It means to put the Lord Jesus Christ first and foremost in your life... above all else, above husband, children, neighbors and especially your job. Oh, woe to me ... No! Why not? Because, Christ asks us to love Him FIRST!!!!! - to love who He is = God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, first!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When you do that, you will have so much more love in your life and enough for all others.
Lead the way in the good news! Don't be a wall flower. Our culture/society has been and continues to be an immigrant society having 'liberty' first and foremost. That means, we put individual freedom first and thus can only be hold together by social contract... don't tread on me and I won't tread on you. In that light, we don't approach people boldly with the good news.
Because of our American culture, we all too often think.... "Oh, they won't want to hear or they would ask me". We are a society that likes to be asked first what we want, what we think etc. as if it is a display of that 'liberty' we cherish. So, we apply this in our walk with the Lord. However, Christ asks to to be bold about our walk with Him and to boldly love and get others on that same walk. Yes, same... not the one for them which is different from the one for you/me. That is another cultural character of Americans called relativism.
Check with the Word of God - The Bible. We are asked to love Him first and foremost and then to love all others therefrom. We are told what a Christian household looks like and what a Christian marriage looks like. We are told what behaviors lead to sin and deeper into sin as in away from the Lord our God who so boldly wants to embrace us as His!
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Secrets of the Secret Place ~ Desparate for God!
Sharing with you ...
When you are made desperate for God, your pursuit of God takes on a different quality. When its personal survival that's at stake, you begin to seek Jesus in a different way. You get a look in your eye that appears half crazed to others. You're willing to go anywhere or do anything. No price tag is too high.
Banal sources of entertainment, such as television and movies have to go. Invitations to parties are spurned. Others start to pull away because you're not as much fun as you used to be. But it's irrelevant to you because you're desperate for God.
Nothing else matters right now except touching the hem of Jesus' garment. Desperate people don't struggle with the same distractions and hindrances as the general population. A desperate person would never say, "I struggle to find time for the secret place (time/space for God)," or "I get easily distracted by the everyday demands." Such petty distraction could never hind someone who is desperate. The normal hindrances of life don't even faze a desperate one because single-focused intensity of the pursuit.
When you begin to seek God with this kind of desperation, powerful spiritual winds begin to blow around your life. You're setting off a storm! Things begin to change inside you at an unprecedented rate. Angelic activity (both good and evil) surrounding your life becomes intense, even thought you may not be aware of it. You gain the attention of heaven and hell. Issues that simmered on low for many years suddenly come to a head, screaming for resolve. You find yourself surrounded by suspicion and reproach. God has you in His accelerated class, and the speed of change and transition surrounding your life is dizzying.
And, what's happening on the inside? You're coming alive to the word of God! His word is feeding and sustaining you. New insights are electrifying and carrying you. the closeness of His presence begins to intoxicate you. The revelation of His love for you is redefining your relationship with Him. The understanding of His heart and purposes is giving you a whole new perspective on the kingdom of God. You're becoming addicted to the glories of the secret place!
* This excerpt was taken from ~ "Secrets of the Secret Place", by Bob Sorge: 2001- 114-115.
When you are made desperate for God, your pursuit of God takes on a different quality. When its personal survival that's at stake, you begin to seek Jesus in a different way. You get a look in your eye that appears half crazed to others. You're willing to go anywhere or do anything. No price tag is too high.
Banal sources of entertainment, such as television and movies have to go. Invitations to parties are spurned. Others start to pull away because you're not as much fun as you used to be. But it's irrelevant to you because you're desperate for God.
Nothing else matters right now except touching the hem of Jesus' garment. Desperate people don't struggle with the same distractions and hindrances as the general population. A desperate person would never say, "I struggle to find time for the secret place (time/space for God)," or "I get easily distracted by the everyday demands." Such petty distraction could never hind someone who is desperate. The normal hindrances of life don't even faze a desperate one because single-focused intensity of the pursuit.
When you begin to seek God with this kind of desperation, powerful spiritual winds begin to blow around your life. You're setting off a storm! Things begin to change inside you at an unprecedented rate. Angelic activity (both good and evil) surrounding your life becomes intense, even thought you may not be aware of it. You gain the attention of heaven and hell. Issues that simmered on low for many years suddenly come to a head, screaming for resolve. You find yourself surrounded by suspicion and reproach. God has you in His accelerated class, and the speed of change and transition surrounding your life is dizzying.
And, what's happening on the inside? You're coming alive to the word of God! His word is feeding and sustaining you. New insights are electrifying and carrying you. the closeness of His presence begins to intoxicate you. The revelation of His love for you is redefining your relationship with Him. The understanding of His heart and purposes is giving you a whole new perspective on the kingdom of God. You're becoming addicted to the glories of the secret place!
* This excerpt was taken from ~ "Secrets of the Secret Place", by Bob Sorge: 2001- 114-115.
Monday, June 6, 2016
I will have no other gods before Me!
Remember that you live in a fallen world: an abnormal world tainted by sin. Such frustration and failure result from your seeing perfection in this life. There is nothing perfect in this world except Me. That is why closeness to me satisfies deep yearnings and fills you with joy. I have planted longing for perfection in every human heart. This is a good desire; which I alone can fulfill. But most people seek this fulfillment in other people and earthly pleasures or achievements. Thus, they create idols, before which they bow down. I will have no other gods before Me! Make Me the deepest desire of your heart. Let Me fulfill your yearning for perfection. *Exodus 20:3; Psalm 37:4 ~ Sarah Young "Jesus is Calling"!
We go about our day seeking the things of this world and we never feel truly happy. That is because, this is a fallen world. We blame others for our unhappiness. We think that they owe us, they have caused our trouble, our sorrow, our grief. It us by our own doing that we are unhappy. Because, we seek the things of this world. We call out the sin in others, we fail to cast the log in our own eye. In this light, we are not truly saved. We may think that we sin against others but we sin against God in our judgment and unforgiveness, in our bitterness we toss out the true joy we seek.
Praise the Lord who did not let their teeth tear us apart! We escaped like a bird from a hunter's trap. The trap is broken, and we are free! Our help is from the Lord who made heaven and earth. ~ Psalm 124: 6-8.
We go about our day seeking the things of this world and we never feel truly happy. That is because, this is a fallen world. We blame others for our unhappiness. We think that they owe us, they have caused our trouble, our sorrow, our grief. It us by our own doing that we are unhappy. Because, we seek the things of this world. We call out the sin in others, we fail to cast the log in our own eye. In this light, we are not truly saved. We may think that we sin against others but we sin against God in our judgment and unforgiveness, in our bitterness we toss out the true joy we seek.
Praise the Lord who did not let their teeth tear us apart! We escaped like a bird from a hunter's trap. The trap is broken, and we are free! Our help is from the Lord who made heaven and earth. ~ Psalm 124: 6-8.
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Florence Nightingale ~ Deny the Self and Put Aside all Vanity!
Yes, deny the self and put all vanity aside. This is difficult for western women especially young women and including all those who think they are modest Christians. The story of Florence Nightingale is one worth reading to young women and old alike. Florence was born in Florence Italy in 1820 to wealthy British parents. She was expected to marry up and continue the upward mobility for herself and family. Advice we might expect to hear from parents today.
From a very young age, Florence Nightingale was active in philanthropy, ministering to the ill and poor people in the village neighboring her family’s estate. By the time she was 16 years old, it was clear to her that nursing was her calling. She believed it to be her divine purpose.
When Nightingale approached her parents and told them about her ambitions to become a nurse, they were not pleased. In fact, her parents forbade her to pursue nursing. During the Victorian Era, a young lady of Nightingale's social stature was expected to marry a man of means—not take up a job that was viewed as lowly menial labor by the upper social classes. When Nightingale was 17 years old, she refused a marriage proposal from a "suitable" gentleman, Richard Monckton Milnes.
Nightingale explained her reason for turning him down, saying that while he stimulated her intellectually and romantically, her "moral…active nature…requires satisfaction, and that would not find it in this life."
It is in Matthew that we learn what it means to follow Christ. Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Then Jesus told His disciples, "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.…Matthew 16:23-25.
Florence at a young age knew that this world of things, of marriage, prestige, wealth and status would pass away. She was committed to others and their comfort while in this world, as we in Christ are in it but not of it. "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you" ~ John 15:19.Yes, do not run after things of this world... "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them" ~ 1 John 2:15.
"...those who weep, as if they did not; those who are joyful, as if they were not; those who make a purchase, as if they had nothing; and those who use the things of this world, as if not dependent on them, for this world in its present form is passing away" ~ 1 COR 7:30-31.
"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" ~ Romans 12:2.
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From a very young age, Florence Nightingale was active in philanthropy, ministering to the ill and poor people in the village neighboring her family’s estate. By the time she was 16 years old, it was clear to her that nursing was her calling. She believed it to be her divine purpose.
When Nightingale approached her parents and told them about her ambitions to become a nurse, they were not pleased. In fact, her parents forbade her to pursue nursing. During the Victorian Era, a young lady of Nightingale's social stature was expected to marry a man of means—not take up a job that was viewed as lowly menial labor by the upper social classes. When Nightingale was 17 years old, she refused a marriage proposal from a "suitable" gentleman, Richard Monckton Milnes.
Nightingale explained her reason for turning him down, saying that while he stimulated her intellectually and romantically, her "moral…active nature…requires satisfaction, and that would not find it in this life."
It is in Matthew that we learn what it means to follow Christ. Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Then Jesus told His disciples, "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.…Matthew 16:23-25.
Florence at a young age knew that this world of things, of marriage, prestige, wealth and status would pass away. She was committed to others and their comfort while in this world, as we in Christ are in it but not of it. "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you" ~ John 15:19.Yes, do not run after things of this world... "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them" ~ 1 John 2:15.
"...those who weep, as if they did not; those who are joyful, as if they were not; those who make a purchase, as if they had nothing; and those who use the things of this world, as if not dependent on them, for this world in its present form is passing away" ~ 1 COR 7:30-31.
"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" ~ Romans 12:2.
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