Time with God

This morning as I was writing a text message on my phone; my dog Chester kept trying to come between me and my phone.  When I moved or lightly pushed him away, he then attempted to put his head on my phone, so he could lay in my lap.  I think in his mind, he was saying, "Hey, this is my time!! I love you and I want to spend time with you!"  I believe that is how the Lord is; He loves us and wants His time with us, yet, we continue to be busy being busy.  Unlike, Chester, the Lord is not going to push our phones out of our hands or whatever it is that may be distracting us.  The Lord longs to spend time with us and wants to love on us, if we will allow Him too.  It's in His presence that he changes us, strengthens us and reveals things to us!! Don't allow the busyness of your day to take you away from spending time with Him!!

"The 3rd Hour"

Mark 15:25 "Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him."

     Things looked grim for Jesus, it appeared that He was defeated, that death would prevail Him.  People mocked Him, they divide His clothes as He hung on the cross between two thieves.  The people chose a murderer to be set free and Jesus to be crucified.  Life could not be anymore grim for Jesus, what was left of His life. There He hung on that cross in intense pain as His flesh torn away from His hands and feet. Yet, He did this for you and me! What love!!
     Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, suddenly in the 6th hour, darkness came all over the land and then in the 9th hour Jesus could not experience God's presence any longer.  Mark 15:34.  That was the ultimate for Jesus, He knew the Father's presence all His life and now all of a sudden He was alone in the darkness.  It was at this very moment, that Jesus took on the sins of the whole world and God's presence can not stay where there is sin.  Can you imagine how devasting that was for Jesus!  Yet, He did this for you and me. 
     Mark 15:37 "then Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last."  It appeared that Jesus had lost the fight, that His life was now over.  Do you feel like you have the lost the fight and there is no hope for you?  Let me  tell you, Jesus did not lose the fight, He was not defeated!!  Jesus rose from the dead the third day and got victory over death and the grave!! Hallejuah!  He did this for you and me!
     You do not have to stay defeated, your life is not over, don't give up!  Jesus has got the victory!  He has given us the victory!  "We are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus!" Romans 8:37
     Jesus died on the cross and rose again, not just for our salvation but so that we may live and live victoriously!!   
                                                              Jesus is alive!
                                                               He is Risen!

Delight in the Lord!

I was thinking about the glory of God and how wonderful it is when the glory falls. Some will ask, "what is the glory'? It is the manifestation of the presence of God. It is when you are experiencing the atmosphere of heaven. It is awesome, to say the least!! I was thinking about the times when I have expereienced the glory and how wonderful it was and I wondered why are we not experiencing it more?? The Holy Spirit showed me, that "we need to get back to the basics, and go back to what brought us to the dance to begin with." We must get back to delighting in Him! Delight means, "to take great pleasure in something." We need to get back to basking in His presence and just loving on Him. The more we delight in Him, the more we press in to Him, the more we spend time in His presence, the hungrier we will get for His presence. The more we do this, the things of the world, the things that attach itself to us, will begin to fall off. Sickness will fall off! The things that keep us bound up, will fall off! The more we are in His presence and delight in Him, the more these things will fall off. These things can not be in the presence of God! We are changed in His presence, but it all starts with delighting ourselves in Him. In His presence is where the glory is. One touch of His glory can and will change your life! Miracles happen when the glory of God falls. The glory falls when God's people take time to delight in His presence. Let's take time to delight in the Lord and in His presence. Not just once a week but on a daily basis, that's when true change comes. We need to make room for His presence in our lives. I don't just want a visitation of His presence but I want a habitation of His presence. I want it to be a part of my life not just a once in awhile visitation. We can have that if we earnestly seek after it. Delight in Him brethren, He is so awesome! Tell Him that you love Him, tell Him that you need Him, tell Him what He means to you, tell Him how thankful you are. Just tell Him what's in your heart! Just like a wife likes to hear from her husband that she is special, that he loves her and that she is appreciated. The Lord like to hear that from us. Start delighting in Him. As we do, our love will grow for Him. We will have more intimacy with Him. When we do this, the presence of God is upon us more and more and His glory will fall. Go back to the basics, go back to your first love and start delighting in Him.

"God can make the dead things in our lives live!!

Read: II Kings 4:18
The prophet Elisha had prayed for the shunammite woman to have a son. (this woman had favor with the prophet and with God because of her willingness to serve the prophet)
God gave her a son. One day the son died, this woman knew she needed to get the prophet. When asked is all well with you? Your husband and your child? She replied, "all is well." When her husband asked her, why she was going to the prophet when her son died, she replied, "all is well." This woman had faith that all "would be" well! In vs. 30, she was determined to get her miracle. She was not leaving the prophet until she did get her miracle. Elisha prayed for her son and he came back to life, the shunammite woman received her miracle, like she believed she would.
When things are not going our way or when everything around us seems to be falling apart, we need to say "in faith", "all is well!" God can take the dead things in our lives and make them live!! Nothing is too impossible with God! Nothing is to hard for Him!

Nothing is impossible with God!

When God prepares to do something wonderful, He begins with a difficulty. When He plans to do something very wonderful, He begins with an impossibility!

Are you going through a difficulty or facing an impossibility? Then just trust God, that He is up to something and about to bring you a breakthrough!! Stand on His Word and thank Him for your miracle/breakthrough!!

Be physician assistants

Matthew 9: 12 says, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick"

If Jesus has made you whole and well than you don't need a "physician". You need to lead others to the physician, so they can be made whole and well. We need to be "physician assistants" and bring the people to the "Great Physician" so He can heal the sick and hurting and make then whole and well.

Keep your eyes on Jesus not the storm!

In Matthew 14 it talks about Jesus sending his disciples away in a boat, while he stayed behind to pray. At evening, vs. 24 "but the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary." vs. 25 "Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea." The disciples were afraid. vs. 27 "But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." Vs. 28 "And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." vs. 29, "So He said " come". And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus." Vs. 30 " But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord save me!" Vs. 31 "and immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" vs. 32 "And when they got into the boat the wind ceased."

Too many times people want to give Peter a hard time because they say he doubted and did not have enough faith to walk on the water, but he did "walk on the water". How many of us, have walked on water? It took faith just to get out of the boat. How many of us, has even got out of the boat? The thing I learned from Peter is this: when Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, as he got out of the boat, he could walk on water. When Peter put his eyes on the storm around him, he began to sink. This applys to us also. Storms of life will come and try to knock us down. That is life, we will have storms. It is how we deal with the storms of life, that makes a difference. If we keep our eyes on Jesus during the storm, then we won't be knocked down (we won't sink!). But if we keep our eyes on the storm (our problems) then we will be brought down with them (we will sink). A cool thing also is, if we do sink, Jesus will outstretch His hand and pick us up (vs. 31)

Bottom line: keep your eyes on Jesus (stay focused on Him), not the circumstances and problems around you.