Fruit

Consider the fruit trees the Lord gave us.

Do you see them strain to fill out the fruits on their branches?

No.

Fruit is what they produce naturally. There is no straining or worrying that they might not. We have to simply be patient for the right seasons to come around for that particular fruit. Not all fruit is borne and tasted of at the same time. The Lord does not wish us to strive and labour to produce fruit. If it is not given the right time and conditions, the fruit will lack sweetness or satisfaction to the one that tastes it.

Do you ever see a tree eat of its own fruit?

No.

The fruit the Lord grows into and out of our character is not for ourselves. The Lord uses that in and through us to bless others with a sweetness and satisfaction. The body of Christ (not just in the church one goes to, but the whole body) is there to edify one another. The greatest sweetness we could give another is love. To love another is to become available. In all circumstances. Available for the one that has broken a limb, to help them in practical ways. Available to pray with when another is going through a hard time. Available to impart wisdom when another is needing guidance. Available to listen when another needs someone to be with, not necessarily speak to. To offer love is life's greatest gift. To offer it freely, without expectation, is a supernatural trait.

Praise You In This Storm

I just love these lyrics and can very closely relate to them.


Praise You In This Storm - Casting Crowns

I was sure by now
God You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear Your whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

And I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to you
And you raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can't find You

But as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The Maker of Heaven and Earth

Leeland - Carried to the table

I have had this song in my head for weeks, and I love it. It gives me hope that my God is with me, and carrying me through every trial. He gives me the strength to carry on when I feel as though I can't.


Wounded and forsaken
I was shattered by the fall
Broken and forgotten
Feeling lost and all alone
Summoned by the King
Into the Master's courts
Lifted by the Savior
And cradled in His arms

I was carried to the table
Seated where I don't belong
Carried to the table
Swept away by His love
And I don't see my brokenness anymore
When I'm seated at the table of the Lord
I'm carried to the table
The table of the Lord

Fighting thoughts of fear
And wondering why He called my name
Am I good enough to share this cup
This world has left me lame
Even in my weakness
The Savior called my name
In His Holy presence
I'm healed and unashamed
You carried me, my God You carried me

2 Corinthians 12:9

And He said to me: "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness".
2 Corinthians 12:9

The more we read the Word of God, the more He reveals Himself to us. That's obvious. On the other side of that, it means we are drawing closer to the light, making our shortcomings and filth that much more obvious to ourselves. We realise God sees them so much more clearly than we ever can. He could already see how deeply wretched we are before we even realised. We realise that He loves us in spite of that.

I have a tendency to shy away from God once something has been shown to me, knowing God can see it. The Lord reminds me that He already knew that about me, and there is a lot more where that came from. The hard part is giving it up to God, so He can clean it up or remove it completely.

Weakness is not something the worldly man would ever aspire to. It is seen as very negative and dehumanising in ways. The one who lives for Christ takes joy in their weakness, knowing that God is the one who will get satisfaction from using the weakness as a vessel to show His strength and power, ultimately giving Him glory.

The Lord speaks to me in images and pictures. Take this as a for instance. You have a table you need to move. It's too heavy to move by yourself, you need help. It's the difference of asking your friend, who is more than capable of moving the table by himself 'Can you help me move this table please?' and asking 'Can you move this table please?' By taking yourself out of the situation completely and allowing your friend to move the table by himself, you are allowing him to take all the credit. If you were do to it together, people would be asking why you are there, when you don't need to be. Your friend probably knows this to, but allows you to 'help' because he doesn't want to stamp on your pride which you seem insistent on pursuing.

Allow God to move your tables. Allow Him to move all your heart's furniture around and throw things out. Let Him clean. Don't try to help Him, He knows what He's doing. He knows where all the 'secret' passages are that link the cabins of your heart's chambers. His order is right. You may not see why He does things in the order that He does. It's not always our business to find out. We can trust Him to do these things for us. He can reach places we can't. The cleaning process of our heart's is a lifetime's work. Never expect Him to be done. He will reveal crevices full of filth we didn't know existed!

Stay Blessed!

Psalm 61:1-8

After an emotioally draining weekend, a sweet sister sent me this, this very monday morning: I love it. The first 2 verses powerfully spoke to me.

Psalm 61

To the Chief Musician. On a stringed instrument. A Psalm of David.

1 Hear my cry, O God;

Attend to my prayer.

2 From the end of the earth I will cry to You,

When my heart is overwhelmed;

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

3 For You have been a shelter for me,

A strong tower from the enemy.

4 I will abide in Your tabernacle forever;

I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. Selah

5 For You, O God, have heard my vows;

You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name.

6 You will prolong the king’s life,

His years as many generations.

7 He shall abide before God forever.

Oh, prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him!

8 So I will sing praise to Your name forever,

That I may daily perform my vows.

Hosea 6:6

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,

and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

Hosea 6:6

This was Hosea's heart. I love how it is as relevant today as it was then!

I love how he would desire acknowledgement of God instead of Burnt offerings. God doesn't want our hands without our heart attached.

Hebrews 12:2

I love this verse. It's what I try to do, fail to do enough and aspire to continually do.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance 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 has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebews 12:2

Isaiah 40:31

This is a beautiful promise, through which the Lord gives His people hope and courage -


...but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:31

Painted Toenails!

After a long day at work last week I came home and took off my socks. I gained a little bit of happiness when I saw what I saw – my freshly painted toenails! To men, this may seem weird, but you ladies know what I’m on about- It’s the little bit of contentment that we get when we get our toenails freshly painted. It may seem minuscule and meaningless, but God taught me something through that little bout of excitement that I got from the revealing of my like-new toenails.

When I open up the Word that He gave me, do I have that same excitement and expectancy that I get from when I see my toenails revealed for the first time after they have been painted?? Not all the time. In fact, not most of the time.

Its time to re-evaluate how much I crave the words that my Lord has given me. I need to hunger and thirst after the words of my Jesus – the same God and Friend that died so that I could live. Why should I be craving this?? In what way can it benefit me??

My challenge to you is to find out. The book God has blessed us with has the words of eternal life, joy and truth. Why would you not want to read this??

Matt 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Psalm 42:1
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.

Want to get to know God?? Read His word. He gave it to us so we could learn from Him and soak up what He has laid out. Be excited for today- what God wants to teach you and show you. Be excited for the opportunities and desires He has given you!

Purity

A friend of mine sent me an email the other day saying that they were going to pray for me for several things, one of which was that the Lord would help me stay pure. I had never heard anyone say that before, but it got me thinking.

Pure in what exactly? Genuinely pure in everything - the Lord took my mind to 1 Tim 4v12 which everyone knows –
Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

The prayer for a brother or sister to be pure has massive implications and I had never thought of that before. Sure I’ve prayed that a brother or sister would keep themselves pure when they are in a place of physical temptation, but its always been for a specific time.
I want to now to pray this when I pray for a brother or sister, to be:
Pure in Speech
Pure in Life
Pure in Love
Pure in Faith

And some other things that gripped me:
Pure in Attitude
Pure in Song
Pure in Emotion
Pure in Knowledge

And that old saying ‘See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil’
Knowing that someone has prayed that I will kept pure has dramatically changed my mindset on how I view things, and stopped my trail of thought when it could wonder to things it shouldn’t. And not finishing a joke I’m reading because it may not finish well.

In doing this and allowing myself to come under these thought restrictions I have realized that my mind wonders a lot more than it should – not necessarily to ‘impure’ thoughts but to things that really don’t actually matter that much. Am I taking every thought captive and bringing that to Christ’s attention and asking His help to keep my mind focused on Him?? In my devotional reading I read Hebrews 3:1 a while ago and it blew me away - Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.

Stay Pure folks! :O)

Amazing Grace!

One of my all-time favourite songs. There are songs I know I am guilty of singing without even thinking of the words, but this one I have always highly admired and worshipped to. Pray and sing it as a prayer!


Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found,
was blind but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved;
how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed!

The Lord has promised good to me,
his word my hope secures;
he will my shield and portion be
as long as life endures.

Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
'tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

The world shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun refuse to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Shall be forever mine.

When we've been there ten thousand years,
bright shining as the sun,
we've no less days to sing God's praise
than when we'd first begun.

Trials are Preparation

Awesome!! We complain about the cross we bear but don't realizeit is preparing us for the dip in the road that God can see and we can't.

Whatever your cross,whatever your pain,

there will always be sunshine after the rain

Perhaps you may stumble, perhaps even fall;

But God's always ready to answer your call

He knows every heartache, sees every tear,

a word from His lips can calm every fear

Your sorrows may linger throughout the night

But suddenly vanish dawn's early light

The Savior is waiting somewhere above,

to give you His grace and send you His love.

*Taken from some random website that I know not of.

What is the Work of God?

What is the work of God??

This is the work of God:


"Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."
Spoken by God - John 6:29


...and who, I hear you ask, did God send??...


"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him."
1 John 4:9

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
1 John 4:10

"And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world."
1 John 4:14

Jonathan and his armour bearer

I've stolen this straight from the mouth of Chuck Smith - I love this guy - just amazing teachings!!



I was listening to this on the way to work and it really spoke to me..I love it!!





1 Sam.14:1 -

Now it happened one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison that is on the other side.” But he did not tell his father.



1 Sam 14:6-13

Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the LORD will work for us. For nothing restrains the LORD from saving by many or by few.” So his armorbearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with you, according to your heart.” Then Jonathan said, “Very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them. If they say thus to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them. But if they say thus, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up. For the LORD has delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us.” So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden.” Then the men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armorbearer, and said, “Come up to us, and we will show you something.” Jonathan said to his armorbearer, “Come up after me, for the LORD has delivered them into the hand of Israel.” And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armorbearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armorbearer killed them.



Here is the commentary by Chuck:



Jonathan the son of Saul woke up early one morning. He got to thinking, no one else was awake yet. He got to thinking "You know, there's a whole army of the Philistines over there. Maybe God wants to give Israel the victory over that army of the Philistines today. Now if the Lord wants to give the victory to Israel over those Philistines, He doesn't need a whole army. He can give the victory to one man as well as six hundred or to two. It really doesn't make any difference to God whether we have a huge army, or whether we just have a few if God wants to give the victory to Israel."


He was just lying there thinking about these kinds of wild thoughts. "After all God is great, and the greatness and the power of God, He doesn't need a whole army, He can give the victory to just two men."


So he woke up his armorbearer. He said, "I've been thinking about something really weird and wild, I want to pass it by you. I've been thinking if God wants to give the victory to Israel today over the Philistines, He doesn't need the whole army. He can give the victory to just a couple guys. Why don't we go over there and see if God wants to give the victory to Israel today." Talk about a venture in faith. I love 'em.


So he and the armourbearer dressed quietly and they slipped out of camp while everybody else was still sleeping. Jonathan on the way towards the Philistines said, "Now we want to make sure God's in this thing."


"So when we get near the garrison of the Philistines, when the centurions spot us, if they say, 'Hey you fellas come up here we'll show you a thing or two.' Then we'll know that God wants to give the victory to Israel, and we'll go at them. But if they say, 'Wait you guys, we're gonna come down and show you a thing or two.' Then we'll know that God doesn't want to give the victory to Israel and we'll get out of here as fast as we can."


So as they got over near the garrison of the Philistines, and the centurion spotted these two guys coming, they said, "Look at those stupid fools coming right up here to the camp. Hey you guys come up here, we'll show you a thing or two." John said, "All right man let's go." It said, "They started climbing with their hands and feet," really just scrambling up that hill to get into the camp of the Philistines. Man, they jumped right in the middle of the garrison. Jonathan started knocking the guys over, and his armourbearer was running them through. About a half acre of ground, they wiped out twenty of the Philistines and the rest of the guys began waking up, they were all discomfited. They began to swing at each other. They began to run and flee, and over on the other side of the valley old Saul finally woke up, and he rubbed his eyes, and he looked across, and he saw the Philistines all running. He saw the battles going on. He saw two guys in the middle just really wiping them out.


He said, "Number off quick who's missing?" They numbered off, and they said, "It's Jonathan and his armourbearer."

Wow - how crazy is that faith - going against what is a certain death situation without God..but they had the realisation that God was in it - and if God was in it, anything was possible - I love that!!

Am I a Fireman Yet?

An uplifting story that was sent to me - just amazing! :O)

In Phoenix, Arizona, a 26 year-old mother stared down at her 6 year-old son, who was dying of terminal leukemia.

Although her heart was filled with sadness, She also had a strong feeling of determination. Like any parent, she wanted her son to grow up & Fulfill all his dreams. Now, that was no longer possible..

The leukemia would see to that. But she still wanted her son's dream to come true.




She took her son' s hand and asked, 'Billy, did you ever think about what you wanted to be once you grew up? Did you ever dream and wish what you would do with your life?'



Mommy, 'I always wanted to be a fireman when I grew up.'




Mom smiled back and said, 'Let's see if we can make your wish come true.'



Later that day she went to her local fire Department in Phoenix, Arizona, where she met Fireman Bob, who had a heart as big as Phoenix!





She explained her son's final wish and asked if it might be possible to give her 6 year-old son a ride around the block on a fire engine.



Fireman Bob said, 'Look, we can do better than that. If you'll have your son ready at seven o'clock Wednesday morning, we'll make him an honorary Fireman for the whole day. He can come down to the fire station, eat with us, go out on all the fire calls, the whole nine yards!



And if you'll give us his sizes, we'll get a real fire uniform for him, with a real fire hat - not a toy - one with the emblem of the Phoenix Fire Department on it, a yellow slicker like we wear and rubber boots.'



'They're all manufactured right here in Phoenix, so we can get them fast.'





Three days later Fireman Bob picked up Billy, dressed him in his uniform and escorted him from his hospital bed to the waiting hook and ladder truck.



Billy got to sit on the back of the truck and help steer it back to the fire station. He was in heaven.




There were three fire calls in Phoenix that day and Billy got to go out on all three calls.




He rode in the different fire engines, the Paramedic's' van, And even the fire chief's car.




He was also videotaped for the Local news program.



Having his dream come true, With all the love and attention that was lavished upon him, so deeply touched Billy, that he lived three months longer than any doctor thought possible.

One night all of his vital signs began to drop dramatically and the head nurse, who believed in the hospice concept - that no one should die alone - began to call the family members to the hospital.



Then she remembered the day Billy had spent as a Fireman, so she called the Fire Chief and Asked if it would be possible to send a fireman in uniform to the hospital to be with Billy as he made his transition.



The chief replied, 'We can do better than that. We'll be there in five minutes. Will you please do me a favor?



When you hear the sirens screaming and see the lights flashing, will you announce over the PA system that there is not a fire?'



'It's the department coming to see one of its finest members one more time. And will you open the window to his room?'



About five minutes later a hook and ladder truck arrived at the hospital and extended its ladder up to Billy's third floor open window-------- 16 fire-fighters climbed up the ladder into Billy's room.




With his mother's permission, they hugged him and held him and told him how much they LOVED him. With his dying breath, Billy looked up at the fire chief and said,


'Chief, am I really a fireman now?'


'Billy, you are- and the Head Chief, Jesus, is holding your hand,' the chief said.



With those words, Billy smiled and said, 'I know, He's been holding my hand all day, and The angels have been singing.'



He closed his eyes one last time.


Uplifting stories are one of the best gifts we receive. There is no cost, but a lot of rewards, let's continue to uplift one another~True Story!!

..being in the way, the Lord led me..

And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master's brethren.
Genesis 24:27

Notice this - Abraham's servant was 'in the way' When God led him.

For us, it has the same application - we need to be 'In the way'

"what does that mean?" I hear you say..check this out:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 14:6

This basically means that we stay in Jesus. If we abide in Him, God will lead us in the right direction - along the path He wants us to go down..being the right and true one!


I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.
Isaiah 42:16


He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.
Proverbs 25:9

I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths.
Proverbs 4:11