Peace

My niece’s dog, Samson, a Shih Tzu, likes the view out of my window which overlooks the woods. He will stretch up on his hind legs to look out or jump onto my bed, and that is a very high jump for a little dog. As I was studying, Samson entered the room, looked out the window, headed back out, and then jumped on my bed. That was a bold move as I have shooed him off, scolding him quite a few times.




This time I spread out a robe and allowed him to stay on the bed. He stared out the window for quite a while, at peace. Then he turned from the window and lay down. After a while he laid down facing the window. I couldn’t shoo him off today, I about to learn too much. Samson faced the odds to get to what gives him peace. And when he got peace he rested in it. He didn’t have to face it but just to rest in it.



Did you see it? To face the odds to get to what gives you peace. You may have to press pass some things to get to what brings you peace. Take a lesson from Samson – know what brings you peace and fight your way to get it. When you get it, rest in it. I bless you with the shalom of Jesus. type to you later.

Rejoice

This is a great day!   The past is now behind you. Don't give it place in this day.  Use what you need from the past to move forward.  Learn from it - that is good.  But don't stay in it.  If you are concentrating too much on the past you will miss today.  This is the day you have, not tomorrow, but today.  Today is your start.  Mankind tried to mess you up- but mankind failed.  Don't give it another thought.  You are your biggest obstacle right now.  Take your lead from Holy Spirit.   This is an awesome day for you, a new start, another chance, a new leg of your journey.  A day to rest in the shalom of God.   Rest, listen, follow, rejoice! 

"Rejoice in Lord always; again I say Rejoice.  Let your gentleness be known to everyone.  The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guide your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus"(Phil. 4:4-7 NRSV).    That is my prayer for you.   type to you later.

Stretch Up - Search Within - Reach Out

How often have you reached out to another?  You can do  it through a smile. You can do it with prayer.  Can you see what would happen if we all made the effort to reach out to another? 

Before you reach out, stretch up to embrace those moments of commune with God.  You see,  by stretching up we are strengthen to face anything, even our frightful selves.  By stretching up to embrace God, we are empowered to search within to eliminate those things that hang us up.  We all have unnecessary issues that hang us up.  Yes we do, you know unforgiveness, hate, fear,  guilt

As believers we have so much power yet we do not tap into that power.  So try it - Stretch upward in order to search within and then pass it on by reaching out to another. Try it. type to you later

Just Hanging Out

Yesterday I visited another church. There was an altar call and congregants came, knelt, prayed, and left. A mother and her two children came up. The little girl, about 4 years, knelt as her mother did. She placed her hands in the traditional position of prayer and bowed her head. It was precious. But the brother, about 6 or 7, stood watch over them for a minute. Then he knelt and watched what his sister was doing. After another minute the brother got up and leaned on the altar as his mother and sister were still down. I loved it! He was just hanging out with Jesus.




That is a prayer mode that Jesus longs for from us- to just hand out with Him. Isn’t that what friends do? Isn’t that what you do when you care about someone? Now the sad part of this is that one of the preachers saw the little brother and had him kneel and fold his hands “properly.”

That happens too often with so many people who seek God. The wrong people give improper instructions on “how to seek God.” God says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13 NIV). Jesus declares to the woman at the well, “God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24 NIV).



Don’t let anyone or anything deter you from moments with God. Just hang out. Type to you later.

Don't Wait -Listen and Do

Why do we wait until the last minute to do so many things? What is it about us that we cannot handle business? I too am guilty. Where did it come from? You know, how we try to wait it out, hoping that something will happen so that we don’t have to make the decision.


Here’s the thing: If God gave us the mind to follow His will, then why don’t we? Why are we afraid to take God at His word? If God has not given us a spirit of fear but of love, power and a sound mind, then why are we afraid? Can it be that we don’t believe? Could it be that we can’t trust?

You have to tackle the question “Why?” You see, the answer definitely is not bigger than God, so it can be dealt with- but you have to want to do so. Take time over the next few days to search your heart. Move through the clutter of fear to see what you can throw out. Start there. Your goal is to trust God in such a way that when He says, “move,” you follow. You follow, not worried about how it is going to turn out. You follow, not worried what others think or are doing. Wow, it is such a liberating process! You cannot imagine. But that is a part of “setting the captives free.” type to you later

What's in Your Space?

I am pretty sure you have heard the commercial with the key line, "What's in your wallet?" Let me take off from there with the question, "What's in your space?" It really is a valid question. Too often we allow too much of the negative spirits in our space. We allow fear, anger, mistrust, hate into our space and they in turn cloud us with those same feelings. How can we combat that? Check yourself. What is in your space? If there is peace, you will have peace; where there is love, you will have love; where there is forgiveness, you will be forgiven. Try it, focus on the positive spirit and that will remove the negative spirit. Oh it takes practice, but it works. type to you later.

These are the Times

Thomas Paine has often been quoted, “These are the times that try men's souls." These are the times. We could look globally and know with all that is going on . . . these are the times. I don't want to look there, right now. Look right here. Right where you stand.

Friday night I attended a service at a Jewish synagogue that annually celebrates the lives of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Heschel. At the end of the service we all join handed hands as we sang . . . yes, "We shall overcome." As I sang, I thought about my personal challenges and what I had overcome and what I shall overcome. I had not thought about it that way previously. Come one, how many times had I sung that song in the vein of moving forward in our collective civil rights? But this time was different. And so I prayed that God renewed both the Caucasian woman on my right and the Jewish man on my left that we shall overcome.

When the service was over the woman complimented me on my voice. But the man greeted me "Shabat Shalom," and in turn, I blessed him. He said that he had struggled with coming to church. He was struggling with God, and was not sure what was happening; but he was glad he came. I laughed and told him that I understood those moments and that 'desert place' experience. He hugged me and thanked me.

So what was it about? Oh you had to be there. You see, we get so engulfed in our own problems, issues, situations that we retreat into self and thus become isolated. But we are a people, a community of believers and as a community we can connect as one. While we must face our situations we don’t face them alone. We really are connected. It’s that African spirit of M’butu – “I am because we are.” The brother shared a personal trial, and I responded, and his trial is no longer his alone. We shall overcome.

When we began to reach out by just being available to others, we will find that same reach back to us. We shall overcome. These are trying times for so very many in equally as many ways but we can overcome when we stand firm as a community of believers. Together, we must reach out in prayer support and in any way that God directs. Sometimes it only needs to be a smile.

It goes without saying that our sisters and brothers in Haiti need us. Please make an effort to stand firm with them. There are many ways to help financially, be careful that the way is true. These are the times, but the Word says that we are more than conquerors.  type to you later