When I get closer...

When you get close to the one you love, you are filled with happiness and joy, your heart beats faster, you hang on every word soaking in every moment with them...

When you get close to GOD, all these things happen and more. GOD has been taking me through journeys in visions off and on for the past week. I continually have this "stirring" inside of me and I'm asking GOD what to do with it. I am exhausted when I wake up because it seems that I've been up all night with GOD.  The fervor and enthusiasm doesn't go away when I wake up and get moving, so I know it's HIM.  I think now through a lot of prayer and seeking HIS face HE's going to show me whatever it is that HE is trying to convey to me and how to proceed.

What I don't understand is the complacency of believers today. Why would they not want to experience their LORD is this intimacy? Why don't they think that falling before the Holy of Holies in worship and prayer is a privilege and not a right. It is only by grace. GOD's chosen ones knew how to FEAR the LORD in reverence and honor. I see us taking it for granted. I'm choosing not to. I'm not going to grow cold. I'm not going to fall for the lukewarm worship. I'm not going to be too busy to go about the Master's business. I'm pressing in. I want to be stirred and shaken. I want more...more LORD.

Singing in the Car

Prayer is the vehicle that we use to communicate with our Father, however, I think many times we confine it to the "standard" definition. Since Jesus Christ Himself taught us how we should pray, don't you think there might be greater dimensions that you are to experience when speaking to the Holy One? Both prayer and praise release things, bind things, move GOD's hand...so (spontaneously) I started singing out my prayers to GOD this morning...singing of His wonderful mercy and grace, His power and abilities, thanking Him for the wonderful things He has done for us and what He will do. I called out to Him with requests counting on Him to do as He promises to do as the awesome Father GOD He is.

Prayer has many different flavors, "feels"...It can be quiet, it can be a shout, it may be silent or in weeping cries...or in some cases...a song. GOD's Chosen People many a time reflected on His goodness to them or wailed out in cries for mercy and deliverance. I can't wait to hear David singing to GOD as described in the Psalms. Like I said, prayer is a vehicle. There are many different types...just remember my dear brother or sister in Christ, the car doesn't start unless you get in it and turn it on. It doesn't run well unless you keep up with things and maintain it. The same principle applies to our prayer life. I want to know GOD so well while I'm on this earth that we won't have that "awkward" moment when I fall at His feet, never fully engaging in my relationship with him and only being an acquaintance all this time. In all things with prayer and supplication...GOD is the supreme LOVE of your life. Think about that for a moment. Relate it to human relationships. GOD as the lover of your very soul deserves your PASSION, your ATTENTION, your COMMUNICATION, your LOVE, your GRATEFULNESS, your SERVICE, your AIR YOU BREATHE. Relinquish control and in reckless abandon give your heart and everything you have and are to the Master. Experience HIM like you never have before.

2012 - An expectancy and an urgency as we spread the GOOD NEWS

Isaiah 55

Invitation to the Thirsty

¹ “Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
² Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
³ Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
⁴ See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a ruler and commander of the peoples.
⁵ Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor.”
⁶ Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
⁷ Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
¹⁰ As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
¹² You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
¹³ Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the LORD’s renown,
for an everlasting sign,
that will endure forever.”

The Cross in Our Bodies - Divine CREATOR

I received this in email format from a friend and wanted to pass it along for a larger audience - GOD, THE Designer, THE Creator - His essence is displayed in everything HE does, including "knitting you together in the womb"...

This is a pretty neat story and an interesting thing that few of us know. It's brief, so please read.  (FROM A DOCTOR)   A couple of days ago I was running (I use that term very loosely) on my treadmill, watching a DVD sermon by Louie Giglio... And I was BLOWN AWAY!   I want to share what I learned.... He (Louie) was talking about how inconceivably BIG our God is.... How He spoke the universe into being... How He breathes stars out of His mouth that are huge raging balls of fire..  Etc. Etc. Then He went on to speak of how this star-breathing, universe creating God ALSO knitted our human bodies together with amazing detail and wonder.   At this point I am LOVING it (fascinating from a medical standpoint, you know.)  And I was remembering how I was constantly amazed during medical school as I learned more and more about God's handiwork. I remember so many times thinking... 'How can ANYONE deny that a Creator did all of this???' Louie went on to talk about how we can trust that the God who created all this, also has the power to hold it all together when things seem to be falling apart...how our loving Creator is also our sustainer. And then I lost my breath. And it wasn't because I was running my treadmill, either!!! It was because he started talking about laminin.  I knew about laminin... 'Laminins are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue' You see.... Laminins are what hold us together... LITERALLY.   They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell. Without them, we would literally fall apart. And I knew all this already. But what I didn't know is what they LOOK LIKE. But now I do.  And I have thought about it a thousand times since (already)....  Here is what the structure of laminin looks like...   AND THIS IS NOT a 'Christian portrayal' of it.... If you look up laminin in any scientific/medical piece of literature, this is what you will see....

 

Now tell me that our God is not the coolest!!!  Amazing.  The glue that holds us together.... ALL of us..... Is in the shape of the cross.  Immediately Colossians 1:15-17 comes to mind.

          'He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or Authorities;  All things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him All things HOLD TOGETHER.' Colossians 1:15-17

Call me crazy. I just think that is very, very, very cool.. Thousands of years before the world knew anything about laminin, Paul penned those words.

And now we see that from a very LITERAL standpoint,

we are held together...

One cell to another.... By the cross.

I've been fixing a lot of computers lately so...

...When a friend of mine sent this to me I had to share with you. Funny how perspective changes everything. Thanks to Tim for brightening my spirits without even knowing what kind of week I had. Please enjoy - author unknown but very insightful.

For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on.

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated,

'If Ford had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.'
In response to Bill's comments, Ford issued a press release stating:

If Ford had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash.........Twice a day.

2.. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3... Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single 'This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation' warning light.

I love the next one!!!

7. The airbag system would ask 'Are you sure?' before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You'd have to press the 'Start' button to turn the engine off.

PS - I'd like to add that when all else fails, you could call 'customer service' in some foreign country and be instructed in some foreign language how to fix your car yourself!!

Please share this with your friends who love
- but sometimes hate - their computers!

A Mighty Fortress is Our GOD - The National Day of Prayer - May 5, 2011

FATHER,

Give us an awakening in our spirits

We cry out to YOU GOD

Thank YOU for being in control

Thank YOU for who YOU are

Thank YOU that YOU are and always have been and always will BE

Forgive us and forgive our nation for turning away from YOU

We've turned our hearts away from YOU GOD

We've turned down YOUR blessings

We've paid the price for those actions...dearly

GOD, please renew our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus

Give us YOUR heart

Give us YOUR mind

Give us YOUR strength

Make us a holy and righteous people

Fully submitted to YOU

Fully submitted to YOUR WORD

Obedient

Faithful

Unselfish

Servant-Hearted

Loving

Caring

EVANGELIZING

UNCOMPROMISING

while still loving, caring and servant-hearted

Non-cannibalistic toward our brothers and sisters in JESUS CHRIST

Give us hearts that bleed for the lost

spirits that cry out for more of YOU

give us GODLY homes

loving families

Make us Great Examples of what YOU have done for us

Give us Holy Spirit fire

Don't let us settle

Don't allow us to grow cold or melancholy or apathetic

(key word = pathetic)

Give us GOD-produced drive to serve you every living moment

May our actions...

our words...

our thoughts...

our intentions...

our motivations...

our joy...

our excitement...

our peace...

come from YOU ALONE

and exhibit YOU ALONE

Help us to be real

to be tangible

to be transparently overwhelmed with the love of JESUS

Not worked up about the economy

Not wrapped up in the things of this world

Priority One=JESUS and His Kingdom and the furtherance of it

Help me to extend grace and servant hands to

my family

my Pastor and his family

my church leadership

my friends

my church family

my neighbors

my co-workers

my fellow drivers on Route 1

my grocery checkout person

my bank teller

the teenager that looks like a rebel without a cause just like I used to be

the mom who looks stressed out in WalMart

the coffee lady at Wawa

the Starbucks barista in the drive-through

my teenager's friends who "aren't quite there yet"

I could go on...

Don't miss an opportunity

to give JESUS

to anyone

anywhere

Don't miss out on personal time with GOD

every day

in a car, a boat, a plane or in your office

Get to know HIM - How?

Read HIS WORD

TALK to HIM...YES

Real conversation

Enjoy HIS presence today

as you bow your heart before HIM

Thank HIM for the opportunity

and massive privilege it is to know HIM and to be KNOWN by HIM

I am HIS and HE is mine

PRAY hard

Show JESUS

Love and Serve

and

Have FUN doing it!!!