Category: Hope

You Shall Become More

You are My beloved… do not distort all I meant for you to be…

Meditation Thought: “…and you will be like God…” (Genesis 3:5 – serpent said to Eve)

“You are My beloved – but you are not Me – nor shall you become more than a reflection of my ways. And you shall be a beautiful reflection if you will obey and not distort all I meant for you to be by being disobedient and seeking knowledge of evil – for you have no capability of combating evil – only I have that. When you err, call upon My power to take evil from you – but if you will make very effort to seek My will your energies will be directed to releasing My power in a positive movement to fulfill My commandment, and you will not be misdirecting My power to combat evil needlessly.

Stop, look, listen for My directions and let not Satan tempt you into obeying himself. Put on your armor and wield your sword of faith to bring the glory of victory.”

Holiday-Happy

Meditation Thought: “This is the day that the Lord has made;
    let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)

Treat every day as if it is one you have long been anticipating – a special day of a particularly happy occasion. Adopt a holiday-happy attitude, no matter what activities you are doing.

(Note: this entry had quotes around it (see About This Blog tab) but no reference. I apologize if it should have been attributed.)

Grateful

For you see, as I cannot, what lies ahead along each path.

Meditation Thought: “Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;” (Psalm 95:2)

“Thank you” definition: You helped me. I appreciate your effort and your willingness to care about me and to acknowledge my needs, and to help me in fulfilling those needs. Our relationship is enhanced and intensified because of this involvement. This exchange has made a difference in some way in the direction we are going, and therefore is important to us and to those whom we influence.

Suggested prayer: Dear Lord, so far above and beyond me in scope – but so approachable and understanding as we meet: thank you, thank you, for all creation, for my creation, and for your provisions. Help me to yield to You in grace when I see that I am not following your path chosen for me. For you see, as I cannot, what lies ahead along each path. Intensify Your Word throughout every area in my life, making it permeate my mind, my will, my intentions, my emotions and my actions, that the beauty of Your love, mercy and power might be released in me and through me ever more effectively, in the realm of the spirit, in the realm of the world, in the realm of the Kingdom which contains these two realms. Help me to be not only a ‘good’ steward, but an enlightened, perceptive, effective steward who, through every thought, every word and every deed, reflects Your will and Your goodness and the Love with which You rule.

Guide me Father, that I may open my mind and my heart to receive Your truth and wisdom, and to reflect them in every possible way by obedience to Your will.

Amen.

Interwoven. Forevermore.

To produce the finest results, we must envision the finished product as the Father reveals His conception of it to us, bit by bit, moment by moment, lesson by lesson, and caress by caress.

Meditation Thought:  “Who are the faithful and wise managers whom the master will put in charge of his household…?” (Luke 12:42)

Rhythm – learn the rhythm. There is to everything a time, a season – the minute minutes are representative of the larger blocks of seasons comprising months. Learn to flow with the rhythm of God, daily calling upon the Word for the ‘season’ of the day, of the moment. Observe your household members (and others with whom you have contact) to determine their needs for that day. There will be days of feasting and days of fasting – relaxing days and hectic days – but always the joy of the Spirit, the solidarity of the Father, the ministrations of the Son running through every moment, every happening.

The thread of the moment stands not alone in the fabric of life but is interwoven with the threads of the moments before and the moments to come. Each thread contributes to the whole of the life – and each piece of fabric is then sewn together, one piece affecting the other, as to shape and pattern and appearance of the whole. Only if each thread, and each piece of fabric, is according to the Father’s conception of the finished whole, can the fulfillment of each moment, and the fulfillment of the will of the Father be accomplished in glory and in the full power possible.

To produce the finest results, we must envision the finished product as the Father reveals His conception of it to us, bit by bit, moment by moment, lesson by lesson, and caress by caress. And we must have the courage to allow Him to weave our life as He will, trusting that He has led us in truth and love, and will do so forevermore.

Good to All, Harm to None

Help My people come to know Me as you know Me: Loving, caring providing and merciful – patient and generous, kind and good.

Meditation Thought: “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

“Listen to My instructions and heed them with confidence and with the enthusiasm with which you carry out your fondest desires. My instructions, followed correctly, bring good to all and harm to none. But who can follow My instructions? Only those who hear them. You must be listening, learning and moving if you are to carry out My will for your life and for the world and the kingdom. I will guide you:
in love, and not reproach,
in light and not in darkness,
in joy and not in pain,
in truth and not in lies.

I sent My Son that all might see I am a God of Love and Mercy as well as Righteousness. It is in a relationship of “family” that I want My instructions followed – not in the relationship of harsh taskmaster dealing with a reluctant servant. My Son lived and died that this message could get through to My people, could be completely understood if they would listen.

Help My people come to know Me as you know Me: Loving, caring providing and merciful – patient and generous, kind and good – but always consistent in administering the laws of righteousness and truth.”

Renewable Wisdom

Where is wisdom? Where is strength?

Meditation Thought: “Wisdom gives strength to the wise man” (Ecclesiastes 7:19)

“Where is wisdom? In My Word. Where is strength? In My Word. All you who seek wisdom, seek My Word. The strength of 10 armies shall be at your side, the wisdom of a Solomon shall be in your mind, the words of a disciple shall be on your lips. Oh, take heed and know that I am God.”

(If you’re new to the Bible and would like help seeking God’s Word, try the Bible App.)

A Position of Wisdom

When we recognize that we are far better off with He who is infinitely better qualified directing our lives than we would be to direct them ourselves, we have moved from the position of foolishness to that of wisdom.

Meditation Thought: “I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.” (Ecclesiastes 3:14)

It is to God’s delight, and to our own self-interest, to perceive the truth of the fact that God is the ruler of the Kingdom, and though as a citizen we have numerous privileges and rights, we do not have a right to replace Him as ruler at any place at any time. When we recognize that we are far better off with He who is infinitely better qualified directing our lives than we would be to direct them ourselves, we have moved from the position of foolishness to that of wisdom.

It is this position of wisdom (yielded to God’s direction) that was created for us, and is always available to us, if we are preceptive enough to seek it. The true value of it, however, is not seen until we have sought it, have not only recognized that it is the position we should seek, but have fought every obstacle which would keep us from it, including our own inner freedom of choice.

Healing the Body

Though we can learn from others who have gone before us, we must play our role alone. We must make the effort to learn what we need to know, to do what must be done, to endure what must be endured.

Meditation Thought: “An excellent wife who can find?
    She is far more precious than jewels.
11 The heart of her husband trusts in her,
    and he will have no lack of gain.
12 She does him good, and not harm,
    all the days of her life. (Proverbs 31:10-12)

“Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh” (see Genesis 2:23), why do we not have perfect health? The grafts to not always “take” the first time – the moving of one part of the body to heal the injury of another part (i.e. the Body of Christ; see Romans 12) . We must, when sin diseases the Body, each do our particular job required to work together to repair the ravages of the sin.

At one time we are the patient and must patiently endure the operation;
At another time we are the doctor, actually moving and causing change in some area:
At another time we are the nurse, caring for the patient;
Again, we may be the friend who ministers with our support and love and encouragement;
Perhaps we are a relative, feeling the pain deeply, but unable to stop it from happening, for the pain is part of the cure.

And so the process goes on, age after age, and though we can learn from others who have gone before us, we must play our role alone. If we are to be competent in promoting healing, we must make the effort to learn what we need to know, to do what must be done, to endure what must be endured.

And the strength and courage to continue on lies in the faith that the healing is possible because there walked on earth One who was in perfect health, without the disease of sin, and He promised that if we believe in Him we shall do the works that He did (see John 14:12).

What He did in his physical manifestation on earth, He does today through the new Body which was transplanted as the old body was crucified on the cross. The new Body is not free from disease, but in the healing of the disease that invades it, the Father is glorified.

Road Signs for You

You must move yourself from sign to sign, from Word to Word as the Spirit reveals the meaning to you.

Meditation Thought: “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.” (Proverbs 30:5)

“Pray for My Spirit to illuminate the signs that are along the highways of the world, that you might come swiftly and surely to the palace of the Kingdom. The Words have been placed before you, and you see some of them clearly, some only dimly, as at a distance. The Spirit will bring more Words into focus, guiding you along the proper roads to do My Works which I have arranged for you to do, that you and others may rejoice in the fulness of My love, and see My glory. You must move yourself from sign to sign, from Word to Word as the Spirit reveals the meaning to you.

Transformation Particle by Particle

The joy of its progression of success from highly diseased to emerging health is to the glory of God and to the peace of His child.

Meditation Thought: “But he, full of the Holy Spirit… saw the glory of God…”

Be filled with the Spirit and see the glory of God. The glory of God will transform your life with a replacement of righteousness for sin, love for hate, patience for impatience, joy for bitterness, knowledge for ignorance, truth for delusion, wisdom for foolishness, power for weakness, tolerance for scorn and light for darkness. Truly the power of the Spirit gives birth to a new creature, as the old is buried in the graveyard of sin. The new creature is born of the righteousness of belief in – and commitment to – the resurrection of our Lord and the power thereby released to forgive our sins.

The mind, the will, the heart – once exposed to the knowledge of this act of God’s grace – and once accepting and acting on this knowledge – are transformed, bit by bit, from the particles containing sin, to cleansed particles containing the purity of the Father as transplanted by Jesus Christ, the Devine Physician. Thus is a sin-filled person cleansed of the disease, and given new health of the inheritance of this image of the Father. The transplanting operation never ceases in the bottle of the world, but the joy of its progression of success from highly diseased to emerging health is to the glory of God and to the peace of His child.