Growing in Spirit and Truth

Last week of 2010.... Christmas is over as far as the cooking, presents, and all the hustle and bustle. It was exciting, exhausting and full of laughter and love!! I find myself not wanting to let go of the feeling I have at Christmas. I don't mind letting go all the hustle and bustle but I want to hang on to the laughter and love. The closeness in hearts families seem to have at this time of year is amazing. Sitting here, realizing it is the last week of this year! I know, I don't have to end the year or begin a new year without laughter, love and closeness of heart. All of this can be just a fleeting feeling or it can be a knowing. When I say a knowing, I'm talking about true laughter, love and closeness in heart. The Joy we have at Christmas is with us always, even when the feelings seem to fade. It's the "Joy of the Lord". "His name is Emmanuel" "God with us" His presence is always here...not just at Christmas. I want to end m...

Good morning!! The title to this post comes from Mark 5:36. God is teaching me about fear and it's destruction. It blocks the faith of God in our lives. Fear gives Satan access to our lives. He knows if he can get us to act on fear, it will stop faith. This morning, I heard from within...."you cannot use faith as a band aid to cover up fear and expect answers" We are told...."do not fear".....this doesn't mean cover it up, pretend it isn't there, or try to have faith, thinking it will stop fear or even thinking its ok to fear. NO! No! No! We must refuse it's right to any part of us. We cannot walk in faith until we walk away from fear and we cannot walk away from fear until we choose to submit to God's Word and believe, no matter what. If we don't choose to submit to God and His Word, we will be submitting to Satan by default. No decision is a decision. By submitting to the Word of God, His Holy Spirit will lead us into "...

"If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (Romans 5:10) This is today's reading from "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers I am not saved by believing---I simply realize I am saved by believing. And it is not repentance that saves me---repentance is only the sign that I realize what God has done through Christ Jesus. The danger here is putting the emphasis on the effect, instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience, consecration, and dedication that make me right with God? It is never that! I am made right with God because, prior to all of that, Christ died. When I turn to God and by belief accept what God reveals, the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ instantly places me into a right relationship with God. And as a result of the supernatural miracle of God's grace I stand justified, not because I am sorry for my sin, or because I ha...

Here are my morning thoughts. I don't always write my thoughts down but I believe we should. Especially when we are praying and seeking God. It is at this time we are most sensitive to the Holy Spirit and His Word. I was praying and I told God, I wanted to glorify Him with my life. I have prayed this many times before but this morning, I was corrected. I heard, not out loud but within, you cannot glorify Me with your life. And then, I heard..... "But My life can be glorified in you".... This was like a flood light to me!!! All of a sudden, scriptures began coming to mind. Each one with a new light for me. John 9:3 - Jesus answered, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." John 11:4 - When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." John 11:40 - Jesus saith unto her, "Said I not ...

Here is a scripture that we all know: 3 John, verse 2.."Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." Every teaching I've heard majors on prospering and being in health. This is something we all want, "to prosper and be in health". We take this as truth and it is but we neglect the words, "even as your soul prospers". For several months now every time I read or think about this verse, the words "even as thy soul prospereth" would stick with me. God has shown me, how our soul (mind, intellect) prospers, is very important. We can fill our minds with, what the world calls truth, or we can fill them with THE TRUTH....THE WORD OF GOD. We have two kingdoms at work in this world: the kingdom of Satan(darkness,death) and the kingdom of God (light,life). We are told in Deut. 30:19 "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, bl...

Have you ever thought about the one thing you would like to leave behind when you leave this world? Lately, I have. The Holy Spirit has been teaching me in several different areas but they all seem to go together. They all are centered in Love!! 1 John 8&16 say, "God is love". Works and Grace...fear and faith...conditional love and unconditional love. These are very connected. There is works, fear and conditional love on the one hand and then there is Grace, faith and unconditional love on the other. Which one do you choose. Of course, we all would choose Grace, faith and unconditional love. With this being our choice, why do we see so much of the other? God gave us free will and I am beginning to understand why. He doesn't want to force us to love Him. He wants us to want to love Him. In the process of growing, because we have free will, we make many mistakes (we sin much). We call it mistakes but it is sin. The Law was given to show us our sin. Because we are ...

1 Corinthians 12:12-29 NLT The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit and we all share the same Spirit. Yes the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, "I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand," that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, "I am not a part of the body because I am not an eye," would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye how would you hear? Or if the whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? But our bodies have many parts and God has put each part just where He wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, "I don't need you". The...