Fear is not an Option

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. II Timothy 1:7

Fear, it can over take us, it can stop us, it can cripple us, and it is not from God.  

Yesterday was a hard day, I just didn't feel like doing anything, but couldn't quite put my finger on what was wrong.  But then last night, I remembered the dream that I had the night before and God revealed to me what was causing me so much angst.

So here is my dream and what God and I talked about last night.  I hope it encourages you.

In my dream my husband and I were looking for a place to live.  We walked into this house and it was dark, ugly and dated.  It had dark wood paneling all over, even on the ceiling.  And although I hated the place, I was telling myself, well just be happy to have a place to live.  You'll get used to it.  

But then we walked out into the backyard and there in the backyard there was this beautiful walkway that lead to this beautiful glass building.  This place was so big and bright and cheery.  I wanted to go there immediately.  So I ran toward the walkway, but then I was stopped, I noticed that there were no sides on this walkway and it was extremely high.  Now you must know that I am terrified of heights, so I stopped on the steps to the walkway and just cried.  There across the walkway was this beautiful place, and here was I was, was this dark and dreary place.  Instead of going toward what I wanted, what was there for me to have, I let my fear overtake me and stop me.  

I woke up yesterday very sad and stayed like that all day.

Last night, as I was driving, God reminded my of my dream.  He reminded me that He wants more for my life.  He has more for my life.  This spirit of fear is not from Him, it is the enemy stopping me from having and being all that God has for me.  So God asked me, what are the fears that I have, that are preventing me from being what God made me to be?

1. Fear of Heights prevents me from enjoying God's beautiful world.  You would never find me looking at the Grand Canyon, or at the top of a mountain looking to the valley below.

2. Fear of looking stupid or appearing dumb, being wrong, keeps me from trying new things, asking questions, giving answers.

3. Fear of rejection keeps me from making phone calls, sharing what I do, talking to others, sharing who I am.  

Ok, well there are  probably more, but I think this is a good start.  So in order to stop my fears from controlling me, I will take control of them.  I will look out a window and enjoy the view.  I will ask more questions, try something new, make a fool of myself.  An I will make my phone calls.  I will call you even to just say hi, how are you?  

God has created me for greatness, he's created all of for greatness.  Please share your fears, that I may be able to pray for you, and if I can help in anyway, please contact me.  

Ok just looking at these pictures freaks me out.  But here they are.

A Privilege to Pray

Esther 4
¹⁰ Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a command for Mordecai: ¹¹ “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law: put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live. Yet I myself have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days.” ¹² So they told Mordecai Esther’s words.

Esther 5

Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, across from the king’s house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house.^{[a] 2} So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter.

One day as I was speaking to this gentleman, he was telling me about some things that were going on in his life, and I asked if I could pray for him.  After I prayed, he thanked me and I told him that it was my privilege to pray for him.  This caught him off guard, and he asked, "Really?", yes I responded.

It is a privilege to be able to pray for someone one.  To be able to take your petition before the King of Kings.  You see coming before the king without being summoned first was something that was punishable by death.  If the king did not show you favor, it could be "Off with her head" time. 

And the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the God of this Universe invites us to come near, to come to the foot of His throne and bring your petitions.  You can petition on your own behalf, on behalf of someone else, the person you are petitioning for doesn't even have to know you are doing it, you don't even need to know the person directly or and get this, you don't even have to know what you are petitioning for.  You just have to come to the throne.  God knows what you are coming for, before any words leave your tongue.

God wants to hear your petition and God wants to grant your petitions.  God has already called for you to come near, won't you do so now? 

One thing that I have learned is that the best time to pray, is NOW.  So if someone asks for prayer, pray right then and there, don't wait for later, for often I have found, when I wait, I forget.  So if I am with someone, I pray for them right where we are.  You don't have to wait for a quiet place or be in a church, I have prayed for people in Starbucks, in a restaurant, in Barnes and Noble, on a bus, there is no place that God will not hear your petitions.

So I tell you, it would be a privilege to pray for you.  Please send me your requests.

What does favor look like?

But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.  Genesis 39:21

God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs.  Daniel 1:9

You have granted me life and favor, and Your care has preserved my spirit.  Job 10:12

When you think of someone who has favor what comes to mind.  I hear this a lot when people pray, God grant me favor, but what does in look like?  Does it mean that I am trouble free, that things are going my way, that I am successful, have great husband, family, home?  What does it mean?

I think sometimes, when we pray for favor, we are praying for the things listed above.  If God grants us favor then things will start going right in our lives. 

But as I read the Bible I have noticed favor doesn't necessarily look like what we might think. 

Joseph was a prisoner when we are told that God gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.  Wouldn't it had been better to just get him out of prison?  Isn't that what we want, Lord grant us favor by getting us out of this situation.  Take this prison that is holding my captive and remove me from it?  But God doesn't always do that, and even if He does, it may not be in our time. 

Daniel had been taken from his country and became a slave, is that favor? 

Then Job, who had everything taken, says that the Lord has granted him life and favor.

So while we are praying for favor, hoping that God will remove us from our circumstances, maybe, just maybe you have already have favor.  Maybe instead of praying for something to change, know the God is working in your life and has a purpose for what you are going through. 

When we stop looking for God to take us out of something, we can be open to what God is going to do in your life, right where you are. 

Rest in that assurance.  God has granted you life and favor. 

God bless you. 

Your First Love

^{Revelation 2:3-4}

³ and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. ⁴ Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

Aww First Love, do you remember it?  Maybe not even your first love, but what about your current love?  Remember when you first met, first started talking, first went out?

It seems that as a relationship goes on, we tend to stop doing the things and enjoying the things that we did when we first got together.  No longer do we get butterflies when we hear his voice, talk for hours on the phone, look for ways to just run into her.  

You know it can be the same with God.  Remember how you felt when you first became a Christian?  Remember wanting to read your Bible just to see what God had to say to you.  Praying just to talk to God and let Him know how you day was going?  

I hope you have memories like this, but if not, may I say fall in love with God.  He's been wanting that since before He created you.  He wants to be the first one you talk to not the last one, when all else fails.  It's amazing what happens when you really fall in love with God.  This week I was driving in my car, talking and praising God, and I actually was feeling giddy.  I felt like a school girl falling for her first crush.  
I was thanking God for all his blessings.  It is amazing the peace you feel, and the blessings you see, and the things you are thankful for when you just relax in the love of God.  

So why not spend some time with God today and really fall in love with him.  

Check out my website. 

 

National Day of Prayer

2 Chronicles 7:14
if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Today is the National Day of Prayer here in the USA.  I have only recently come to be what I would classify as a prayer warrior.  In the past, I always listen to people pray and thought, I would love to pray like them, they sound so great when they pray.  Or I wished that I was the one, who said, let's pray and then just did it, right where I was at.  But God has a way of changing a person and helping you become who you never thought that you were.

Like making Moses a great speaker, or Gideon a great warrior, that is one of the remarkable things about God.

So God has called me to pray.  But if you read the verse from II Chronicles, He has called all of his people to pray.

It's noteworthy to notice that God does not say, "If my people elect the right people" or "If the whole nation prays", no God only calls on His people to pray, and then not only must His people pray they must also seek God's Face and turn from our wicked ways.  Again, God does not call for the Nation to turn from their wicked ways, although that would be a good thing, but first it must start with His people.

So what about you, is God calling you to pray?  Why not start today, on the National Day of Prayer.  But before you can pray, you must humble yourself.   To humble means to bend a knee, to bring low into submission.  We must know our position with God, bring ourselves low to Him and submit to His will.
And then we are called to seek God's Face.  Basically we are to search Him out, to strive after Him, beseech Him, request, inquisition.  When was the last time your prayer life was like that, on your knees, beseeching God, inquisitioning God for his will,  wanting to submit to His will?  And finally turning from our wicked ways.  I know, I thought "wicked" I'm not wicked.  But wicked is just something bad, naughty, hurtful, harmful, grievous. 

But then the promise, God's wonderful promise to us, He will forgive our sin and He will heal our land  Like I said before, it will not be a politician that heals our land, it will not be Greenpeace, or the United Nations, it will be God.

So on this National Day of Prayer, will you take time to pray?  Will you humble yourself before God?  He's calling us to, each of us.  Maybe today God will turn you into a prayer warrior.

 

Cross Walk and Bomb Scare

Every year our city has a Cross Walk to commenerate Jesus walking to Calvary before he was crucified. This was the 28th year that this walk has been going on, but it was my first time to participate.  I had been wanting to go for a few years, but this was the first year that it worked out that I could make it.  

When I decided to go, I didn't call any friends or anyone to ask them to go, I just kinda went.  I figured that there would be someone that I knew, because a lot of people attend, and because people always tell me that I know everyone, so I was bound to know someone, right?

When I got to the movie theater, where everyone was meeting, I noticed that everyone seem to have a group of friends that they were meeting up with.  Every time someone new arrived there were shouts of "hello", hugs and "how are you?"   But as for me, there was no one that I knew.  I suddenly felt very alone, wanting to run back to my car and leave.  But then I started thinking, "is this how Jesus felt on his cross walk?"   Did he feel all alone in a sea of people?  What was Jesus thinking as he was walking, carrying the cross to his death?   What pain he must have felt, when he heard Peter deny him.  Where were the others?   The ones who only less then a week before, who were singing his praises, ready to crown him king.  As I looked around, I wanted to feel what Jesus felt, I wanted to know the pain my savior suffered on my behalf.  

As I watched the people gather, I wondered what were they here for?   Were they here to remember our king, or were they here because a friend asked them to come?  Was it social or was it personal?   

What about those that were there, that day over two thousand years ago?   What compelled them to come see Jesus crucified?   Were they there because there neighbors were?  Were they there because they wanted to be there for Jesus, or were they caught up in the crowd, yelling "Crucify Him"?   

So many young people, kids and babies joined us on our walk today.  And I wondered, did parents bring their kids out to see Jesus crucified?   Did they tell their children the truth about Jesus and what was happening?   Did they point and say, "see her, that's his mom"?   

There are times in our history, that when asked everyone can tell you where they were and what they were doing when it happened, the Kennedy assassination, the Space Shuttle explosion, the Twin Towers coming down.  Was it the same for the ones in Jesus' time.  Did they talk about the day the earth shook and the sky darkened?   

Right as we were beginning our walk I felt a twinge in my knee, and I thought, "praise The Lord".  I wanted to feel some pain when I walked.  Jesus did.  To me this was not a fun time, I did not wave to the passing cars.  This was truly a time to remember, to allow myself to feel and to say thank you, for I know that even if I was the only sinner in the world, Christ would have still died for me.  

As we were walking our 2.2 mile route, we were suddenly stopped.  It seems someone called in a bomb threat at the park where we were heading.  As we waited, I thought about Palm Sunday when the Pharisees wanted Jesus to quiet the people down.  Jesus said that even if the people were silenced, the rocks would cry out.  Here the enemy was trying to silence Jesus' people, doesn't he know that even if he stopped us, the very rocks would sing praises to The Lord?   As the police made us wait, I thought, what would stop me from praising my savior?   Would I stop, under the threat of death?   I can honestly say, that no, I will praise Jesus and spread the Good News, even under the threat of death.  Nothing will stop me.  

So I ask you, do you know Jesus?   If you were to die tonight, do you know where you would wake up tomorrow?   You see the Bible tells us that all have sinned.  We have all done things that are wrong and against God's Law.  And because of that sin, we all deserve death and eternal separation from God.  But God humbled himself and came down to Earth, Jesus, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and then voluntarily died on the cross to pay the price for our sin.  You see, it was the Jews or the religious leaders or the government that placed Jesus on the cross, it was His Love For You!   Jesus died for you, was buried in a tomb and then rose again three days later, thus conquering death.   That was God's part, that is His gift to you, our part is to accept this gift.   We must admit that we are sinners, that we deserve death, and accept God's gift as payment for our sins.  When we ask Jesus to come into our hearts, he does and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.  

If you already know Jesus as your savior, please respond with "amen" below.   If you have never done this and would like to, please go to my website and leave me your contact information.  I would like to pray with you, answer any of your questions and send you a Bible.  

God Bless.  

Licking the Spoon and Taking out the Trash

Esther 4:14
For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Luke 19:40
But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cryout.”  

I can remember as I was raising four boys that sometimes things went to the closes son.  So if you were in the kitchen while I was baking, then you got to lick the spoon, likewise if I saw you when it was time to take out the trash, then you got that duty.  It was much easier than looking for another son, when one was always close by.  All I knew is that something was there to be offered or something needed to be done, it didn't matter as much by whom, just that is got done.  Some things were met with excitement and other things were met with "Awww, why me, I did it last time"  But sometimes there would be a blessing given to the one who did what was asked of him.
It seems that God often works in the same way.  When Esther wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to go before the King regarding the plot to kill her people, Mordecai assured her that God would deliver the Jews, even if He had to use someone else.  
When the Pharisees wanted Jesus to quiet the people and stop them from praising Him.  Jesus told the Pharisees that even if the people didn't praise Him, the rocks would. 
God's will, will get done, either with us or in spite of us. 
But how much more exciting it would be, to be the one that God uses.  
So how does God pick who to use?  Does He look for the brightest, strongest, handsomest, richest?  No, although being those things does not disqualify you from being used, it is not what God looks for.  Much like when I would call the son closest to me, God is also looking for those close to Him.  
Are you spending time with God?  Are you in His word?  Are you spending time in prayer?  
When you are close to God, you will hear His voice when He calls and believe me He will call.  
What will you do when He calls, will you joyfully do what is ask or will you argue "why you?"  
I pray that you will step up and do whatever it is that God calls you to do.

During my 90 days transformation, I have been asking God to use me.  I have been praying for the eyes of Jesus to see what needs to be done, and asking for a servant's heart to do whatever is asked.
Some examples where God has used me in this last few weeks have been:  
1.  I was able to pray with an elderly man on the bus who had just broke his cane and was worried about getting home.  He was also feeling that God must be mad at him, and I was able to share with him, God's love.
2. I was at the right place and time, when my step grandson was having difficulty breathing.  I was able to first calm him down and then get my son and his mom, who called the paramedics.  I was also blessed to use this as a teaching moment for my three year old grandson, as we prayed together for brother Joey and his parents. And then;
3. This weekend when we had a yard sale, God told me to put up a sign that said, "Need Prayer" and I was able to pray with several people that came to the yard sale.
See God did not look for anything that the world would look for, I am not some great prayer warrior, what I was, was staying close to God and then obedient when God called my name.
God wants to use you too.  
Please leave a comment about how God is using you, or any prayer request that you may have.

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