We interrupt this program to give you a special report!

Have you ever watched a program on TV and an announcer proclaimed, "We interrupt this program to give you a special report!"? That's exactly what I want to do. I want to get more feedback on my last post about Jesus stirring people and then give my thoughts about it, but I have to wait on that and blog what God is stirring in my heart this morning.

I woke up early (earlier than my flesh would have liked!) to that still small voice saying, "Seek My face!" I went to my computer and did a search in the Bible. Here are the verses I found:

2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJ if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Psalms 27:8 NKJ When You said, "Seek My face," My heart said to You, "Your face, Lord, I will seek."

Hosea 5:15 NKJ I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me."

I know that right now in light of the US presidential elections, we HAVE to do this! It's not just presidential elections, it is elections for congress, laws to protect marriage, the unborn, and may we not forget the future justices of the Supreme Court that will make rulings on many values we Christians hold dear. I pray that God will stir His people (ahh, where have we heard that before?!) and draw us to seek His face.

Now I want to hear from you about what you think that means to "seek God's face" and why that is so important. Hopefully we'll have more people chiming in, so keep your posts somewhat brief. I look forward to reading what everyone says!

Jesus "stirs up the people."

When I was reading the Bible this morning, something jumped out from the page at me. This time I want to get feedback from my blog readers, so please take a couple of minutes and send a response. The verse is Luke 23:5. The setting is when the people took Jesus to Pilate to get Him crucified. Pilate said that he found no fault in Him, but the people went on to tell Pilate why they thought he should be killed. The first argument they had was that Jesus "stirs up the people". This made them angry. What I want to know is what do you think that means and why were the people so angry about it?

Are We Listening?

Recently I had a friend email me and asked me to pray about a situation she was facing. When I responded to her, I asked her if she had asked God about it. She replied, "No I haven't. I guess I really don't want to hear what He has to say, because I'm afraid He's going to ask me to do something I don't want to do." Well, at least she's honest!

I came across a verse in my morning Bible reading today that addresses the issue of not listening to God. It is found in Ephesians 4:17-18 in the New Century Version: 17.In the Lord's name, I tell you this. Do not continue living like those who do not believe. Their thoughts are worth nothing. 18.They do not understand, and they know nothing, because they refuse to listen. So they cannot have the life that God gives. Now I know this is talking about unbelievers, but it is a warning to us to not be as the unbelievers who refuse to listen. We all tend to fall into the trap of not listening to God--whether it be because of stubborness or because of distractions of this world. When that happens, we lack some of the fullness of life God desires for us to have.

May we stop and ponder these things. I pray that this is a reminder to you, as it is to me, to turn to God and let Him "speak" to us in the many ways that only He can....be it circumstances, through Bible reading, through other people, or in that still, small voice in our spirits. Even if there are times He asks us to do something out of our comfort zone, the end result will be joy and abundant life!

In Our Weakness, His Strength is Made Perfect!

This past weekend my plans to attend a retreat with the ladies at my church were thwarted. Instead I found myself in the bed with an upper respiratory infection. I spent many hours in the bed. I know this is a reminder to slow down! There comes a time when our bodies finally let us know that we have to stop and rest.

During this time I have pondered the whole thing about being weak. It is times like this that I am reminded that in and of myself, I can do nothing! Then I remember the verse in 2 Corinthians 9 where God tells us that His grace is sufficient for us and that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Look at what the Message Bible says: 2 Cor. 12:9-10 - "and then he told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size - abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become."

Then I was taken to Hebrews 11, the chapter in the Bible that is known as "The Hall of Fame of Faith." This chapter lists such Biblical heroes as Noah, Abraham, Sara and others and how they had faith. In verses 32-40, the author of Hebrews goes on to say that there were many others that he did not have time to go into detail about but he listed some of the things they did that proved their faith. Look what he said they did in verses 33 and 34: "who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." Did you see it?! Right in the middle of the list of subduing kingdoms, stopping lions' mouths, and being valient in battle is what jumped out of the page at me: "out of weakness were made strong!" I think that point of faith comes when in our weak times, we stop and say, "Yes, Lord, I thank you for my weaknesses that remind me that I can do nothing without you. I surrender my weakness to allow Your strength to flow through me!"

Yes, I do thank God that He has touched my body and that I am out of the bed today, but I thank Him even more for the reminder of His strength that is carrying me!

Lord, I pray that my weakness will be an opportunity to excercise faith--faith that shows Your strength to those around me!

Hallelujah!

A friend of mine recently brought to my attention that the word "Hallelujah" was the same in all languages. Imagine that! The word that literally means to praise Yahweh (Jehovah, God) is spoken by people from different nations, cultures, and languages. How awesome that will be when my Jesus comes again, and we all bow down and say in one voice, "Hallelujah!"

Too often we just say words in the Christian lingo without any thought of what it indeed means. "Hallelujah" is no exception. We need to stop and realize what we are saying when we utter "hallelujah." I think of the word, "hallowed." God is so holy! Now when I say "hallelujah," I think, "How holy, worthy and pure You are, oh Lord Most High!" It is so refreshing to be in His presence and allow Him to wash away our impurities! It draws me to want to be holy and please Him.

You might think that coming into the presence of the Most Holy God would cause feelings of guilt and condemnation. Yes, if we enter in focusing on ourselves and how miserably we have failed, we may feel that way. However, if we enter in focusing on how great God is and how much we just want to be with Him, we will feel nothing but Him drawing us to Himself and giving us a desire to surrender all that garbage in our lives to Him in exchange for His unconditional, totally forgiving love! With that comes a desire to be with Him more and live a life that will reflect His light to the darkness of this world.

Think about that next time you utter, "Hallelujah!"

Keeping an Eternal Vision

I had the awesome privilege of attending the annual Servanthood Ministries Convention September 18-20 in New Boston, Texas. The theme of the convention was "Keeping and Eternal Vision." That is exactly what I was motivated to do as I left! I have such a desire now to look to God and let go of distractions.

I have been attending this convention since 2000, and I never cease to be amazed at how very real God's presence is manifested like a blanket of peace over the conferencees and like a geizer of joy springing up from within each individual heart. It is an experience that one has to be present to really know what I am talking about.

In ministry I get the feeling that I am pouring out to people as I share the love of God I have deep within. There comes a time when I have to pull away from the crowd and get alone with the Father as Jesus did to get poured into again. That's what God let me do when I went to the Servanthood Ministries convention. Thank God for filling my tank to be able to go out and pour into hurting people's lives even more!

One of the highlights of the convention for me was when a youth group from a local church ministered to the crowd with a human video to the song, "We Sing to the Nations." The young people had flags from different countries. The worship leader then got up and asked someone to hold the American Flag. The microphone was then open to anyone who felt led to pray for our country. I was one of the ones who went up to pray. I have been stirred to pray for the church in America for racial reconciliation, especially during this election. I asked a great African American friend of mine to come up to the stage. I then took her by the hand and began to pray for racial prejudism between whites and blacks in the church to be torn down. I then faced my friend, looked her in the eye, and said through tears, "On behalf of all the whites in the church, please forgive us!" She then took the microphone and said, "On behalf of my brothers and sisters, we release you from responsibility." There was more to the prayers, but bottom line, a real sincerity rang out from both sides, and the audience was moved and agreed with us in prayer.

Please join with me as we continue to pray for racial reconciliation in the church. Pray also that believers will wake up and set their focus on eternity! If they do, the racial issue will automatically be resolved!

Fireproof - The Movie

I just went to see a preview of the movie "Fireproof" starring Kirk Cameron. It is AWESOME!! It comes out in theaters next week. It's a movie that I got into from the beginning and it kept my attention to the very end. I laughed. I cried. It's also a movie that you don't have to be afraid your children will see or hear something they shouldn't. I encourage you to go see it and let me know how you like it! Go to www.fireproofthemovie.com for more info.