This Sunday...

I will be out of town until next Friday. So if I don't post for a while that's probably why :D
Have a wonderful week and my you be drawn closer to Jesus as you seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness!

"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God
And the wealth of His righteousness
For wherever your treasures lie
There you will find your heart"

Words of Wisdom

"We must not chart our course by the footprints of the many, but rather by the words of this book" (the Bible)
~ From Pilgrims Progress, Christiana, "Greathart" speaking

Please Pray for Jamal

Go here: http://vomcblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/iraqi-house-church-leader-kidnapped.html for more info.

“It's so easy to know what to do,

but doing it, that's the challenge.”

Thank goodness we have the grace of Jesus!

Jesus, The Light!

Oh that I could be a light ablaze and shining bright in the darkness of this world. That I could be the one to show the way to the lost and ding souls. But I cannot. No. Not in and of myself. I have nothing to offer, and yet...I have EVERYTHING to offer! I am no longer just a dying soul wandering around in a dark and weary land. I am no longer stumbling around in the darkness trying to find my way. I am no longer alone, lonely, forsaken, destitute, starving, poor, naked, dying. No. I have found LIFE! Or rather, I was awakened to Life, Who dwells all around me. As I turned to Him He took me in. He showed me-and is showing me still- that I cannot save people. I cannot be the Light. I cannot be life to the dying souls. As I have yielded to Him, Jesus has taken over this being. He has shown me that no matter how well I treat people or make them feel in this life, if they don't have Him as their Savior what does that matter? What does it matter if someone is healthy, comfortable and well cared for for a lifetime here on earth and then they spend eternity in hell? I cannot save their souls, but He can. I cannot give them life, but I can point them to Life. I cannot be all they need, but I can point them to the All-in-all, Might, All-powerful, God of the universe. I cannot be their light, but as I die to self and yield this body fully to Christ Jesus and allow the Holy God of all to take over this being until it is "no longer I who live, but Christ liveth in me", as I decrees that He might increase and allow Him to poke holes in my selfish, self-seeking, self-centred, SELF, He begins to shine through. The only way that I can be a light to this world is by not being "I" at all, but by allowing the Light to shine through the emptied out shell of what used to be "me".

As I was writing this I got the mental picture of a car with an old broken down motor. It wasn't any good and in fact would most likely be quite an annoyance. But then that motor was removed and a bigger, better, shinier motor put in it's place. It was only after the first motor was removed and the new motor put in that the care was of any use. No longer is the car an inconvenience or annoyance. Now it is useful and enjoyable.
This is like us. We are like this car. It is not because of how good we are that we are used. It is because of how good the motor is that is propelling us forward.
Now the enemy will try to come in and say that we're not really anything special (and he's right, in and of ourselves we're not, but it is Christ in us that is WAY more than just special!). He says that we should just go back to our old spot on the lawn and stay there, quite being so prideful and showing off how we can get around. RUBBISH! Getting around is not showing off or being prideful, it's allowing God to showcase Himself in and through these bodies. We are no longer to be sitting around doing nothing! We are to be out there "getting around" to all the other cars parked on the side lawn with broken down motors and telling them that there is hope! All they have to do is repent, believe, yield, and receive.
Now to compare Jesus to a car motor is SUCH a degradation, but we in our human sized brains cannot fathom the vastness of Who He is.

So anyway this was not only for your benefits but I think I was also preaching to myself :D I don't know about you but I am encouraged by all that Christ has done and is doing in and through me. All glory to Jesus!

For the JOY Set Before Him

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb 12:1-2

Here is a smile, a hug, and a prayer from your sister in Christ who is running the race with you. Let us find our strength, hope and joy in Him Who is seated at the right hand of the Father and in Whom we abide!

"Follow Me"

This is a phrase used eighteen times in the New Testiment. Seventeen of these times it was used by Jesus, and the last is found in Acts 12:8 when the angel is leading Peter from the prison and he tells him to "follow me".

Something I found interesting as I was reading through the times this phrase was used is that each time Jesus used it (and allot of them were just repeets from the diffrent tellings of the Gospel) it had to do with denying self.
We cannot serve self and Jesus.

The first time this is used in the NT is in Matthew 4:19

"And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him." Mat 4:18-20

They straightway left their nets.
These were fishermen. Their nets were a majore part of their life. It was through these nets that they were enabled to supply themselves with fish, their sorce of income, their livelihood. Yet when Jesus walked by and said "follow Me" they straightway left their nets are followed.
Are we-am I- willing to leave the things that we depend on for our livelyhood (Peter andAndrew probably worked hard to get those nets) and the things that are our asurence of a desent life here on earth? Are we willing to cast it all aside and straightway follow Him?

2Corinthians 12:9

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Ah, how sweet these words are to my soul!