Grace

by Anabel Gillham

We can’t deny that painful circumstances invade our lives. But we must put them in their proper perspective. Pres, my eldest, was going through a time of deep disillusionment, hurt, loneliness, confusion, and penetrating self-evaluation. He shared with me how the following thoughts brought clarity in his thinking, how they enveloped him in peace and promised endurance.
Pres:
"I know that the difficult circumstances in my life at this present moment are very real. But I also know that Christ has provided victory for me in these circumstances."As you and I well know, this victory is not deliverance but grace, as spoken of in
Proverbs 3:34: ‘He gives grace to the afflicted.’

"Grace used here refers to the divine influence upon your heart brought about through the affliction, the difficulties—difficulties such as I am experiencing now, and how that divine influence is reflected in your life through the unexpected benefits of the suffering."

Unexpected benefits? Like what? What might we learn from suffering? How does it change us, and what can we profit from it?

It might be . . . the rebirth of compassion for others
a renewal of your covenant with Christ
an awareness of His amazing strength through you
the thankfulness and joy that will emanate from you when you know—really know—how much He loves you
the tender knowledge of your complete acceptability by God, your Maker.

Pres again:"Deliverance is the easy way out. Grace is a training ground run through tear-blurred eyes which, in the end, leaves your heart strong, your muscles toned, and your head clear and organized."

2 Corinthians 12:9 tlb
"I am with you; that is all you need. My power shows up best in weak people."

Thank You, Lord, for in these—my weak moments—I will be strong beyond my ability to comprehend."
--------------------
I am so thankful that in our weakness, He gives grace sufficient to strengthen us.

2 Corinthians 12:9 niv
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Blessings~

The Art of Prayer

The Art of Prayer - excerpts written by Michael D. Warden
Imagine that you and your best friend (or significant other) have decided to spend an entire day together. You meet in the morning and share breakfast, then sit on the porch and chat for awhile before planning your day. You decide that it doesn't matter what activities you do — shopping, hiking, or running errands — because you both know it's being together that's important.

Late in the day, you share another sit-down meal and, with it, long conversation. You share your dreams. You confess your fears. You plan what's next — what's best — for your life, and your friend agrees to hold you to the course. You know the promise is sincere. And you find yourself wondering why the two of you have never had this day before.

Now imagine that the friend with whom you shared your day is God. When you put Him in the place of that dear friend or significant other, what happens to your perception of the day?

The Elusive Dream
For many of us, the daydream quickly turns murky with this change of thought. It's one thing to connect with a friend you can see, hear, and touch, but how can you connect like that with God? Besides, we have very few days of leisure like the one we've imagined. Most days are far busier, and daily distractions make such a connection with God seem all but impossible.

A Vision of Connection
In John 15:4-5, Jesus issues this metaphorical command, "'Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.'"

To "remain in" comes from the Greek verb meno, which means "to stay within" or "dwell within." Jesus is literally telling His disciples (and us) that He wants us to make Him our home and to live within Him all through our lives. It's a deeply intimate metaphor — one that echoes our own longing. We long for the awareness of His presence in the busyness, right there walking with us and talking with us and remaining intimately involved in our lives.

So, if God wants this ongoing, deep connection with us, and we want this ongoing, deep connection with Him, why isn't it happening? One reason may be because we are hobbled by limiting beliefs regarding the role of prayer in our lives. "We segregate out a small corner of pious activities and then make no spiritual sense out of the rest of our lives," writes Richard J. Foster in his book Prayer. "We have become so accustomed to this way of living that we fail to see the contradiction in it. The scandal of Christianity in our day is the heresy of a 5 percent spirituality."

Crafting Your Time
Many of us have been raised to believe that prayer is primarily a means of petition or an expression of worship. We pray to thank God for what He has done and to ask Him for what we want or need, then we say "amen" and go on with our lives. But prayer is much more than a thank-you card or a wish list. It's the means by which we create and nurture an ongoing, deep companionship with our Creator. Prayer is conversation. More than a daily ritual of asking and thanking, it is the spiritual equivalent of the open, honest communication that is so essential to any successful, growing relationship.

Beyond our wrong perceptions about prayer, another cause for the lack of a deep, ongoing connection with God may lie in the way we orchestrate our daily routines. John Piper, author of the provocative book Desiring God, says that the main reason we so rarely experience God's presence in our daily lives in any significant way is because we simply don't plan for it. "We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be part of our life, but nothing's ever ready," Piper writes. "Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure. And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences in prayer. The opposite of planning is the rut. If you don't plan a vacation, you will probably stay home and watch TV. … If you want renewal in your life of prayer, you must plan to see it."

Of course, scheduling significant blocks of time for prayer each day may not be feasible for most of us. But, for those who truly want that deeper, ongoing connection with God, there are many creative ways to weave prayer into the busyness of our lives. All that's needed, as Piper says, is to include them in our plans.

"Therefore, my simple exhortation is this," writes Piper. "Let us take time this very day to rethink our priorities and how prayer fits in. Make some new resolve. Try some new venture with God. … Don't be tyrannized by the press of busy days."

Once we understand that prayer is more about building relationship with God than it is about getting Him to do something for us, the possibilities for incorporating ongoing prayer into our busy lives become almost endless. Like sharing the entire day with our best friend, it doesn't really matter what you're doing. It's being together that's important.
-Written by Michael D. Warden

Blessings all :)

Worship... King of Glory... & Revelations...

Today's post... is a compilation of posts our bloggers made Wednesday...

Worship is my response to God's love.
Worship is giving back to God.
Worship is focusing my attention on God.
Worship is expressing my affection to God
and lastly Worship is using my abilities for God.
(from Gail- from 40 Days of Purpose)


there is one God, He is holy,
there is one God over everything
there is one God, He is Jesus,
King of Glory, strong and mighty
(Sunny - from "King of Glory")


Great and marvelous are your deeds,
Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
King of the ages.
Who will not fear you,
Oh Lord,and bring Glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed!
(Fan of God - Revelation 15:3-4)

Blessings! :)

Prayer is a 2 Way Street

Prayer is a Two Way Street - by Sharon Jaynes

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

"I had been in Raleigh, North Carolina on a speaking engagement when we got the news that Hurricane Floyd was making its way up the coast. The ladies quickly said their goodbyes and I hopped in my car to make the three hour trip home. Already the rain was pelting my windshield and the trees were swaying in the gusty wind. A hurricane so far inland was quite unusual. Once I made it out of town and to the highway, I joined several thousand travelers trying to outrun and escape the storm. Men, women and children as far as two hundred miles away were on the road, evacuating the coastal areas.

During my adventure, God and I had plenty of time for conversation. He showed me that my journey home was much like many people’s prayer lives. See, I was stuck in a long line of evacuation traffic. My side of the highway was clogged with panicky people trying to get as far away from the storm as possible.

However, on the other side of the highway, the lanes heading east, there was only the occasional brave traveler determined to get to his or her destination. I imagine that’s how God sees His children pray. There’s a looooooong line of people calling out for help – that would be the evacuation lane. And then there’s the sparse few people listening to what God has to say – that would be those heading in the eastbound lane.

While prayer is a two way street, many of us spend far more time on the street directing our prayer to God for help... than we do on the street receiving His direction. But I have learned that what God has to say to me is far more important than what I have to say to Him, and I need to be praying in both lanes – speaking and listening.

Let's Pray
Dear Lord, sometimes I just talk too much. Help me to spend more time listening to You when I pray. I’m going to make it short today, because now I’m going to simply listen……….In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Now it's your turn
Do you find it difficult listening to God? If so, here’s an idea.
Find a passage of Scripture to read (perhaps John 15). Now read just a few verses or one verse at a time, pausing to ask God to speak to you.
As you meditate on the verses, what thoughts come to mind?
Pick a few verses to think on during the day. Note any new thoughts that come to mind regarding the verses. "
- Sharon Jaynes

Blessings Girlies :)

Margin

Today's post is a portion from a devotion called 'Margin' by Gwen Smith:

“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He leads me beside still waters and restores my soul.” Psalm 23:1-3

"I’m heading out the door to lead worship at a weekend conference. I’m very excited to see our LORD at work in the lives of women this weekend, but – in all honesty – I’ve got a slightly wounded heart as I cross the threshold. You see, I’ll be missing my son’s flag football game this weekend.

Balance can be so elusive. It’s one of the great battles of this age. I struggle with it as much as the next person. Many mundane and godly things compete for the attention of our time, our minds, our hearts, and our souls – and so many are good things. In most crowded lives, margin (time of reflection and rest), is no longer the norm, but the exception.

Lately, my personal challenge is to pass up the good for the great. I’m learning and striving to prioritize my days, my time and my disciplines in order to be increasingly effective in pointing to God’s glory in all that I do. I’m trying to pause each day and experience enough margin time that the loud sounds of ‘living and doing’ do not drown out the still small voice of my Prince of Peace…my true source of balance.

I’m reminded of the lyric from that old hymn “In the Garden” by C. Austin Miles
I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses
And He walks with me, and He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known

Notice that the worshipper in that hymn didn’t go to the garden with an entourage…she was alone! She went looking for God…and He walked with her! How amazing is it that the holy God of heaven is available to tarry with us and is willing to be found when we seek Him?

As we journey both on our own and together to the heart of heaven, my prayer is that your days would be enhanced with God-thoughts. I pray your personal time of worship would compel you to respond to the glory of God and fall before Him in humble worship. Through songs, hymns and scriptures, I long for each God-seeker to find refuge in the hiding place of His safe and loving arms. Sing to Him. Lift up His name with song today. Dance in the margin.

I firmly believe that when we engage in passionate praise and sincere worship, our time is well invested. It blesses the heart of God and it nourishes our souls to the very core of who we were made to be. We tip the scales of balance in our favor. We find sacred margin. I’m all for that.
Thanks for worshiping with me."
~Gwen Smith
Blessings~

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

Psalm 139: 1-18

Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You hem me in - behind and before, and lay Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is high, I cannot attain it. v 1-6

Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning an dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night, even the darkness is not dark to You, the night is bright as day, for darkness is as light with You. v7-12

For You formed my inward parts, You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works, my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance, in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them they are more than the sand. v13-18

Psalms 19:14

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”- Psalm 19:14

Transitions...

Sunny has hosted a blog site for several of us to use as a common meeting ground for quite some time. It has been a place to meet and have fellowship, to laugh, to pray for each other and to share what we are going thru or learning at the time. I have appreciated her blog very much, but as Sunny feels this season of hosting it has come to an end for her, I will offer to provide a place to connect here, for those who wish to use it. I am aware some people have been scarce lately, but we'll just see how it goes and at least give those who want to connect a common place here. Sunny posted a very fitting scripture in her last blog:

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil. 1:3-6

Sunny, I have appreciated your blog and providing a place for us to land and catch up with each other no matter what the time zone, to pray for each other, to joke around, and to share what we are learning or what is going on in our lives. Thank you Sunny for hosting us in your cyberspace living room. Let us know what's going on and how to pray for you. I pray God's blessings on your move back to California, with your job and church home
Blessings all~
Kimmer