Stacks Image 2034_9

Lord of all creation - I come to You now in the name of this Jesus I have heard about.  I was born into a sinful world and have lived in ignorance and rebellion to Your truth.  Jesus, I accept You as God manifested in the flesh, born as an offering for my sins.  Born to pay the price I am unable to pay - the price required for restored fellowship with my Creator.

I am sorry for all my sins and turn away from them. Please forgive me and make me a vessel fit for Your use.  I release any bitterness or unforgiveness in my heart and ask You to deal with those situations.  I believe You were born of a virgin, died on the cross, rose from the dead on the third day, ascended into heaven and are now sitting at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for me.

You are now Lord of my life.

JESUS IS COMING SOON! HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE IF WE NEGLECT SO GREAT A SALVATION?

Confess Jesus before men and He will confess you before the Father.
Take me home now please.

Stacks Image 28
  • Stacks Image 2053
  • Stacks Image 2054
  • Stacks Image 2055
  • Stacks Image 2056
  • Stacks Image 2057
Stacks Image 1856
oct 2

fall all over me


"surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and i will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." psa 23:6

it is only together the body can be complete.  there is only one way for all of us to get through this life and it will not be without wounds.  "in the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  john 16:25

the other day a baby christian had written me a letter.  she is attempting her own bible study with a few others and had several questions.  of course i answered as best i could, supplementing with studies from those wiser than me. 

my heart was amused as she tried to sum up the whole bible in a few sentences.  "if i was taught right the whole story goes like this.  God made the world, then adam, then eve.  eve ate the apple and caused sin.  she had pain in labor.  they populated the world.  then people disappointed God so He called to noah and his ark and then God wiped out everything not on the ark.  noah and a woman 'repopulated' the world, but again disappointing God.  but this time "virgin mary" had Jesus who then paid for our sins, died and then resurrected."

"disappoint" God?  yes we all have, over and over again and still do.  sin disappoints God.  and yet, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  rom 3:23  the thing is, God did not destroy the world because we disappointed Him.  the bloodline had become so totally corrupted from His original creation, He had to preserve what remained to bring redemption in His mercy.  noah too "disappointed" God and we all continue to today.  praise God for grace!  He is always there to lift us up when we stumble.  there to correct our path when we stray from the way.  there to show us truth when deception seeks to creep in.  yes, His grace is sufficient.

let me tell you another little story.

------

"one rainy afternoon i was driving along one of the main streets of town, taking those extra precautions necessary when the roads are wet and slick.  suddenly, my son, matthew, spoke up from his relaxed position in his seat. 'mom, i'm thinking of something.'

this announcement usually meant he had been pondering some fact for a while, and was now ready to expound all that his six-year-old mind had discovered.  i was eager to hear.

'what are you thinking?'  i asked.

'the rain!;' he began, 'is like sin, and the windshield wipers are like God wiping our sins away.'

after the chill bumps raced up my arms i was able to respond.  'that's really good, matthew.'

then my curiosity broke in.  how far would this little boy take this revelation?  so i asked... 'do you notice how the rain keeps on coming?  what does that tell you?"

matthew didn't hesitate one moment with his answer:  'we keep on sinning, and God just keeps on forgiving us.'  i will always remember this whenever i turn my wipers on.

in order to see the rainbow, you must first endure some rain.

we must continually come to the Lord and seek His forgiveness."

- brenda hunter

----------

her little story reminds me of one of my own.  years ago we had a little family in our congregation.  we used to sing the verse, "surely goodness and mercy shall follow me".  because the melody of the song had us stretching "follow" from two syllables into four, his little mind kept hearing instead, "fall all over" instead of follow.  we found his child-like comprehension so precious we began singing it as "surely goodness and mercy shall fall all over me".

and fall all over us it does.  we keep sinning and God's mercy keeps falling.  we are not yet the finished product God sees in us.  He keeps molding and shaping us from glory to glory.  "beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."  1 john 3:2  we only need to remain pliable and let Him have His perfect way.  i pray we all let Him have His way in us today.


all-over-me

--
unknown

Stacks Image 2213

WE STAND WITH ISRAEL!

October
3
Stacks Image 2014
Stacks Image 2017
Stacks Image 1508

dig deeper


"some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth." matt 13:5

shallow!  it would seem from the teaching of this parable that we have something to do with the soil.  the fruitful seed fell into “good and honest hearts.”  i suppose the shallow people are the soil without much earth — those who have no real purpose, are moved by a tender appeal, a good sermon, a pathetic melody, and at first it looks as if they would amount to something; but not much earth — no depth, no deep, honest purpose, no earnest desire to know duty in order to do it.  let us look after the soil of our hearts.

when a roman soldier was told by his guide that if he insisted on taking a certain journey it would probably be fatal, he answered, “it is necessary for me to go; it is not necessary for me to live.”

this was depth.  when we are convicted something like that we shall come to something.  the shallow nature lives in its impulses, its impressions, its intuitions, its instincts, and very largely its surroundings.  the profound character looks beyond all these, and moves steadily on, sailing past all storms and clouds into the clear sunshine which is always on the other side, and waiting for the afterwards which always brings the reversion of sorrow, seeming defeat and failure.

when God has deepened us, then He can give us His deeper truths, His profoundest secrets, and His mightier trusts.  Lord, lead me into the depths of Thy life and save me from a shallow experience!

on to broader fields of holy vision;
on to loftier heights of faith and love;
onward, upward, apprehending wholly,
all for which He calls thee from above.


don't you want those deeper truths and share in the secrets of God?  He wants you to.  so many of us just keep wading around in the shallows; perhaps from apprehension of the deep, perhaps from lack of desire to swim in the deep blue areas of God.

i am reminded of ezekiel; "he brought me through the waters; the water came up to my ankles.  again he measured one thousand and brought me through the waters; the water came up to my knees.  again he measured one thousand and brought me through; the water came up to my waist.  again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that i could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim." chapters 3-5

these are the depths that will please God's heart.  swim or  drown.  it is not necessary for us to live.  it is only necessary for us to go, for in dying we shall live.

Stacks Image 2129
Stacks Image 2174
Stacks Image 2180
Stacks Image 2176
"Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know."
Jeremiah 33:3

Stacks Image 2182
Stacks Image 2199

VISITOR COUNT

53,638