Spilled Milk
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” ~~Hebrews 4:12 Aren’t you glad that Father has the ability to discern our deepest inmost parts? Isn’t it freeing to know that you can bring your life -just as it is- to the altar receiving the peace, joy, and love of God, even if you made a huge mess along the way?
Let me tell you something. I am so, so glad that it is not up to me to judge the thoughts and intents of a persons heart. I am redeemed, set free and set apart for the glory of God, and on my best day I am not equipped to judge a person’s heart. To some extent I can judge deeds; meaning I am capable of judging outward expressions but I’d never really rightly know the intent of ones heart. Unless I was willing to see and hear through the eyes and ears of grace, I wouldn’t even come close. I might, somehow, be able to get closer to the truth of a matter if I allow myself to be governed by the Spirit of Christ in me.
Do you ever wonder how God sees what you do for Him? Do you ever find yourself striving and not quite making it because you believe it isn’t right enough or good enough for the Father to lay eyes on? Does shame, doubt, confusion or fear keep you huddled in a corner afraid to approach our gracious Heavenly Lord?
Dear one, God knows your heart. He knows it! Don’t allow anyone to rob you of what God has done for you and in you. Jesus and Jesus alone intercedes on your behalf. It doesn’t get any better than that!
Let me share a picture with you that the Lord dropped into my spirit recently.
A small child seeking to bless his Mama with a nice cool glass of sweet tea enters the room where her mother -the object of her affection- is busy folding the mounds of laundry she just finished washing. Mother notices that the glass is filled almost to the brim and that her little one is wearing her dress up clothes (high heels, mamas old dress and the hat to boot). “It’ll be a miracle if that child of mine doesn’t spill that tea,” she thinks to herself.
No sooner was the thought completed and down she went. Tripping over her own feet she lost hold of the glass, which landed all over the clean laundry just about time that she hit the floor with a thud.
Unhurt, she grabbed hold of the table to steady her, and stood up on her shaky, high heeled feet. Slowly and carefully she lifted her eyes to look in her Mama’s face, oh so afraid of what she would see. Tears were already forming in her eyes yet she fought hard against her desire to cry because “big girls don’t cry.” It was almost too difficult to do but she forced her eyes to seek her mother’s eyes and she’d never ever forget what she saw there. Stephanie

A FOUR-LETTER WORD

I don’t know about you, but there are two four-letter words which I try to avoid using at all costs – iron and dust!

But, now to be more serious, we have all heard the expression “four-letter words” and know that not only are they rude and crude, they are not honoring to God and not the kind of language that should be coming out of the mouth of a child of God. Look at Matthew 12:34, “…for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.” Our words should exhibit love, patience, praise, and joy. If we are truly His children and walking with Him, our hearts should be overflowing with thee things.

So, we can all agree that those particular four-letter words have no place in our thoughts or on our lips. But there is another four-letter word that, of late, I am most concerned about in my life and in many others I know and that word is SELF.

We live in the “me first” generation, and are absolutely drowning in songs, advertising, television and movies, etc. that glorify self and fulfillment of selfish desires. Our entire culture seems based on self-gratification. We hear of men and women arrested for various crimes, some of them violent, who, when asked why they did it, say things like “I wanted the sneakers or jacket the person was wearing,” or “I was disrespected,” or “they cut ME off while I was driving.” You get my point. It’s not really about the other person; it’s about ME. Our children hear all about self-realization in school and college classrooms. We hear all about asserting OUR rights, demanding what is owed to US, and generally saying to anyone who will listen that WE are entitled to some particular benefit or privilege.

But it is not about ME. It is about God. What He wants to do in my life; how He can use me to serve and glorify Him. The glory belongs to God; I have nothing to do with it, except to act as I know I should as a child of the Heavenly Father.

Remember with me those verses in Isaiah 14:12-14 where Satan commits the ultimate act of prideful self and asserts that he is equal with God, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I WILL BE LIKE THE MOST HIGH GOD.”

How easy it is for us to fall into the SELF trap. I find myself thinking or saying things like “that really doesn’t work for me today” or “I want to do this because I need to do something nice for myself.” And because it is so pervasive around us, we don’t think twice about saying it. But I find that the more I focus on SELF, the less I focus on God and my service to others.

I remember a little saying I learned as a child in Sunday school. It says if you want joy
J – Jesus first
O – Others second
Y – You last

So use the three-letter word JOY to help you conquer the four-letter word, SELF.

Lynn Randall

The Priority of Prayer

Why is it difficult to have time to pray? Or is it more that we do not make time to pray? Satan seems to find all kinds of things to keep us occupied so that prayer is more an afterthought than a priority. Is it possible that prayer is important but not most important?

It is true that we do what is most important to us at any given moment. We make choices, moment by moment, that reflect our priorities. If I choose to read the new novel I bought last week rather than read my Bible, at that moment, reading the novel is most important to me. So the excuse, ‘I don’t have time to pray’ doesn’t hold water. If you don’t have time to pray it is because the other things you chose to do instead of pray were more important to you at that moment.

“Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26: 40-41

“But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.” 1 Peter 4:7

As you yield to Christ-life in you, you will pray. As Jesus lives His life through you, you will live out the priority of prayer. How do I know? Because prayer is a priority to Jesus.

Is prayer a priority to you?

Diane

The Passion for Prayer

Passion: intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction; a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept1

To have a passion for prayer is an active pursuit of God, not a cookie cutter or paint-by-numbers approach. It is an attitude of the heart not simply an activity. A passion for prayer cannot be satisfied from 7:10-7:30 in the morning rather it overflows from a dynamic, personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

It is wonderful to have time each morning to sit and tarry with Jesus. It is also wonderful to have spontaneous times of communion with the Savior, enjoying a sunset together or delighting in the flight of an eagle.

Prayer is not just a grocery list of wants and needs. Prayer is a pursuit of God. “Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. When You said, “Seek My face, “My heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.” Psalm 27:7-8 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

“He who prays without fervency does not pray at all.” Charles Spurgeon

“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:16

Do you have a growing passion for prayer?

Diane

The Privilege of Prayer

Prayer. Conversation with the One True God, Creator of the Universe.

Stop and consider that for a moment.

Prayer is a privilege. We have access to Almighty God, the Great I AM. Our privilege of prayer came at a very high cost, the Blood of Jesus Christ.

As we read the Old Testament account of the tabernacle, God ordained the meeting place. “And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height…You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.”

The ark was positioned within the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy Place within the Tabernacle hidden from view by a heavy veil or curtain. “You shall put in it the ark of the Testimony, and partition off the ark with the veil.” Exodus 40:3

That veil prevented general access to the meeting place. Only the High Priest was allowed access. Until “…the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split.” Matthew 27:51 Until the Blood of Jesus was shed on the cross.

The tearing of the veil gave you and I access to the Holy of Holies, the Most Holy Place, the presence of God. We now have access to the Throne.

“Let us therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace, to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16

“What a privilege we have! We possess the authority and permission and right – as God’s adopted sons and daughters-to boldly speak before our Father in heaven, in unbroken access to His throne.”1

Are you appropriating the privilege of prayer?

Diane

The beginning of a prayer journey

I have shared this before with our Victory Call readers, but I want to share again as we begin this series on prayer.

It was a little over a year ago that God began to tap me on the shoulder to encourage me in the area of my prayer life. I have always admired prayer warriors, wondering how they do that.

Perhaps you remember my Victory Call from May 06 about the lesson God taught me when my son flew to Hungary alone. He made my choices clear, very clear. I could either prayerfully trust God or I could panic. I literally had no other options. I chose to prayerfully trust God. Little did I know that was the beginning of a journey for me deepening my personal prayer walk with Jesus Christ.

Then in June, when word came that Stephanie’s daughter was in a life or death situation we cried out to God that very moment. Since Steph’s daughter was in San Francisco for specialized care that is where the family flew to, to be by her side. We were left here to pray. We couldn’t run to visit at the hospital or take meals; all we could do was pray. I learned a lot about fervent prayer during those days, weeks and months.

Around the same time, a number of prayer warriors I knew were graduating to glory, leaving us wondering who will take up the mantle. I believe God was using these events to begin to raise up a new generation of prayer warriors.

Chaplain Bill was one of our beloved chaplains in the Colony of Mercy. He was well into his eighties when God called him home. I remember his bewilderment that people seemed to have lost the passion for persistent, fervent prayer. He asked on more than one occasion, “What happened to all night prayer vigils?” I could hardly imagine. What could a person pray that would take all night? Luke 6:12, “Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.”

I have been given the privilege of participating in Keswick’s regional prayer meetings. As I sit around with this small group of people who take prayer very seriously it causes me to wonder, “What will happen to our churches, our ministries, or families, our nation, our world as these senior saint prayer warriors move home to glory if we do not have junior saints ready to stand in the gap?

Diane

A Precaution

Over the summer, Bill asked several of the staff to join him in speaking for the Campground conference week on the Spiritual Disciplines. The topic I selected was prayer.

Whenever I think about the spiritual disciplines, I get a little nervous because of the huge opportunity for misunderstanding and mis-practice. The practice of the spiritual disciplines such as, but not limited to, prayer, fasting, rest, Bible reading, worship, quiet time, journaling, etc. is good for the health of our soul, but misunderstood can lead to legalistic bondage. That’s exactly what Satan wants. Have you ever noticed that Satan’s MO is to take a little truth and a little lie and mix them together so that an undiscerning person will be deceived and believe the lie? The best way to avoid believing a lie is to immerse ourselves in the Truth.

“Satan is as subtle as God is good, and he tries to counterfeit everything God does, and if he cannot counterfeit it, he will limit it. Do not be ignorant of his devices.” Oswald Chambers

As we look at the spiritual discipline of prayer, know that I am not encouraging you to add just one more thing to your to-do list, but rather that we adopt a heart attitude of prayer which is the outflow of a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

Diane

A quick look

Have you ever stopped to think about how you look at other people? I mean really, think about it. No matter where you go or what you are doing, we are thinking and interacting with the environment we are in.
Let me give you an example: Let’s say, I decide to stop by the grocery store on the way home from work today. Whether I want to or not I am going to be surrounded by people…some sinners and some saints. As I’ve said before, I tend to have a critical eye.
~~ Let me pause for a second to tell you something I am learning anew. God gave me the critical eye that I have. What I mean is this: God gave me the ability to carefully evaluate my world and everything in it. If you were going to hire a crew of carpenters to build you a home, you’d want one of them to have a critical eye. He’s the one that’s going to see all the details that bring lasting beauty and value to your home. He’ll see the doorknobs that are missing a screw, the crown molding with improperly mitered corners, the tile that’s cracked, the doors that don’t shut all the way, etc. It’s this ability when gracefully appropriated (as God intended) that is a gift to the world. ~~ So, from the time I pull into the parking lot (especially if I’m with my husband) my critical, legalistic, Stephanie eye notices every single half-dressed female around, and my mind starts working. Within seconds my face is all screwed up and I’m slicing and dicing people; making comments about this one and that one. In other words, I could say I’m slandering people that I don’t even know. Ewww!! In times like these when I catch me being oh so ugly, I praise God for the opportunity that each incident is to confess, stop what I’m thinking or saying and bless whoever it may be with a prayer. And in the times that I don’t catch myself, I thank God that I am still loved and still forgiven!!
So, I ask you again, how do you look at other people? Are you always finding fault? Do you always see the sin they do before you see the person they are? Are you quick or slow to speak truth or are you quicker to demonstrate grace?
Sisters, all of us have only to cast our gaze toward the Cross and remember that we were bought with a price. We all deserve hell. Instead we live longing for the day Christ will return. Praise God that we know His will, His character and His way demonstrated to us over and over again in His Word. Let’s go and do likewise.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith-more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire-may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. ~~1 Peter 1:3-9 ESV 1 Stephanie

How much more…?

A few nights ago, my husband was watching a show called “Human Weapons”. Two men were receiving higher level Karate skills training from experts in Okinawa, Japan. Initially they were observing the instructors with a group of young male students, I’m guessing around 13-18 years old.
What they witnessed was a group of about 50 students going through repetitive, synchronized movements. The narrator explained the purpose of these exercises, known as “Kata”, was to literally reprogram the brain so that the movements become automatic. He shared that by doing these exercises hundreds and hundreds of times they are reprogramming how the nerve synapses fire in the brain. The movements become subconscious, natural, requiring no thought.

Hmmmm!

You know where my mind went. If repetitive motions can reprogram the physiology of the brain HOW MUCH MORE can the word of the God reprogram our thinking!!! Let’s take a lesson from our Karate friends. How important that we, as vessels of God’s grace, become spiritual weapons for the Kingdom. We are in a spiritual battle. If we practice repetitive thinking on the Word of God, hundreds and hundreds of times until our thinking upon the things of God becomes automatic, we will be much more effective warriors.

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2

Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You. Psalm 119:11

Diane

Excuses, Excuses!

Yesterday I wrote you concerning the benefits of physical and spiritual exercise. I know you may have come up with your own excuses but here are the top ten excuses for not being physically or spiritually fit for that matter!

10. I really hate to exercise. Physically- do what you enjoy. Spiritually- if journaling is hard don’t try to write a book. Just write a letter to God. I bet you will write more then you think! Add singing to your quiet time even if you can’t sing! Be creative!

9. I’ve tried to exercise but I keep quitting. Physically- do what you can; start somewhere but don’t bite off more then you can chew! We quit when we try to do too much too soon. Spiritually- Don’t think you have to begin with an hour in prayer! Try a few minutes a day building consistency, add time as you progress.

8. I can’t afford a gym membership. Physically- God gave us two legs! Go for a walk! Spiritually- We can get caught up in the words of men thinking we need a lot of extras but God’s Word and a teachable heart asking for wisdom is all you need.

7. I’m not seeing any changes in my body. Physically- you didn’t gain weight overnight; it won’t come off overnight either. Spiritually- Trust God is at work in you even if you don’t see the changes right away. He began a good work in you; He will be faithful to complete it!

6. I don’t know how to exercise. Physically- Try an exercise video, book or website or a personal trainer. Spiritually- try THE Book, a recommended video; website or a sister in Christ.

5. I want to exercise but I’m too busy. Physically- Schedule the time, have your family join you so you are still spending time with them, use your lunch break to walk.
Spiritually- Schedule a quiet time into your day. Write it on the calendar if needed.

4. I can’t stay motivated. Physically- Remind yourself of your goals and what you need to do to reach them. Reward yourself when you reach a goal! Spiritually- What is your goal? How will you be different in 3 months? Who will you become because you spent time with Jesus? Time in the Word will reap rewards you can’t even think of right now!

3. Exercise hurts! Physically- You should not be in pain but feel a slight burn. Spiritually- You may not always be in pain but you may feel the burn of conviction!

2. I can’t make the commitment. Physically- Don’t think long term. Do what you can today. Start small work your way up. Spiritually- You are in a process. Start small and work your way up. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

1. I don’t have time. Physically- Inactive people have the same number of hours in a day as those who are active. Spiritually- The godliest person you know has the same amount of hours in a day as you do!

Funny, we don’t run out of excuses we just use the same ones over and over again! So get rid of your excuses!
Kathy