The Father's Plan for your Day

It is the plan and purpose of God this day to bring into your life people and circumstances that will make you more like Jesus.  Today you have awakened to His classroom.  He has prepared lessons for you to learn and work for you to do.

 His plans for you today are good and perfect.  You can trust His heart.  He loves you.  You can trust His Mighty power.  He is able to accomplish His lofty, and seemingly unattainable goals.  He has already seen this day.  Nothing will surprise Him.

He will bring to you today wonderful opportunities to see Him at work in your life, opportunities to join Him His beautiful work and opportunities for you to grow.  Often these opportunities come in the form of annoyances, inconveniences, unexpected interruptions, delays, pain and heartache.  They also come in the form of laughter, exciting surprises and enjoyable moments.  And yet it is also the plan of God to use the mundane, ordinary, experiences of life as well.  They, too, are a part of His perfect plan.  All of these things have been carefully chosen for you to experience  and masterfully woven into your life by our loving and perfectly wise, Supremely powerful Father so that you might experience His highest good.

 If you fully cooperate with our Heavenly Father, not fighting and resisting Him, not complaining and not trying to avoid the things you don't like, you will experience blessings in such HUGE MEASURE that you won't be able to hold it all!

Protection
Provision of every need
Power
Peace
Healing
Joy
Wisdom
Freedom
and every good gift

Or you can spend your day choosing the path that is most comfortable for you.  You can complain, whine, argue and resist our Father's PERFECT PLAN.

It's up to you.

He hasn't left you to go through life alone.  He's given all of His children a priceless,  gift--His Spirit.

I'm praying that you will choose the path that the Father has prepared for you today.

His plans for you today are perfect and good!

Have a wonderful day!

40 Days of Discovery - Day 37

I'd like to share a few quotes from "Come Away My Beloved" that blessed me today.

I am aware of your needs and will provide in abundance, but it is for my glory and honor and I will  have praise.  You will tread lightly and not allow your feet to be ensnared in the net of undue concern for the things about you.  They are mine, just as all things are mine and you are mine and I am more interested in you than in things.  Likewise, I want you occupied with Me rather than my gifts.  You will be my mouthpiece in places where there are no other voices to be heard.

You will magnify my name in a dark corner.

You will not allow your foot to be bogged down in the mire of earthly cares and riches.

Thank you Lord for speaking so clearly to your people.

40 Days of Discovery- Day 19

   Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, [21] to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

If God is able to do immeasurable more than I ask (exceedingly, abundantly more!), why do I ask so little of Him?  My sights are too often too low.

Father help me to ask you for greater things--higher things--those things which fulfill your immense plans and purposes for our lives.  Help me to trust you more.  More than I ever have.  Let me rest soundly in your loving care.  Help me to have full confidence that YOU WILL TAKE care of us--of every need.  Help me Lord. Help me.

Just recently, the Holy Spirit has given me a special gift.  His gifts are amazing, and often surprising.  They are given when we least expect them, and I've decided to receive every gift He wants to give me.  I know I cannot manipulate Him into giving me gifts.  I am absolutely in awe, that my Lord loves me so much as to give me another gift.  He's blessed me so lavishly already.  I have so, so much, and here He comes with arm full of gifts again.  Let me tell you, I'm like a kid on Christmas morning.  I'm so enjoying His gifts to me.  Each one is so perfect for me, so special, so beautiful...  Jesus, thank you for making it possible for me to be in the family of God.  Thank you for sending me your Spirit, and thank you for ALL of the gifts.  Amen. and Amen.

Oh by the way, just in case your wondering...

I've been given the gift of a greater sense of God's presence and power.  I can literally feel His presence--physically.  I've also been given the gift of tongues.  I feel like a two year old trying to talk, and I guess I am.  This is all so new and unexpected.  So unexpected.

Some Things Take Time

 

I originally wrote this the day before thanksgiving.

It's the day before thanksgiving and I have begun my cooking marathon.  By the time we sit down to our meal tomorrow, I will have baked potatoes, a turkey, rolls and cornbread dressing.  I will have slowly simmered a turkey back in order to release the flavors and nutrients, creating a full-bodied broth.  I will have chilled my pie crust dough, homemade cranberry sauce, and a homemade dressing. Chilling helps everything to gel, and gives the various flavors time to marry.  I will have soaked my turkey overnight in a brine (water filled with seasoning).  The result will be a flavorful moist turkey.  (It was quite yummy) 

As I sit here listening to my pots bubble on the stove, I was thinking of how it takes time to create a great meal.  A once a year meal!  I can't do this regularly.  But I was thinking that in order for us to have a great meal for our souls, it takes time.  Often, I want my time with God to be quick, microwaved, or stir-fried and quickly consumed so that I can get back to life.  So many needs are calling.  Then I wonder why I'm not fully satisfied.

If I want to get past the surface level of understanding of scripture, I must be willing to pay a price.  It takes time to go deep, to find treasures the lay hidden deep below the surface.  I must be willing to think deeply, to ponder, taking my time, letting the Spirit of God take His word into my inner most parts.  Letting it marinate.  I'm learning the blessing of allowing God's word go down deep , to my very bones.  I want His truth to be the air that I breathe.  I want His thoughts to be my thoughts.

This takes time.

It takes early mornings or late nights so that I won't be interrupted.  Sometimes it means sneaking away from the hustle and bustle of my household.  It means chores go undone, e-mails go unanswered and phone calls don't get made.    But, you see, I must sit at the feet of Jesus, allowing Him to fill me to the fullest measure with Himself.  And that, my friend, takes time.

May you deeply ponder His majesty and grace in your life.  And may your lips be filled with praises for His generous gifts to you.

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of the season, don't miss out on God's greatest gift to us--His presence.  

O come, O come Emmanuel into our hearts.  Change us forever. Fill us with the life that is truly life.  Loosen our hand's grip on earthly things so that we may grasp the hem of your garment, and be made whole.  Amen.

  Merry Christmas!

What's on Your Mind?

We've been reading Ninety Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper.  As we read today, the Holy Spirit gave us a very practical illustration of a truth that He continues to sear into the core of my being.  We become what we continually think about.  Don talks about a man who became blind.  That blind man was bitter, and angry because of all the things he couldn't do anymore.  But that man had a friend who challenged him to make a list of all the things he could do.  So the man did it--reluctantly.  It completely transformed the man! Suddenly, the man realized that there were thousands of things he could do, and he resolved to spend the rest of his life doing those things.  He moved from bitterness, to thankfulness.

We, too, can transcend the problems and imperfections of this earth, by focusing our minds on Heavenly things, by choosing to dwell on the blessings which flow out of Heaven's gates to earth, by keeping our eyes gazing upward, seeing glimpses of Heavenly treasures, and enjoying the pleasure, beauty and rest that we find in God Himself.  Out of Him flows every good thing.    Praising this magnificent King and thanking Him for His lavish gifts brings us to His gates, allowing us to enter His courts.

Simply stated, praise God and thank Him for everything in your life, good, and bad, small and large.  If we do not do this small thing, we cannot expect to enjoy the delights of His very presence.

There will always be a hundred million things that we don't have in this life.  There will be pain, suffering, and disappointments, but we have the opportunity to choose how we will respond.  Aren't you thankful that we can choose?  I tell my children all of the time, "You choose your attitude."  And aren't you glad that when we choose thankfulness and praise, that we are blessed with sweet heavenly treasures that transcend all human understanding?

I challenge you.  Get out a sheet of paper.  Make a list of everything that you are thankful for--small and large. Nothing is insignificant.   Fill up the front.  Turn over to the back and fill up the back side.  List every positive quality in that person that gets on your last nerve.  As you fill up the paper with your thanks, God will fill up the treasure chest of your heart with peace, contentment, joy and confidence in this God who loves you so dearly.  As my youngest son said to me after completing this activity, "You feel rich!"  It's a promise directly from the Heavenly Throne.

And when you realize how much you've been blessed, you'll want to bless others with the gifts you've received.

Phil 4: 6-9 [6] Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. [7] And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

    PHP 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. [9] Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.