Bringing in the New Year!!!!

Wow, what a year! I can't believe I am alive and well.......
You see this year for me started out horribly......dark and desperate.....and because of God's Awesome Love and Grace I am living in freedom, joy and peace...what a way to end the year, huh.....
Anyway, I am grateful that God never gave up on me or on my marriage and that ultimately he longed to see me happy and alive in Him....he is so faithful!!! I am also grateful for the many faithful saints who prayed for me and for my marriage and all our complicated circumstances of this past year.......you know who you are.....so I thank you for your committment and willingness to lift us up -! And may God bless you richly in 2008 and may you be more amazed by Him and His Grace this year than ever before!!!!

I see for 2008 a greater dimension and sense of hope- an increase of lives transformed and changed by pure grace a mighty wave of the Power of God coming to pour out his love....The Lord brought to my heart a reminder that we are His Bride, (those in Christ) we are getting ready for the Greatest Wedding of All time, and that in this time of preparation there is great joy and anticipation...as you come closer and closer to any wedding you sense greater joy and excitement, do you not??? so I felt the Lord wanted me to encourage those who are His Bride to anticipate and to enjoy all the preparations for the great Wedding Feast, the consumation of Christ and His Bride....what a glorious day that will be......and we get to take part now in the intricate details and plans for the Wedding Day itself....isn't that so great!!

There is so much more to the Gospel, than just the Cross!!

For most of my Christian life I lived believing that the Gospel was about believing that Jesus died on the cross to satisfy God's wrath for sin, so that I could have a way to be in a relationship with God. God being a just God, a holy God, had to have sin punished - so He sent His only son Jesus to live and to die for me, so that I could come to God and be cleared of my sin and have a relationship with Him and one day go to heaven. So to me salvation meant I was saved from my sin so I could now be free from God's wrath and one day I would get to go to heaven. Essentially, that is what I believed and what I thought summed up the Gospel. However, this version of the gospel left me in a confused state as to what do I do in the meantime. I mean it's great that Jesus saved me from going to hell, which was what I thought God's wrath represented, and that I would be with him in heaven for all eternity, but what about now...now what do I do, what does life me for me now??? Well, as you know I have shared what my life was like for many years, trials, confusion, struggles, striving, condemnation.....but no Victory, no peace, you know that deep inner peace that I was supposed to have. Well, thankfully, there is more to the gospel than what I had understood. SOO much more...I won't even be able to really scratch the surface in this post, but I will try. What I didn't understand, in my heart, although I had heard it here and there, was that God's wrath that was satisfied, didn't just mean I was rescued from hell. It means that God poured out all his wrath for all sin on Jesus and it was fully satisfied...allowing Him to forget my sin, and see it no more..it is gone, as far as the east is from the west...and God made a promise, through the prophet Isaiah (see Is. 54) to never be angry with me again! Wow!!! I do not have to fear that I am not in right standing with God anymore! Also, I learned that when Jesus died He became sin for us, so we could become the perfect righteousness of Christ....this is a supernatural exchange....and by Faith I believe it, not that I look like the perfect righteousness to anyone else, but that is how God sees me, and this is true because I, in the spiritual sense died, my spirit that is, with Christ and rose again and now I am a new creation in Christ, I now have the very life of Christ in me.....wow....So I died to sin, myself...and one more thing....the Law...I am not under the curse of the Law, the tutorship of the law in my life is now over....I know have it written on my heart, and I have the gift of righteousness along with the Holy Spirit, my helper and I have and indwelling Christ......I also want to say, the cross is important, but Jesus rose again...ascended to Heaven and now sits at the right hand of the Father, He is alive and we can serve a risen Lord.....these are amazing truths that unfortunately get glossed over because as Christians we don't get it....we don't feel righteous, we don't necessarily look righteous so we think we still have a sin problem...yes, we will sin a bit......but if we lay claim to these truths and take them by FAITH and trust that God isn't lying to us, because this is all in His Word...we can then begin to see victory and we can have a peace deep in the very core of our being..because that's where Christ lives and we begin to KNOW it, really KNOW it, not Know about it...but sense it ....I suppose I could go on there is so much more to speak of.....I just want to say also, our feelings aren't the greatest thing to rely on when it comes to believing this, and other people's opinions and wary words do not change the fact that this is true....after all it is clear in the Scripture!!!!

Shall we focus on Sin, or on HIM!!!!(my thoughts on this matter!)

I am so sickened by the fact that for years I heard so much about how sinful I am, and how I need to "root out my sin", mortify it......and never forget how sinful I am, so I can really see how wonderful it is that God sent Jesus to die for me! I am angry that I was caused to focus on me and my shortcomings and how much I need to grow, and how I should never excuse any sin, or attitude or behaviour that isn't perfectly holy or righteous before a Holy God. I am grieved that I missed, for so long the true Heart of God in the Gospel, because I was constantly left standing in front of the cross looking at what my horrible sin did to Christ. Who can ever live in this state of misery, held captive by their depraved state of utter sinfulness??? No one can!!!
Praise be to God that He rescued us from our sinful ways, he looked at us, despite our wickedness, with eyes of Love, he sent JESUS to BECOME sin for us, so we can become the very righteousness of Christ!! That's right, we are the very righteousness of Christ.....not enslaved to sin anymore, because he has set us free from it!!! He did this so we can move FORWARD, so we can enjoy all the riches of Christ, so that we can commune with God and have right standing before HIm. It seems to me if God saved us from sin and forgave us ALL our sin, and HIS WRATH for sin was SATISFIED...that we can stop this sin treasure hunt, quit searching for it to dig it up....God has forgotten our sins, he remembers them NO MORE, as far as the east is from the west.....So why is it that some Christians feel the need to seriously OBSESS over sin!!! Hmmm......are they really accepting God's gift of righteousness? Or are they saying that Christ's finished work on the cross wasn't enough, and that they need to still do something about sin........?!?! What is that all about??? Isn't this a complete offense to the finished work of the Cross of Christ?!?!How can one claim we are a New Creation in Christ and then turn around and say, but we still have to focus on sin and dredge it out....?? NO we are New Creations in Christ, the Bible says the OLD is gone......the old man, the sinful nature.....the NEW has come......So, I AM Righteous, that's how God sees me, and if HE sees me that way, then I am going to lay claim to that...I don't want to stand at the cross forever and mourn over my sin ....Jesus rose again, and we rose with Him.....Now we are declared RIGHTEOUS!!! This is grace, that we can live free from the reign of sin in our life, and now are seated with Christ in the Heavenly places, because Christ ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of God.....and we can reign in life, free from our old oppressive sin nature., because we have a risen, ascended Lord,....Doesn't it seem like we have a whole lot more glorious amazing things to talk about!!! .Do we still sin from time to time....yup! But, we are not enslaved to sin, the power of sin for the believer was conquered once and for all at the cross on Jesus.....I am a free woman, that was one of the reasons Christ died, for my freedom. It is for freedom you have been set free, do not let yourself become enslaved again to a yoke of slavery.....so does this explain where those are at, those who focus on sin so much...have they become enslaved again?!!!??!

We have been given unmerited favor, we cannot earn this by "rooting out sin" -we cannot add to this or detract from it - we have been freely JUSTIFIED, God sees us just as if we have never sinned and just as if we have ALWAYS perfectly obeyed!!! How amazing is this?? This is a GIFT -Take it, it's FREE!!!
It seems to me if you are left focusing on your sin and your part in life, how YOU can live a more holy life, you are just back at square one, back to where you started out in the first place, before the Gospel, stuck in the muck and mire of your sin....why would you want to stay focused on this sinfulness when Jesus death was satisfactory to God for all sin was punished at the cross on Jesus, it was a complete sacrifice Forever, not incomplete, a Finished work.........done, once for all time....sin was dealt with......take this truth by FAITH that GOD changed you forever!!!!!

I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE TRUE FULL GOSPEL!!!!

(I had a thought I wanted to add here, even though I express anger for the years of wrong focus on the Gospel, I know that it has been an opportunity for good...God may not have caused the wrong focus, but He allowed it and will ultimately use it for His good and glorious purposes!! God always reigns victorious over every situation, and he can use anything and any situation .....my anger is more at the underlying powers that confuse and entrance Christians to not ultimately know the Gospel, The GOOD NEWS and instead live a lie......)

for all who are hurting....

My heart is heavy right now for all those who are hurting this holiday season, especially for women!! Usually the focus during the holidays is on love, peace and joy...these are happy times filled with family and laughter, right? Not always the case.....
Often the holidays can evoke deep and painful emotion for those who are fighting for their joy, for those who are finding it hard to fight for hope.....I mean after all we should be happy, it's time to celebrate Christ! But what if everything in your life leads to sorrow and pain, fear and grief......what if it all drowns out any joy you might be able to experience, because your pain runs so deep it feels like it could take over your life.....hope seems hopeless to you anymore and you just want to crawl under your covers and never climb out.....!!
A year ago, during the holidays, I was in a dark place in my life.....I was exhausted, mentally, spiritually and physically....pregnant with my fourth child, house on the market, then off the market, longing to move back to my hometown, my marriage a complete mess, no joy AT ALL, we didn't even put up a Christmas tree....there had been a storm brewing for some number of years and I finally was at a point where I honestly felt I couldn't take another moment!!! I lived in fear, fear that began to consume my thoughts.....every night I would crawl in bed brokenhearted and desperate, longing for the morning to come, for the fresh mercy of God's faithfulness to be mine to claim. I felt like no one could understand my sorrow, no one could relate to my specific pain and certainly no amount of words from anyone seemed to help at all. Faithful few loved me where I was at, yet so many just seemed to say, "just pull yourself together, and trust God." In my heart I was crying out to God, "Lord, I can't go on like this, I can't do it any longer.....I know you are bigger than all of this I know you can set me free from this...please Lord you have to do something!!! I am crushed in my spirit, how much longer do I have to bear this?!!!" I couldn't accept the hand I had been dealt, I couldn't believe that life could go on like it was any more!! I won't go into the details here....however.....my situation seemed so bleak, but I held onto the tiniest threads of faith and hope, I clung to them with all my heart, I knew my God could save me from this misery, but I had gotten to the point of despair.....

I share all this because I know there are women out there in marriages and situations that seem bleak....women who know in their heads there is hope for freedom, but in their hearts they are sick from hope and no relief....when will MY help come, is their cry....when will I laugh again, when will I dance for joy again?!!

I just want to say to you, the Lord does hear your cries, He hears you and weeps with You, His heart aches for you and with you, He longs to be gracious to you and deliver you from your sorrow -He loves you so much, He longs to heal your broken heart and bind your wounds......and set you free from your oppressors...he wants to lift you out of the muck and mire and set your feet on solid ground....I spent much time in the Psalms, they were a comfort to me...David was a great man of God, he spent much of his life fighting for His joy in the Lord......Do not give up!! Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength....they will mount up with wings like eagles.....do not think that God is not with you, He is with you, He is for you....He wants to wipe away all your tears.....He wants to turn your mourning into dancing....and He Will, I believe it with all my heart.....He has begun to restore the years the locusts have eaten....he has made known to me the path of life and I have found Great JOY in Him!! My prayers are with you, and my spirit groans within me for all those who are crying on their pillows and fighting for their joy to be restored! Do not lose heart sisters in Christ......you have much HOPE in the ONE who has given you life and freedom in Him, you are in the shadow of His wings, you are the apple of His eye, a princess with a rich inheritance.......His arms are open to you, Run to Him....!! May God refresh you with his waves of love, grace and mercy this holiday season!!!

In your freedom .....

Recently a friend of mine told me about a christian worship band by the name of Hillsong. She said their lyrics were full of grace. So I had to check them out. I have been in a little closed box for years when it comes to the variety of christian music out there..but I am ready, oh so ready for a change. Anyway, I have been listening to the "Live" cd and enjoying it very much. I love the simple straightforward lyrics that focus on the Lord. They all seem to speak of the Gospel, our freedom in Christ, dwelling in God's presence and lifting up the name that is above all names, Jesus Christ and his redeeming blood.....!! This is my plug for Hillsong, I definitely recommend their worship. If you are anything like me, good worship, focusing on the Lord can transform your mind in moments....I love that! Here are the lyrics to one of the songs, I just can't get enough of, it's called "In Your Freedom."


"I search for You. God of strength. I bow to You. In my brokenness. No other king could have so humbly come. To save my soul. And heal my heart. I have nothing more. Than all You offer me. There is nothing else. That's of worth to me. CHORUS: I love You Lord. You rescued me. You are all that I want. You're all I need. I pray to you. God of peace. I rest in You. My cares released. In Your freedom I will live. In Your freedom I will live. I offer devotion. I offer devotion."

I just love the chorus, it grips my heart and I can't hear it enough!

Who can accuse you of wrong?

If God has taken initiative to justify you and satisfy heaven's justice through the cross than
anyone who accuses you, even when you know you've done wrong, has NO legal basis because they are making an accusation against God's justice!!!
God has already punished our sin fully on Jesus- he has justified us and given us righteousness!!! (from a Rufus message)

Thanks be to God, Hallelujah!!!!

Because of Him....

So as this Christmas rolls around, I am reminded of the greatest gift we could ever want or receive.....Jesus! Because of Jesus we have access to God, forgiveness of sins, perfect standing before God, all his inheritance is ours and we are seated in heavenly places with Him, and have a promise to enter into eternity with Him one day and endlessly worship our Daddy and King!!!! The birth of Jesus into this world is far more amazing than we can really fathom.........Christ came humbly, he came from heaven to earth once God, now a mere man....he did not consider equality with God.....he came so we could be set free.....he did this as an ultimate act of love.....so this season let's celebrate in awe and worship of the newborn King, who came so we could have life, and life abundant.....He is our Saviour, our Emmanuel, the Risen Lamb.......I pray that if you do not "know" who Jesus is that the Holy Spirit would open the eyes of your heart so you too can have a revelation of who Jesus really is and experience the joy and peace that knowing Christ brings....the birth of Jesus came with a powerful promise, he had a destiny to bring grace and healing and peace......I pray the Spirit of God would make known to you God's gift to you through Christ this Christmas, I pray that the spirit of wisdom and revelation would make the joy of Christmas... Jesus, who He really is come alive in your hearts !!! And may we celebrate the supernatural meaning of Christmas, not just the traditional holiday good cheer, but the true essence of Christmas, the birth of Christ who is the Saviour of the World for all who would believe in Him.....!!! Merry Christmas!!!!


O Holy Night
Christmas Carol Lyrics

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O holy night, O night divine!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
O'er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,
Now come the wisemen from out of the Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friends.
He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

a pondering.....

So, I have had this kind of thought or question on my mind since I have come into a understanding of grace, the pure undiluted gospel of grace....I am wondering, why is it when Christians pray.... they often ask God to forgive them, corporately or privately of their sins or say forgive me Lord for this that or the other thing...?? Do we not remember that Jesus died to save us from all sin, past, present and future- all of it wiped clean once and for all -IT IS FINISHED~! I think what we should say is I am sorry Lord, thank you that you have already forgiven me!!! Anyway, we aren't left with sins that aren't covered that need to be still forgiven - it's done, dealt with, finite....I just want to hear more people declaring the good news in every day language and common practices....it seems like we could all stand to be a bit refreshed by the GOOD NEWS, don't ya think!!!


Added 1/12/08
"Without the shedding of the blood, there is no forgiveness"...
God forgave us when Christ shed his blood, not when we ask, grieve or confess..
We are to receive this forgiveness in Christ by faith and by faith alone. If confession can give us forgiveness, why did Christ die?
(quote from Bino, on the Grace Walk Forum...)

I'm in love....!!!

Everyone who has ever fallen in love, knows that seemingly endless state of bliss, that captivates your every thought, makes your heart beat faster and gives you an extra skip in your step.....oh, to be in love, to be caught up in the clouds again....it is one of the best times in life, one of the all time greatest highs in life....one of the greatest feelings of being in love is knowing that someone is just as enraptured and enamored with you as you are with them.....such a wonderful and amazing experience - sharing your thoughts and bearing your heart and soul to someone who just wants more time and more of you.....being together never gets tiring .......oh, to be in love...what a glorious state to be in!!!
I have fallen in love, again!...Only this time it is with my God, my Heavenly Awesome Father......He is the one that I love, He is the one I adore....my heart longs for more and more of Him, I can't get enough time with Him, I can't know enough about Him....it's such a high, such an intense longing for more intimate time together.....and knowing he is in love with me, just because....He actually fell in love with me first.......it took me some time to notice He noticed me, and longed for my heart....and pursued me, and gave me wonderful gifts, and did not give up on me even when I gave him no notice.....his faithful pursuit of my love and my heart was what drew me in .....his intense love, not giving up on me was what got my attention.......He made me fall in love, how could I not, I mean after all He's the King, the Greatest of all....I am so thrilled and excited to wake up every day and meet with Him, even when I wake up in the middle of the night, I think of Him.......maybe soon I will start dreaming about Him......I feel so excessive almost obsessed even, addicted maybe.......never underestimate the power of Love.....!!! Don't be afraid to let yourself fall madly in love, fall as hard as you want, there is no amount of excess that is out of bounds or off limits when it comes to this kind of love life.........!!!!

In touch with my spiritual self....

It's funny how things have changed so much for me in such a short period of time. Every way of thinking, every area of my life has shifted ....And all because of revelation and encountering my Heavenly Father. I used to be so consumed with what I was doing, what I could accomplish, or what steps I was taking to achieve this, that or the other thing. Now I don't think about what I will do, I let God show me. But instead of doing or accomplishing, I am happy just to be, to think and to dream. To know I am being transformed by the renewing of my mind and becoming the someone I was truly meant to be. It's wonderful to be captivated by the Living God and to be united to Him in spirit.... I mean essentially I always was, but I created a barrier with my "doing" traditional religious legalistic mentality.....I let the veil fall back over my eyes...now that the veil is off, life with HIm is breathtaking, and carefree.....it's a wonderful journey walking hand in hand with My God......I honestly look forward to what each new day brings..what will He show me today, what will I learn about HIm.....how will my love for HIm grow today.....what blessings will I enjoy because He is so good....what challenges will He help me face.......I love having a Daddy like Him!!

Up all night.....

Does that mean I can sleep all day???? Aah, sounds good in theory, but the reality is I have little ones depending on me. Poor dears, they are depending on someone who does not have sufficient strength for each day...! I will never be able to, in my own strength, in my flesh, give them all they need and deserve.....This makes me all the more grateful that God does not expect me to get it all right....and not only that, He gives me all that I need in Him, He is my all in all...He has given me so much more than that which human eyes and minds can see and understand.....I stand secure and accepted, no matter what I can do or accomplish as a mom ...if all I can do is barely survive this day,by sitting on the couch and doing nothing but make sure my kiddos are alive and fed, because I am literally drained and entirely exhausted of all and any physical strength.....well, that's okay..no guilt in life, right...for those who are in Christ, no condemnation, ever!! I still have to talk myself out of the temptation to feel guilty for not "doing" more on a day to day basis....years of wrong thinking, you know I even read one time, someone actually believed they were in sin for leaving the dirty dishes in the sink.....I almost bought it for a few seconds.....no thank you! Imagine the guilt she felt daily....no thank you! But still even though that is extreme, it's a temptation for me to put pressure on myself to get it all together..or to make it seem like I have it all together. Why not just be honest and say "I, honestly, am a mess....I can't always get it together, for whatever reasons and that's okay...not saying I want to be a bum, I certainly do not...but sometimes, honestly I just have to sit and do nothing......scary...but I have to be okay with this, and ask God to give me strength for each day to do what he wants me to....and you know God is so kind, he meets us where we are at, he knows our frame....."
May God encourage you today as you order your day, seek Him to order it for you, and relax when his agenda for you is to simply rest and rely on Him!

"Christ in you, the hope of glory"

This verse has been swirling around in my head for some time. As time goes by and I learn more about the mystery of the gospel this verse takes on more meaning and richness in my heart. I am still growing more aware of the glory God intends for my life, and knowing that Christ lives in me brings this closer to home for me! But I don't want to stop with me! I don't want to focus solely on what God is doing in me, for me and meeting my specific needs. Although these are all wonderful amazing things, in and of themselves, it's just not enough! You see knowing Christ's life is now in mine, or as mine or through mine, because when I came to Christ, I died, to sin, to law and essentially to myself(in the spiritual realm) has made a huge impact on my life! But there's more.....not only do I receive glory through Christ's life manifest in mine, but God receives glory through me! Hmmm......God did not just send Jesus to rescue me.....there is so much more than that. If we stop there, we stay focused on...well....ourselves! Don't get me wrong that Christ came to save us is quite tremendous, amazing and baffling to our feeble minds....but there is so much more!!!
This is so exciting that God has put this in my mind and on my heart, as today I heard a wonderful message reiterating these truths, and the glory of God, or should I say the glory due His name, was ultimately at the core! The praise of His Glory!

I love Ephesians chapter 1, I think it essentially captures what my feeble mind is trying to verbalize, or should I say type.....okay so it's too long..check it though..but just to highlight.....it sums up the grace of the gospel given to us and three times Paul states it is for the praise of his glory! He did it all for us, for the praise of His glory! So he could have a whole host of sons and daughters, that glorify His name around and in all the earth!!

I have also been loving this worship tune, "You are the Lord, You're the Famous One, Famous One, Great is Your Name in all the earth. The heavens declare You are Glorious, Glorious, Great is Your Name in all the earth."

"Amazing Grace" (the movie)

Last night, my husband and I, finally rented the movie "Amazing Grace." I usually enjoy movies of this nature and was intrigued by the passion Wilberforce had to endure such a continuous fight for something that didn't even directly affect him.
Amazing Grace tells the story of the remarkable life of the British abolitionist William Wilberforce (1759-1833)
He stood up for the sanctity of human life, and sought to convince the culture of the time that God made all men equal. Needless to say, I was impressed by his great endurance. At the core of his heroic life was a passionate twenty-year fight to abolish the British slave trade, a battle Wilberforce won in 1807, as well as efforts to abolish slavery itself in the British colonies, a victory achieved just three days before his death in 1833. Year after year after year, he presented his bill to Parliament, but to no avail. Yet he did not give up! So I was thinking he must have been relying on a greater source of strength to fight this fight. He must have had a deep faith in God, and was motivated by the Holy Spirit to continue on and I wanted to know more about his spiritual life. That part of his life was downplayed in the movie(which is no surprise!), but I was grateful that it was a key element that was kept in the story line of the movie. Naturally, my curiousity led to research him on google and I found a few interesting articles. One of the qualities that people wrote on regarding Wilberforce's character and his effect on people, was his joy! He was a fun lover of life, a playful father, especially for his day. His joy for life was contagious! Always humming or singing a song of praise or hymn. It sounds as if he were somewhat erractic and spontaneous. Full of free spiritedness, carefree and childlike....Ultimately, all this came from knowing Christ! (I suspect he had a deep intimate relationship with God, and such a joy in his own salvation that sustained his fervor in the years of fighting as well as induce him with desire to see the slaves experience freedom, as he must have felt in Christ from being set free from sin!) Anyway, this is a man I truly would have liked to have met! Here are a few snippets from his journalled writings, and other comments that I found. Wilberforce on joy:
"My grand objection to the religious system still held by many who declare themselves orthodox Churchmen . . . is, that it tends to render Christianity so much a system of prohibitions rather than of privilege and hopes, and thus the injunction to rejoice, so strongly enforced in the New Testament, is practically neglected, and Religion is made to wear a forbidding and gloomy air and not one of peace and hope and joy."

"The path of virtue is that also of real interest and of solid enjoyment." He sustained himself and swayed others by his joy. If a man can rob you of your joy, he can rob you of your usefulness. Wilberforce’s joy was indomitable and therefore he was a compelling Christian and politician all his life. This was the strong root of his endurance.

Wilberforce(a journalled prayer during hard times)
"Lord, thou knowest that no strength, wisdom or contrivance of human power can signify, or relieve me. It is in thy power alone to deliver me. I fly to thee for succor and support, O Lord let it come speedily; give me full proof of thy Almighty power; I am in great troubles, insurmountable by me; but to thee slight and inconsiderable; look upon me O Lord with compassion and mercy, and restore me to rest, quietness, and comfort, in the world, or in another by removing me hence into a state of peace and happiness. Amen."

The poet Robert Southey said, “I never saw any other man who seemed to enjoy such a perpetual serenity and sunshine of spirit. In conversing with him, you feel assured that there is no guile in him; that if ever there was a good man and happy man on earth, he was one.”

In 1818 Dorothy Wordsworth, sister of the famous romantic poet, wrote, “Though shattered in constitution and feeble in body he is as lively and animated as in the days of his youth.”

Joy in Christ was so crucial to living the Christian life and persevering in political justice that Wilberforce fought for it with relentless vigilance. “[The Christian’s] watch must thus during life know no termination, because the enemy will ever be at hand; so it must be the more close and vigilant, because he is nowhere free from danger, but is on every side open to attack.” Therefore, when we say that Wilberforce’s happiness was unshakable and undefeatable because it was beyond the reach of human vicissitudes, we don’t mean it was beyond struggle; we mean he had learned the secret of “the good fight” (1 Tim. 6:12), and that his embattled joy reasserted itself in and after every tumult in society and in the soul.


I am sure there is much more about Wilberforce that would be interesting to know and understand, and there are a number of books out there...in addition to Wilberforce's own writings.
I found out John Piper, wrote a book on the spiritual life of Wilberforce, I just might check it out...........
http://parable.com/cbn/item.Amazing-Grace-in-the-Life-of-William-Wilberforce-Piper-John.9781581348750.htm

Grace For Life: Are Christians Wicked And Depraved?

Grace For Life: Are Christians Wicked And Depraved?


This is another excellent post on the issues I am currently working through. I was grateful to find yet another passionate reminder of the truths God is revealing to me personally! So check it out!

Grace vs. Law

So, in my last post I spoke about the message my husband and I listened without going into it too much. I decided I needed a whole post alone to do this! And I just listened to this message again and took the best notes I could to share with you here. I guess I really want people to hear this stuff, and if I can't convince you to listen to the message, at least you can get some of it here! (I still think you should listen to the message for yourself, as I believe faith comes by hearing and hearing the preached Word of God is truly a great way to have revelation come, through the power of the Spirit!)

So get out your Bibles....

Read Colossians 1:3-6


Rob begins by sharing about the series he is doing on grace, that we need to be refreshed and renewed in it all the time. Truth needs to be looked at in a cyclical way.

Renew, Refresh our minds with the reality of what grace is. Grace is in every single area of our lives.

Spiritual Warfare is you being equipped in the Grace of God, by the renewing of your mind.

Okay, here's the meat: Law vs. Grace

Relationship of the World to the law of God
-everyone born into this world is born under the law of God, under the judgement of God. The Law was put in charge to lead us to Christ
-The Christian is no longer accountable to the Law whatsoever!

It is not enough to preach Grace - If you leave the impression that the Christian is somehow under the law just a little bit, or leave a subtle insinuation in people's mind, "yes there's grace, but we do have to keep a few laws." If you do that, it is that little gap that the enemy will take advantage of and will use it to undermine the whole super structure of Grace and the whole Gospel is neutralized.

He says categorically; "We have no Christian duties!" WHAT - you say!
This is hard to hear because of 1500 years of indoctrination or religious control coming from the Dark Ages.
There is nothing you have to do! But when you come under grace and are free from the law, there are a whole lot of want to's that start rising up in the heart.

"I just think some Christians need to go on a diet from everything else and go on a diet of grace for a long time because I believe that many Christians have been propped up by law and external behaviour and modification techniques. That's all their doing and they think that because they behave externally that God's impressed with that. God is naseuos with that stuff, it's called Phariseism. God wants what we do, to come from our heart that is released from guilt and manipulation, that's full of grace!"

God doesn't want people to do things out of a "have to" mentality.

Galatians 1:8&9 - I will write this one out...
"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to and different from that which we preached to you, let him be accursed (anathema, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment)! As we said before, so I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel different from or contrary to that which you received from us, let him be accursed!" Yikes, this is so huge he repeated himself!

If you come back under law ( a believer in Christ) you are alienated from grace - you will be under condemnation!

Only, BELIEVE in Christ Jesus and you will be saved.

Don't ever put your life under your pastors or leaders(fully), put your life under God and His Word!!!

....now there's a whole section I will skip, as it was difficult to transcribe....

What is the purpose of the Law......???
What the law does not do
-it does not make you righteous
-it does not give you life
-it does not save you
-it does not encourage you
-it does not make you more holy
-it does not help you overcome sin
-it does not strengthen you
What the law does do
-the law is to condemn you, and to crush you
-it is to stir up sin in you and provoke more sin in you
-it is to give you an awareness of wrath over your life
-it is to make you feel constantly unworthy
-it is to oppose you
-it is to curse you with sickness, death, disease, poverty and defeat
-it is to make you aware you are a transgressor

The Law is to show you how insane it is to establish your own righteousness by the keeping of laws(rules, models, morals, codes of conduct....) It is to show you, your need for a Saviour, and the law is put in charge to lead you to the Saviour.

Jesus never condemns you! He never crushes you (or stings you with his words)! He never points out our faults!
Jesus is not counting your sins against you! You are not meant to feel your transgressions!!

Galations 3:10-13, 23 (read these yourself)
..."all who rely on observing the law are under a curse......."

If you want to be under law, you have to keep the whole law! (who can do that!!)

Paul never said "I was saved from this sin or that sin" he said, "I was saved from the Law"

the righteous will live by faith
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us...

Romans 10:3 - Christ is the end of the Law.

Okay, so I could go on and on..there's quite a bit more, as well as numerous Scripture passages, however I essentially still think you should listen to this message...now of course you do not have to at all! But I highly recommend that you do! Especially if you are reading this post and you are from my former church... I have the link over in the highly recommended teachings on grace........

God is Grace ~ the Gospel is Grace

Okay so I am launching in to what is potentially another long post, so bear with me, I just can't help myself! I have been really amazed by the aspects of the Gospel I never understood all these years. And essentially the Grace I am in awe of and in love with is the Gospel! In addition God in his character, who he is, is Grace! You see over the years in my former church I heard about grace quite a bit, but not in the way it was fully intended. Let me see if I can explain. I remember terms with grace infused into them, such as, "evidence of grace", "a means of grace", or "the grace was there for me to get through, xypd and q" -as well as "look for the graces in people's lives." Okay, so before anyone gets upset with me, these "phrases", in and of themselves are not necessarily wrong to say. However, I am finding that because they seem to be drawing from grace to essentially pull strength from, that's all there is and the big picture is missing. Are you following me? You see God finally showed me, He is Grace! We do not need to keep drawing from the grace of God to get by, we can draw from the very life of Christ that now lives in us!!! Don't get me wrong God's grace to us is awesome it is a gift and his kindness to us, but we can have more, the very life of God!
As Joseph Prince says, "Grace isn't a doctrine, it's a Person, Jesus Christ!" I love that!
I guess I am just continuously marveling in the breadth, depth, heighth and vastness of all that God is and has for us, and it's all ultimately for the praise of His glory!
Turns out this was meant to be short and sweet!! May you too be amazed and in awe of the One who is Grace!

Sound Doctrine

So, what is sound doctrine? And, can there really be so many different doctrines, and denominations....what do you think God thinks of all of this? Hmm...
Okay, so I am not even going to attempt to spell out what sound doctrine really is.....I never used to even care about doctrine, I always found doctrine to be quite boring actually, it created an image in my mind, like that of sitting in a hard chair listening to a really boring lecture, and practically falling asleep.....anyone ever feel this way....I never wanted to know about doctrine because it seemed so lackluster and so unimportant to me....needless to say things have changed for me...I guess I always wanted to experience everything in my Christian life with joy, with fervor and with life behind it..ya know....I didn't want head knowledge from men who rambled on and on out of their verbose terminologies ...what I really want is heart revelation directly inspired by God through the Word of God.....

The bible does address this issue, in Timothy and Titus...but it also addresses the core of what our doctrine should be founded on, in Galatians....The Gospel, the only Gospel.....Paul addresses the Galatian church and rebukes them strongly for teaching a different gospel, for adding to the Gospel that God has freely given .......so for me these days, just focusing on the full Gospel of Grace and nothing else would be sound doctrine...that's just where I am at!!! I want unadulterated pure grace in my life and if "doctrines" come in and steal away from that, to me, that would not be sound doctrine....

I want be in a grace-filled church where the doctrine of grace shapes my experience as much as my thinking and where the sweetness of encounters with God are a weekly occurrence.

Continued revelation.....

As time passed, my revelation of Grace grew. God softened my heart and gave me a desire to begin to work things out with my husband. We reunited after many weeks apart! Things were not fully restored, but heading in that direction. We were both beginning to understand God's love and acceptance for us, which helped us to want to stop judging each other and start loving each other. However, we had years of bad patterns and negativity built that needed to be stripped away! God in his awesome kindness continued to use friend's of ours to help open our eyes by sharing with us some messages that had truly met them and helped to bring them out of darkness into the light.( I say this not in the sense that we/they didn't understand that we/they were saved, we knew we were saved, we just didn't understand the full measure of the Gospel and of Grace.) So, we had been given cd's of numerous messages by Rob Rufus, preaching grace and unveiling the full glory of the Gospel and the gift of righteousness by faith. One morning I had some time to myself and I put on a message called Grace vs. Law. I honestly wasn't sure about it and was very curious, but went on a high raving recommendation from our friends because we trusted them. (as they were some of the few people who genuinely helped us in our darkest hours.) So, on went the message, in my cozy country living room that glorious summer day! I had no idea I was about to be transformed forever! As I sat and listened to this message, my spirit lifted as high as a kite, my stomach filled with happy butterflies and I was beaming! I began to understand the whole truth of the Gospel. I began to see, God wasn't looking at my performance or concerned with my external behavior and that he has given me the gift of righteousness! Halfway through the message I was so excited I couldn't take it! I got up and called my friend, and exuberantly gushed all over her my thanks for sharing this with me! This truly was a revelation from God! Needless to say, I did finish the message that day. I never asked Keith to listen to it, but shared my enthusiasm and he joined me the following day as I listened to it again! He too, was quite blown away! We finally came to the realization that all these years we had been under the law, or legalistic teaching and it was crushing us both individually and together as a couple! Anyway, this was THE most inspirational, truly eye-opening message either of us had ever heard! (Now don't misunderstand, I am not elevating the preacher or "his" message, but what was brought out from the Scripture.) I learned more about the Gospel, more from the Bible and from church history in this one message, than I did in all the years at my old church! This is honestly true! (sad, but true!) Anyway, I suppose it impacted me so much to understand we died to the law and what the law was for, as well as knowing what the law is not for. Understanding what the law is for; to condemn you, to crush you, to stir up sin in you, and provoke more sin in you, to give an awareness of wrath over your life, a constant feeling of unworthiness, it opposes you, curses you with sickness, death, disease, poverty and defeat and makes you aware you are a transgressor!!! It shows you how insane it is to establish your own righteousness by the keeping of laws, rules, standards, morals, models and so forth!!
This was what we were living in! And we were dying, we experienced the whole list I just mentioned above! So, to finally understand this, I have to say, I was so thrilled and so ready to receive this whole teaching, not just with my head but my heart! We began to truly be able, only by inspiration from the Holy Spirit, to move forward and out of and away from our huge conflict! We didn't even have to try to figure it all out or have months of councilling, the darkness just began to lift and we began, slowly, to see each other with eyes of grace and stop judging each other!!! Hallelujah, the Gospel really is Good News and really does have power to change lives. Whereas before we sat with pastors and others who couldn't offer us any advice that would transform our lives - we didn't need good advice or council or methods, why on earth did no one get that?!?!
Praise be to God, he has always had his hand on our life, he has faithfully pursued us and kept our lives from falling completely apart. And not only that he has given us victory, and still is! We are regularly basking in His Awesome Grace, The Gospel, Truly is Good News............

Revelation begins.......

In the midst of my crisis of this past summer, I was able to get away and have peace, quiet and rest!!! I traveled to our home in NY with my children and my mom to relax, enjoy the country and think. I was so grateful our home hadn't sold yet, it was an opportunity for solice in a way I never experienced before. I remembered being given the impression earlier in the year that our home wouldn't sell until September, and secretly hoping I was right, but not exactly sure why. Over the course of the year God had been revealing His grace to me in a way I had never understood before. I had read the book, "Love That Walked Among Us", and was blown away by Jesus! I fell in love with Jesus like never before! This only awakened my genuine hunger for more of God! I then read a book by Terry Virgo, given to me by a friend, entitled "God's Lavish Grace." This really caught my attention! I wanted more, I wanted to fully understand grace, not just in my head, but with my whole being. Anyway, during the first few days in N.Y., I had much angst to expel and God just soothed me into his peace and rest by the end of the first week or so. One day I remember reading a portion of "God's Lavish Grace", and something struck me, my eyes grew wide and my heart opened wide and I felt my whole body just sigh with relief. I smiled with joy and great peace for the first time in a long time.
What I read was the story of Elijah, when he ran away into the wilderness in desperation and fear. He asked the Lord to let him die! What blew me away was how God cared for him! How God first met his humanly physical needs, and gave him rest, and fed him by his hand. He tenderly cared for him, he knew Elijah's limitations and met him where he was at, and not until he was fully strengthened again did God speak up. He simply said, "Elijah, what are you doing here?" He wasn't angry at him, nor was he disappointed. He is God, he knew why Elijah was there, but he gave him his ear, he extended much grace, instead of being disappointed in him, or telling him he hadn't made the best decision. Can I just tell you how relieved I was? I was so fearful I was wrong for running away, or in sin, or not trusting God enough. But, I felt God telling me, "It's okay, I know you need a break, I know you need to rest and experience some peace for a change." What a revelation for me to experience, I was so grateful to begin to understand God's love. To know that He in fact was not unhappy with me at all. He wanted to give me rest! I had been so sin conscious, so driven to do the "right" things for so many years, I honestly didn't believe God would be okay with my latest decision to essentially escape. I had too many voices trying to get me to stay and stick it out. But God knew what I needed in my most dire hour and he granted it and ordained it to come to pass. How awesome and how kind of him!
So this is just the beginnings of His revelation of His Awesome Grace to me...actually I believe he had started opening my eyes a year and a half before and slowly, slowly in the midst of all this turmoil, little by little, I began to desire to be all about Grace...but it wasn't until this summer that I truly began to have a heart transformation and come to grasp these awesome truths fully......!!!

..there's more, so stay tuned! (It just gets better!)

...Just to Clarify

Now regarding my last post, I have a few clarifications to make, as I can hear the potential questions being raised. So here goes... There is nothing wrong with some of the ideas of council we were given, such as read this or that book or article or what have you. However, this was more of a formula that seemed to be followed instead of our ultimate need being met. Which is to hear the full measure of the Gospel and understand God's amazing love for us despite our sins, actions or behaviors. Why was this not the first and foremost thing we were taught and told over the years? All I remember hearing were phrases, "The Gospel" and "how to glorify God" and "the cross." Now these are all important, and don't misunderstand me, I just think we need to hear the whole Gospel actually talked out and preached all the time, not just mentioned as mere words in and of themselves.
Also, I do not believe anyone intended to do us wrong, in fact most people thought they were helping! I do not judge anyone or accuse anyone! I am simply seeking to speak up and hopefully show our truest need is the message of GRACE, ultimately found in the full Gospel! And, I now believe any council given should be born out of genuine love, which can only come from God, and by building genuine relationship built on trust and sincerely felt care. I believe much of the council that went on was because we were a council driven culture and accountability with one another was of the utmost importance. Which I now think takes away from the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and hearing God's voice. Too much man centeredness! I also believe we just all need to build each other up, not point out sins, - encouragement again and again!
Okay, so enough on that....my sincere hope is that this council was born out of care, and love, and I was told it was! However, I find it difficult to see love when all I am hearing is how bad I am screwing up..this ultimately leads to condemnation which is not from God! I am inclined to say, people's truest need is to know they are loved despite how badly they are sinning, which is what the Gospel is all about! To know that before the world even began God set his affections on us!
Also, I am not writing to indulge any sort of self pity. I know God can use all things for his good purpose! I am a walking example of failing time and time again and the Faithful Father reaching in and pulling me up and making Himself greater in my eyes! Always showing me more of who He truly is and how much he loves me!
As for the question of, "it seems like you may be bitter?", I must say the temptation has been there for sure. Anger as well. Anger mainly at the fact that we could have been free from this strife long ago had our church not drifted from grace and into a legalistic sin consciousness. Years spent toiling, years with wrong believing.....however, my anger is more at the undermining power the enemy has through infusing the church with a works based mentality! But don't worry God is restoring my heart in this area and I am growing more compassionate and understanding!
At one point I was told I was too concerned with what people think, what council I could get from others, instead of God. This is partly true. I was definitely too consumed with seeking accountability and talking to others about my issues....this partly is so, due to the over-emphasis on accountability and confessing our struggles to each other. And partly because whenever we councilled we were told to find someone to meet with and share our struggles with. I got carried away, because my husband did not accept this practice and somehow I felt like I needed to make up for his lack. (a very self-righteous, legalistic attitude on my part!) I did, however, seek God! I sought Him as best I knew how, with all my heart at times! I knew I needed him, it's just that all the voices, I allowed to infuse my mind became too noisy and began to drown out the One Voice I needed to hear.
The most amazing thing about all of this is that God indeed is bigger than all of our mistakes! He is so loving and so patient! His Amazing Grace is available to live in at all times, never ending! He longs to be gracious to us! However, he cannot partner with self-righteousness, he will not! He opposes the proud! But when we get to the point when we realize we cannot "glorify" God on our own or in our own strength, it is then when the floodgates open wide! You see the more we failed and didn't "get it right" the more we knew we needed God. We always "knew" this in our heads and accepted it as truth, however our hearts weren't fully engaged.
That's enough for now, I have much more on my heart to share, as I am so passionate about sharing what God has done in our lives and I hope to preach the Gospel again and again....I am so blown away by the Grace available to us in Christ. Where sin increased, Grace abounded all the more...!!!! I am living breathing proof of this truth, let me tell you!!!

"Godly Council"...??????

........I am taking a leap of boldness here and am including below a portion of an email my husband and I received this past summer, as council. We were going through a season of pure hell in our life and our marriage. We had hit rock bottom. Everything in our life was in chaos, job, living situation, house in another state not selling, no money, just had a baby, no love between us and the list goes on. We were fighting, screaming at each other, freaking out, losing our minds....this had been building and building for years. We sought help from many people.....but to no avail, all the council we received only made things worse.( council over the years for us included, read "this" book together, or this article, or take this seminar I am giving, or try this one method, or find a more mature couple you can meet with, usually was someone we didn't already have a relationship with and there was no genuine love and trust built.....have accountablity with other ladies, other men...and the list goes on.) It seemed the more we counciled the worse things became. I must say God was hunting us down and seeking us out, like the lost sheep, he was seeking to be gracious to us and let all the floodgates of heaven pour out on us!! We just didn't fully know it, yet! (now might I add we both are genuine professing Christians that both had a genuine encounter of salvation!) .......I kept seeing glimmers of hope flickering in and out of our life, I kept getting brief glimpses of His grace and Love, but all the voices of council crowded Him out. You would think the church would be where we found our help and restoration, would you not???? I was growing increasingly frustrated as time continued on and there were no breakthroughs. All I could see was my husband seemed to be going insane, and I was following suit. What would become of our marriage, was there any hope? I believed deep in my heart God would never leave me or forsake me, and that he held me firm by his grace, but I saw no way out of the pit we were in. But God in His awesome Love for us put his loving hand down into that pit and lifted us up and out into the full brightness of His Love and Grace! I will write soon about His revelation to me specifically, but for now I just want to expose a small portion of an email we received in the heat of our trial this past summer!

".........Let me say it simply: I believe the primary problem in your marriage is a profound absence of the fear of God. On both your parts. As I have observed the way you have dealt with each other and this situation this week in particular, I would be hard pressed to see any significant difference in the way you have interacted or what you have sought to get, than what I would expect to see in people who have have no claim to be Christian at all. There is an alarming lack of awareness that everything you say and do is being done before a holy God, who does not wink at sin and is not fooled by token words. While I think it is a good thing that you are seeking counsel from Christians, and that you are looking to the church for help, I’m not aware of anyone who could say about either of you – ‘more than anything Keith and Lydia want to honor God and do his will’.

The consequences of not fearing God are bearing down on your lives in increasing ways – pride, chaos, bitterness, foolish decisions, self deception. When God is not righfully feared, other things are elevated in his place. These false gods, whether they be alcholol, leisure, respect, affection, peace, etc., will be the undoing of your marriage, family and the shipwreck of your faith if left as the ruling authorities in your lives. I am speaking frankly because I must call you both to repentance before the Lord. Please see your present situation as God’s gracious hand of discipline in your lives, and seek to benefit from it in your response. I don’t have wisdom for you apart from the cross of Christ. No one can sort out your marriage and family problems if the fundamental goal you retain is anything less than submission of your whole hearts and lives to the Lord, who is your Savior. I want to meet with you and help you. You don’t have to prove anything to me in order to meet. But I simply can’t help you if you try to fix any problem or resolve any dispute without being resolved to glorify God above all else. And it would be sinfully unloving of me to try to fix your present situation with with pastoral skills and and personal attention, while leaving your fundamental needs unaddressed.

What do I ask you to do?

First, take the next week to individually consider before the Lord what I have said here. Consider the question this way, “Am I willing to do what ever it takes and give up whatever it costs to glorify God in my marriage?”

Second, send this email to those with whom you have been talking over the past couple of weeks. I will be glad to interact with anyone who believes my perspective to be out of line.

Third, recognize that I bring this because I’m willing to risk your respect for me for the hope of helping you see afresh the power of the Gospel to change lives. If this email disqualifies me in your minds from helping you I will not hold that against you. I ask you not to see it as a blanket judgement of who you are, but as a plea to see what the real problem is. I believe it is sound biblical warning. I am like you a sinner in need of grace and a battler of false gods. Those around me are faithful friends when they use their words to sting my self-reliance and false worship. I am simply doing for you what I need done for myself.

One way to begin to glorify God this week is to remember that every word you communicate to each other is being weighed by God, who judges the heart and actions rightly. Fear God in the way you communicate and in the content of your whatever communication you have. Wisdom comes from the fear of God and you both desperately need wisdom.

May the Lord meet you by his mercy this week. May his holiness be your greatest concern."...........(Please understand I share this to help explain what we are coming away from and I do not judge the person who wrote this, however I do wonder why they chose the words they did!)

I have to say when I read this, my heart sunk deeply and I felt very condemned, I felt judged and honestly couldn't believe what I was reading! (Despite the statement, do not take this as a blanket judgement.) I threw up my hands and said if the church can't help me, where do I go from here? Well, needless to say, I decided to get away from it all and left town and went to our house in NY until it sold, without my husband. This was the third time I had left him in the course of a year and a half. Anyway, I am only painting a small portion of the picture here for now....I plan to, over the next few posts, dig into this all a bit......that's all for now!!!

...the full measure

.....Been having a bit of writer's block lately....I have just been taking in all that God is teaching me and revealing to me and it's awesome!....I am more and more just letting the truth of the Gospel sink deeply into my heart and mind....it's such a freeing shift from the way I used to think....which ultimately was more sin focused and how to be more holy, as if it were up to me to produce my own holiness...( AS IF!) Anyway, I often think of wrong mindsets that were infused into the body of believers I was in. Such as, "If we aren't daily taking steps to defeat our worst enemy, how can we then be more and more molded into the image of Christ?" Our worst enemy was thought to be ourselves, the enemy within. Our worst enemy is Satan!! That is clear in Scripture!! Another was, "I know I am not where I should be in my walk with God. Proceeded by a woe is me kind of expression or a sigh.(ultimately a feeling of condemnation, which we know can never come from God!) Also, "how can we be molded into the image of Christ???" This one really gets me...
Everything that was required for us to please God, Jesus fulfilled those requirements at the cross and said; "It is finished!" He freed us from the curse of the law. We don't live by the code of the law(or legalism), but by the Spirit of God - Spirit of freedom, Spirit of liberty.

Now, don't misunderstand, I am not judging anyone here, and I too, said and believed these things. However, I just need to expose that this is a legalistic way of thinking, based on a wrong view of the gospel. You cannot add anything to the finished work of the cross....you cannot have both grace and works..this is an offense to the cross!!

I want to share a few verses, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21) We have been made righteous by the presence of His life within us. Another verse, 2 Cor.5:17, "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come." When we received Christ, we gained a brand new identity...no more indwelling sin. Also, 2 Peter 1:4 says that we have "become partakers of the divine nature." Our new nature is a holy nature. Romans 5:17 says that when we experienced the abundance of grace we also received the gift of righteousness. Rom. 5:19, 1 Cor. 3:16-17, Eph. 4:24 all discuss further our holiness given to us, we don't have to try to be holy, we already are, Jesus has become your life and your righteousness!!! So, let's rest in this truth, and live in the full measure of the Gospel!!

You are loved.....!

Yesterday was my oldest son's birthday!! It always amazes me every year on my children's birthdays, that they are here, that they are my children, that they are growing, and how much I love them!! Anyway, Caleb was given a card by my parents that said this; " Grandson, You are Loved. Hear it. Believe it. Count on it. And never, ever forget it!" I thought, how excellent is that card, this is how God thinks of me, and all His children for that matter! I want to encourage and remind those who are His children today, and remember this every day! YOU ARE LOVED!! (with an immense love from the One who is LOVE!!) HEAR IT! BELIEVE IT! COUNT ON IT! And, NEVER, EVER FORGET IT!!