Power of the Spirit

John 14:23

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me,

 he will keep my words: and my Father will love him,

 and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

In other words, "the Spirit of truth" will take up residence. Do we have God the Son and God the Father running around inside of us? No. The mind of God, the Spirit of God, is in us, residing in us. It has taken up residence, and therefore the Father is there, as well as the Son.

The apostles were literally seeing the Holy Spirit of God, the essence of God's mind, in the action, in the life, of a fellow human being—Jesus Christ. He was the literal Word of God. He was with them, teaching, leading, guiding them into truth. He was truth personified. His word is truth (John 17:17). His word is spirit (John 6:63). They could literally, directly, see Him and hear Him, the Son of God, which is why He said the Holy Spirit was with them. It, the essence of God's mind, was in Him. What they witnessed with their eyes and ears was being fed directly into their minds, becoming part of their experience.

The Spirit, the essence of God's mind, was on the verge of residing in them, but it was not yet firmly lodged in them where it would consistently manifest the characteristics of the God Family.

This is why Luke 24:49 says, "Tarry in Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." Power to do what? To submit to the will of God. He gave them the power to keep God's law in the spirit, not just its letter. Any human being with enough willpower can keep the law of God in the letter, but God must empower us to keep it in the spirit. We need more power than what we humanly have to keep God's law in the spirit. God is looking for people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), and He has empowered us to do that by His Spirit.

Written by Annie Allen

Psalm Twenty-Three

I just wanted to share one of my favorite psalms with you today. It is precious to me because it is a beautiful picture of God's provision, protection, guidance, healing and a glimpse into our eternal future with Him.


A Psalm of David

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside quiet waters,

3 He restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk

through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

(NIV)

-Shared by Cathy F.



BEAUTY

(This topic was brought up at a retreat I went to last weekend, so I don't take credit for all the thoughts here; just wanted to share them with you, expand on them and explore more of what the Bible says about the topic.)

Are you beautiful?

When you think about this question, perhaps you answer something like, "Yes, on the inside I am beautiful. I have a warm and loving heart. I have a giving spirit. I have a lot of beautiful personality qualities." We are usually comfortable talking about inner beauty.

1 Peter 3:3-4 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.

What about outward beauty? We are all aware of the false messages we find in the media, of what is considered outwardly beautiful in society. When we see the faces and figures of top models and actresses in print, they likely have been photo-shopped and changed so much that what we actually see is far from reality. We know that for most women this "look" is unattainable in real life. But just because we can't live up to this image, does that mean we are not outwardly beautiful?

Sometimes part of our poor self-image is due to messages we received early in life, possibly even from family or friends. They may have been spoken words that were thoughtless, or unspoken jabs in how they looked at us or treated us. We begin to believe these messages and internalize them, and even repeat them to ourselves. Many of us are uncomfortable describing ourselves as beautiful on the outside. We see our flaws much more readily than our assets when it comes to our looks. This is a lie told to us by Satan, that we somehow are not beautiful. But God has a different opinion:

Psalm 45:11 The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.

But do we think of this only in terms of what we apply to our bodies? Do we only feel somewhat beautiful on the outside if we have on our makeup, fix up our hair, put on pretty clothes, wear gorgeous jewelry, do our nails, etc.? How many of us could stand in front of a mirror totally naked and believe that our bodies are beautiful? But to God we ARE! He sees us as beautiful even when we are bare; He makes us beautiful.

Ezekiel 16:7, 13b-14 I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and developed and became the most beautiful of jewels. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, you who were naked and bare... You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign LORD.

Many things hit home with me while I was at the retreat last weekend. God, in his amazing timing, sent this song over the radio as I drove home from that retreat - so fitting, and with it I close this writing with prayers that we all appreciate our full beauty:

"Beautiful" lyrics

by Mercy Me

The days will come when you don't have the strength
When all you hear is you're not worth anything
Wondering if you ever could be loved
And if they truly saw your heart they'd see too much
You're beautiful... You're beautiful
You are made so much more than all of this
You're beautiful... You're beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His
You're beautiful.

And praying that you have the heart to find
'Cause you are more than what is hurting you tonight
For all the lies you've held inside so long
And they are nothing in the shadow of the cross
You're beautiful... You're beautiful
You are made so much more than all of this
You're beautiful... You're beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His
You're beautiful.

Before you ever took a breath
Long before the world began
Of all the wonders He possessed
There was one more precious
Of all the earth and skys above
You're the one He madly loves
Enough to death
You're beautiful... You're beautiful
You are made so much more than all of this
You're beautiful... You're beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His
You're beautiful.

 You ARE beautiful... inside and out !!!

Written by Jan A

Wisdom from Job

I have been doing a Bible Study on the Book of Job. I have found so much that speaks to my heart and illustrates many important points.

Oh my goodness, right when I started to read chapter 6 and read the first verse, "If my misery could be weighed and my troubles be put on the scales", took my back to a place of when I was going through a very hard time. It reminded me of the moments I felt like the world was on my shoulders, I felt the pain just coming over my heart and I thought there would not be an end to that deep pain I was experiencing. My heart breaks for Job. Because even though we have faith in God, doesn't mean we won’t feel deep pain. Job was a blameless man, but he was also human with emotions. I just love how in verse 5 of chapter 6, he questioned, "Don’t I have a right to complain?" Of course he does. He was not cursing God or he wasn’t blaming God, he just wanting to say, "Hey, I’m a human being, I have a right to feel." As sad as this story of Job is, I praise God with all of my heart for allowing me to see that even someone as faithful as Job felt a lot of pain, and, yet, he did not turn his back on God. Why is that it takes times of trouble to happen for us to get closer to Him? Is it because we want a miracle to come our way or is it because we truly pay attention to what He is doing in us in the midst of troubles?? I hope this makes sense, why it that I can really relate to Job. The difference is that I am not blameless, I fall short and I allow for busyness to take over my relationship with my Father.

There have been several verses that speak to my heart and give me insight in this chapter…

"If my misery could be weighed and my troubles be put on the scales,

they would outweigh all the sands of the sea."

Job 6:2-3

NLT

It reminded me of days at the beach when I allowed my children to bury me in the sand. Did you ever do this? Think about when you bury yourself in the sand at the beach and how difficult is it to get out of it?? It’s like that with pain, it weighs you down. You try to get up and keep going, but the pain holds you down just like the sand. Often we go through these Job experiences that get us buried in sand, and it is so hard to get up from under them.


Another verse spoke to me is Job questioning…

"Don't I have a right to complain?"

Job 6:5

NLT

That is exactly what I ask God when I am going through a trial in my life. I don't want to use my flesh as an excuse to complain to God, but I want to complain. I envision God standing with His arms crossed saying, " Okay Liz, keep complaining of what you’re going through, even though I see it, I want to hear it from you, Oh, tell me when your finish complaining so I can do what I'm going to do." It is a wonderful thing to remember that God always knows what we are going to wake up to in the morning, He already has our day planned out even before we we wake up.

Written by Liz Chavez








"Coming Home”

Today I am remembering the special times that I have spent with family and friends. I love and treasure those times of just being together. It is such a gift to have friendship and love. I always feel as if I am "coming home" from some kind of a journey, which in reality is the truth, for we are always either “setting out” or “returning” in one sense or another.


At these times I feel that I am able to come in and "kick off the dust” and to bask in the warm and comforting presence of the Lord. I can feel the love of those whom God has blessed me with, whether they are friends or family. I love the honesty, frankness and understanding that we are all able to share. I love the wisdom gained in the listening, and the acceptance and understanding that takes place in the sharing.


I love that I am able to be myself, even when I'm not quite sure of who that is. I love the image and direction of Christ I see mirrored back to me when I have lost my way. I love that I am able to find a loving hand to help me up when I've run out of strength. I love the encouragement and truth from the Word of God that settles itself inside of my spirit and makes its way into my heart where it plants hope, forgiveness and more love. I love the sense of fullness and satisfaction that permeates itself on the inside of me, a sense of being in the very presence of God and knowing that I am deeply loved.


To me there is no greater gift than the gift of ones self, for this is the very same gift that Jesus gave to each one of us. There is such great truth in the scripture that states,

“We love because He first loved us”

(1 John 4:19).

As I sit here and contemplate all that this means I can feel the depth and sweetness of this truth as it bears witness in the deepest, most intimate places of my heart and spirit.


As I shut my eyes I can almost feel the gentle but strong embrace of My Heavenly Father. As I settle back I can feel a deep smile of contentment as it outlines itself onto my face. As His peace and gentleness enfold me, I can almost hear Him as He whispers so clearly, “It is good.”


Written by Beverley A. Napier

A Good Story about You

My kids enjoy a good story. They especially like to hear stories about themselves. Whether it’s the day they were born, people who came to see them, people who cared about them, things they did that they don’t remember, tears shed, or falls taken. It’s enchanting to meet an apparent stranger who looks in your eyes then with a twinkle in their own starts with, “I remember when…”

It’s nice to hear that you mattered to someone, that there was at least one person who rushed over just to hold you and kiss you. There were people who prayed for you, even if your parents were not praying people themselves. There were people who cared about you, made things for you, gave your parents ‘best wishes’, loving looks, and reassuring words of what a fine baby you were.

This is how I know that you were loved. God knit you together inside your mother’s womb. It doesn’t matter if she was expecting you, wanting you or desiring you. It is God who opens and closes the womb. No one is an accident. When I was studying teen pregnancy, I asked God if He is in control and every baby is a blessing from Him, why did He let 14 year old girl’s get pregnant, or rape victims, or incest victims, or woman who are about to be diagnosed with cancer? The answer is destiny. God has a purpose for each one of those children, for their mothers and for you.

Romans 8:29-30 (MSG)
"God knew what he was doing from the very beginning.
He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those
who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son.
The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored.
We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him.
After God made that decision of what his children should be like,
he followed it up by calling people by name.
After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself.
And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end,
gloriously completing what he had begun."

Ephesians 1:3-6 (MSG)

“How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is!
He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind,
had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.
 Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ.
 (What pleasure he took in planning this!)
He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving
by the hand of his beloved Son.”

In spite of the sin-filled world we live in, we can trust Him to guide us through it. He chose to bring us into this world, and gently draw us to Him. He will not just turn around and decide we’re not worth the trouble. Of course He wants us to do what is right and His forgiveness policy is not an excuse to do what is wrong. But His love for us is so intense and so great that when we do fail, He will not abandon us.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 (NLT)
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed.
We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.
We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God.
We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.
Through suffering, our bodies continue to share
 in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus
 may also be seen in our bodies.”

Written by Mary Wilkins

Seek Him First

What comfort and peace to know that if we will seek God first and all that He is, He will be faithful to meet our every need. If we will but put Jesus first, if we will pursue Him with all of our heart, everything in our life we need He will grant us provision.

If we are trying to satisfy our life with things other than the Lord, not looking onto Him, there will be much lack and emptiness in our life. There will not be that rich and deep fulfillment of Christ in our life. The things that we truly need will not be added onto us.

As we make Him top priority in our life, and seek His face, He will reveal His will, purpose and glory to us. He will speak to our hearts and reveal the destiny that He has for us.

Matthew 6:33 says, But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. I desire to seek His kingdom first. What a wonderful promise He has given us as a result of seeking Him first.

Written by Sandy