Crazy Terrain

I'm not in the valley. 

I'm not on the mountain top. 

I'm navigating some crazy terrain.

Unfamiliar terrain; a place I've never been. 

I'm going somewhere different. 

Somewhere new.

A place God knew I'd be one day. 

I'm headed to a place that I've been led to by my deepest prayers. 

Lord, I want to know You. 

Intimately. Passionately. Like I've never known you before.

He said, "Ok."

Had I known where that prayer would take me, there's a slight chance that I would not have prayed it. 

That's me talking while getting cut up & bruised on this rocky, unfamiliar terrain. 

But, I've been made privy to a glimpse of the destination!

Even so, I trust the One who's guiding me.

Therefore, although this part of the journey is tougher than I could have ever imagined, I would pray that prayer again in a heartbeat.

Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored.

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:12-21

But the Fruit

You may have not realized it before, but the scripture in Galatians 5:22-23 speaks of FRUIT. Although a list of nine is provided, the Word very clearly says, "But the fruit..." and no plurality is noted. Like all of God's inspired Word, fruit is left singular for a reason.

I thank God for my church home; this topic has been discussed before. While the topic is not new to me, the devotion that I read yesterday explained the fruit in a new way.

I love that God is infinite and therefore His Word is infinite which means that He can use many people to share His Word in an infinite number of ways.

I dig the way that Dr. O.S. Hawkins broke this down...check it out: 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. — Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV) Fruit is the delectable product of that which is created by the inner life of the vine. On the eve of the Crucifixion, the Lord Jesus put it thus: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4). Earlier on a Galilean hillside, He had said, “By their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7:20). The fruit we bear as believers is evidence of His abiding on the throne of our lives. At first glance, there appears to be a grammatical error in this verse. Note carefully: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace . . .” The truth is that the fruit of the Spirit is love. Love, period. The nine fruits listed here are a cluster describing the evidence of the life of Christ within us. The fruit is singular here because it is the outcropping of one’s life within. The fruit represents what we are rather than what we do. Here we are reintroduced to the principle of being before doing. What we do is determined by who, or whose, we really are! The fruit described in Galatians is a triad: three clusters with three fruits each. They are reflected in a countenance that is obvious, conduct that is orderly, and a character that is obedient.

Take Up Your Cross

Matthew 16:24
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

I have to admit, when I heard "take up his cross" I understood it to mean carrying something heavy - a burden. Thank God for His Word and the Holy Spirit that gives us understanding. Jesus also tells us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Knowing that God's word is perfect and that it does not contradict itself, I came to the conclusion that I had misunderstood. 

The Hallel Psalms

The Hallel, or Hallelujah, Psalms are all about praising God. They are Psalms 113 - 118. Since this is Passion week and Passover is here, I thought it would be appropriate to share these psalms. These psalms were sung on the night of the Passover and the tradition is still carried out today. They are awesome to read out loud! It is always a pleasure to praise the Lord as that is exactly what we were created to do! When you have a moment, read these Hallel Psalms aloud and truly be blessed!

Psalm 113

Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord.

Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore.

From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised.

The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.

Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high,

Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!

He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy our of the dunghill;

That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.

He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.

Why Did God Forsake His Son?

One of Jesus' seven utterances while on the cross was, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" He shouted, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
I always wondered why Jesus, of all people, would say this. The bible tells us that God will never leave us, nor forsake us. If this is true, then why did Jesus say this when it seems like he needs God the most?

Increase Your Push-Up Reps

Push-ups are a wonderful! They work your chest, arms, shoulders, abs, legs - it's a great core-exercise. You can do them pretty much anywhere without fancy equipment. They don't take up a ton of your time. I could go on about the benefits of push-ups...

My current personal goal is 100 "girlie" push-ups a day. After I get that down, I'll do less reps, but regular push-ups. If you haven't been exercising, it's important to have realistic goals or else you'll get frustrated and quit. But here's something I learned and it helps me do a ton more push-ups in a set than I would without it.

Instead of counting, I say out loud, "I Love You Jesus!"

That phrase gives me a five count using each syllable: I - Love - You - Je - sus! I say the phrase 3 or 4 times and BOOM, 15 or 20 push-ups done. I do about four sets of those for the day and increase as I can.

"I Love You, Jesus!" push-ups help me increase my reps. I pray it can do the same for you. Let me know...

Spirit vs. Soul

I love to learn. It makes you feel good when you learn something new - when you can add some weapons to your arsenal. It is especially exciting to learn new things about God & to know that there will ALWAYS be something new to learn!
My goal is to share new things that I learn so continue to look for "Things I've Learned" posts.
I also look forward to hearing things YOU'VE learned! As members of the body of Christ, our combined strengths makes unstoppable for the kingdom.

So...here's what I learned the other day during my Faith Bible Institute class (Shout out to John Yates, our teacher. He has an amazing annointing!):   There is a difference between the SPIRIT & the SOUL.