take over

“He will NOT be added to your life. He comes in to take over or He does
not come in at all”.
He is not interested in being top of your list. He wants to BE the list. There is no second, no third, no competition. You are HIS. He takes over-or He isn't coming!
ALL FOR YOU

knowing you

I have been sitting in the Word "TO KNOW" for the last few days, just thinking about what the Bible says about KNOWING the Lord. It has been His desire from the beginning for us to KNOW HIM. It is why He has revealed Himself to us, sent His Son to rescue us, came to abide In us and will return again for us. All because He wants us to KNOW HIM. To be fully Known and to fully love Him. INTIMACY. Ironically, the word for to KNOW is YADA, which means intimacy. It is actually a Jewish Idiom for sex-meaning, two becoming one. He wants us to be ONE with Him.
I don't think we can truly fathom what that really looks like. We have glimpses of what the purity of intimacy might look like-in Covenant marriage and friendships, but even that to some degree can not compare with understanding what it truly would be like to be naked, unafraid and unashamed. Loved not matter what.
God's CHECED for us, His loving Kindness towards us because of Covenant is unceasing, everlasting, full of compassion and mercy-simply because He has sworn by Himself to reveal Himself to us. It is not based on anything we do, but solely on His love for us. Why? because He wants to allure us to KNOW Him, to YADA Him.
Knowing You, Jesus, Knowing You
There is no greater thing....
You're my all, You're the best
You're joy, my righteousness
and I love You Lord.
Isn't that the picture of Checed and Yada? NO greater thing....than to know and be known, fully loved, laying your life down for Him and for one another. Can this be attained....I am certainly working on it.
ALL FOR YOU

When it RAINS IT POURS

Okay, so I have been praying for rain since about November of last year. And my heart has been set on "spiritual" rain. Begging God to bring change, transformation from religious to intimate relationships. I have been all about getting naked before Him and allowing the fallow ground to be broken up in my life, so I could receive what the Lord has for us.
Well, when you pray for those kinds of things...you had better get ready. For one, the Lord broke up the fallow ground and then He began to rain. In fact, it rained out my eyes for nearly a month. I couldn't stop crying because of being so overwhelmed by what He was doing in me.
And now...I am absolutely blown away by what He is doing for us. He is raining down his benefits upon us. And we DO NOT deserve them. In fact, we don't even NEED them. It isn't as if we have been crying out in desperate need for "things". We have simply been crying out in desperate need for HIM. And the result...we got both!
Last week, the Lord gave us a suburban and boat. Yep, the Lord just plopped it in our laps and blessed our socks off. Jim was so excited. He has a MAN car. And the cool thing is it was such an answer to prayer. I had prayed only the week before that God would give us a car we liked to drive, for free. And then 8 days later...there it was...sitting in our driveway. But, not only a car...a boat! something for us play on with our family. Something to give us refuge. We weren't looking for either of these things. We were simply looking for Him and He gave us more...
If that weren't enough. God gave Jim a Harley last week. NO, we didn't buy one. God gave one to Jim-for free. He has wanted a motorcycle for years. It is the one thing he really enjoys and it helps him clear his mind of the cobwebs. But he has not chased after that dream. And then, out of the blue...we walk into the Harley shop and there is one sitting there with his name on it. God's CHECED(lovingkindess) towards us. We were awed and stunned. I stood there crying on Jim's shoulder as I realized that God's covenant love for us had just been expressed in the desire of his heart.
So, as we are reeling from the after shock of those things. We step back and ask what did we possibly do to deserve any of this? God reminded me...nothing...we don't deserve it. He just loves us. He just wants to lavish Himself on us as we chase after Him.
While sitting in that thought, thinking things could not get better, I take Drew to the orthodontist this morning to have his braces taken off. We had to pay the balance before they would do that. $450...we were having problems pulling that money together. So, when I got there and handed them my check and she wouldn't take it, I was a little baffeled. However, she began to explain that our debt had been paid. She was told to tell me that our church took care of the debt we owed. Which was SO cool. I honestly almost danced right there in the office...well, that is after I picked my jaw up off the floor. The LORD PROVIDED. And my son got to see the greatness of God and His provision. I will write more on that later...but for today...I am living proof that when you pray for rain and are seeking the Kingdom first...all these things ARE added. When it rains, it pours.
ALL FOR YOU

forget NOT HIS BENEFITS

So often, all we think about is what we have to give up in order to follow Christ. And there is CERTAINLY a cost that we must count in order to follow. But, I have been thinking a lot about what I GET...because I follow Him. This passage has been such an encouragement to me in that thought!

Ps 103:1-22
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, {bless} His holy name.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits;
3 Who pardons all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases;
4 Who redeems your life from the pit; who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
5 Who satisfies your years with good things, {so that} your youth is renewed like the eagle.
6 The LORD performs righteous deeds, and judgments for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel.
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
9 He will not always strive {with us} nor will He keep {His anger} forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 Just as a father has compassion on {his} children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
14 For He himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are {but} dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 When the wind has passed over it, it is no more; and its place acknowledges it no longer.
17 But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children's children,
18 To those who keep His covenant, and who remember His precepts to do them.
19 The LORD has established His throne in the heavens; and His sovereignty rules over all.
20 Bless the LORD, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word!
21 Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, you who serve Him, doing His will.
22 Bless the LORD, all you works of His, in all places of His dominion; bless the LORD, O my soul!
(NAS)

ALL FOR YOU