it's been a while

I came across a great devo and thought i'd share....

His Vision, His Way, In His Timing

October 27, 2009 • By Os Hillman

Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." (Gen 22:2)

Have you ever wanted something so bad that you would do almost anything to get it? Have you ever gotten so close to fulfilling a dream only to have it disappear right before your eyes? Such was the case for Abraham.

God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. He would have a son. However, Abraham panicked when Sarah aged beyond child bearing years and tried to help God by birthing Ishmael through Sarah's servant, who was not the promised son. Eventually, Isaac was born, who was the promised son.

However, God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son on an altar to demonstrate his obedience to God. Truly, this is one of the hardest instructions given to one of God's people in all of scripture. It compares only to the Heavenly Father sacrificing His own Son. God intervenes and allows a ram to get caught in the bushes nearby, symbolizing the Lamb of God as a prophetic sign of what is to take place in the future.

God often births a vision in our lives only to allow it to die first before the purest version of the vision is manifested. This has happened several times in my own journey. Oswald Chambers observes, "God's method always seems to be vision first, and then reality, but in between the vision and the reality there is often a deep valley of humiliation. How often has a faithful soul been plunged into a like darkness when after the vision comes the test. When God gives a vision and darkness follows, waiting on God will bring you into accordance with the vision He has given if you await His timing. Otherwise, you try to do away with the supernatural in God's undertakings. Never try to help God fulfill His word."*

When God's vision is finally birthed, nothing will stop it. Our job is to allow God to birth His vision through us His way and in His timing.

Oswald chambers, Not Knowing Where, Discovery House, Grand Rapids, MI.

To learn more about Os Hillman's ministry, visit www.marketplaceleaders.org.

love

Ah yes
The "L" word.
To some it is life itself, and to others it is terror to be avoided at all cost.
My friend said something the other day that I think I'll remember forever.  It was quite profound:

God is Love, Love is God

You can’t control it

You just surrender

Tracy Hawkins

And so it is.  God is Love.  Love is not one of His attributes, it is who He is.  Love in its purest form.  We have perverted the word to the point that the idea of pure love is too distorted to equate to everyone in any way.  That profound statement from my friend sums up not only who He is but our relationship to who He is.  Our deepest desire is for that which is God.  It is universal in all creation.  When I see the trees reaching up towards His heavens I know that this is His creation seeking Him - seeking Love.  I imagine the bumble bee flying from flower to flower seeking the sweet nectar and in doing so fulfilling the flowers need to distribute its pollen so as to reproduce.  I see the constant of life and reproduction that cries out praise to their Creator and in doing so they too are reaching towards the heavens for that affirmation of worth; that Love.  The order, the intricacies and the vastness of creation in all its beauty feed our senses and fill us with awe and wonder and draw us to the Master Artist that brought these things into being.  And somewhere within us we know that it was Love that devised such magnificence to reach down and touch us and nourish our souls so that we would seek to connect with that Creator in our desire to understand His love for us.

And so it is.  We can no more control God than we can control the sea which is just one of the innumerable things that His hand has created.  He set the sea in its bed and formed the moon and the ebb and tide of its seasons.  He is outside of our realm of comprehension and yet He has placed within us the power to be as He is, to love.  Who other than Love could conceive of such a gift?  To be honoured with that treasure.  But as awesome a gift it is equally untamable by the human heart or spirit.  It is the nuclear weapon of the Almighty in His arsenal of communion with us.

And so it is.  You just have to surrender.  There is no hiding, no refusing, no running or eluding this Love.  When His eye is fixed on you - that is it.  Love can by its true nature be harsh and commanding, often demanding more from our beings than we ever dreamed we were able to produce or give.  But in return we are rewarded with the knowledge of Truth, the communion with Him that mere surface feelings can never touch.  To even have a fleeting glance of this great Love is so overwhelming and so undoing that we have no other choice but to surrender to Him, to Love.   There is no question, no disputing it, and anything less would be to deny life.

stress

As long as you are alive you will have stress.  Some stress is good for you or else you would never get out of bed in the morning.....
If we had to we'd most likely pick not to be 'stressed'.  But sometimes that's the way God gets us off our duffs and into doing something.
My dad died in April.  He was sick for a long time, several years in fact.  At some point I became the one who was responsible for him and my mom.  Maybe it was by default because I’m here and my brothers are not.  It doesn't matter why, though.  I am glad I got to serve him that way.  It took a lot out of me though.  Around 2007 I kind of left my own life by the wayside and focused on theirs and work.  
So of course the IRS decided that 2007 would be a good year to audit me.  I’ve never been audited so it is a little nerve racking and it makes me stressed.  And since I had just stopped my own life now that I have to pick up the pieces and go forward, I can't find it.
I mean I can't find either 2006 or 2007 taxes - anywhere.  So on the 22nd when I had surgery on my head I laid in the bed and wondered what I could have done with that stuff.  I have back to 1989 and every other year.  It’s something, isn't it?
so after recovering somewhat from my surgery (still sore and hurting at times) I have been going room by room and cleaning out stuff in search of those darn records.
Stress - in this case is making me clean out my house.  
I’ve got junk here from the early 70's.  Why?  I have no idea.
Phone numbers on papers with no names.  Check book registers with no dates...
How dumb.   Cards from everyone who ever gave me one.  I love to get cards.
Old books, calendars, CD's, games that have most if not all the pieces missing.  Dog collars from pets that have long been buried.  And a plethora of additional miscellaneous items that have little or no worth to even me any more.
So stress has managed to motivate me to dig through things that I’d have rather left untouched the rest of my life.
But the other day I was standing in my living room and I thought, “I don’t own this house, this house owns me”.  And started looking around at all the junk that is not worth anything and doing nothing but collecting and generating dust.
This has been a particularly hard year losing my dad, then my 16 yr old dog, then my son and his wife lost their dog, then their unborn children at 12 weeks of pregnancy, then she lost her papa, my best friend lost her pop, my other best friend lost her mom.  My brothers are both having difficulties as well.  Had to have surgery on my head, now being audited by the IRS.  All kinds of stuff has been going on, but not all bad.
But my daughter got engaged and my son had his wedding/honeymoon trip finally after being married for a year and a day.  And my 13 yr old dog had her FIRST and only litter of pups.  I kept one of them.  So there is new life in my house (and lots of potty messes to clean up)
Anyway all of the above to say that even though there are times I wish I could crawl into a cave and pull the hole in after me, for the most part in spite of all of life’s ups and downs God has been so good to me and He has held me up, carried me, rocked me to sleep, and made all of it seem trivial.  Because I know He loves me.  And that’s all that matters. 
oh yeah, my house is now a lot less cluttered, and clean!

This one is from Tracy

God is Love; Love is God
you can't control it.
you just surrender

submission, not a dirty word at all....

most of what you read here will be mine, but today's devotional had a jewel that I must share...

What Do You Mean By Submission? by Elisabeth Elliot

People are always asking me this. What is this business of "submission" you're always talking about? We're not really very comfortable with this. Seems kinds of negative. Sounds as though women are not worth as much as men. Aren't women supposed to exercise their gifts? Can't they ever open their mouths?
I wouldn't be very comfortable with that kind of submission either. As a matter of fact, I'm not particularly comfortable with any kind, but since it was God's idea and not mine, I had better come to terms with what the Bible says about it and stop rejecting the whole thing just because it is so often misunderstood and wrongly defined. I came across a lucid example of what it means in 1 Chronicles 11:10: "Of David's heroes these were the chief, men who lent their full strength to his government and, with all Israel, joined in making him king." There it is. The recognition, first of all, of God-given authority. Recognizing it, accepting it, they then lent their full strength to it, and did everything in their power to make him--not them--king.
Christians--both men and women--recognize first the authority of Christ. They pray "Thy will be done." They set about making an honest effort to cooperate with what He is doing, straightening out the kinks in their own lives according to His wishes. A Christian woman, then, in submission to God, recognizes the divinely assigned authority of her husband (he didn't earn it, remember, he received it by appointment!. She then sets about lending her full strength to helping him do what he's supposed to do, be what he's supposed to be--her head. She's not always trying to get her own way. She's trying to make it easier for him to do his job. She seeks to contribute to his purpose, not to scheme how to accomplish her own.

If this sounds suspiciously like some worn-out traditionalist view, or (worse) like a typical Elisabeth Elliot opinion, test it with the straightedge of Scripture. What does submission to Christ mean? "Wives, submit yourself to your husbands, as to the Lord." Compare and connect.

paying it forward

 Love means serving others and honoring God.

My company Mandura has partnered with Kids against Hunger to help feed the children of the world 
We're NOT just another business. 





                                         PAYING IT FORWARD 
If you want to get involved and help feed the children it's easy.  
You can do it by also having your own home business and making money while you are helping others.  Mandura is a nutritional juice beverage made of all natural Superfruits Acai, Durian, Mangosteen, Blueberry, in grape juice.  This unique formula provides essential amino acids for cellular growth and repair, vitamins and minerals that most Americans do not get in their diets, antioxadents that help fight cancer forming free radicals throughout the body, and a lot more, and it tastes delicious.There are No preservatives - the nutrients not cooked away in processing, and there are No additives.  
Mandura helps people to be healthy and remain that way, helps people financially, and Mandura helps feed children that are starving.  
If you are interested in joining the Mandura family then check out my business site at this link. 

http://jrobinson.mandurarep.com

 

discipline

Who is wise?

Let him understand these things.

Who is prudent?

Let him know them.

For the ways of the Lord are right;

The righteous walk in them

But transgressors stumble in them.

Hosea 14:9

My flesh and mind and heart rebel at discipline.

I do not want to get up in the morning,

I do not want to spend my time on anyone but me.

I do not want to eat properly.

I do not want to go to work.

I do not want to have to make decisions.

I do not want to be responsible.

I do not want to have choices made for me.

I do not want to be forced to do anything.

My flesh mind and heart are full of rebellion.

God’s word asks who is wise?

Who is prudent?

Then advises that the wise and prudent person understands and knows that the ways of the Lord are right.

Righteous people walk in them but that is not the choice of those who live by the flesh.

Our flesh is not evil.  It is a gift from God, created to be used for Him and His glory.

Our will is not evil.  It too is a gift from God and a tool that if yielded to Him He can use to mold us into His image.  Likewise our minds and hearts are not evil, but gifts again for His glory.

Sometimes I hate that. 

Other times I am so grateful that He gave me the choice and the honor to be able to choose His ways rather than those that my flesh would choose.

In years past my flesh ruled and I was subject to it’s demands. 

Often I have found myself falling back into that pattern and I have learned that daily I must take back the reigns and drive myself towards God.

The trick to doing that, which I never understood until now is to be so full of God that everything else is so absolutely trivial as to not matter at all.  It makes the choice to follow Him in submitted discipline quite easy.  It is like skipping the veggies and going right to the desert.

Being full of God is not easy for a person without discipline.  Those of us who were rebels of the 60’s and/or 70’s are now having to live lives we never dreamed we’d live. 

We have had to either conform to the rules of society or be kicked out one way or another. 

Discipline was a dirty word back then.  My flesh does not like it. 

But as I learn to feed my mind with Christ and to fill my spirit with the Word and as I submit my will to the Father I find delight in the discipline of giving myself to Him in devotion prayer and worship daily.

I never thought I would or even could form enough of a habit of study to become disciplined to the point of surrender.

I will to do what He who loves me desires of me.  My heart leads me in response to His love for me, but my will chooses to follow through and continue to daily give myself to Him by study and worship and in seeking Him.

In all this my spirit has become strong and my spirit submitted to Him takes control guiding my thoughts and actions and causes my flesh to come in line with the will of God.

My flesh is not evil but it would be if I allowed it to rule.  My mind is not evil but it would be if I allowed it to rule.  My heart also is not evil but it would be if I allowed it to rule.

The only way to flee from the trap of allowing anything but God to rule is to fill myself up with Him and His Word and His Spirit to the point that there is nothing else that is important.  This transforms my flesh into the image of my spirit which is becoming Christ who is in me. 

Wisdom is to feed on Christ, attend to the Spirit, and submit to the Father.  It happens from the inside out.

This then allows our flesh, our mind, and our will to be used for God and His glory.

Jeanne Robinson RN CPC