Some days.....

This morning was completely awesome! We went to church and almost as soon as we walk in we were welcomed by the Holy Spirit. The worship was so very powerful, that it was almost overwhelming at times. I just wanted to run and jump ( which I didn't do, well, at least I didn't run) but the Holy Spirit was moving mightily and to imagine that this is just a taste of what it will be like in heaven, when we get to worship God all the time! I was filled with the Holy Spirit, I wanted to jump out of my skin - lol.  Instead of doing that, I talked to one of the Pastors to let him know that confirmed my calling to enter into the prayer ministry! This was a big step for me because for so long God put it on my heart and I was afraid to take that step. I finally finished taking the first step. I have been talking to God about this for a while already. The first time was when very dear friends of mine when to a 6 months prayer school with YWAM. When they talked about it something struck my heart really down to the core. I started to read about it and I was drawn to it. I also had to grapple with things I didn't understand, not that I understand everything now. I thought it too difficult after a while and I didn't want to know more about it, because there were components that would have stretched me and moved me out of my comfort zone. That was not comfortable .... so, I tried to forget about it, thinking that this is not for me. God kept calling me and bringing prayer and intercession back into my life in different ways. I finally couldn't push it away any longer and told God that I was ready to do what He has in store for me as long as He is right there with me. God answered and it has been so very awesome since! God has spoken to my heart in some very intense ways since and brought me people into my life that more mature and knowledgeable in prayer and everything that comes with it. I have had the privilege to learn so much from them and it has been so very amazing! Then I went to a SoZo training - that was just beyond words. There are so many, many things that I don't know and didn't even think about but God keeps challenging and stretching me. Thank you Lord! Today, after coming fresh of off the battlefield, the Lord told me to make myself available for the prayer ministry at church. The enemy has been working overtime to pull me and mine away from the Lord. It was a very hard battle partly because it took me so long to realize that it was a battle - silly me...... I won this long battle through Christ through whom all things are possible. Though this is, I am certain, not the last. The worship this morning was a victory celebration! I can finally move on with my training and made an appointment for a sozo. I am so very excited about that.

Then in the afternoon I was on Facebook and looked at some picture of the retreat my church in Berlin just posted. This was a bittersweet moment and tears just ran down my cheeks when I saw the faces of many wonderful friends in Germany, many people who were instrumental in walk with the Lord and so many more overwhelming memories....and the realization that I will not see most them anymore or at least for a looooong time this side of heaven......

This was a very emotional day ...... thank you God for allowing us to go through emotions, the good, the bad and the ugly. Things change in life on a never stopping basis, sometimes this is good, many times it is painful. There is only one constant - God! Thank you Lord for being the same yesterday, today and tomorrow!

A friend says: God seems distant. What do you do?

Today I had the privilege to listen to C. J. Mahaney at church. It was a very powerful sermon.he was preaching from the book of Jude verses 20-24. When I first read the text, I thought it was very good but I failed to see what the Holy Spirit had revealed to Mr. Mahaney. His question was: How would you help or counsel your friend, who is a believer, if s/he would confide in you that his/her faith was growing weak? What would you say if they had lost their "fire" for the Lord? I thought this was a very intriguing question, because I think we all know someone who felt that way, or we ourselves felt that way. so what do you say and do??? It seems like such a small question yet so profound and of utmost importance. Yet I felt uncomfortably insecure when C. J. posed his question. I remembered the times when this had come up in discussions with friends and I always prayed for God to give me the right words, but I always worried that I may have said something to cause more confusion.....The answer to the question comes from Jude 20-21. Which is probably the shortest book in the bible after the 2 John, though it holds such an awesome answer! Anyway, the text reads: 

"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life."

So, how do we keep ourselves in the love of God?

1)   Build yourself up in your most holy faith. We need to grow in our understand of the Gospel. We do that by preaching it to ourselves! We need to grow in our understand of the Gospel, preach it to ourselves and meditate on it - every single day! 

I don't know about you, but there times when I am not very good at this and those usually are the times when I run on my own power and don't understand why things don't work out and wonder about what is missing. You would think that I would know this after all these years.... " prone to wander" comes to mind.....but I digress....

2)   Pray! Pray to the Father, He will hear you. You are communicating with Him, which is more than just rattling down a wish list for us and others. 

At some point I think, I'll write a post about prayer......it is so important and so neglected......

3)   Wait! Wait for the mercy of God. Waiting can be rather daunting, but consider what you are waiting for. What a privilege it is to wait for God.

If you know someone who is losing his fervor for the Lord, ask a few but difficult questions:

Are you preaching the Gospel to yourself every day?

Do you pray every day? How is your daily prayer life?

Do you anticipate heaven?

The answer to these questions comes from Jude 1b: ....To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

and Jude 24: Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,

In these verses we find that God's love for us is not alter by our stumbling and falling! Isn't that great? When my grip on God weakens, His grip on me is fixed! This, of course doesn't release us from the responsibilities we have, to put effort in keeping in the love of God. It is a reassurance of His unending love for us. Be confident in the love of God!

This was C. J. Mahaney's sermon today, isn't it really, really good?! So very important that we are reminded of God's great love for us and for us to remind us to do our share and keep in his love. Now you know what you can say to your kids when they tell you that they feel God is distant.....

I have thanked God so many that His love for me is not as fickle as my love for Him. Not that I mean it to be that way, but there are times when Satan gets the better of me and it takes me a few days to realize that I need to go back home to the Father and Jesus Christ.

I made the switch....

Today I have switch completely switched over to Blogger. This is rather strange as I have been at the other other place for so many years, but since they made changes, it has become too difficult to keep up and learn everything new. This seems to be much easier here. So I will now make my new home amongst the my other friends who are here :-)

Hello neighbors! Maybe if have a cookie and an iced latte you can endure my ramblings...