~In His Presence

This story like scene has been going around in my mind for a while and just a few days ago I wrote it out. Read them through. In a million years from now, where will you be?

{Taken from Matthew 7:22-23, 25:31-46}

The room was cold and still. There I stood-alone. A hooded figure flitted around me, bringing to everyone’s attention my failures and sins. I could not look up. The shame of my sin weighed on me heavily. What could I say? It was true.
  The black cape on the hooded figure swirled around him as he brought accusation after accusation against me, till finally he flung his hand towards me with a slender finger pointing, he hissed “Guilty!”
  All eyes now rose to the seat where the heavenly Father, the King of glory, sat waiting. Slowly He rose up in all His majesty and glory, and stepped forward.
  I lifted my eyes up to see Him staring back. But as I watched, I noticed He wasn't looking at me, but behind me. Watching His eyes I saw them harden, and with that He turned away. My heart froze in fear and I cried out “Lord! Didn't I teach in your name? And by your name cast out devils? With your name didn't I do many wonderful things?” Rushing forward I reached out to take a hold of His robe, but before I could, two heavenly beings pulled me back. “Lord!” I cried out again. He stopped, squared His shoulder, and replied “I never knew you.” Then without even looking back He commanded “Depart from me, you that work iniquity!”
  At His command the beings drug me away, out of His presence and away from His love forever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The room was still. There I stood-alone. A hooded figure flitted around me, bringing to everyone’s attention my failures and sins. I could not look up. It was true.
  The black cape on the hooded figure swirled around him as he brought accusation after accusation against me, till finally he flung his hand towards me with a slender finger pointing, he hissed “Guilty!”
  All eyes now rose to the seat where the heavenly Father, the King of glory, sat waiting. Slowly He rose up in all His majesty and glory, and stepped forward.
  I lifted my eyes up to see Him staring back. But as I watched, I noticed He wasn't looking at me, but behind me. A smile spread across His face. Suddenly I felt such a calm; a peace that went completely beyond my understanding. Almost…almost as if someone were there behind me, standing with me. Looking over my shoulder I saw Him! There was someone behind me! The Prince! My Savior who died for me! Stepping forward, He extended a hand towards me. It was marred and bruised, and in the center of the wrist there was an ugly black scar. Looking up into His face I saw tears in His eyes, but even more than that-love. Such complete love and…peace.
   Slowly I raised my hand and took a hold of His, and Oh, there was such power in His hold! He then turned to the King and spoke “Father, this is my child. I have bought her with my blood. She is free!
   Then He looked back to me and said while taking both my hands in His “Come, ye blessed of my Father! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in, naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came unto me.”
   Confused I looked down, “But Lord, I’m afraid you must be thinking of someone else.” I said while shaking my head. “When did I ever see you as a stranger and take you in? Or naked and clothe you? And when were you sick or in prison that I came to see you?”
   Turning me towards the people, He smiled and extended a hand out over them. “In as much as you have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me!”    

~Called, chosen, and faithful

(Photo credit-Tashia)

I was glancing over Revelation when I came upon this verse: "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful." That made me think that these are qualifications for who will go to be with Him.
1. They are called. (Isaiah 4:1b)
But do you know, everyone is called. God gives everyone the opportunity to come to the knowledge and understanding of Himself. Otherwise He would not be just.
2. They are chosen. (Eph. 1:4)
Again, I believe everyone is chosen. It's just that not everyone accepts. (2 Peter 3:9)
Here comes the big one.
3. They are faithful. Can that be said of me? Will that be said of me?
When I meet the Father face to face will He be able to say "Well done thou good and faithful servant!" Or will He turn His back on me and say "I never knew you." I think those are the scariest words anyone will ever hear. Because at that point there will be no hope. It is sealed.
  But we are not there yet! We still have a chance! While there is breath, there is hope. So I wanted to say this:
How you live today is going to determine where you spend eternity.
What you believe today is going to determine where you spend eternity.
How you treat others today is going to determine where you spend eternity.
Your life RIGHT NOW is vital! The world tells you "You're young so live it up!" When you are older you can settle down and get serious. What does God say?
Ecc. 11:9-10 says "Rejoice, O young man, in the days of thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou; that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement. 
Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity."
  OK so you may not have been faithful in the past. Don't give up there! Confess your sin, turn away from it, and move on to what God has really called you to!

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.
.......in the days of thy middle age
.......in the days of thy old age 

~Are you willing?

We are all faced with this question. Are we willing to be used by God? Where ever He leads, will you follow? Where ever He sends, will you go? Do you know that if you are a Christian you have already answered this question? When you accepted Christ into your heart and life you agreed to let Him be the guide. So are you living by that? 

What do you consider is being used of God and serving Him? Helping out an elderly person? Giving money to a needy family? Yeah those are definitely good things, but if that is all you do, you're not entirely allowing God to use you. Both those examples were physical needs. So what about spiritual needs? How often do you minister to people's heart and soul instead of their bodies? There are sick and dying people everywhere. The problem is that there are even more spiritually sick and dying people out there going to hell every day. Yes, God does ask us to help others sometimes by...mowing their lawn, but really what lasting good is that if we don't stop to take the time to encourage them and show them we care? 

 

 Jesus asked Peter "Do you love me?" And of course Peter said "Yes." How did Jesus respond? He said "Then feed my sheep." I don't think He meant physically.  

A Higher Calling

I'm here for a purpose, I'm here with a calling

To encourage the week, and lift up the falling

God's counting on me to trust and obey

And with His help I'll go all the way

I'll give my mouth to being His voice

My hands I'll give to His sovereign choice

My feet to go where He wants me to be

My eyes to have pity on lost souls I see

My heart to those that are hurting within

And show truth to those that are struggling with sin

So Lord I ask for strength from you

To continue my journey, your will to do

~Peace I leave with you

"Peace I leave with you"

The Father says to me

"Not as the world giveth

For I give freely

Let not your heart be troubled

I'm bigger than any fear

Do not be afraid

For I am always near

Will you please just trust?

I'm waiting to show my power

Just cry out to me, child

I'm listening every hour

You don't know how it hurts
When you do not come to me
If you look into my face
The tears in my eyes you'll see

My body was scarred for you
Yet you seem not to care
You go to all your friends
But don't come to me and share

Yes, I do know them already
But I want to hear your voice
I want you to come to me
I want it to be your choice

Forcing you is not my will
I just simply call
But if you do not heed my voice
I will cease to speak at all

You don't know how long I'll wait
So please don't delay
My face will light up with a smile
When you come to me and pray"

God can take care of you. Do you believe that? He can take care of your money and your health, your family and your things. He is all powerful. He is all mighty. So many times we limit God because we do not believe he can do everything. We don't ask Him to help our financial situation, but we will go to a bank and get a loan. We don't go to Him begging to know why we have a sickness and for Him to heal it, but we do run to the doctor and get a prescription to fix it. What are we telling Him when we do that? Do we really trust God? Do we really cast our cares upon Him? Because He does care for us and wants to show us He cares. We need to put down our feelings of relying on man for help and let God show us His power.
  Now I'm not saying going to the doctor is wrong but first I would encourage you to ask God: Is there a reason why you are letting this happen? or Is this a consequence for allowing some sin in my life? Everything boils down to our relationship with God. Are we where we are supposed to be?
Is my heart right with God?

~Being a "one-man-woman" part 1

Are you a one man woman? Is your heart dedicated to waiting for the "one" man God has for you?
Maybe you don't understand what that means. Let me break it down a bit. To me (in my words) it's saving yourself completely; your heart, soul, mind, body, AND emotions. (So many people tend to forget about that last one.)
First off you will have to believe that God has one and ONLY one man out there for you. (IF it is His will for you to marry at all.) If {HE} is God's will for you, {HE} will be perfect for you. No, I didn't say {HE'd} be perfect. Just perfect for you in God's eyes. God knows the exact partner you need to help you grow spiritually and who will be your best battle partner. Together you will be committed to furthering God's kingdom and bringing glory and honor to Him. It's not something to take lightly.
Are you committed to waiting for that one man? It's not just that though, are you committed to waiting for God's best in your life?
Are you a Christian? So do you really have a choice in the matter? Good isn't good enough for God. Neither is better. God's best is really the only option when it comes right down to it.

Can you trust God enough to wait on His perfect will?

~A Christian life

“The Christian life can be explained only in terms of Jesus Christ,

and if your life as a Christian can still be explained in terms of

you-your personality, your willpower, your gift, your talent, your

money, your courage, your scholarship, your dedication, your

sacrifice, your anything-then although you may have the

Christian life, you are not yet living it.”

~Ian Thomas

Can you be a Christian without living out a Christ filled life?
I don’t believe you can. In James 2, it is clearly spelled out. Starting in verse 14 and going through 17:

“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them ‘Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?’

Even so faith, if it hath not works is dead, being alone.”

Are you walking/living in the spirit? Does your life look any different the those around you? Do people know when they pass you on the street that you are a follower of Jesus Christ? Or do you just blend in with everyone else and simply go with the flow?
God calls us to be different! He calls us to stand out! He calls us to shine His light and make a difference. We can’t help anyone if there really isn’t a difference from our lives to theirs. Do you have a life that shows hope and radiates God’s love and peace?
Can people see a difference in You?
Do your words and your actions line up or do you just talk the talk and forget about the walk? If you really have something people will be able to see it. Do you live the same way throughout the week as you do on Sundays?
OK. All that is pretty much the outward stuff. Appearances. But what about your heart? Do you follow God’s commands so that you wont get His punishments or so you will get His blessing? Or do you do it because God asks you to and you love Him so much you want to obey Him? Where is you heart in all this? Is you heart really in it or do you just kinda put on the act? Oh, by the way, do you know what the Greek word for actor is? Hypocrite. We all know what God thinks of them. Could that describe you at all? I’m sure in some ways it could describe me, I’m included in all this. I’m asking you these things not to judge or condemn, but to get you to look inside yourself. Do you live what you believe and do you believe what you live? I would encourage you to go ask God right now to show the areas in you life that don’t line up or that aren’t pleasing to Him. Be open and broken before Him and He will show you. There may even be things you don’t want to hear or see about yourself, so how concerned are you with being where God wants you to be?

 “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.” Psalm 40:1-4

~Lost Eyes

Sorry about the winter picture ya'll but I didn't feel like going and taking one right now!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I see through your eyes. There's an emptiness inside.

A longing for something, and you don't know what for.

I've been there before. Your heart is a door.

Many people have come through, they've hurt and used you.

Now you're left in pieces, your heart is cold as stone.

You search for a reason, to why you're all alone.

Lost eyes! Searching for something.

Trying to break free from the pain.

Lost eyes! Search no longer, Jesus is the answer!

Look to Him and He'll remove the shame.

Lost eyes!

Now you've turned to Jesus and He's removed the pain.

He's filled you with His love, and your life He has changed.

Your eyes are full of life and as you go each day.

You see their lost eyes as they pass by your way. 

But now you hold the answer deep within your heart.

Bring them to Jesus, the darkness soon will part.

Lost eyes! Searching for something.

Trying to break free from the pain.

Lost eyes! Search no longer, Jesus is the answer!

Look to Him and be saved today!

Lost eyes!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Is there someone you know, who treats you very unkindly? They always seem upset and like they delight in hurting you? I want to share something with you: Hurt people, hurt people. Can you grasp that? Read it again: Hurt people, hurt people. A lot of times we see the outward things-how they behave. What we fail to see is what is going on, on the inside. Deep down inside that "bully" is a person who is hurting. When they are hurting, one way they try get rid of it, is by taking it out on someone else. If you look close enough, you will see a person who is screaming out "I don't feel loved." or "I don't feel accepted." It seems that when we come in contact with with a "nasty" person we have the tendency to write them off or think "Boy, they have problems!" Do we love God enough to take the time to pity them and show them Christ's love? Can we overlook their outward appearance and stop to care out their heart? Sometimes all people need is someone to listen to them. We need to be able to look on that person with complete love and tell them "I don't have the answers and I can't take away your pain, but I can take you to someone who can!" 

  We are in a world of hurting people, lets show them the Great Physician!