Tag Archive | Jesus

Significant Encounter Friday #9

Jan20

Significant Encounters of the Closest Kind – The Last of the Sisters

 It’s been a sad/happy week.

The last of the sisters was laid to rest.

Aunt Kit In Jersey

Image by Steve Bowbrick via Flickr

 Born in 1927, 1930 and 1937.

The eldest, my Aunt, had her second most significant encounter this week.

The middle, my Aunt, had hers in 2007.

The youngest, my Mom, had hers in 2001.

Second significant encounter you ask?

What was the first?

The moment when they trusted their lives to Christ.

The second , the day they got to enter into His presence forever.

unhindered by sick bodies and the cares of this world.

Entering into the joy of their Lord.

We will miss you.

Daughters, Sisters, Wives, Mothers, Aunts, Grandmothers,

Great Grandmothers.

Isaiah 57:2 (NIV)   Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.

 Philippians 1:21 (NIV)   For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Colossians 3:3  (NIV)  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

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So Much More

Jan16

It has been a heartbreaking time here in our country.

It is no secret that times are difficult.

Everyone reacts to difficult times in different ways.

 

Some use anger or withdrawal to cope.

Two sides of the same coin.  Both lead down the path of death. 

The death I refer to here is not a physical death, but a death of the soul.

Shutting down everything inside that might feel pain.

Some use their addictions to shield them from the pain of it all.

Eating, sleeping, drinking, drugs, sex, and some  things that are more craftily hidden like sports, reading, overwork, perfectionism.

The list goes on and on.  As many people that there are, there are that many combinations.

Sadly, more and more you see that both young and old choose suicide to escape the pain.

………………………..

As of late, upon rising in the morning, I have been tuning in to the streaming broadcast of the

Prayer Room at the International House of Prayer, Kansas City.

They have neat DVR feature that goes back seven whole hours.

You can repeat something that you liked or catch something you missed if you come in late for a set.

Beginning this way helps to set the day in a quiet perspective.

From it, comes a peace on the inside that presides during the day, no matter what that day holds.

………………………

Today, Saturday, January 14, 2011, I slept late and turned on the DVR for almost five hours earlier than when I got up. 

(I did not sleep that late, I just saw a set I liked that far back – Just so you know)

Justin’s set was amazing as usual, the it took an amazing turn, to which my heart was instantly drawn.

I worshipped along for a bit, and then began to write down some of the words they were singing.

I want to share some of them with you here.

Justin and his team were not singing ABOUT someone,

They were singing TO someone.

If you need this, then you know who you are.

My heart pounds in my chest as I hear these words again!

(For those who don’t know, this is called prophetic singing.

The singer sings what he believes the Lord is saying at that time.

All can be found in the Word of God, the Bible. 

If it cannot be found there, then we need not listen.)

Do not curse what I have created

You have so much to live for

Face your trials, press on,

Breakthrough is close

You were not created this way

You were created to be full of joy

Silence the voice of the accuser

Prophecy light and life

You have a destiny and hope for the future

Hope and future

You are fearfully and wonderfully made

“Repeat after me

Let me hear your voice

Just say my word back to me”

Says the Lord

“Even if you don’t feel it

I’ll take your words in my hand

I’ll speak the truth over you”

I am a son/daughter of God

(echo) Repeat after me

You adopted me

(echo) Repeat after me

 A resurrection is coming

(echo) Repeat after me

I am being changed

(echo) Repeat after me

In the twinkling of an eye

(echo) Repeat after me

Mortality swallowed up by immortality

(echo) Repeat after me

It is Your good pleasure to give me Yourself

And love me

(echo) Repeat after me

“Just say the word back to Me

Let me hear your voice”

(echo) Repeat after me

“Just say My word back to me”

The Lord is my strength

The Lord is my rock

The Lord is my shield

The Lord is my stronghold

And worthy of my praise

(echo) Repeat after me

He is the restorer of my soul

 

 

I was so moved by this.

I know it helped you.

Whoever you are.

 

(Singers singing again)

You have been marked with the signet ring of the king.

He sees every choice for righteousness.

This changes everything.

    Don’t determine your success by what you feel.

This changes everything.

 ———————-

There is so much to be lived for.

There is so much more after elementary school

There is so much more after middle school.

There is so much more after high school.

There is so much more after loss of a job.

There is so much more after a catastrophic disease.

There is so much more after the loss of a loved one.

There is so much more.

YOU are so much more.

So much more than you think.

Precious in the sight of the Lord you are.

………………………..

Being marked by a signet ring is a significant matter.

Signet rings are generally developed with a personal sign or signature.

They are a signal of wealth and status.

(information from e-how.com)

This changes everything!

You are His!

He has marked you with His eternal personal sign!

Marked you for His joy and love and grace.

Psalm 23  A psalm of David.

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Psalm 139 (NIV)

1 You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. 5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you. 23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

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Suggestions On Getting the Most Out Of …………………………

Jan11
King James Version of the Bible

Image via Wikipedia

I went to a new Bible study group today.

Really didn’t think I wanted to go.

But I was invited by someone who thought I should join in.

(Thank you, by the way)

 

It was replete with all of the introductory stuff.

You know.

Who are you?

Why did you come?

What do you hope to learn?

 

It was all good.

I don’t mind answering questions.

I certainly don’t mind hearing other people’s answers.

I never expected that God would get much expansion (http://wp.me/p1Deai-i9) through a list of

“Suggestions to get the most out of this study”.

Expanded I was.

 

Here’s the list;

  • Be prayerful   (Pray)
  • Be biblical   (Reference scriptures)
  • Be confidential   (Shhhh)
  • Be respectful   (Of others views and don’t interrupt)
  • Be discrete   (Don’t tell ALL the details, keep some to yourself. Don’t tell someone else’s story)
  • Be kind   (Don’t be rude)
  • Be mindful   (Be on time.  Be prepared)

There are seven items here.

Two I’m really good at.

Three I’m ok with.

One I work on daily.

One I’m terrible at.

I won’t say which is which,

I’ll keep that detail to myself.

 

Now I am well aware that this list is for this Bible study class,

but I believe that the principles carry over into just about any area of life we choose to apply it to.

 I’ve noted, as I’m quite sure that you have, the lack of these things in the daily world we live in, when I think about it at all.

 

Be prayerful?

Prayer to a lot of us in the general populace is an uncomfortable concept.

Many feel like they are speaking to the air, or just wishful thinking that someone is really out there to listen to them.

A strange, stuffy, legalistic notion that there is a strange, stuffy, legalistic God out there listening for us to speak to Him.

Psalm 6:9  The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer.

James 5:13 [The Prayer of Faith ] Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.

 

Be biblical? 

Quote a stuffy old book of rules written by men?

Who cares what that old book says anyway?

Proverbs 4:4 he taught me and said, “Lay hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands and you will live.

1 Thessalonians 4:18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.

 

Be confidential?

Why?  When everything we know, whether we want to or not, is broadcast on social media 24/7.

Some things should just be private.

 Jeremiah 37:17 Then King Zedekiah sent for him and had him brought to the palace, where he asked him privately, “Is there any word from the LORD?” “Yes,” Jeremiah replied, “you will be handed over to the king of Babylon.”

Luke 9:18 [Peter’s Confession of Christ] Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”

 

Be respectful?

We get everyone’s opinion it seems, whether we want to know it or not.

We talk and talk and let no one else get a word in edge wyes.    We don’t even take a breath.

1 Thessalonians 5:12 [Final Instructions ] Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you.

1 Peter 2:17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

 

Be discreet?

The dirtier, the better. 

Inquiring minds want to know.

    Details of private lives are broadcast during primetime.  Our Grandmothers would have fainted dead away if

they heard some of these scandalous things.       

    There seems to be no more “Behind closed doors”.

 Proverbs 12:13 An evil man is trapped by his sinful talk, but a righteous man escapes trouble.

Proverbs 20:19 A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much.

 

Be kind?

Have you been to shopping lately?

Have you seen how people treat their children?  Their spouses?  Their parents?

Ephesians 4:32   Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

 

Be mindful?

Employees unprepared, come in late, leave early.

They grumble because they are passed over for a raise.

In our churches, we do the same thing.

Then we grumble because the outcome isn’t to our liking, our lives are no different for our efforts.

2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,

a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

 

My personal prayer is that I will begin to honor God more in not just some of these ways, but all of them.

I also pray that you will consider these principles with me.

We can’t do anything about the entire world,

but we can do something about ourselves and our immediate surroundings.

Expand with me!

  *

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