Safe Walls?

My heart is heavy with the word “safe”.  I have been hearing it more often, seems we all just want to be safe.  We seem to have our reasons for that. Are we tearing down one wall, just to build another?

God is not safe, He’s good.  So do we trust Him that He has everything under control, or do we continue to take the safer road?  Americans are most guilty of this.  Outreach in the community is God’s work.  Are we really to tell Him, we choose to use a social services so that we can help people who are safe by our standards?  Do we really tell worship leaders how to plan according to what we think is most productive to a heart? Or do we believe that God is still the only one saving a heart?

Worship leaders are praying about what God wants in their services, God still knows best.

My life was filled with abuse, so yes I do know what I am talking about.  I just don’t choose to label myself as such. Why? Because God has freed me, my past no longer defines me.  Was there some magic, or certain worship, maybe a special book that brought me to this place? NO! It was God, and spending time with Him, asking Him all the tough questions, letting Him walk me through each day, teaching me to make different choices, Loving me through my pain.

I had to learn to forgive, I had no idea how easy it was, that choosing God’s way would be all I needed.  The burden lifted the second I choose to truly give it to God, and allow Him to handle things.  Submission to Him was nothing like the world had taught me.  It was more like laying back in the arms of the one who truly loved me. It was not a bitter hard thing to swallow.

The world labels everything.  But they have not been introduced correctly to us.  We are God’s children, beloved, free, Kingdom living and not at all elite.

Is following God safe by the worlds standards? No…but we are not of the world.  Where is our sense of adventure? desire? it may be caught up in a trust issue…Believe God that He is capable of anything this world may throw at us…HE got this! safe no..good yes

Lets’s not tear down one wall to build another…we just need to believe God and not just believe there is an God.

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repost-Not Guilty

Decided to repost this from 2009, as the message is incredible, and seems we need to be reminded often.  We are not guilty anymore, Mercy is ours!  

This is something that has plagued me for many years,..about the time I believe I am walking in the blessing and feeling redeemed, forgiven, and restored..

In my Face! always wondering, how could that have come back to me again in a such a crippling way..When we believe God, have repented, HE promises to take it away as far as the east is from the west, never to belong to us again..we are Free from the past…we are certainly not guilty anymore..I needed this video, and thought maybe you do too..

Not Guilty Anymore-AaronKeyes

take your place

IT’S TIME! time to stand up and be counted..what do you believe? who do you live for? where have you been? what have you learned? now take that information and tell it to who ever will listen, disregard the ones who won’t.

How very sad it would be if Jesus died to save us, and the result was merely fire insurance from hell. nothing more nothing less.  How sad it would be if the only thing that came from the pit we used to call home, was an occasional nod of the head, a quick smile, and “thats nice dear, just sit over there and we will all be so happy that Jesus left you in”.

Lately , i ‘ve been thinking of the woman in the Bible, and how God used them to further HIS plan.  He could have picked people who were all together…or was it  a matter of fact that none were all together? HE used them..prostitutes, idol worshippers, seductive, and schemers…beautiful, and pitiful, woman who had families that threw them away..the old testament is full of these kind…the new testament again…same kind of women..some plagued with illness, some curled up (from what it doesn’say..i can think of some things that curl me up), adulterers.

GOD felt it important to put them in there with their stories, for people to learn and see HIS grace, mercy, goodness, and although they made bad choices..HE used it for HIS glory.  We really need to stand up..we  really need to take a moment and just feel the thing…

the gentle touch of our savior, gently lifting our heads, softly speaking life into our very souls, and remembering…we are not who we were…we are HIS treasure, HE found great joy in saving us..HE delights in who we are becoming, HE see the finished person in us…How great is our GOD?  stand up and be counted..NO fear..NO shame..we don’t have to sit in the back…quietly..We have a seat right up front! “He prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies”  sweet

Blogged Bible Study-Galatians 4-Grasp the Grace

Galatians 4:1-7 (NIV)

What I am saying is that is as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from the slave, although he owns the whole estate.  He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. But when the time had fully come, GOD sent his Son, born of a woman, under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons, God sent the Spirit of HIS son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father”. So you are no longer a slave, but a son, God has made you an heir.

This is the beauty of Grace.  Once asking a Pastor what exactly is Grace, we sing about it, we throw it around like a 5 dollar word in Christian circles, and at that time I had no concept of what it actually was.  I was answered with “God’s riches at Christs expense”. Sums it up..still left me empty to the meaning, or application for me.  These verses opened it up for me.  Grace we are swimming in it!! Not only is HIS Grace sufficient for me, and you, there is nothing that will remove you from it as a believer in Christ.  As a son we are inheritors to the Kingdom, we are IN, and all because of the gift of Christ to die for us.

The mind of Christ. Always asked this one too..How can one have the mind of Christ? No one could actually answer that for me, or even admit that we do. But it says..the Spirit of Christ has moved into residency in our hearts! (Swimming in it! grasp this)  His Spirit intercedes for us, HE cries out “Abba , Father”  (Daddy , Father) Where we fall is here.  NO matter what you struggle with, NO matter what I struggle with..right here.  At times we are thinking as the slave, under the Law, forgetting the marvelous gift of Grace that was given to us. Please don’t tell me that you do not ever do this. If we truly grasped this, nothing could stop us in ministry, in our families, in our devotional time, in spreading the fragrance of Knowing HIM, our boldness for the kingdom with just scream from us!! It is not a light thing that HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR US! It means whatever is brought your way, God has already seen HIS Glory fulfilled in it, and you will also see HIS Glory if you don’t turn from HIM.  SWIMMING IN IT! THIS IS SOMETHING TO w00t!!! Holla!!! all about!!!

(in the middle column you will find a list of names and days that they will posting as we study together through Galatians. Under the header of “Carls Blogging Bible Study, check them out, and leave some comment luv)

Blogged Bible Study – Galatians 2

Reading this chapter, fresh was the way to do it this time for me.  I have read it many times and heard different leaders speak on it, and still something bothered me about it.  The LORD is good to shine new lights, and HE knows how my brain works!  In the past I have watched people take this book and bash Peter, and do it by saying they are following Pauls example. (Remember, Paul heard, then he saw, then he confronted – this is not how I see many confrontations taking place.) The problem I have with that is God also had Peter write two books of the Bible and I can’t excuse them as its a whole book from cover to cover.  SO my question to my self before GOD was, “what am I supposed to make of this?” and “doesn’t there have to be more to this than just confrontation?”  Here is what I came up with…

It does not matter how much you love Jesus, or how very much you are setting out to serve HIM, there will always be something there that will cause you to think “well maybe this will apply as well”.  I see Peter that way, and he fell to Legalism, as do many many well meaning Christ Followers.  Then I look at Paul, and it was right for him to call Peter on it.  This particular chapter is not just about “False Teachers” as whole.  This chapter is following up the verse in chapter one that I started this study with.

Gal. 1:4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of God our Father…

Gal. 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I know longer live,but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of GOD, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Do you see the theme? Jesus death on the cross was enough! Its finished, HIS words not mine.

This chapter is about knowing your freedom in Christ, and what the blood of Jesus has done for each of us, and allow no man to alter that in the slightest way, the result in this instance was bondage to Legalism. (Which in my opinion, is the strongest bondage in the Body of Christ today! point fingers at someone else, judge unjustly, tell someone how to dress for church,anything that adds to the Gospel message for human gain..Legalistic!)

Once you are bound by something, it seems to be easier to fall to anything.

What do you believe? Does your belief system work for you?  In this chapter I see two loved very much by Christ, both serving HIM, and a confrontation needed to help one out of the bondage that has started to consume him.  Can you relate to thinking you are on the right track, only to find later deception was trying to tie you down?  It happens, pray that it does not happen to you?  I am praying for the same thing for myself.  Let’s not bash Peter, and let’s not put Paul on a pedestal.  But look at the application, we will soon enough be on both sides of it in some point in our life.

Trading the World 4 His Presence

The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before God, never first in the external world.  The Spirit of God apprehends me and I am obliged to get alone with God and fight the battle out before Him. Until this is done, I lose every time. The battle may take one minute or a year, that will depend on me, not on God, and i must resolutely go through the hell of a renunciation before God. Nothing has any power over the man who has fought out the battle before God and won there. If I say, I will wait til I get into the circumstances and the put God to the test, I shall find that I cannot.  I must get the thing settled between myself and God in the secret places of my soul where no stranger inter-meddles, and then I can go forth with the certainty that the battle is won…Get alone with God, fight it out before Him, settle the matter there once and for all…Every now and again, not often, God brings us to a point of climax. That is the Great Divide in the life; from that point on we either go towards more and more dilatory and useless type of Christian life, or we become more and more ablaze for the glory of God–My Utmost for His Highest.  ~Oswald Chambers

My past has been settled once and for all before the throne of God.  This has happened a while back, and I needed this quote to remind me. In my humanness, I tend to get led away by well meaning people, and start to wander of from my first true love.  I made Him a promise long ago, when HE set me free from the bondage that seemed like normal living to me.  HE put my feet on a solid foundation, and a song in my heart, praise on my lips, and HE taught me to dance with HIM.  And in return, I promised Him to stay close to HIS word, and to come to Him first, to not let any thing come from my mouth that was not pleasing to Him.  Sounds like I set myself up for a fall.  But it is do-able when I am following closely to Him.

My desire and my prayer is…that I will glorify God in all that I say and do. When HE calls “who will I send”, my answer will be “Lord, send me”.  I want to use my gifts that HE has given to me, for His glory and not mine.  Each and every gift that HE has set aside for me, I want to use for Him. I want all that HE has to give me!

My GOD, and My King, Lover of my soul, my secret Keeper…no one has ever loved me like you do, and no one ever will…there is none beside You.  I stand in Awe .  So many times I try to fit into a category of people..not fitting into the conservative or the Liberal, but always finding my perfect fit, and total peace in the quiet place with You.  You have freed me from my past, and we have fought the thing through on several levels, and I am more than a conqueror in your eyes.  Pleasing you is far better than man, fitting in is not important.  What is important is to stay focused and Kingdom minded.  Thank you for reminding me, that I find my worth in You. I am priceless in  your eyes, and you died for me.   No compromise on the road to You, no looking left or right, only where you lead.   The joy that is found in You is overflowing and my desires are quenched in You.  I choose to stay right here, in Your shadow, controlling my tongue, guarding my eyes as they have passage to my heart, keeping my heart open to You.  Thank You for your great patience, and thanks for the short leash that rips my heart out when I have started to take the smallest of steps from your side.  I don’t want that to ever change.  You are enough for me! Trading the world for your presence. Your princess who wants her Utmost for Your Highest!