Stop Praying!

Hello Ladies:

I'm honored to share this time of study and growth with you as we read, Crazy Love (Francis Chan). I will at times lay out some of my own thoughts and engage your comments, questions and concerns as well. Thanks for being on this journey with me.

The first time I read  the Stop Praying chapter, I just wept. I actually constantly return back to this chapter to remember who God is. Its amazing from young children we are all are taught something about God, either he is to be worshiped or maybe perhaps, he is to be ignored. Never have I really ever been prompted to stop praying and before I even utter another word consider who God is.

At first the thought of who God is, was scary as I considered all authority figures to be growing up. In order to truly understand God, I realized I had to learn who God truly is. Is he just a man I am praying to? Is he really that mighty? I mean if I come to realize who he is shouldn't this be reflected in my life?
As I began to search the bible for who God is, I felt led to look over my  life and remember who God was to me. As I began to do this, I reflected on his Love, Compassion, Comfort, How Mighty he was, How he controlled everything in my life, good and bad, I reflected on how Righteous he was, How he was just simply holy. As I stood in Gods presence, soon I became very small and he became so big my mind could not even comprehend. Then I began to consider that this God loves me and was gracious enough to allow me into his presence to listen to me speak. What a privilege!

Think about it, if the President of the United States called you to his office, what would you say to him? Would you tell him all your problems? Would you describe your joys to him? What exactly would you say? Well consider this, Jesus is the King of the UNIVERSE!! Not just this world, but the entire universe...Everything that exists beyond what the telescopes can see or even dare to dream of, He is Lord over it all and you are invited every day to go before his presence and speak!

Furthermore as I thought about who I was speaking to, I got so overwhelmed thinking about how not only is he ready to listen to me, but he actually wants to talk to me! I began to think that the God of the Universe wants to speak to me,  then shouldn't I just sit still and just listen, for his words to me far outweighs anything I would want to tell him. How often have you just sat and listened or just simply sat in his presence thinking about how amazing and awesome our Lord is?

Who is in your focal point when you pray? Is it you, your family, friends? Or are you thinking about the God of the Universe? For the next few days, I give us a challenge before we utter another word about our wants, desires, wishes, may we sit in his presence and just bask in the beauty of his holiness, may we sit and consider  the God we are talking to, and if you are having problems doing this, then maybe you should begin to consider who God truly is! Is he here to answer my prayers or am I here to be used for his glory? Think about your perspectives about God for the next few weeks and then write them down as you begin your journey in evaluating Gods love for you and your love for God.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I thank you that you are so wonderful, God that you are beyond anything that I conceive but in the magnitude of your love, you shower us every day with more of you. Lord we thank you and we bless you and we worship you. Father I pray that over the next few weeks that the Ladies here will encounter your love but more importantly may their eyes be opened to who you really are! Father we love you and we thank you for loving us more than we can ever even begin to fathom. Today we ask that you are our daily bread and may we find time to sit and hear your instructions, your desire and your will for our lives. In Jesus Name I pray Amen.

Lamb of God

I opened up my devotional, Praying the Names of God and saw that todays devo was on the Lamb of God, I nearly screamed as yesterday I was teaching my kids in kids church about the Lamb of God. See yesterday so many thoughts about the lamb came up. My first thought was about about how unfortunate it was to live in old testament era that every time you sin you had to offer up a lamb for your sins and it wasnt just any old lamb you had to pick the best lamb to offer to God. They were plagued with so many many many rules and regulations, yet today we have it so freely but we dont use it often. You see repentance came about from Jesus who was the ultimate sacrifice. He was the son of God who willingly chose to lay down his life. Yesterday, I asked the kids why would you think God would send his only son, I mean why couldnt they continue just sacrificing animals? Ever thought about that?

I was reminded of 1 Peter 1: ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”^[a 

You see we serve a holy God, one that is pure sinless and blameless and he can not be surrounded or in the presence of sin, its just our father's nature. Even the priests could not go into the temple unsancitifed but God, our father, so desperately wanted us to be in his presence that he wanted to do away with the long rituals, and gave us an opportunity to just say, three simple words, Im sorry God, that we may be able to enter in communion with him. You see the Lord, your Father, he desires you so much that it was worth it for him to send his son, to be the ultimate lamb so that he can take awat your sins, lay down his life, take your punishment so that you, we can walk in relationship with God, without him having to turn his back because of our sinful nature.

This humbles me that a Father would love me so much, that even before I was born, he had already planned the days that I would be in his presence and instead of having to prolong it, he would send his son, whom hed have to turn his back on while he was on the cross, dying and undeserving death, so that you and I can enter into his presence, boldy and with grace.

Today, let us not forget what a privlege it is to be with our father. Im sure the old testamenters would love to say to us, dont be like us, sitting in the wilderness wandering away, looking at idols, running away from God, when all God wanted, was for us to love him back. All our father wants from you and I is to repent, and love him back daily.

Father I pray today that you would forgive us for the times we took spending time with you for granted. Would you give us a burning desire to be with you. May we thirst and long after you more and more. Father Im reminded of a song that say As the deer panteth for the waters oh my soul, father our desperate and weary souls longeth after thee. Father you are all we want and desire and we invite you in today to come in and be with us. In Jesus Name I pray Amen.

Be blessed.

I am Papa God- Let me carry you!

I am Papa God- Let me carry you!

I am Papa, God- Let me Carry you!

So yesterday, I was so exhausted and I felt like I had got nothing done. It was like the more I did, the less I felt like anything major was being accomplished. On top of that the demands of a Mom was calling, demands of a Job were waiting for me, and I got home only to quickly rush out again because I had to go to church. Overwhelmed and exhausted, I felt restless, burdened and Im like whats going on? Its not suppose to feel like this. I quickly began meditating on Gods word, the joy of the Lord is my strength and oh boy that wasnt working either.

I get to church and the topic was Dont Give Up!, Galations 5:6. During this time, I felt like the Lord was saying to me, I am Papa God, not you. You see it hit me like a ton of bricks, (EPIPHANY), I was doing my life in my own strength. I was not laying down my life and asking God to live through me. I was trying to take God and fit him in, give me your strength but not giving him the room to work and be God in me.

I was talking to a friend who gave me a vision that really blessed me. Imagine yourself standing up and this 24 ft wave is coming at you, You're thinking Im going to die. Its coming down upon you and you faint in the process, Jesus comes behind you and hold you up. So when the wave subsides you're still standing up because Jesus is holding you up from behind.

I just felt like the Lord was saying to me, Come rest with me, I want to carry you. I want to take you from glory to glory but I was like a little Child, saying Im a big girl I can handle it. Lord know really Im a big girl, I dont need your help. Reminds me of my daughter, shes in the I can do it myself stage. Often times, Im trying to speed up the process or show her the best way of doing it and she continues making a mess of things all because she wants to show me she can do it. Im like I know you think you can baby, but let me do it for you. I just sense the Lord is saying, its okay, I dont need you to prove that you can do it, this is why I am here to live and be strong in you, Let me do it. Give it to me.

^{Matthew 11:28} “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

God wants to give us rest. Lets  not resist his love this day. Amen!!!

Father I pray for the weary ones that are reading this. May they come to know your rest. Lord that it is by laying down ones life and leaning on you. Father help us to trust in you always and lean not unto our own understanding but in all our ways may we acknowledge that you are God and you are in control. So this day we give you our minds our souls our spirit and give you free room to have your way in us. We love you Father. Amen

Lets turn to papa God, Lift our hands up and say Carry us Daddy!!! :)

Daily Manna

"You keep us waiting.
You, the God of all time,
want us to wait,
for the right time in which to discover
who we are, where we must go,
who will be with us, and what we must do.
So thank you... for the waiting time."

For the past few weeks, I've been battling the Lord and his plans for my life. You see, I've been bent on how I think my life should be or where I think I should be during this time. The Lord quickly quiets my soul, only to show me the state of my heart. You see I began to think this walk was just about me only and forgot that he is molding me to be a reflection of him. With this said, I realized that there is a constant battle in my mind that usually manifests itself into the physical realm. The old me "measured my life up to the world's view and standard of where I should be at 26". I should have a Masters Degree, rising to the top of the Corporate world, married, living in a big house, possibly one or two kids, living happily ever after. The only problem with this is rarely does this happen and rarely does the Lord take us this route for it gives little room for dependancy on God, sharing his love with the world and allowing his glory to be seen among men.

The Lord has us right where he wants us. I've been reading Exodus with the story of the Israelites, and several times, it said that the Lord tested them, tested their hearts. You see he would give them daily manna and instructed them to go out at a particilar time and not to hold on to any of the bread once they're done. Some didnt listen and what end up happening is, the bread would spoil and be filled with maggots. He explained that on the 7th day, he wanted them to rest and they needed to obtain more bread on the 6th day to cover them for the 7th day. Interesting enough, if magots wasnt enough to show them that the Lord is serious, they still went out on the 7th day for more. (Greed) Quickly I realized that this was a representation of our lives in the world. We want more, we desire more and we rarely want to seek God for daily manna. The sad part is, I realized that I was depending on yesterdays mannato get me through today, only to be filled with magots (Regret Frustration Anger Exhuastion, etc.). We need to daily put God first in our lives, asking him to be our daily portions. (Read Exodus 16)

(Romans 12: 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will)

I began to start my day with a prayer that simply says, Lord I choose you first this day, I present myself to you mind body and spirit and I raise these empty hands father and ask that you will fill it with your daily manna, be my daily portion this day and God I thank you for your faithfulness in covering me and my family yesterday and give thanks for a new opportunity to share your love and experience you in a new way. Lead me in the paths that you've ordained, for your servant is willingly listening and ready to serve you.

You must imagine that once I started this prayer my day was filled with delight. Wrong! Many days, I've experienced a lot of upsets after this. You see the Lord was pruning me, cutting off the filth and getting rid of the wrong attitudes, mindsets, and motives, so that he can use me. Even though I was experiencing pruning, there were many days, the Lord surprised me tremendously and things that I was working so hard to get, the Lord gave them to me with ease.

So today, I beckon you, to ask the Lord to show you the state of your heart, seek the Lord as your daily portion as he is ready to take you on a journey to the promise land, that you would learn to hear and recognize his voice, he wants to be your Great Shepherd, leading you near the streams of living water and when he leads you into the valley, he wants you to stand in faith,declaring yea though I walk through the valley of shadow of the death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.

I pray a special blessing on the reader this day, that You God will show them that you have their best in mind, if they would learn to trust you, hear your voice and follow your leading. Bless them Lord that they may come to know your love in new ways. In Jesus name I pray Amen.

Be blessed. Read Exodus 16- Gives the story of Daily Manna.

You alone are my Hope

Nothing in this world matters but GOD. I love to sit and hear from God and hear what it is that he has to say. My life is really busy and I can run from here and there and then I get to a place of emptyness and dryness and really its because I've been running on my own strength, tapped out from the source. You see I have many stories to tell of how life tripped me up ,knocked me down, but I've finally come to the point where Im rest assured fully that Jesus is our only hope.

When the world wants to shove you down, tell you lies, he says rest in me, rest in my wisdom, rest in my plan. Often times, we realize his grace is sufficient but we are not willing to sit in his presence and wait on God. How many of you can really say that you've sat and just said nothing, didnt tell God what was wrong, or ask him for anything, you just sat at his feet and said, Papa, I want to be with you. I tell you what, sitting in his presence alone, refreshes me, restores me, I've gotten to the place, where nothing else matters, I just want to be with our DAD.

You see its in his presence, there is fullness of joy, there is peace, there is contentment that you cannot get from a career, a spouse, church, friends, or whatever idols we try to conjure up.
 Jeremiah 2:13
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
You see the cisterns we're running to are broken, people are broken, careers will fail you, church may even fail you but our GOD never fails, He says come to me ye who are thirsty and I will make you drink and you will never thirst again. Im reminded of the women at the well, she was thirsty for something that she couldnt even begin to explain and so she obviously started running to men (broken cistern) and that didnt work but when she met with the Savior he gave her living water. Lets revisit this story.
^{John 4:9} The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.^[a])
 ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
 ¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
 ¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
 ¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Today, lets ask the father to give us a thirst, desire and yearning for more of him. Sit in his presence and ask him for his living water so that you wont get thirsty and have to keep running to broken cisterns, that you would run to your father that loves you dearly. Come ye who are thirsty, and I will give you my living water that never runs dry.

Be blessed!

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