Rise! Are You Still Sleeping?

Earlier today, my younger sister was speaking to me about how she was reflecting on the Garden of Gethsemene and how she read about Jesus crying when He prayed, just before being whisked off to His death.
Tonight I sat to continue my nightly Bible reading when lo and behold I was on the very chapter my sister was talking about this morning.(Matthew 26: 36-46)I think someone is trying to tell me something.
I begin reading and notice little things like the fact that the Lord's last supper was in the home of a man who remained anonymous and a home that Jesus requested specifically.I wondered why this man's name was not mentioned and why God chose to have the last supper at that particular home. I continue to read. The Last supper was on Passover. Jesus says He will not drink from the fruit of that vine again until the day when He drinks it anew with US in His Fathers Kingdom! I start to reflect on His return and us living eternally with Him in Heaven.I think of how I am so grateful for the sacrifice and my salvation which was graciously given to me so that I can have eternal life with The Father.
After the supper they sing a hymn.I wonder which Hymn they sang. What were the lyrics of the hymn? After they sang they all went to the Mount of Olives.
I read that in the very night of the Lord's supper,our Savior is very sad. He is filled with sorrow. The Bible says unto death. He is in anguish. In this anguish He sadly asked the disciples to stay and watch with Him. Then He turned, walked a few steps, fell on His face and prayed.He prays,"If it is possible let this cup pass from me but Your will be done,not mine" After this prayer He rises to His feet, turns to the disciples and sees that after He asked them to stay and watch with Him, they were asleep. I read this and wince. The audacity is unbelievable. "What!"
He says, note the exclamation point."Could you have not watched with me for an hour? "Watch and pray" He tells them. "Watch and pray", He tells us, but we are asleep. How audacious of us. How unbelievable, that after specific instructions from Him, we dare to disregard His words and sleep. "The spirit is willing, the flesh is weak." He tells the disciples. He tells us. This was the first time He prayed... that very night, a very short time after He turns from the disciples and prays again and says the very same thing "If it is possible let this cup pass from me.Your will be done, not mine." He rises,turns toward the disciples and finds them asleep... again! They heard His words, they heard his request and chose to ignore Him and because their flesh was weak, they fell asleep.
So He left them prayed the same prayer once again. Three times He prayed that prayer. I read this and my heart is broken for the anguish and loneliness He must have felt.
After He prays the third time, He returns to the disciples and asks, " Are you still sleeping and resting?" He tells them "The hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners." He tells them, "Rise (wake up) let us be going. See My betrayer is at hand.
Are we asleep? The Lord is trying to wake us up. The hour is at hand. The sinners are betraying Him, Today they mock Him, slander Him, blaspheme against Him and we sleep when He is asking us to watch. He tells us to watch and pray but our fleshly desires drive us to sleep. There is no time to rest or sleep. It is time to watch and pray.Do not disregard Him.

Once again I have slacked in my blogging but my friend Tessa started a blog and got me interested once again in writing...so hopefully it'll stick this time.Once upon a time I loved writing but after rejection, I was traumatized. Funny,I always thought I could take rejection but I guess I can't. This is something I am not pleased with and will ask the Lord to help me through in the meantime, here's hoping I get my writing going again. Stay tuned

God Has Not Given Us A Spirit Of Fear

We hear it all the time, the verse found in 2 Timothy 1:7
"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of POWER and of LOVE and of a SOUND MIND."

Yet we can't help it can we? When it's fight or flight, most of us flee. Don't get me wrong, there are circumstances in which fleeing is the best option. If there is a fire you can't fight that fire all on your own but you can flee from it and call the firefighters to fight it for you. This is a good fear, a healthy and a rational fear.
We all have our fears, some people fear flying, others fear speaking in front of a large group of people. There are many types of fear. I can speak in front of a large group of people effortlessly, but don't put me in front of a small group of people because I may freeze.
Travel back in time and remember when your fear was at it's peak. Most of us will go back to our childhood and those old familiar fears we all have shared one time or another. A fear so intense it paralyzed us. The monsters in the closet or for some under their beds.
I remember as a child I had a terrible fear of the dark. I mean this was a fear that had me wide eyed, scanning a dark room and seeing monster shapes caused by the manner in which my sweater hung loosely, over my bedroom chair. I remember my heart beating so hard I thought it would burst. And if I wasn't looking around the room searching for non existent ogres and werewolves, I was hiding under the covers because as we all know, monsters do not have any strength and are rendered helpless over 100 percent cotton sheets.
As that little girl, I'd shut my eyes tightly and pray to God in a small whisper, so the monsters couldn't hear me. I prayed this way,tucked in,tightly snug in my sheets,invisible, not even a pinkie toe revealed, sweating, but leaving a small gap around my nose for air until I drifted off to sleep. Only to awaken in a safe, brightly lit room, sheets torn away from my body during the course of the night, totally exposed for anything horrifying to attack me. I survived yet another night of hidden monsters waiting to pounce on me in my sleep. As we all know the monsters disappear during the daytime so there was nothing to fear once the sun rose. When I look back now, I can see the silliness in this illogical anxiety.
As adults many of us have found ourselves in that familiar atmosphere of all-consuming fear. We wished we had super power sheets to serve as shields of protection but we don't.
We are older now and we are much more aware of a living God who is our protector and we are also aware that there might actually be monsters in our bedroom.

There is a spiritual warfare we have to fight. There are powers and principalities. There are real evils in this world who want nothing more than to destroy us and give us that spirit of fear.

Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

The evil before us may not always be tangible. It may be elusive, invisible or vague but the presence of it can definitely be felt,especially by one who has the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. This Holy Spirit was given to us as a resource, a tool, a guide, a teacher, a helper. This is the Spirit that can overcome the spirit of fear.

POWER
The spirit of fear is a dreadfulness that can cause us to become ineffective Christians. Christians tightly wrapped inside of our "insecurity blankets" filled with terror. This is unnecessary, because God has not given us a spirit of fear so we do not have to live our lives anxiously awaiting the next assault from evil,God has given us power.

What does that mean? What does that entail? Does it include superhero strength?
Of course not because we all know that superhero strength can only be obtained by falling into a vat of some kind of toxic goo. I am kidding.
The power that God gives us surpasses that of any superhero, if superheroes existed, and we all know that they do not.
It may be hard to wrap our limited minds around it but God has given us a power like no other.
In the words of S.Charnock,"God’s power is like Himself: infinite, eternal, incomprehensible; it can neither be checked, restrained, nor frustrated by the creature."

Being mere humans we may speak often and yet fail to be heard. God speaks but once and the thunder of His power can be heard everywhere.


"The Lord also thundered from the heavens, and the Most High uttered His voice, amid hailstones and coals of fire. And He sent out His arrows and scattered them; and He flashed forth lightnings and put them to rout. Then the beds of the sea appeared and the foundations of the world were laid bare at Your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils." Psalm 18:13-15


I praise my awesome God. If God is capable of that, why wouldn't He be able to abolish that spirit of fear and give us power to rid the pesky evils that attempt to make our lives and walk with God ineffective.

LOVE

He's given us love and God's love is uninfluenced. By this we mean, there was nothing whatsoever in the objects of His love to call it into being, nothing to attract or prompt it. The love which one has for another is because of something in them; but the love of God is free, spontaneous, un-caused. Nothing caused it to being. The only reason why God loves any is found in His own sovereign will.

"The most extensive ideas that a finite mind can frame about Divine love, are infinitely below its true nature. The heaven is not so far above the earth as the goodness of God is beyond the most raised conceptions which we are able to form of it. It is an ocean which swells higher than all the mountains of opposition in such as are the objects of it. It is a fountain from which flows all necessary good to all those who are interested in it (John Brine, 1743)."

The love that God has given to us defeats the spirit of fear.
Romans 8:35-39 Paul writes, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

The Spirit of love that God give us conquers all evil and so the spirit of fear is diminished by God's love and His power. These attributes of God can defeat anything.

SOUND MIND

Finally there is the sound mind given by God that can help us to be conquerors and victorious over the enemy.

"And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God's And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Romans 12:2

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard you hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Phil 4:6-7

The power over the Spirit of fear is God's power, His love and a sound mind obtained by keeping ourselves in check and maintaining a fresh mental and spiritual attitude. I often take time to analyze myself spiritually just to make sure everything is in order, and according to God's will. If something is out of place it just leaves a door open for evil to step in and try to get a hold, to make us afraid and live in fear that is not of God.

So poke your head out of the sheets and sleep restfully and fearlessly knowing God is in control. Be courageous and brave. Keep your head high in confidence because the very Creator of the universe, the Author of your life has got you "covered"

There are times in my life when I just can't think too much about what I am going to write because then it will never happen. As you can see I haven't written in a while because I am thinking too much.
I recently submitted some of my writing and was rejected and so after crying for a few days and hearing over and over about how, "It happens to all writers,Don't give up and even the best authors in the world have been rejected" I have decided to write again. Keep in mind that my blogging does not, but may include some intense thoughts and mind-changing content but, don't expect Tolstoy, Cervantes or Proust.
I promised a few blog posts ago to do some video blogging and haven't done so ...yet.
Video blogging may be more convenient and I still do intend to video blog, eventually. It's just that I find writing to be more satisfying and less high maintenance. I mean, after all, I am to vain to appear on a video blog in curlers, a robe with my morning cup of coffee in my hand, which is unfortunate because some of my best writing ideas and deep thoughts are conceived at that time. I can be very existential and quite humorous during those early hours. But I am also quite drowsy and not a morning person so that writing would not be an option for me. I'm more the type to turn on the TV and kvetch about the opinions of The View girls and then I will pray and ask God to forgive me for my anger and impatience after ranting my disagreements at the television screen. God is extremely merciful with me, but I cannot take advantage of His grace.
So once again, I ask my readers, that's right, all five of you, to be on the look out for new posts and possibly new video blogging. Maybe I'll start tomorrow....maybe.

I Love You Lord...

The music in church today is beautiful. The congregants are singing worship to the Lord. I feel His presence in a mighty way in this place. I am home. It is Sunday. The family is gathered together, all my brothers and sisters in Christ, and we are visiting our Father's house. How blessed I am! I love the Lord so much, so much so that there are no words to describe my love for Him.

Being here among Brethren, soothes me. It's a beautiful time. There are moments of great blessing and one of those moments I treasure is the moment that the church service comes to that pleasant pause, when we are all in one accord and of one mindset. When we are all just worshipping Him and everything around us fades.

It's that point, that time and place, when we are so thankful and feel so loved that it's as if we are floating on air and we are right before His very throne. The pews are gone, the other worshippers praises fade, and it's just you and God.

How wonderful! During this time, I often sing this song that best describes how I feel in those very moments of worshipping pause. I don't remember who sings it but I hear it often playing on my hubby's laptop.

"I love You Lord,
And I lift my voice.
To worship You, O my soul rejoice
Take joy my King
In what You hear
Let it be a sweet, sweet sound
In Your Ear

I love you Lord
I love You, love You Lord
I love You Lord because You first loved me..."

I love my Lord so much, that whenever I do what is not right, I ache at the thought that I have disappointed Him.

Paul says in Romans seven, verse fifteen.."I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do."

I want to live for Christ, but like Paul and many others I am stumped when I do what I don't want to do. When I hurt The Lord, when I don't want to hurt Him but what I want to do is live one hundred percent for Christ and yet I don't.

How can I still say, "I love you Lord"? Well, because He STILL loves me, He is ever faithful, even when I am not.

He is merciful and lovingly kind, so much so, that when I come to Him with a pure and sincere heart, a heart in genuine anguish for disappointing Him, and ask for His forgiveness, yet again, He allows me to be at His feet and ask for forgiveness and receive it, receive it with a love that is pure, perfect, a love like no other.

"I love You Lord, and I lift my voice..."

I lift my voice in praise to Him, I lift my voice to glorify Him, I lift my voice to cry out for His forgiveness, a forgiveness so willingly given when the remorse is sincere. I lift my voice and cry tears of joy because of His love for me and the gift of salvation and because one day I will see Him face to face. I lift my voice and praise Him because I know He is waiting for me and preparing a place for me.

In John chapter fourteen and verse two, Jesus, my savior, says, "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

"...To worship You, o my soul rejoice,"

My soul is filled with joy when I worship Him. I rejoice in Him and in all that He is.

"...Take joy my King, in what You hear,"

Every praise I offer to Him, every song that I sing for Him, every word that I speak for Him, every phrase that I write down for Him, I truly desire for it to bring Him, Him, Him, JOY! It's all about Him. It's all about me pleasing Him, loving Him, worshipping Him. glorifying Him. I want Him to be happy with everything He hears coming out of my mouth and written down by my hand. Take joy, my King, in What You hear, and let it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear."


I love You Lord

My Peace I Give Unto You

I have been dealing with this disease for so long and I marvel at God's wonderful presence throughout my journey with achalasia. God has sustained me when many who I have been privelaged to meet, who have this disease, have gone. I've had it since birth and recently stopped working because it became debilitating, I'm pretty sure I've shared this before but things got so bad that My hubby put his ministry on hold for a few years to care for me.
Well, we are back and having a great time working for God and fellowshipping with the congregation and nurturing and loving them.
Yesterday was rough (healthwise) and a bit scary. Something is off. I can feel a change coming. My body is weaker.
While praying this afternoon The Lord let me know that if He chooses for this to be the beginning of the end or if He chooses to continue to sustain me, He will give me peace. And boy did He ever. I, immediately was flooded in His presence and His peace. Instantly!
If and when I do get weaker, please know that God has not left my side and I am holding on tightly to Him. I've been more than blessed to have gotten this far and will be more than blessed, if the trip, (my life), is extended.
Let this posting be of hope that when and if you ever have a situation in your life, calling out to God will give you peace.


John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."


"Jesus hold me now
I need to feel you in this place
I long for your embrace" ~ Casting Crowns

Karyn Henly

" I'm convinced the more we become like Jesus and raise our children to be like Jesus, the better influence we'll be in our community, country, and the world" ~Karyn Henley - Woman's Life Bible

Karyn Henly's Blog- http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=505960028&ref=ts