November

Beginning with this new month of November, I will post on a weekly basis. Each month will begin a new batch of posts but then I will add to them weekly as well.

It was so good of God to create flowers that would bloom in the Fall- wasn't it? All around us it might be cold and dark and it can seem as though all the leaves and our dreams are sadly falling about us but there is still life. Life continues!

If all is dark for you today, I pray that you can find a place of peace in worshipping our Lord and clinging to Him- even in your season of change.

Your friend,

Holly

Just Think About Jesus

Are you confused?

Are you angry?

Just think about Jesus.

Don't even think about his words necessarily.

Just look back on the record of His life.

How did He live?

What did He do?

How did He relate to others?

Think about his love- His Mercy.

He forgave those who crucified Him

and they didn't even repent!

Just think about Jesus.

Draw Close

Draw close to Him; very close.
Jesus truly satisfies our every need when we draw close to Him and drink of Him freely.
Oh! He's done so much for me and for you!
He's saved us from a life of sin.
He loves us and is able to keep us from sin.
He died that we might live. He is glorious.
I want us to stay close to Him and in Him abide.
Then we can walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. We can bear abundant fruit for our Master.
We can experience being seated in the heavenlies.


When we clothe ourself with Him we can say "I am crucified with Christ". When we put on the whole armour of God, then we can set our mind on things above and not on the things of this earth. When we walk in the light as He is in the light, then we can experience being more than a conqueror and not just say it. We must rest IN Him not apart from Him. Faith rests and faith works. Jesus is Lord and I am His friend! He cares for me, He cares for you and He will reign eternally.

Beloved Children

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; (Eph. 5:1)

I read this verse the other day. It was one of those verses that I've read many times before but it had never "jumped out" at me like it did then. I saw in my mind a picture of a young toddler- a beloved child, who follows his Daddy wherever He goes. That same child believes whatever Daddy says. He clings to Daddy and doesn't want to let Him go! There's no one else that dear child would rather be with than Daddy. He adores his Daddy and delights in His presence. As long as Daddy is there- everything is going to be alright. Is that what Paul was intending for us to see? I want to follow God that way. Let's walk after God as dear little children and in that walk, nothing can go wrong.

Do You Want To Be An Island?

I don't like to get hurt, do you?
Of course not. What a silly question.
My reaction to hurt is to turn and hide.
Some people turn and fight- but not me!
I just want to be left alone.
I want to start singing some mixed up lines from the old Simon and Garfunkel tune:

I am a rock!
I am an island!

I have no need for friendship
Friendship causes pain
I touch no one and no one touches me

I am a rock!
I am an island!

And a rock feels no pain
And an island never cries
***************************

But that's not the answer.
It's true that there are times when our Father will whisk us away to a quiet place of being alone with Him but we can't hide. It's good to be open and yielded to Him for His use, even if we get hurt...
If you're still hurting, I pray that healing will come and make you whole.
We need you.

Tempted

I found my self tempted this week.
Fear and worry are uncharacteristic for me.
I was really trapped.
Along with these temptations came self- pity, apathy, complacency and depression!
Yuk! What a glorious week ,huh?
Throw in there a few sleepless nights and the newest virus in town and I was pretty useless. Sigh.
Well, I've made a decision….
I will PASS this test.
I will not be defeated in Jesus' name!
I will press on and press in and I will believe!
God is more than able to deliver me from these earthly things. (Thank you for these trials Lord.)
Let God arise and His enemies be scattered!!!!
Do I hear the sound of victory?

Yes! Christ is King- not me!
God is bigger than our failures.
Don't stay down. Let Him lift you up!

Your companion in tribulation AND glory,
Holly

Storms Of Life- George MacDonald

Here is a quote from one of my favorite authors, the late George MacDonald~

Sometimes a thunderbolt will shoot from a clear sky; and sometimes into the life of a peaceful individual, without warning of gathered storm, something terrible will fall. And from that moment everything is changed. That life is no more what it was. Better it ought to be, worse it may be. The result depends on the life itself and its response to the evading storm of trouble. Forever after, its spiritual weather is altered. But for the one who believes in God, such rending and frightful catastrophes never come but where they are turned around for good in his own life and in other lives he touches. ~ End quote

Unanswered Prayer

Do you have an unanswered prayer?
Have you lost heart?
Don't give up!
If we can believe that God saved us from sin,
we can believe that He will answer that old stubborn prayer.
Is it His will that He answer that prayer?
Oh yes, it is and we know it. It's not bigger than God is it?
Nope! Not bigger than God!

Let's press in and press on, but most of all- let's believe!
He delights in hearing and answering our prayers.

It's Who Ya Know!

I am convinced that it does not matter what you believe.

It is WHO you believe in that matters!

Down through out church history, Christians have killed one another because of what they believed or didn't believe! They never killed another Christian because of WHO they believed in. It's the same today... Churches flaming one another... discussion board members insulting one another ... because what they believe, is more important to them than JESUS- because what they believe, is more important than the person that the Spirit of Jesus is dwelling in. Religion can take on so many disguises.

I don't care what your creed is or what you consider your essentials to be. Do you know the Lord Jesus? Are you following Him? Are you His disciple? That's all that matters to me. To be honest, that doesn't really matter to me either- because if you don't know Him now, I believe you will someday and we will be worshipping him together.

Count It All Joy

Are you ready to count it all joy this morning?
Count it all joy!

Count what all joy, you say?
Our trials! Trials test our faith and exercise our faith.
The working or exercising of our faith works patience.
We all want patience right?
If we let patience work or have its way,
we'll be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Wow... Wanting nothing. Sounds good, doesn't it?
We have to yield to those trials though, so patience can work. Those are the rules.

Try this- the next time you find yourself in a trial or a trying experience, tell the Lord "thank you" for it.
Say, "I thank you for this trial, Lord.
Please help me to yield to it, learn from it and worship you in it."
Then tell the Lord how wonderful He is and sing Him a song!
It's a beautiful experience to see a trial change from pain to triumph when we can give up our rights to comfort and suffer with Christ. That's when we will suddenly feel joy leap in our soul like a well of water springing up.
It's glorious!!!
It's His will for you.
Let's allow Him to mould us and shape us for His service today-no matter WHAT it takes. Are you ready? God is with you!

*James 1:2-4

No Sap?

"If there is no sap in the tree, it will not bear fruit"

This little proverb clearly illuminates an ongoing problem among many of us . We see a lack of obedience in our lives and so then condemnation comes. We try and try and try and we are left all tired out and ready to give up.

Dear friends, the secret is in the sap! "Trying" to bear fruit is fruitless, frustrating work! Our Lord Jesus Christ, through His Spirit, is the one who produces the fruit- not us! It's hopeless without Him!

If we try to do it, we will always come up short.
It is through Him abiding in us- and us abiding in Him that we are able to walk as He walked; because now, He walks in us!
If we can grab hold of that truth- it will set us free from the burden of an endless list of do's and don'ts!

So many times our focus gets off of Him and onto us.
"I should be doing better" we say.
Oh no, *I* is NOT the answer!
It is by His Spirit in us that we can obey.
God loves to produce fruit! He can't help but do so.
Our hope must be fixed completely on Him and on His grace- not on our ability to do better.
We must not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead! It's all about God... It's all about HIM!

Discouraged?

How are you doing today?
Are you feeling down, dull or discouraged?
The Father's will, is for His children to rise above all the things of the earthly realm and set their mind on things above.

Let Him set your mind on the heavenly things today.
It is so worth it!
His Spirit was given to us
that we might walk as Jesus walked.
So that He could walk in our steps.
Let's walk worthy of Him today.
We can do this by giving Him our all.
Hold nothing back from Him.
Look to Him to be your all.

He has called you and redeemed you
and translated you into the kingdom of His dear Son.
It is a true and complete salvation.
He saved you from sin and it's ravaging affects.
He called you, that you might be free from the law of sin and death. Sin has no dominion over you.

Rejoice in the fact that you can know
the living and most powerful of all Beings.
You can be in Him and He is in you.
Awesome! Amazing! Tremendous and glorious!!!!
Offer up yourself as a living sacrifice unto God today.
Let him live through you today and shine through you so that you might be light and salt to the earth.

That's My Dad!

Do you want to be like Jesus? I do.
I didn't have a daddy when I was a little girl. There was no big man to look up to and think, "That's my dad!"
But now I have a Daddy- a Heavenly One.
And I want to be JUST like Him when I grow up.

Do you want to grow up? I do.
I want to grow into the image of the Son.
I remember reading the gospels for the very first time after I was converted. I drank in every word about Jesus.
Finally, I had found a man that I could trust!
Not only was He one that I could trust but He was one that I could follow! And to think that the spirit of this wonderful man wants to somehow live in me! He wants me to be His temple! Wow. ~

War Stories

How's the battle going?
Do you feel like you've had all that you can take but then more came? That's my war story....

Theeeere I was... crawling along... tongue hanging out...
sun beating down... thinking I was done for... and here came more missiles!!!
"What?!"
I asked God to STOP those missiles but they just kept coming and coming and coming! I just didn't know how I could possibly battle in my weakened condition...

Well, I came to a place of realization that God was wanting me to learn a new level of warfare.
He's certainly not wanting me to fail.
He's wanting me to perk up and fight more aggressively and skillfully! Our Father doesn't want us to be the spoiled baby of the family that never has to do anything hard!
He wants us full of His Spirit and His wisdom.
He wants us strong and mighty in battle.
He wants us full of faith and confidence that we have been redeemed and that we shall triumph in HIM gloriously!

But... then that temptation comes to just crawl in a hole and let the battle pass by...
We peeeeeeek our head out of the fox hole... and guess what? There's the battle! Just waiting with its hands on its hips!
So, we might as well get it over with. Right?!

Dear soldiers, Jesus knows. He understands. He prayed that if it were the Father's will that the cup would pass from Him.
And although your battle may not be equal to a crucifixion,
it's still YOUR battle and it's making you sweat! It's hard!

Pour your heart out to Jesus and tell Him how scared you get at times. He's helped you before and He'll keep helping you.
But as we grow in Christ, there are times that it seems like He's left us to fight alone. But He hasn't. He said He'll never leave us or forsake us. That's a promise. But He wants every one of us to be mature and valuable soldiers in His kingdom and the only way that happens is to let us fight some battles- even hard ones- bloody ones! Where we even might get horribly wounded! Yikes!
But ~sigh~ we'll learn.

I wish I never had to learn things the hard way, but I have. Jesus learned obedience through the things He suffered and so will I. And so will you. Let Him teach you how to war.

Farewell, comrades.
I'm praying for you.

Exhort Others

May I exhort you today to exhort others?
Are you exhorting others already? Good!
The scriptures mention exhorting one another daily...

I think there are many ways to exhort.
There's definitely a bit of risk involved.
You might say something wrong!
But hey- you just might and most probably will- say something very right!
You're a believer aren't you?
You have the Spirit of God- right?

Are you sharing your real self with others?
Or are you hiding?
Are you sharing the Lord?
This is true fellowship.

* Let us work toward the equipping of the saints.

All Things Through Christ

Just a gentle reminder that you CAN do all things through Christ which strengthens you. Every single thing that He has called you to and that He has asked you to do and allowed for you- YOU CAN DO- one day at a time.
If it doesn't seem like the strength or grace is there to do it, throw yourself upon the rock and be broken. Healing is always there for the broken hearted.