Father, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You,
Jesus, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You,
Spirit, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You,
What a wonderful hymn, sing it in the shower, sing it in the car, sing it in your mind throughout your day, feel the love of Jesus......
O how I adore You Lord.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Why?
Isaiah 55: 8-9
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
I titled this post "Why?" for the reason; we are always asking why. Why this? Why that? Why did God allow that to happen, why didn't he stop that from coming about. I saw and heard a lot of this after the events of September 11Th 2001, I heard constantly, "if he is such a mighty and powerful, loving God, why didn't he stop this, why didn't he keep all those innocent lives from death?" Others used this excuse to say and try to solidify their beliefs that there is no God. I believe I even at one point asked the question of "why" myself. Being farther away in my Christian walk than I am now, I asked it. (O by the way, I am still far off in my walk, we all are, we get closer and closer everyday, but still not as close to God as we need to be.)
Never did I question if there was a God, never did I say, " does he even know what he's doing?" No, no, I asked why, and was given an answer pretty quickly. It is in the above verse.
We don't know His ways, we don't know His thoughts, we cannot obtain His level of thinking, or planning,...... so lets stop trying. I know one thing that came about from that awful time, from that beautiful clear early fall morning, that turned into such tragedy. Countless people came to the cross. Came to know Christ, I have many friends that saw that ugliness, and came with questions, and found the true answer, the answer to anything, good, bad, or indifferent; CHRIST!!!
Now I know I've been through this before on one of these posts, but I feel it needs to be said again. We don't know the reasons why thing happen, for some of us we are dealt ills in life, for others there is prosperity. The answers to our prayers are for some always "no", and for others, it is "sickness", for others it is " wealth". We can't explain it, never does it say in the Holy Word, that God grants all of us good health and plenty of wealth. Just the opposite. Even when we have given ourselves totally over to His will, completely to Him, He tells us to expect to be crucified in our own way. That when we proclaim His name some will fight it, and some will try to take your life, for it. Many a believer have already lost their lives to the truth. I think that would be the best way to go, personally. I think highly of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in war for this country, or for their children or spouse, I would gladly do the same, but how many truly would stand up to death for Christ? It would not be easy, that is for sure, only in His name and trust I would do this, I can't tell you what I would do tomorrow, or next week, but I know that for His name, for His love, for His grace, He gave His life for me, I at least owe Him mine, and that would be in any way He asks for it. I don't trust in myself for anything, my trust and faith lies in Him, and in Him alone.
I sit here writing these words in the ultimate hope of extending love to anyone and everyone. I have recently been given the chance to see and hear of those in great need. We have family on both sides in dire health. I do not want to say things that would disgrace the word of the Lord, or give false hope, for I do not personally know what everyone is going through. I have not experienced their illnesses, or trials, I have faced my own, and will continue. This alone allows me to speak the word of the Lord, in any situation, to speak Gods word, to share the truth of His love, to share the gospel of Christ, and to extend His grace is never wrong. It is all done in His name, for His glory, not for mine, not for anyone, even those who are being prayed for, "in all things praise the Lord, give thank to the Lord, through prayer and petition, come to Him and give thanks." As the thorn that is in my side, I praise Him, I ask for humility, I ask for guidance, and His grace, so I may give it on to others, may I only be used by Him for His kingdom, to be an example of a Christ like person. O to praise His Holy Name, give it, give it all to Him, though it be hard, and not your way, do it, and see His glory shine, feel His love in Your heart and soul, KNOW HE IS THE LORD, KING OF KINGS, THE FIRST, THE LAST, THE NEVER ENDING, NEVER CHANGING, ALL CONSUMING GOD!
Father, we give it all to You, for we are nothing and have nothing without You, we praise You, do not forsake You, but love You, and give our lives to You, for it is all we have to give. Give us this day, our daily bread. May all things that have breath praise Your Holy name,
In Your sons name, our Saviors name, Jesus Christ, we pray, amen
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
I titled this post "Why?" for the reason; we are always asking why. Why this? Why that? Why did God allow that to happen, why didn't he stop that from coming about. I saw and heard a lot of this after the events of September 11Th 2001, I heard constantly, "if he is such a mighty and powerful, loving God, why didn't he stop this, why didn't he keep all those innocent lives from death?" Others used this excuse to say and try to solidify their beliefs that there is no God. I believe I even at one point asked the question of "why" myself. Being farther away in my Christian walk than I am now, I asked it. (O by the way, I am still far off in my walk, we all are, we get closer and closer everyday, but still not as close to God as we need to be.)
Never did I question if there was a God, never did I say, " does he even know what he's doing?" No, no, I asked why, and was given an answer pretty quickly. It is in the above verse.
We don't know His ways, we don't know His thoughts, we cannot obtain His level of thinking, or planning,...... so lets stop trying. I know one thing that came about from that awful time, from that beautiful clear early fall morning, that turned into such tragedy. Countless people came to the cross. Came to know Christ, I have many friends that saw that ugliness, and came with questions, and found the true answer, the answer to anything, good, bad, or indifferent; CHRIST!!!
Now I know I've been through this before on one of these posts, but I feel it needs to be said again. We don't know the reasons why thing happen, for some of us we are dealt ills in life, for others there is prosperity. The answers to our prayers are for some always "no", and for others, it is "sickness", for others it is " wealth". We can't explain it, never does it say in the Holy Word, that God grants all of us good health and plenty of wealth. Just the opposite. Even when we have given ourselves totally over to His will, completely to Him, He tells us to expect to be crucified in our own way. That when we proclaim His name some will fight it, and some will try to take your life, for it. Many a believer have already lost their lives to the truth. I think that would be the best way to go, personally. I think highly of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in war for this country, or for their children or spouse, I would gladly do the same, but how many truly would stand up to death for Christ? It would not be easy, that is for sure, only in His name and trust I would do this, I can't tell you what I would do tomorrow, or next week, but I know that for His name, for His love, for His grace, He gave His life for me, I at least owe Him mine, and that would be in any way He asks for it. I don't trust in myself for anything, my trust and faith lies in Him, and in Him alone.
I sit here writing these words in the ultimate hope of extending love to anyone and everyone. I have recently been given the chance to see and hear of those in great need. We have family on both sides in dire health. I do not want to say things that would disgrace the word of the Lord, or give false hope, for I do not personally know what everyone is going through. I have not experienced their illnesses, or trials, I have faced my own, and will continue. This alone allows me to speak the word of the Lord, in any situation, to speak Gods word, to share the truth of His love, to share the gospel of Christ, and to extend His grace is never wrong. It is all done in His name, for His glory, not for mine, not for anyone, even those who are being prayed for, "in all things praise the Lord, give thank to the Lord, through prayer and petition, come to Him and give thanks." As the thorn that is in my side, I praise Him, I ask for humility, I ask for guidance, and His grace, so I may give it on to others, may I only be used by Him for His kingdom, to be an example of a Christ like person. O to praise His Holy Name, give it, give it all to Him, though it be hard, and not your way, do it, and see His glory shine, feel His love in Your heart and soul, KNOW HE IS THE LORD, KING OF KINGS, THE FIRST, THE LAST, THE NEVER ENDING, NEVER CHANGING, ALL CONSUMING GOD!
Father, we give it all to You, for we are nothing and have nothing without You, we praise You, do not forsake You, but love You, and give our lives to You, for it is all we have to give. Give us this day, our daily bread. May all things that have breath praise Your Holy name,
In Your sons name, our Saviors name, Jesus Christ, we pray, amen
Monday, June 23, 2008
Prayer
1 Chronicles 29:10-13
David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, "Praise be to you, O Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now our God, we give you thanks and praise your glorious name.
O to pray, to pray like there is no tomorrow. I love to pray, to extend my praise to the Holy One, to the One and only that deserves it. My prayer life has taken on such different meaning as my life has gone on, I am at a point in my life, where there is no fear in praying. In when to pray, where to pray, how to pray, what to pray about, who to pray for. My heart is open, my heart and mind are the Lords, so why be afraid, why question the fact that I need to pray, because at the end of it all, it is not about me. It is about the Lord. Whatever answer I get, about whatever question, request or thought I have and have prayed about, the answer is from the Lord, and of the Lord, and for the Lords purpose. O I give Him such praise, such glory, such love. All things are gone, no here, it is just me and the Lord.
I have recently been reading a novel on the Apostle Paul, as I've mentioned before, I am not afraid to speak the glory of Christ, the gift of Christ to us His children, the same is in my prayer, not being afraid to do any of it. I will speak of the Lord to anyone at anytime, I will pray to the Lord, at anytime, for anyone, for the glory of the Lord, for His praise, for His honor, O praise Him, by praying to Him. Show Him that you care enough to talk to Him, to include Him in your life. For it is because of Him you have your life. How free it feels to know this, to live this, in one way I kick myself for not doing this earlier in my life. However, we shouldn't live in the past, and it is just a fleeting thought anyhow, its good to reflect, but not to dwell.
I love Jesus, I love the gift of salvation through Him. I am excited to share this with anyone, I am humbled to be able to pray for anyone, at anytime. Humility, now that's a subject to get started on, most likely later, it will take up a lot of time. Lets just say, I am learning, and stumbling constantly, but our Lord lifts us when we are down, helps us through His own ways.
However, humility is not the point tonight, although it has such a tremendous place in prayer, most of it is humbleness now that I think about it, being humble before your God. Just getting this far in this blog, showed me even more humility, how wonderful is our God. To all that read this or however it gets to you, I am trying to share prayer with anyone who needs to pray or wants to pray, or just needs a prayer, speak to the Lord, fill His ears with your words, He longs to talk to us, He speaks to us through His word, through prayer, through others. Prayer is such a wonderful way to talk to God. It is just you and He, one on one, man to the Almighty, One and Only, Alpha, and Omega, the Lord. How wonderful.
Prayer:
Our Father, O how we long to see You, to hear Your words from Your lips, to just be in Your presence. Well Father, however long You want us to wait we will, You do talk to us, sometimes we just forget that. Father, I pray to You now, in humility, and in full praise to Your glory, to Your awesomeness, I pray to honor You. You tell us to come to You, come to You for anything, about anything, for us, for others. In praise, in grief, in prayer and petition, give thanks to You, and ask You for Your lead. For Your counsel. For Your grace. Lord there are those who are reading this, hearing this read to them, however it reaches them, they are hurting, they are full of joy, they are lost, or they just need a little more You today. Father I lift them up to You, Lord I lift up the times we are in, people are in dismay, are lost, the world is lost, but You have stayed the same, ever lasting, never let us go, O how I am thankful for this. Lord we pray for our country and our nations leaders. Though the times are tough, we are safe in You, though our countries leaders fight, fight over things no one can do anything about, but still the fight, I pray You convict them, hold them, and show them how far they are from You. Father we see how far things are going from You, and Lord it leads us closer to You, we will hang on the words You give, on Your words and meanings You give, thank You Father for all things You have done, and are doing and will do. We thank You Father for the love You give, for the gift of salvation you gave through Your son. We thank Thee Father for always knowing, never leaving, always continuing on Your plan, Your sovereign plan, with no flaws, Father You are Holy, and wise, perfect and beautiful, and for these things we praise You, and honor Your for You alone are worthy, In the name of Your son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray
amen
David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, "Praise be to you, O Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now our God, we give you thanks and praise your glorious name.
O to pray, to pray like there is no tomorrow. I love to pray, to extend my praise to the Holy One, to the One and only that deserves it. My prayer life has taken on such different meaning as my life has gone on, I am at a point in my life, where there is no fear in praying. In when to pray, where to pray, how to pray, what to pray about, who to pray for. My heart is open, my heart and mind are the Lords, so why be afraid, why question the fact that I need to pray, because at the end of it all, it is not about me. It is about the Lord. Whatever answer I get, about whatever question, request or thought I have and have prayed about, the answer is from the Lord, and of the Lord, and for the Lords purpose. O I give Him such praise, such glory, such love. All things are gone, no here, it is just me and the Lord.
I have recently been reading a novel on the Apostle Paul, as I've mentioned before, I am not afraid to speak the glory of Christ, the gift of Christ to us His children, the same is in my prayer, not being afraid to do any of it. I will speak of the Lord to anyone at anytime, I will pray to the Lord, at anytime, for anyone, for the glory of the Lord, for His praise, for His honor, O praise Him, by praying to Him. Show Him that you care enough to talk to Him, to include Him in your life. For it is because of Him you have your life. How free it feels to know this, to live this, in one way I kick myself for not doing this earlier in my life. However, we shouldn't live in the past, and it is just a fleeting thought anyhow, its good to reflect, but not to dwell.
I love Jesus, I love the gift of salvation through Him. I am excited to share this with anyone, I am humbled to be able to pray for anyone, at anytime. Humility, now that's a subject to get started on, most likely later, it will take up a lot of time. Lets just say, I am learning, and stumbling constantly, but our Lord lifts us when we are down, helps us through His own ways.
However, humility is not the point tonight, although it has such a tremendous place in prayer, most of it is humbleness now that I think about it, being humble before your God. Just getting this far in this blog, showed me even more humility, how wonderful is our God. To all that read this or however it gets to you, I am trying to share prayer with anyone who needs to pray or wants to pray, or just needs a prayer, speak to the Lord, fill His ears with your words, He longs to talk to us, He speaks to us through His word, through prayer, through others. Prayer is such a wonderful way to talk to God. It is just you and He, one on one, man to the Almighty, One and Only, Alpha, and Omega, the Lord. How wonderful.
Prayer:
Our Father, O how we long to see You, to hear Your words from Your lips, to just be in Your presence. Well Father, however long You want us to wait we will, You do talk to us, sometimes we just forget that. Father, I pray to You now, in humility, and in full praise to Your glory, to Your awesomeness, I pray to honor You. You tell us to come to You, come to You for anything, about anything, for us, for others. In praise, in grief, in prayer and petition, give thanks to You, and ask You for Your lead. For Your counsel. For Your grace. Lord there are those who are reading this, hearing this read to them, however it reaches them, they are hurting, they are full of joy, they are lost, or they just need a little more You today. Father I lift them up to You, Lord I lift up the times we are in, people are in dismay, are lost, the world is lost, but You have stayed the same, ever lasting, never let us go, O how I am thankful for this. Lord we pray for our country and our nations leaders. Though the times are tough, we are safe in You, though our countries leaders fight, fight over things no one can do anything about, but still the fight, I pray You convict them, hold them, and show them how far they are from You. Father we see how far things are going from You, and Lord it leads us closer to You, we will hang on the words You give, on Your words and meanings You give, thank You Father for all things You have done, and are doing and will do. We thank You Father for the love You give, for the gift of salvation you gave through Your son. We thank Thee Father for always knowing, never leaving, always continuing on Your plan, Your sovereign plan, with no flaws, Father You are Holy, and wise, perfect and beautiful, and for these things we praise You, and honor Your for You alone are worthy, In the name of Your son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray
amen
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
It's not about me !!!!
1 Corinthians 12: 1-10
I must go on boasting, Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations, from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows, was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 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. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
O how true it all finally seems, in the past posts, I have gone on and one about my pain, about some misfortunes that have entrapped my life as well as the lives of my wife and kids. To honestly look at it from a biblical perspective, well that is something different.
Folks, I must say that there is no doubt in my mind, or soul, or heart, or whatever you want to fill in the blank, but the doubt is finally away from me, I truly welcome the pain I have. I truly welcome the position that myself and my family are in right now. For it is all of God. Nothing comes to us that does not pass through His fingers first. It has taken me a while to let it all sink in through my very think skull. (my wife can a test to that) However, no where in the bible does it say that God wants everyone to be happy. That he wants everyone to be of great health. To be rich, or publicly successful. No where! Some of us He has a sickness laiden life planned. Some of us are here to be examples in some way to others. If we are happy, and rich, then what. I see now, forget all the riches, forget all the glory. They glory is His, and His alone.
I am reading several books now, one of them is one the Apostle Paul, in the most recent chapter, the author uses a story of an old saint.
(Like the old saint once prayed, " Lord, when will You cease to strew my path with trials and thorns?" The Lord answered, "My child, that is how I prove My friends." To which the suffering soul replied, "Lord, perhaps that's why You have so few of them.") We'd rather be skeptical then submissive.
I would love to see what Paul saw in his vision, or actually what my late grandmother sees now. O to see the wander of our Lord, with our own eyes. I do however take full advantage of the imagination that He granted us when He made us. The really cool things is however, that whatever we imagine, can't even compare to what it is really like to be personally in His presence. To see His splendor, His glory, His love beaming throughout all things.
So the conclusion I came to in my studies, is I am not to boast in myself. When we do things on our own, and take credit for it, it just allows us to grow away from Christ. For we do not accomplish anything on our own. I have seen far to many people, myself included, taking credit for something they couldn't have done without Jesus Christ, folks that is everything. Example; throughout this book I am reading, even though Paul is the main character, it really isn't about him. The story is really all about God. I get it now, I get it, now I shall go with it. I will fail, but the journey to my knees to ask forgiveness and start again is not that far. It is more humbling every time. For that and for all things I am grateful, and am in full debt.
Lord, Father, my God, I give You praise, for You alone are worthy of it all. For it is cause of You, we are able to draw breath, and perform all things throughout our days. No one has any riches that You have not allowed. You allow us all the things in our lives, You give us all that we have, and how often do we thank You for them. Commit them back to You. Lord, I commit all things to You, I welcome the pain, I welcome the ups and downs in my life. You alone I can lean on, You alone are all that is needed. I don't even want to think of life without You. We see all that is happening around us, evil on all sides, some even say that the end is near, the signs are all there, and that maybe so, however Father, You alone know of that time, on You alone I will wait, and pray, for it is in Your time, and therefore I will not panic, I will not falter, and I will speak of Your glory and Your grace, and Your majesty to all. I will not panic or run away from any conversations, or topics that need Your words on them. I ask for all the strength that You want to give to me, and for all the tests, You lay before me. For I am Your servant, Your child, and alone in You I lay my life, and my future.
In the Almighty name of Your son, our Lord, and Savior, I pray amen
I must go on boasting, Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations, from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows, was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 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. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
O how true it all finally seems, in the past posts, I have gone on and one about my pain, about some misfortunes that have entrapped my life as well as the lives of my wife and kids. To honestly look at it from a biblical perspective, well that is something different.
Folks, I must say that there is no doubt in my mind, or soul, or heart, or whatever you want to fill in the blank, but the doubt is finally away from me, I truly welcome the pain I have. I truly welcome the position that myself and my family are in right now. For it is all of God. Nothing comes to us that does not pass through His fingers first. It has taken me a while to let it all sink in through my very think skull. (my wife can a test to that) However, no where in the bible does it say that God wants everyone to be happy. That he wants everyone to be of great health. To be rich, or publicly successful. No where! Some of us He has a sickness laiden life planned. Some of us are here to be examples in some way to others. If we are happy, and rich, then what. I see now, forget all the riches, forget all the glory. They glory is His, and His alone.
I am reading several books now, one of them is one the Apostle Paul, in the most recent chapter, the author uses a story of an old saint.
(Like the old saint once prayed, " Lord, when will You cease to strew my path with trials and thorns?" The Lord answered, "My child, that is how I prove My friends." To which the suffering soul replied, "Lord, perhaps that's why You have so few of them.") We'd rather be skeptical then submissive.
I would love to see what Paul saw in his vision, or actually what my late grandmother sees now. O to see the wander of our Lord, with our own eyes. I do however take full advantage of the imagination that He granted us when He made us. The really cool things is however, that whatever we imagine, can't even compare to what it is really like to be personally in His presence. To see His splendor, His glory, His love beaming throughout all things.
So the conclusion I came to in my studies, is I am not to boast in myself. When we do things on our own, and take credit for it, it just allows us to grow away from Christ. For we do not accomplish anything on our own. I have seen far to many people, myself included, taking credit for something they couldn't have done without Jesus Christ, folks that is everything. Example; throughout this book I am reading, even though Paul is the main character, it really isn't about him. The story is really all about God. I get it now, I get it, now I shall go with it. I will fail, but the journey to my knees to ask forgiveness and start again is not that far. It is more humbling every time. For that and for all things I am grateful, and am in full debt.
Lord, Father, my God, I give You praise, for You alone are worthy of it all. For it is cause of You, we are able to draw breath, and perform all things throughout our days. No one has any riches that You have not allowed. You allow us all the things in our lives, You give us all that we have, and how often do we thank You for them. Commit them back to You. Lord, I commit all things to You, I welcome the pain, I welcome the ups and downs in my life. You alone I can lean on, You alone are all that is needed. I don't even want to think of life without You. We see all that is happening around us, evil on all sides, some even say that the end is near, the signs are all there, and that maybe so, however Father, You alone know of that time, on You alone I will wait, and pray, for it is in Your time, and therefore I will not panic, I will not falter, and I will speak of Your glory and Your grace, and Your majesty to all. I will not panic or run away from any conversations, or topics that need Your words on them. I ask for all the strength that You want to give to me, and for all the tests, You lay before me. For I am Your servant, Your child, and alone in You I lay my life, and my future.
In the Almighty name of Your son, our Lord, and Savior, I pray amen
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