NEVER Enough!!!

Imagine with me for a moment. Close your eyes and listen to the lapping water near your feet. Smell the sand on the shore. Feel the breeze caress your skin. Taste the salt on your lips. Hear the call of the gulls and see the blue expanse of sky and ocean. go to the water's edge and allow the waves to pool at your feet. Now imagine that's as close as you ever get. There's a net high as the pier and you cant climb it or get over it.You cant get around it. You cant dig deep enough to get under it. You relinquish your experience of the majestic waters to a frothy brook at your feet. Are you satisfied?

Why if we aren't satisfied with never experiencing something as simple as the beach are we often satisfied with never experiencing someone as complex, life-breathing, and all-loving as Yahweh? We aren't satisfied with just sticking our feet in the leftover residue from a rogue wave, we want to jump in, immerse ourselves in its refreshing coolness. We yearn to ride its waves to shore and collect its shells in our pails. but when it comes to God so many of us are guilty of skirting around the edges, being content with just the froth, getting just a puddle jump of His joy even though there's a whole expanse in front of us. 

My prayer is that just a taste of HIS love is NEVER enough. I outright REFUSE to let any person, circumstance, or thing prevent me from pursuing ALL of Yahweh and ALL that HE has for me. I REFUSE to be satisfied with mediocrity. I REFUSE to allow complacency. I REFUSE any person to stifle me in my full-fledged following of Christ. I REBEL against any authority, family member, or friend who tells me Im too FIRED UP! MY JESUS is someone WORTHY of my excitement. I WILL scale any obstacle, dig any well, climb any mountain, swim any ocean to CATCH HIS WILL and follow HIS CALL: Third Day says it best, "just to be with you I would give anything, there's no price I would not pay."

Let me encourage you to folow WHOLEheartedly after Abba. Seek HIM out DAILY: Let NO man, NO thing, NO situation, NO location, NO trial, NO circumstance, NO pastor, NO spouse, NO child, NO ONE and NOTHING keep you from HIS love. HE GAVE ALL for you so YOU could LIVE ALL OUT for HIM!!

Are you still standing at the net or did you find the knife in your pocket and cut through?

Walk With Me

I heard a word tonight that I have not heard in a long time. Undergird. I pondered it on the way home, mulled over it as I tucked children into beds a little later than usual, studied it over a glass of lemonade. What does it mean? "To support or strengthen from beneath, to give fundamental support, to make stronger." What a powerful word. In typical use, a boat would be undergirded by passing ropes or chains under it as a means of strength and support during rough weather to secure it to shore.

After hoisting it on board, they used supports with ropes to undergird and brace the ship; then afraid that they would be driven into the Syrtis [quicksands off the north coast of Africa], they lowered the gear (sails and ropes) and so were driven along.

Who or what is undergirding you during your storms? Are you being washed out to sea? Is there someone to come along and wrap their arms around you and be a source of strength? Yahweh should be our ultimate source of strength, but He created and knows us, and because He knows us, He often uses His people to minister to each other. Some of us (ahem!) are a bit more reluctant  to accept His undergirding. We may require some gentle shoves into the embankment or a gusty wind to see how needed the reinforcement is.

Psalm 94:18
I cried out, “I am slipping!” but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me.

1 Peter 5:9-11

New Living Translation (NLT)

9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters[a] all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.

10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. 11 All power to him forever! Amen!

Often during prayer, I will see two or three walking together, arms looped, speaking and praying the Word of the Lord. They are undergirding the one praying, walking beside the,them, encouraging them, giving them strength, cheering them on. We should all rally around others in the faith and "hoorah" a little more. We might be surprised what happens when we answer their request: "Would you walk with me?"

Let me cheer you on to be an undergirder this week. Come alongside someone and give them a pat on the back or an arm to lean against. And if you, like me, struggle to allow people that position in your life, because it requires vulnerability and transparency, accept one offer for support, and allow Yahweh to use your vulnerability to benefit another. He can, and He wants to. You just need be available and open to His leading.

The More We Get Together

In second grade, my daughter is studying character traits each week. She has a family journal and she writes a question to her father or me to answer. This week's trait is togetherness. As families, we tend to get too busy. We have a million activities, a dozen responsibilities, and an insurmountable of excuses why we don't make time for togetherness. We wonder why our families are failing, why our children are disobeying, why our marriages and friendships are hollow. We are too busy to invest in one another. We don't make togetherness a priority. And if we aren't making time for people, its almost guaranteed we aren't making time to be together with Yahweh. So then our spiritual relationship, our spiritual house, and our spiritual covenant is neglected also. Without being together with Yahweh, we become burnt out, hollow, self-centered and washed up. There is no fire in us, no passion, and no purpose. Togetherness is the lifeblood lifeblood. It is integral, vital, and necessary. How else can we know the Father except we spend time together with Him?

Strike a Match

For a long, long time I have been complacent, stagnant, even abandoning my faith. I have used every excuse in the book, told countless lies, even fled from those who tried to hold me accountable. It has been a long, long time since a flame burned in me, but I caught it today. It sparked and sizzled. I don't know what to do with it. I want to share it with somebody, rub elbows with another soul. I don't know how to control it, I only know I don't want to lose it. Strike a match, light a flame, let it burn, in Jesus' name. Let it roar, consume this soul.

Often in life, we let the circumstances and situations stomp out our fire. We accept an ember still glowing rather than throwing more logs on until we become an inferno, blazing bright and fierce. We allow people to blow our fire out with discouragement, dout, degredation. They steal our flame, shake our faith.

 No more! I will rage and be consumed. I have no room for complacency. I have no time for mediocrity. I will burn for My Father, may He set me aflame, consume all I am inJesus' name. I'm tired of the half-done, exhausted by the tame. I'm sick of common. I'm done with shame. I won't be taken back to the man I was. I'm marching onward, climbing higher. My past is forgiven. My present is set free. My future is filled with promises from My King. There's nothing on this earth, no sin, no person, no material posession that can stake its claim on my soul. I AM CONSECRATED, set apart, and.whole. I've been called, been set free, equipped by my King to live this life in victory. May His love reign in me. STRIKE A MATCH and let it burn, may there be nothing left and Christ be all that you can see.

Kid Kaboom!

It has been a long day. I am tired. I pull into the driveway, kill the engine, turn off the lights. My head is hurting, my stomach wants to lash out like the ocean lashes at the sandy shore mid-thunderstorm. I crave the comfort of home, familiar scents and sights. I climb the stairs for the second time time, open the door, turn on the light, unload the bags (I forgot I was carrying) on the counter. Go get my son from the car and head to the bedroom. We lay down with a book and read. Well, I read and he rests. My daughter comes in, the middle one with curly hair, "can you read me ONE story mommy?" She snuggles in next to me to listen to 'Chester the Brave'. Normally I wouldnt oblige this late at night, but something about her voice compels me to say yes. She is quiet and still through the entire book, and if you know my Tater you know what a rarity that is. She thinks for a minute as we snuggle the pages read and the book put away.

"You know what I'm thinking?" She looks up at me.

"No, what?" I smile a bit, remembering broken sentences and mispronounciations.

"I'm thinking I could be brave and try the monkey bars myself."

"You know what," I say, "I bet you could too, because you are a very brave BIG girl." I emphasize big; its something we are working on.

"And Im thinking I love you very very very much... and snuggles and hugs too." She curls up tighter and closes her eyes, content her need has been met. I listen as her breaths even out and she drifts into ddreamland

God has changed me. There was a time when I would have brushed my children aside, just too tired to give one more inch. My children remind me daily in tangible ways about the love of my heavenly Father. 

As I stroked the curls out of her face, I thought how Yahweh delights in meeting our needs just as I am overjoyed to fill my daughter's need for quality time and affection. He delights in us spending time with Him. He lavishes us with His love. He longs for usto curl up in His lap with the best book ever written and say, "Will you read me just ONE story, please?" Oh how much joy He would find in snuggling with us, listening to our hearts as we share our secret fears and promise to try to be brave. Imagine the excitement on our Abba's face as we say "You know, I think I will try those monkey bars again." Now I realize our lives are filled with more dangerous and sometimes terrifying things than monkey bars, but to a child that is a humongous fear, just like our fears seem humongous, even insurmountable, to us. But just as my daughter shared with me, and took inspiration from the story I read to her, so you can share your deepest fears with your heavenly Father and take inspiration and direction from His Word.

I marvel at how just the right amount of encouragement at the right moment can help a child overcome a fear, just as I am amazed at how Big our God is, and yet how loving and personal. He desires a relationship with us. He wants to hear our concerns, our struggles, our fears, not so He can fix and remove them (though I wouldn't count that out either), but because He wants us to trust Him and seek out relationship with Him. God loves to love us, but we have to be in a place of reception. We have to come to Him and say, "Hey dad, you got a minute? I need to talk..." And I guarantee when we dothat, our Abba will take the time to listen and tell us the very story we need to hear, and He is a much better storyteller than I ever will be ;)

Open Dialog: just a prayer?

Will you allow me a moment to just speak from my heart? The heart that Yahweh, my heavenly father, has orchestrated to beat, pump blood, and maintain life? The heart that I entrusted to Him as a pre-teen? May I for a moment write freely? Thank you.

Many years back, I got in the mindset to write out my prayers. I had a difficult time speaking to God, still do, but I could write like I was trying to outrun a twister. Its not just Yahweh I struggle to speak with, it's everyday people as well. That's why i started this blog, to share thoughts and experiences when my voice fails me. But before I get off on a bear hunt, I began writing my prayers, Bible verses I felt touched by, quotes I wanted to remember sometime in high school. And they filled page after page of my journals. Somewhere along the way, I stopped writing. I stopped praying. I stopped reading my Bible. I stopped being inspired. I dont have a reason for why, I only know I did. Its been a few years now since I last wrote out a prayer. But today, I put pen to paper again:

"Yahweh, I release your peace into this home." The prayer goes on... and ends with this verse I memorized as a teenager: 'as for me and my house, we will serve the lord.'

I'm learning a new principle, okay I am learning many new principles, at my sunday worship house. This is the principle of praying the Word. I went to a prayer meeting last night, and guess what? I prayed.Out loud. It felt weird, I felt nervous. But, no one laughed at me. No one discouraged me for lack of elegance. In fact, they encouraged me. They shared how they learned to pray, and you know what I learned? We all feel weird at first, and that's okay. :)

I want to encourage some of you who may be reading this. Maybe you have never prayed aloud, or maybe you pray aloud every day, but you've never prayed with anybody else. Find a place to pray out loud to your heavenly father. Find a sister in the Lord to pray with you. Speak out loud his Word. Watch your faith flourish. It doesn't need to be long or fancy. Sometimes the simplest prayers are the most powerful.

There is something powerful in a spoken prayer. Hearing the Word out loud, hearing our prayers out loud, brings about a swelling in our spirit and a shriveling of our flesh. it is as if the angels and our family in Christ are rallying for us and helping us drive back the darkness. Prayer has the power to change atmospheres. The prayer said in faith can release blessings, life, and all that Christ has into our lives. The Word says the power of life and death are in the tongue, how great the power in our vocalized prayers must be!

Remember, prayer is open communication with Yahweh, and He is not judging you on how long or how eloquent your prayers are. He looks to your spirit and says He is pleased with you. Pray the word. Find a verse that speaks to you and pray through it. i often find it helps to study context words in multiple translations.

Here is my prayer for you tonight: Yahweh, embolden each person reading these words to pursue Your heart endlessly. Breathe life and fire into them and let them burn for you. in Jesus' name. amen.

Nail It To The Cross & Get Steppin'

''Let it die. Let it die! Let it shrivel up and die." I am a mother; I often draw spiritual parallels from my childrens' movies. We all share a good laugh over the silly villain in Dr. Seuss' "the LORAX," but the principle is correct. If they plant, water, and tend the beautiful, Trufula Tree seed, it will grow, but "we can't reap what we don't sow." The same is true of attributes, relationships, and situations in our lives.  What we focus on will grow. What we are watering will flourish. Are we verbalizing and obsessing over our fears? Fear we will reap. Are we spouting our empty pocketbook, then our pocketbook will remain so. Are we focusing on our blessings, then more blessings shall come to us. Its a Biblical principle. God's solution to all this?

2 Timothy 2:7-9
"7 Think over these things I am saying [understand them and grasp their application], for the Lord will grant you full insight and understanding in everything.
8 Constantly keep in mind Jesus Christ (the Messiah) [as] risen from the dead, [as the prophesied King] descended from David, according to the good news (the Gospel) that I preach.
9 For that [Gospel] I am suffering affliction and even wearing chains like a criminal. But the Word of God is not chained or imprisoned!"

Romans 12:2
"In other words, do not let yourselves be conformed to the standards of the ‘olam hazeh. Instead, keep letting yourselves be transformed by the renewing of your minds; so that you will know what God wants and will agree that what he wants is good, satisfying and able to  succeed."

Ephesians 4:22-25
 22 Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion;
23 And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude],
24 And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.

I love P.T.s comment Sunday that some of us may need to buy a hammer, nails, and a board, and start slinging some nails. We need to crucify the old man, many of us may have never truly done so. After nailing myself to the cross yesterday, I'm studying what other things Christ says must be nailed down. There is quite a list for us in God's Word. Anger, resentment, fear, vile talk. Nail it down and let it die. Then get moving. We have to get beyond living AT the cross, and as P.T. said on Sunday, and live IN Christ.

But before we can get moving, we must KILL our flesh and any desire or thing in our life that does not come into alignment with Gods.Word, then put on our new man and walk it out. So, what are you nailing to the cross today? I'm once again nailing my anger there. I find I have lots of anger. Today, I am crucifying it fully, completely. It will not have dominion over me any longer.

Once you have nailed it down, you must put on the mind of Christ. I am NOT filled with anger, I AM filled with peace, joy, and love. I AM slow to anger. I AM patient. I have the mind of Christ. I AM healed, forgiven, set free.

Galatians 2: 20
 I've  been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

So, nail it down. Let it die. And then get in step with the Spirit. Walk it out.