Still Making a Difference

On April 17 I posted a Psalm at the request of someone I do not know in the flesh.  He requested the prayer to be prayed for himself and his wife and the moment I read the request inside my spirit moved and I was compelled to enter into agreement with them.

 

I planted God’s Word inside my heart.  I began to doubt that some may take the words personally and imagine that I was angry at someone.  The words of Psalm 31 are strong.  But I prayed and the Lord reminded me that I was not battling flesh and blood.  I was still wondering why this Psalm was hitting me so hard.  It is a cry for protection so what was “out there?” that was moving me to such deep prayer.

 

Two days later I had my answer.  The Lord spared my child along with many others from danger.  We live in a small town but for days it’s seemed the world had taken notice and the media flocked here for a story.  The real story was never told.  As usual everyone seems to seek the most horrible sensational aspects of news.  There is another story behind the scenes.

 

We’ve faced fear with forgiveness.  We don’t understand everything but the important things in life have become crystal clear.  There is no excuse for evil whatever you sow in this world you will reap.  Remember what you sow is your words.  You can say something in a private place where you think no one will know and somehow good or bad those words travel and are discovered.

 

God is in control.  He does understand and still takes care of those who ask.  God is the only one who knows everything.  I still don’t understand everything just like God says I can only see darkly but I heard him April 17 and I just posted the Psalm and pondered His Word over and over and that Word protected us.

 

The event has shaken our family but not to fall just to awaken so that we can see a little clearer today.  I was blessed to see the God side of this event.  I watched and prayed.  God heard.  The hands and feet of Jesus Christ were shown in the lives of those who just did what Our Father asks all of us to do, nothing new just the same thing he did for all of us….Forgive and Love.

 

Can you imagine anyone standing in the face of their enemy who wants to kill them and saying Father forgive them?  That’s the example of Truth we are called to follow. Jesus died for my sins I’ve accepted that and forgiveness, mercy and grace are important to me but when asked to put them all into action it’s difficult.  Do it we must and the only way is by faith I have heard God and he forgave me what greater love, mercy and forgiveness could there be than for God himself to become human to die for me.  I didn’t deserve to be forgiven but He forgave me while I was a sinner so forgiveness is given not by merit but by love.

 

I don’t always get it right but today I thank God for Grace.  He has given me so much that much of me is required.

 

 

 

 

 

C.S. Lewis once said:

 

Christianity simply does not make sense until you have faced the sort of facts I have been describing. Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness. It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know they have done anything to repent of and who do not feel that they need forgiveness.

 

Every one says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive

 

 

The Old Rugged Cross Made the Difference

 

 

‘Twas a life filled with aimless desperation

 

Without hope walked the shell of a man;

 

Then a hand with a nailprint stretched downward,

 

Just one touch then a new life began.

 

 

 

Chorus:

 

And the old rugged cross made the difference

 

In a life bound for heartache and defeat;

 

I will praise Him forever and ever

 

For the cross made the difference for me.

 

 

 

Barren walls echoed harshness and anger

 

Little faces ran in terror to hide;

 

Now those walls ring with love, warmth and laughter,

 

Since the giver of life moved inside.

 

 

 

Repeat Chorus

 

 

 

There’s a room filled with sad, ashen faces

 

Without hope death has wrapped them in gloom;

 

But at the side of a saint there’s rejoicing,

 

For life can’t be sealed in a tomb.

 

 

 

Repeat Chorus

 

                                  Bill and Gloria Gaither

 

Just repeart the Chorus………………still makes a difference

 

Into thy hands Oh Lord

Psa 31:1  <To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.> In thee, O LORD, do

I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy

righteousness.

Psa 31:2  Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my

strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.

Psa 31:3  For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s

sake lead me, and guide me.

Psa 31:4  Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for

thou art my strength.

Psa 31:5  Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O

LORD God of truth.

Psa 31:6  I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in

the LORD.

Psa 31:7  I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast

considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;

Psa 31:8  And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast

set my feet in a large room.

Psa 31:9  Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is

consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.

Psa 31:10  For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing:

my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.

 

Psa 31:11  I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among

my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me

without fled from me.

Psa 31:12  I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken

vessel.

Psa 31:13  For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side:

while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away

my life.

Psa 31:14  But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.

Psa 31:15  My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine

enemies, and from them that persecute me.

Psa 31:16  Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy

mercies’ sake.

Psa 31:17  Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee:

let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.

Psa 31:18  Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous

things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

Psa 31:19  Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for

them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee

before the sons of men!

Psa 31:20  Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the

pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the

strife of tongues.

Psa 31:21  Blessed be the LORD: for he hath shewed me his marvellous

kindness in a strong city.

Psa 31:22  For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes:

nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried

unto thee.

Psa 31:23  O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth

the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.

Psa 31:24  Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all

ye that hope in the LORD.

 

 

Where lilies bloom….in grace

FIRE AND RAIN
Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone
Suzanne the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can’t remember who to send it to

I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again

Won’t you look down upon me, Jesus
You’ve got to help me make a stand
You’ve just got to see me through another day
My body’s aching and my time is at hand
And I won’t make it any other way

oh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again

I’ve been walking my mind to an easy time
My back turned towards the sun
Lord knows when the cold wind blows it’ll turn your head around
Well, there’s hours of time on the telephone line
To talk about things to come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground.

oh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you, baby, one more time again, now

Thought I’d see you one more time again
There’s just a few things coming my way this time around, now
Thought I’d see you, thought I’d see you fire and rain, now

James Taylor, Released February 1970 from album “Sweet Baby James”

 

He Built the House

Forty-six years the LORD has spent shaping just this one part of His temple.  Rough edges still remain.  Crooked places still seen, but that’s all on the surface.  You see He began his work inside of me.

 

Trapped, feeling alone within myself I found comfort and familiarity.  Deep inside my own self lies LOVE indescribable.  He is my LOVE.  The greatest part is that I am His.  I did not find LOVE though I searched.  LOVE found me.

 

The quiet moment, exhausted by my own journey and broken to pieces by so many wrong turns I fell willing never to rise again.  But LOVE, my LOVE came to me.  He was strong and demanding in the beginning.  Arms that are neither shortened nor afraid to reach into my weakness the strong arm drawing out my weakness to increase his strength through me.

 

His voice was commanding and I trembled with respect for the tone of authority.  I was and still remain captivated by the fear of knowing Him.  I searched all my life for this one LOVE and imagined I would be prepared, dressed perfectly, yet He found me in shambles.  I looked like death, I felt like death and I wanted to die.

 

It’s not so strange to me now that He loved me just this way.  All my work and attempts to find True LOVE brought me to this place.  A place of total surrender, I came to the end of myself, but not in vain for at the end of my self was Him.

 

He has walked with me since my beginning.  He knew me before time.  He waited for me to die so that I could truly live.  He teaches me every good thing and he corrects me in love.  No greater LOVE have I found than this one who died for all and waits for His own.

 

You cannot awaken LOVE before His time but he is still watching, calling and everyone that falls at his feet when he calls into their darkness…He stands and says Come….Come away.

 

He dries my tears knowing that as long as I am in this body of flesh more tears will come.  Quietly he whispers, “Keep still my love time is almost gone.”  My heart screams within me, “How long?”  He answers, “I AM here.  I will not leave you.  Trust my voice.  Close your eyes. Rest…for soon….As you allowed me to live within you for a time you will live with me forever.  Your room is finished.  Suffer the time for another for the door is swiftly closing and time will be no more.  Eternity awaits.”

 

So I rest but my heart is ever awake eternally listening for the call.

 

The passion I feel overwhelms this temporal house of mine and occasionally when I lose control and light slips through the cracks of my own neglect I am misunderstood.  The sorrow and pining I feel is oft misunderstood.

 

I have no anger towards any nor do I long for acceptance from another.  My countenance is moved only by His Love for me and mine for Him.  I cannot change my appearance.  I strive to hold my tongue but His Love is so much for such as I that I cannot possibly restrain such Love nor do I as often attempt such restraint for it grieves my soul unbearably. 

 

When I would close my lips he washes over me anew and I part ways with control and let him speak.

 

When I would hold back a tear the fire behind my eyes breaks another bar of my self will and spills over in waves of sorrow and joy.

 

He is my Beloved and I am His.  If I were to be quiet the very hard places that I was established in would cry out.  Do not touch such Love for He burns with an Eternal flame that no man kindled and no man can quench.

 

He is my Light and my head is firmly under his feet.  He covers me in His shadow of wings. While I walk through this valley he fills the low places that that my foot does not slip.  He removes the mountains in my way for in my humanity I build them daily.  Volcanic at moments I erupt and though I settle there is always a sound, a rumble at times, a softer whisper at others but always sound.

 

I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Don’t try to understand me, Hear Him.  My flesh is what you’ll see if you look but if you close your eyes past my flesh that hurts me and others the Spirit within me is willing, comforting and calls you to Himself…Come.

 

Open the door of your heart.  You will find that He only knocks from the outside, He lives within.  He is from the beginning, He is now, and He will forever be my Rock.  Strike me and flint will fly careful not to burn I walk away bearing in my flesh another scar, another tear and another encounter with my Healer.

 

He is my shelter and I hide myself in Him for His Perfect Love dispels my fear.

 

He is my shield.  I see darts but I trust my heart is safe behind His work of Faith I walk.

 

My flesh you may have if you find an inch that I have not torn myself but you can never have what you didn’t give and that is His Love for me sealed in my heart by His very own blood.  

 

Truly His sacrifice covers a multitude of sins.  Be patient with me when I walk over the line.  He sees when my slip is showing and He alone I trust.  He allows me to put the slip under His covering and abide in Him.  The process is painful for the sword is quick when I miss the mark.  I hear His voice and I obey cutting back my self.

 

I am older and my eyes are dim but I hear the Light of His voice.  Time is my only enemy.  My past seems to rush up much too fast and I learn to tarry alone among my own thorns but not without hope.  He has promised and He will provide and He pulls back the veil of my old self again and shows me Grace where thorns are woven within a crown he wore….so time ticks off and I await, and watch and pray….

 

Writing the vision making it with bold letters for my eyes I keep dim to this world.  I mark the spot where He lies down in the happiness so that when darkness falls I find my place at His feet and He awakens….Arise My Love.

 

 

 

 

“sister’s keeper”?

What does that mean?  As a sister I’ve learned a few things about subtle creatures that twist words with a proverbial silver tongue and when you fall prey and are deceived it is not silver they crave but blood.

There never is a cold day in hell but occasionally I believe when deception is in progress there is a tendency to wander to the middle ground and give the appearance that maybe the pit is rather comforting sort of lukewarm but that is just the smoke of a fire burning your eyes and for a moment you lose a little perspective.  This is a good time to not be distracted by the smoke and look deep into the mirror of your own heart.  If that place is empty you’re in danger but for those of us who have hidden away the treasure of truth we find answers.  Throw some more wood on the fire and the real viper will stand up.  Be careful for he won’t slither away quickly but instead attempt to attach himself to the very hand that turns up the heat.  Remedy for removal is simple just shake it off don’t fear the marks nor the poison injected by that smooth voice promising a false redemption.

Beware of the praise on the lips of one who offers to sit at every table and provide.  His provision is simply empty words that aren’t even his own just a entangled mixture of confusion masquerading behind a false hope of change.  Bitter water and sweet from the same mouth is not new.

It is Written.

The LORD:  Where is Abel thy brother?

Cain:  I know not:  Am I my brother’s keeper?  Gen. 4:9

What “sister” is this strange man suggesting we keep?  And how would he propose she be kept?

I propose that a possessor is attempting to pierce your side my sister.  Attempting to woo you with charm when there is no real light just a display wall of mirrors that make you look good on this side but while your reeling and turning  in the fantasy you never realize that the walls are going up and the very thing that looked good will trap you within and cast you from the presence of the only true keeper of the “sister.”

The LORD [is] thy keeper: the LORD [is] thy shade upon thy right hand. Psalms 121:5

Scripture does speak of the “keeper of the women” the reference is in Esther.  Which countries is it that still have harems and would be in need of such an office?

If we pray tell find ourselves with one who would become a “keeper” that ones purpose is not freedom….”keepers” are for doors, gates, prisons, and dumb animals that can’t keep themselves.  Is that what we’ve become?  Dumbed down animals???  No, not all heed a call from the world.  We are in this world but not of this world so where are those who believe with all their heart in the kingdom to come?  Truth will set you free and that kind of perfect love throws down and away all fear of what men and this world can do.   

I come from a brotherhood of many tribes and nations and I love the brethren one and all and when I was born again by the Spirit of God I became a new creature……….a “sister” a bride if I’m to be kept it will be by the faithful maids and menservants, ”men and women” who serve in the body of Christ his Church his sister, his mother, his brother…..He keeps us all who do the will of Our Father….you’ll know them the true the faithful by their love……one for another.  No one can take these for they willing offer themselves as slaves to one another for the cause of Christ and the love of God.  It is certainly true that kind of love is waxing cold these days.  We need to learn to be quick to hear but slow to speak.

I don’t expect all to understand just felt compelled today to shout from the rooftops……..Maybe it’s time for us to call on The KING of KINGS.  We are at such a time as this when it seems who we should be is not who we are but before the hangman comes should we not cry to the only one who payed the price to save us and has the power to do so? 

LORD,

I come boldly before your throne not in my own name but in your Name….to say Father we have no excuse for what we’ve done.  We’ve heard you and yet we’ve chosen many different paths.  Forgive us these trespasses.  Let us not walk with fear and without hope but be courageous.  Let your strength be made perfect in our weaknesses.  Father my fear only lies in the truth that with such deception even your elect could be deceived.  Keep us LORD as I know you will according to your Word.  Father I trust you with tomorrow but Today I pray that all would Hear you.  Lord let me leave all vengeance in your hands for you alone are Just….I pray for all the leaders over me and my country LORD that your will be done.  I thank you for them and the country you have blessed me to live in and the others I have been privileged to visit…along with the others I have not seen.  The earth is yours and the fullness thereof and even with so great a grace that you so freely give we still as a people trample on it, reject it, refuse it and blindly attempt to make our own way.  But LORD you are The Way, The Truth and the Giver of LIFE so in humility I bow my crown to you.  In Jesus Name Amen.