But something was terribly wrong. Two of the babies were outside the nest, and shortly after one fell to the ground. I scolded my cat for thinking that her dinner had arrived, and made her get the bird away from her mouth. I picked up the precious little bird, held her gingerly in my hand, and needed to explain to the children the little bird, will not make it through the night. I told my son we will have a service for her in our backyard, when he gets home from school the next day. The next day came, and I picked up my son from school, he eagerly wanted to get home, so we can have the service for his little bird friend. He took the box, and opened it, and to all of our great surprise the little bird was still alive. Her breaths were shallow, and she looked quite weak. I felt such guilt, thinking she was dead, I didn't place her back in the nest sooner. Nonetheless God wanted this bird to survive. I took her frail , little body, and as gently put her back in her nest. My son and I  prayed for that little bird that night, that she would live, and the Mother wren would return. I woke up to the sound of small cheeps, and looked through my window, and there she was feeding her babies, she stopped , and looked at me for just a second, and then flew off to gather more food for her little ones. Close to death, yet all she needed was to return to the  nest, and receive comfort, and nourishment only her Mother could give.  Hidden back inside the womb of  the  nest she lived, inside the nest, she thrived. That is how the Lord wants us to be. If He cares so much even for this little bird, how much more does He care for us. The only way for us to live, the only way for us to thrive is to be hidden in Christ, under the refuge of His wings. He is our shelter, from all the raging storms that try to swallow us whole.

Thank you Lord,

that you are our shelter, our peace, our ever present help in time of need.
We can cry out to you, and you hear us, and deliver us from all our fear.
Thank you for loving us, for abiding with me, for saving me, and carrying me
to the shelter under the shadow of your wings.

In Jesus name
Amen

I cried to the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me out of the pit!

To the roots of the mountains, I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. You brought my life up from the pit, O lord my God. Jonah 2:6

A young girl finds that she had fallen into a very deep well, she doesn't know how long she was there
or even how she got there, all she knows is that she is stuck. Like a bird in a cage, at first she flounders around looking for a quick escape, the easy way is really so much easier said that done.She spends so much time worrying and in such a great sense of constant anxiety, she doesn't know that  peace is so close, so near, she can almost touch it, yet feels like it is always achievable.

At last she finds a ladder, inconspicuous , she is relieved, finally she will be free. She starts climbing, higher and higher she goes, one more rung, and I will be there she ponders, but painstakingly , each rung only becomes more tiring, more weary, and she becomes discouraged. She at last reaching what she thinks is the top, but there are 20 more rungs nonetheless , she must climb. Let go she hears a still small voice say, it's okay, I will catch you, don't worry. She fights this at first , I can't let go I am almost there she screams into the darkness, just leave me alone. I can do it, I am almost there. Just trust me, I will catch you if you fall, I will carry you to safety. The exhausted girl takes a deep breath, and let's go. In a state of panic, she realizes that she is fallen, she has let go, and she will break when she reaches the ground. She closes her eyes, accepting the tragedy that will be the death of her, but to her surprise she feels two strong arms catch her midway down. She holds on for dear life, eyes still closed, heart still racing. She opens her eyes again, and she is standing on a rock, looking down, and that great well, that almost crushed her. Inside she feels crushed too, even though she never hit the bottom, she feels something shattered inside, she takes off running, faster and faster she runs, hoping that running will make her feel free again. She suddenly stops short, and there he is a few hundred feet away. His gaze meets her eyes, and she looks away, in shame.

 But His eyes are piercing, and as he gazes at her something miraculous starts to happen, she starts to feel herself become whole again, all her brokenness she carried starts to lift, and as she looks more at this person she starts to feel waves hitting her one after the next, Love is coming, it's being poured out over all her wounds, it's seeping into the crevices and cracks. As she looks at His pierced hands, she stares at her own. His hands start to become her hands, and His story is now hers. She is His beloved, and He is hers. Her deliverer, the one that pulled her out of the pit, the one that has been singing over her from the moment she was conceived, has now become her salvation. She is not afraid any more, for His perfect love, has vanquished all of her fears, she is clothed in a robe of righteousness, she looks down at her old cloak , dirty, ridden with all her shame, and she looks up at Jesus, perfect love, and now upright, confident that her life was, always has been, and always will be in his hands  

Taste and see that the Lord is good!

Oh taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

I woke up this morning and walked down stairs to fix my coffee, and glanced over at my roses
that my husband had purchased for my birthday.They were off red by now, and their beautiful hue they once held was fading away, but yet I wasn't ready to get rid of them just yet. I bent down to smell them, thinking to myself that these dead blossoms probably do not have any aroma left, to my surprise they did. Their fragrance, was actually stronger. How lovely that even though these beautiful blossoms were starting to crumble and decay, yet they smelled sweeter than before.                            

         
When we fully surrender to Christ and allow him to do a transforming work in our lives, the self
with all its pride starts to crumble away, and what's left is a sweet aroma of Christ to those that are perishing, But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly as captives in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.

For we are to God the sweet aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one, we are an odor of death and demise; to the other, a fragrance that brings life. And who is qualified for such a task?… 2 Cor 14-16

Dear Lord,

I thank you for your redemption in my life, that I am sanctified in Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me. You are life, the Alpha, and Omega, the beginning and the end. Take my life, and use me for your service, remove all the old chips of sin off of me, so in turn I may be a fragrant aroma of Christ to those that desperately need you. I bow down at your feet today Lord, and 
praise you for being my Healer, and Deliverer, and snatching me from the clutches of death, and into your glorious light.

-In Christ
Amen

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians12:9

I lay in my bed, consumed by my problems, I feel myself becoming weaker, and weaker. I am surrounded by my fears, my failures. I have disappointments, yes. I have yelled at the kids today, lost my patience, on more than one occasions, made decisions based on guilt. I have been resentful at my husband, and carried petty offenses, gone to bed angry, when I needed to ask for forgiveness.

But there is one thing that is certain, forgetting what lies behind me, and straining forward to the goal, with my eyes fixed on my Master, the author, and finisher of my faith. When I am weak, I lean on him, when I am down, I need only to look up, and let Him catch me.. I may be sinking at times, but his hands are big enough to hold me up. He opens up His hands, and satisfies the desire of every living thing. He will not abandon me, He will not forsake me. He is my refuge, and strength, my very present help in time of need! I can cast my cares on Him, because He cares for me. My faith is not based on circumstances, my faith is not based, on my personal comfort. My faith is based and firmly planted on the lover of my soul. who has gone to battle and won. No weapon ever formed against me will prosper, no scheme of the evil one can crush me, because I am His, and was bought with a steep price. By His stripes I am healed, and His strength, will always be made perfect in my weakness.

Dear Lord,

This Passover season, I ask you to purge all the leaven/sin from my heart, that I may stand 

boldly before your throne, asking and seeking you in a dry, and barren place.

For you are my stream in the desert, my spring in the valley. You are faithful, and never 

leave us Fatherless. You are gracious, and daily forgive all my sins, that pile up. My guilt

is atoned for, my spirit is renewed, as I am washed clean in the blood of the lamb. It is only

by His stripes, I am made whole.