Walk with Him

I am joining  with Ann Voskamp eachWednesday   to  begin to develop  better spiritual practices.

  One of my most valued  resolutions if that is what  I can call it is to  work harder on    my relationship with the Lord  through  daily Bible reading and study of His Word!

  I   have so enjoyed   Ann's blog this week and especially  her new focus for the new year   to   learn 

The Practice of New Habits

  IN this   she  offered up today  a wonderful  reproducible list for  getting   the things accomplished in our day..  I have printed off 16 copies  front and back to take me through the month of January...including  not only   my desire  for   Bible study  but also healthful  and  interrelationahip practices.. Today  I am clicking off even the  number of glasses of water I am drinking.... and   notating the  thank you notes I am writing....I do  find that I waste so much time....  and  I am very encouraged  with  this   framework  in which I hope to  arrnagement the hours of my day  to get    the " Definites" accomplished!  

So now I am off to clear out a drawer!   aha!   

  

Relationship in these Last Days

This week  we are challenged to  consider  our  relationship with God,  our  Creator,  divine Father,  and Lover of our Soul....   but  today  I  have been thinking   beyond relationship...   how is that possible...my prayer group is   working with a team of   wonderful   Christians   from  around our community  on a  Christians United  to Pray for America event in September..   the  dynamics and the thrill of   envisioning  a  flame of  glory ignited across  this valley   is stunning in the very least,   so   we  planners  are  taking very seriously  the  depth of   commitment  we must individually  seek  to press in    to God   through Jesus Christ,    through  sacrificial fasting,  perhaps  even joining in the sufferings of  Christ... things one reads of in scripture  but   can hardly   understand...    I  have been thinking what  is it in my  life that  I love    and  that   timewise  keeps me from perhaps all I could be  in His kingdom and   it is   the computer...    I know I spend  too much time here  even if   a lot of it is for good.   Yet  it does  many times take precedent in my life because I  love it so... not good!

But even as I was  considering   unplugging the computer  I felt  something resonate in my spirit....   as I was  writing on my calendar  the   date 3 days prior  to our  prayer event  the date I will begin my   most serious   fast  is  September 17...Rosh Hashanah....    the   High Holy day      when  God's children  a re called to   seek  their inner most  being  for     any thing that   keeps them   in bondage   apart from God...a time of introspection and repentance.   Wow....  Does God's timing completely astound  you or what!!!!  and the  only a week   from  Yom Kippur,,, the Day of Atonement...     A healthy  research of these days   reveals much about    God's judgment falling   on  the nations   on  these days ( Ie.  9-11)   etc.   As I researched this today   I even ran across  some pretty compelling  sites that showed that   Jewish rabbis believe  that   the tribulation    started in 2008 and we are even now  very nearing  the  half way point of 3 and half years on God's timetable....  thus   you might  understand   how  you can go beyond   deep relationship   when     the Spirit seems to  be pointing you  to   see perhaps the very end of the age.....       yet   there  are many  in  my family,   my network of friends,  my neighbors,   about  whom  I  have no confidence of their salvation.... now there   is   a  serious  dilemma  before   God, your Father!  I have dear cousins  who   have told me

   oh,  IM ok..   YOU need God ,   that is good for you  , but I   dont need Him now.   I have all the time in the world.. as if to say    to admit one needs God  is to admit  a weakness.. yet there I am   believing as well,  ok, then, We must have all the time in the world too,   But do we???  The scriptures say  be alert,  watch for the signs of His coming,   pray!  

   The commission is  clear, go and tell,    and  there is an urgency in  it....   yet   how urgently  do we approach our  difficult  family  members,   friends,  neighbors... ..   taking   our relationship  a step further... boldly putting feet  and voice  to  our commitment and love of God  for the sake of the gospel and its impact on    the world ,  even our loved ones!   

  That  is   something  I truly believe we   must urgently  attend to!!!!!  There  are signs  and wonders...   and  the    events spoken of  in    prophecies  are coming and have already come to pass... we have no guarantee  of  a lot of time left to delay... How easy it is to write this  but to take it across the hedge and  tell my neighbors   ...  we must  all pray for one another for the love, mercy, compassion,and boldness to  go and tell, and    l0ve   and pray.  That is   going  beyond relationship and  taking   God  in us to   a dying world!

  

We Walk with Him

The Scrapping Servant hosts this meme!. Today I have been thinking about God's purposes in my life. I used to think of myself as the servant who worked behind the scene in the kitchen.... I have headed up the women's ministry Hospitality Committees in two previous churches... but as we came to our current church I was really feeling a move in my spirit away from helps and into a new dimension of God's kingdom work....God opened a new door of ministry to me.. the ministry of prayer... and I now serve on the women's prayer team in our rather large church... God has provided me many varied opportunities and experiences to see his Holy spirit at work in people's lives... and I have come to have very high expectations of what God can and does do in restoration, renewal, and transformation.... For me there has been a complete transformation of who I know I am in His kingdom... A radical evolution of my daily experience has opened me up to be able to and desirous to share about God and His precious Son to people all over the world through Facebook.. Now I had taken a couple of evangelism classes at church and those along with some valuable Beth Moore Bible studies... I had been storing up a magnitude of biblical precepts which were burning a hole in my spirit... a burden was developing to share this wealth of powerful teaching with others...along with this desire was an urgency to share Christ with as many as He would put on my heart.... and He started to reveal dear folks to me immediately....before I knew it I was talking to almost strangers about the most precious thing in the world.... their need for a Savior.. Jesus Christ!!!!And oh, what a blessing it is to me... to get to know these folks that God has put on my heart.... whether,, because of their failing health, tender ages and need for acceptance and knowledge of who they are in God's kingdom, or dire and shaky circumstances, or just to help a dear new friend and brother come to grips with his identity in Christ... his long lost saviour... and be restored ... renewed in His faith..... it has been my absolute honor to be able to pray for them, and with them and to see God's hand at work in their lives...... and these are folks who live thousands of miles from me.... folks from England, Sweden, Australia, and across the fifty states. I just wanted to document here in this journal about how God has brought about this wonderful blessing to me and I proclaim His goodness and His perfect will for our lives will not be thwarted... we just have to be open to follow whenever He leads!

We Walk with Him

Isn't God wonderful? I mean the more I learn about Him in his Word, I am so utterly amazed. Last night at church we had a guest speaker- a minister to Israel and through his work with the hebrews there he shared about the traditional Jewish wedding traditions and how they relate to scripture pertaining to the Bridegroom/ bride theme. The bridegroom decides to take a bride so he goes to her father and sets a bride price. Then he goes to her and discusses the bride price, but also establishes her rights with her then he offers her a cup from the vine to drink a covenant with her- this is the formal proposal. He then gives her a special gift- something which will make her the best bride she can possibly be.
Then there is a time of separation as he goes to build a home for them. During this time she is responsible to learn as much about her bridegoom as she can, trying ever to improve herself to be a wonderful bride and she is to keep tabs on when the bridegroom might be ready to call her unto himself. She will send friends out to check on the building of their new home. For just at the moment the new home is finished the bridegroom will come in the night and snatch her unto himself. He with a lighted torch will come right outside the house and call her to come out and meet him and then they will go off together. Now his torch will not be large enough to light the way back, so she will be ready due to her spytaking and will be waiting with her lamp filled so they will have plenty of light for the return trip. When they arrive in their new home there will be a great 7 day feast of celebration for the marriage couple. The bridegroom's father will have invited guests from near and far.
There are so many spiritual truths in this tradition it astounds me.
The brideprice is Jesus's death on the cross~ a ransome for His bride.
The cup ~he offered to his disciples in the Upper room and again later that night, He besought His Father in agony saying, "let this cup pass from me, but neverthe less..."
The gift is His Holy Spirit which he gave to make us the best bride we can be.
The separation is His ascension when He said, "I go to prepare a place for you, but I will return and draw you unto myself that where I am you may be also."
He is right now preparing mansions in heaven for His bride!WOW!!
The bride should be studying the Word learning about her betroved, looking at the signs of the times looking for and anxiously awaiting the return of the groom. Her lamp should be filled with oil as she waits. The oil is the evidence of her anointing- kingdom awareness and life she has been living in anticipation for the return of her groom. Growing in holiness and deep communion with her lover through the Holy Spirit. Many of her friends' lamps who wait with her will not be filled and when they rush out to refill their their lamps they will miss the bridegroom's coming. For He will come as a thief in the night. He will stop short of the door and call out to His bride and she will meet Him in the air. The question is: do we keep our lamp filled with oil? are we striving to know the bridegroom more. Will we expectantly be ready when He comes. It may be sooner than we think!
Oh, who will the guests be? Abraham, Isaac, Moses, David, to name just a few!