Crappy Internet Connection Sucks.

Yo.

Just a head's up. I've been doing my devotions but the Internet hasn't been connecting for a couple of days at my sister's house I haven't been posting them, but they are saved on my laptop. Woot Woot.

I'm sitting here at Freedom's. I called off work today with Tracey because I've come down with the same sickie that's been doing around. But since everyone at Freedom's is sickie too, she said it was cool to come over.

Vivia is watching The Wiggles. What a weird show. "Do YE' like cows?" Vivia in a soft voice- "Mmhmm..." So cute. Such a weird so, though... so weird...

Oh and I'm a prophet.

Romans 8.12-39

12-14So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!
15-17 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!
18-21That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
22-25All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
26-28Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
29-30God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.
31-39So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

-The Message

THIS IS SO GOOD!

God is so amazing. He continues to blow me away! And once again, reading it from The Message seems to only heighten what is being said for my puny ears to follow along. I love it I love it I love it.

Absolutely nothing can separate us from God's love. That's so good to continue to remind ourselves of. I know while I was away from the church, away from God, I felt so distant from him. I truly believed that "he had left me because I'm this horrible person and he is mad at me for what I've done and he wants nothing to do with me unless I'm willing to come back to him." And not a single word of that is true! He told me, once I had come back, that not only did he miss me, but he was so happy to have me back and he also said that NOTHING... I have done... has brought me too far from him. He still welcomed me back with loving arms wrapped tightly around me. And that's what's so wonderful. NOTHING... ANY OF US could do... would bring us too far from his love. He never left me. When I accepted him into my life ten years ago, he took it very seriously, he honored it, even if I hadn't. Even if I didn't know exactly what it all meant- he honored it. He never left. Yes, it's true that God and the enemy can not dwell in the same place, but he was continuously calling me back to him, whispering in my ear to steal me away, have me come and dance with him.

It's kind of like that scene in Romeo and Juliet. Juliet's having this grand party of the Capulet house, with all these beautiful people and costumes and it's so extravagant and wonderful, but she's just... miserable. She's not having fun like she's "supposed to be". And here comes Romeo. He wasn't supposed to be there. He was a Montague. Capulets' sworn enemy was the Montagues'. But he was in love with her, so he went against the rules and snuck in and called her away so they could have a moment together. Her moment of happiness.

Cheesie love story, I hear you. But in all honesty... that's an amazing comparison to what my life was like. Sure, I was living a life that most would call "normal" or "extravagant" but I wasn't happy. I knew what I was doing was wrong, I just chose to ignore it. Do not downplay the potential of reasoning. Reasoning only leads to deception. And that's exactly where I lived for so long. It says in the scripture to RUN from temptation... Now I fully understand why... Running involves every muscle in your body to absolutely flee the scene. Flee the circumstance. Flee the temptation. If you merely offer a lazy turn of your heel, you allow yourself time to second guess yourself- to REASON with yourself... And that's never a good thing.

Jesus,

Thank you that you are so alive and living in me. Thank you for your Holy Spirit. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for calling me by name to be yours and yours alone. You are amazing. Holy Spirit, I ask that you be with me today, I invite you into my every little detail of life today. You know what I'll face today, even if I don't. I ask that you prepare me spiritually, that you continue to speak to me, continue to call me away to have moments with you alone. Stretch my heart, make it bigger, Jesus. I want to love more. You impress me. You amaze me. You strengthen me. You belong to me and I belong to you. Shulukt.

amen.

-Photography still from "Romeo and Juliet" the film.

1st John 3.11-24

"11For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other.
12-13We must not be like Cain, who joined the Evil One and then killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil, while the acts of his brother were righteous. So don't be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on a long time.
14-15The way we know we've been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn't love is as good as dead. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don't go together.
16-17This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.
18-20My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality. It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.
21-24And friends, once that's taken care of and we're no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we're bold and free before God! We're able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we're doing what he said, doing what pleases him. Again, this is God's command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us. "

-The Message

I really love reading the bible. It's kinda crazy. I used to hate it. I used to never want to do it. And then once I came back and made a blog which held me accountable, the desire to learn more about Jesus and what we're supposed to do as his children, the blessings he has for us as his children, it's just ALL so amazing!

I like this passage in 1st John. It's about love again, big surprise (it IS the Love Month after all). But love has so many faces. Loving God, loving people, loving your family, loving your spouse, loving life... I could go on...

I've already gone into a big love topic in past blogs so I won't again, if you want to hear more about love, just continue to read down the blog, but I will point out a few things that spoke to me about these verses today.

I love how it says "God's reality". That's pretty awesome. That's the REAL reality. Everything else is just a sham, a facade, a blurry and distorted image of what human kind has been led to think reality should be, what life should be, how it should be lived. That's how we know that it's not really reality when different cultures all over the world have different practices or methods of even marriage or age in which they begin to work, etc etc... the entire world's perception of reality is not the same thus it's not really reality, is it? But God stands true, he stands real. He never changes. You could go to India or Africa and find Christians loving the same God you are with the same principals you live by, and I love that. It makes you feel like you're part of something huge, something bigger than just YOUR life or YOUR problems... And that's the reality of it!

That's good stuff.

Lord,
Thank you for today. I ask for physical healing in my muscles and my neck from all my hard work lately, in the name of Jesus. Please be with Tracey today as she has to still get to work without me today, and I ask that Sarah be a blessing to her and their ability to get things done. Thank you for your Holy Spirit, Jesus. Please be with me today as I'm taking care of Sofia. I just proclaim that today will be a delightful day without many baby tears or disobedience from Mekaih. I speak your love over today, Jesus. Holy Spirit, you're welcome into my heart and all it's hidden places to reside and rearrange the furniture to how YOU see fit. I love you so much.

amen.

John 11.17-44 Jesus' Love

17On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
23Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
25Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
27"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
28And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." 29When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34"Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied.
35Jesus wept.
36Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
37But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead 38Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39"Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."
40Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."
43When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

Oh my GOSH I love this! The shortest verse in the whole bible: "Jesus wept." And I always knew that but I never looked into "Okay, he wept. Why did he cry?" And I've found it. It makes it so real. It makes Jesus so real just to see that he really WAS here as a man... dealing with the same issues and problems that the rest of us do on a daily basis. He cried because one of his best friends whom he loved had died. And I believe, not only that, but he was crying to see everyone hurting so bad around him (everyone else crying). That's what having a big heart will do to a person- you can't even stand to see someone else sad. Of course he knew he was going to raise him from the dead... but that didn't change the emotion that was sweeping through the people and thus through him. He loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus, so when they hurt, he hurt. That's love.

How could anyone deny Jesus? I just don't get it! Well I get it but that's not what I'm saying. I guess what I mean is... once you've had a REAL taste of Jesus... why would you ever want to go back?

Lord,

Happy Valentine's Day! I am so in love with you. You show me so much and I thank you for that. You are precious. I thank you that you sent Jesus to have a human heart and to love like a human so that we could see what perfection really looks like. YOU are perfect. YOU are love. YOU are amazing. Holy Spirit I ask that you remain with me today, keep me company while out to breakfast with the family and even tonight at work. I love you so so much.

amen.

John 3.16-21

"16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.""

Didn't realize this verse has more to it, didjya!? Haha. Well it does and it's SO GOOD... because his word is a sword and it just cuts right through the lies and deception and as it stands there's no way you can try to reason with it to try and make it make sense in your head. It states cold, hard facts. He loved the world. He gave his son. Whoever believes won't perish. He didn't send him to condemn, but to save it. If you don't believe, you are already condemned (not by God). Humankind love their sin too much then it remains in the dark. And since Jesus is light, it's not even possible for both to co-exist.

So what areas of your heart could be exposed? What are you willing to give up for a better life, walking in the Light with Jesus?

That's a good question. I know what I had to give up, and I tell you the truth, I don't want it back now. What I have now is so much better.

Jesus,

Thank you for your ultimate sacrifice. You were brutally beaten, stabbed, mocked, hung on a cross, all so I wouldn't have to live my life in pains and frustrations and devouring sins. What an Ultimate Sacrifice... How dare I not be willing to give up (aka sacrifice) my sins that hide in the dark to you. My thoughts- getting angry- frustrated- getting offended- being prideful. I break each of these from my life, in the name of Jesus and ask your forgiveness. Holy Spirit, give me your joy, your ability to work hard through these tough situations so that I may have my harvest. I love you, Jesus.

amen.

Matthew 22.34-40 More Lovie Dovie!

"34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." -NIV





" 34-36When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: "Teacher, which command in God's Law is the most important?"
37-40Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them." -The Message

---

I love how in one version is says "With all your heart, you soul, your mind," and the other version says "With all your passion, your prayer, and intelligence." Different translations errupt different thought processes, and that's a good thing. It helps you realize what exactly was being said.

I'm reading a book right now (Joyce Meyer "Battlefield of the Mind") and I tell you what... it is a great book, I suggest it to anyone that is much like me and most of the issues in life start in your head because you're such a big thinker. This book is for you, just as it is for me. It talks about HOW you love the Lord with your full mind, doing such things as giving up the need to be in control and worry about issues, or giving up your desire to reason your way out of listening to God's will.

How many times, when he hear God speak loud and clearly and our spirit knows it's the right thing, but once we start thinking about it, we begin to reason with ourselves and before you know it you've talked yourself out of listening to what God specifically told you to do.

I used to do that a lot. I've asked the Holy Spirit to be a gentle reminder to me when I start to act out in these habitual ways so I can start to see it and stop it in it's tracks (if I'm incapable of noticing it myself).

And I have to say, I'm super excited. Once you've won the battlefield of your mind, there is so much victory and I can't WAIT to have it to it's full extent! You don't realize it but your mind gets in the way and robs you of SO MUCH God has for you. I'm ready for THAT to be over!

Lord,

Thank you that you're constantly telling me things that need work because you love me and you want what's absolutely best for me. I trust you. I know that THAT is why you do these things. I ask that you remain with me today, Holy Spirit. Continue to build and work on my character in these every-day little things that I'm learning to do. I love you.

amen.

PS: What are you doing to do for Jesus this Valentine's Day? I'm serious. Plan something out. Have a date. He loves that sort of stuff.

I couldn't help it...

With all due respect, Mr. President, practice what you preach...

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