Status Week Four 2010

Thank You, Lord, that You promise to be with me no matter what comes my way. Please enable me to be strong and live for You.

Father, help me today to focus on Your Word, encourage everyone with whom I come into contact, and to love unconditionally.

Father, help me to persevere today through whatever hardship I may face and empower me to trust in You.

Father, help me this day to read/meditate upon the promises in Your Word and be confident and at peace that You will accomplish all You desire to accomplish in and through my life.

Lord, today, let Your Word have its full effect in my life to make me more like Jesus.

Father, give me eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to receive what You will have for me this day. I commit myself to follow You as You lead me by Your Word.

There are special times in our life, and surprising moments when we are reminded of just how much we are loved and experience the sweetness of God's love. Now is one of those times, today was one of those moments. Thank You Father for loving me and for those You have placed in my life who love me and that I love. I want to love others more like You love me.

Lord, help me today to apply Your principles to my daily life and make Your paths my paths, to make Your priorities my priorities.

Grace-Amazing-Love

This song is on my mind/heart this morning and it sparked other thoughts, meditations, verses, songs, and a thankful heart... wanted to share it with you...

Amazing Grace
How sweet the sound
Amazing Love
Now flowing down
From hands and feet
That were nailed to the Tree
As Grace flows down and covers me

Chorus
It covers me
It covers me
It covers me
And covers me

I can still remember my Dad saying, "Where would we be without grace?"
My thought and response , "I'm glad we don't have to know".

Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher/Perfecter of our faith, Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross..."My joy I give unto you...My grace is sufficient for you"...the grace of God has appeared unto all...by grace you have been saved through faith, not of yourself, it is The Gift of God...thanks be to God for His indescribable Gift...Thank You, Jesus, for delivering The Gift, for paying the price; the gift only You could/can deliver, the price only You could/can pay...for we were/are not delivered by perishable things like gold and silver but with/by the precious blood of Jesus,The Spotless Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world. For there is no other name, given under heaven by which we must/can be saved.


ONCE AGAIN

Jesus Christ, I think upon Your sacrifice
You became nothing, poured out to death
Many times, I've wondered at Your gift of life
I'm in that place once again
I'm in that place once again

CHORUS-
And once again I look upon the cross where You died
I'm humbled by Your mercy and I'm broken inside
Once again I thank You
Once again I pour out my life

Now you are, exalted to the highest place
King of the heavens, where one day I'll bow
But for now, I marvel at this saving grace
I'm full of praise once again
I'm full of praise once again

CHORUS-

Thank you for the cross
Thank you for the cross
Thank you for the cross, my Friend.

How much does God/Jesus love us? Just take time to look to, focus on His cross...uts everything into perspective.

This moment, this day, I remember/focus and am both humbled by His love/sacrifice and thankful beyond words to describe/express. Also, I am reminded of the verse in Philippians, "Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus"...and of Jesus' own words to us in the Gospels, "Love one another as I have loved you". I want that mind and to love like that, more like Jesus.

Status Week Three 2010

Father,thank You for being God on Your terms rather than ours. May Your name be hallowed as we wait on You. May Your kingdom be reflected in our patience. May Your will be done in our disappointments. Please, give us this day our daily bread.

Jesus doesn't want part of your life; He wants to be your life.

Father, open my eyes to comprehend Your Word, Your revelation of Yourself, Your one and only Son, Jesus.

Learning to balance contentment with a desire for excellence may be the forgotten key to our ongoing spiritual growth and advancement.

Our earthly relationships are greatly enhanced by our spiritual intimacy with God as the first and most important thing in our lives.

We can choose to live with thankfulness for God’s mercy and grace, with confidence in His faithful care, and with hope because He is with us forever. Today, God offers us a second chance in life. Let’s make the most of it!

Status Week Two 2010

Father, help me to remember that in my own strength I cannot live the life You have called me to live, but I can do ALL things through Christ Who gives me strength. Help me to walk in that strength today.

Living according to God's Word is the way of/to inner peace, continuous joy, and spiritual victory.

When we obey God's Truth/Word, we will see positive changes in our lives.

We all have others who are observing us. Let’s live our lives in such a way that those who follow our example will help others in their walk with God.

People who follow Christ lead others in the right direction.

Never be afraid to entrust the unknown future to the all-knowing God.

Lord, I am learning to always hope in Your Word...please give me a fresh start this day...please stabilize my faith and may I find my purest delight in You.

Status Week One 2010

Lord, I desire to be taught by You today that I may know and obey. Please work in my heart that I would be overwhelmed with delight in doing Your will. "Teach me Your Word and I shall keep it to the end."

Lord, may my heart be desperate for a deeper, loving relationship with You. Oh God, help me to never take You for granted, and may I never place my ultimate dependence on anyone but You.

No deed is too small when done for Christ. "Whatever you do, do it with all of your heart, as unto the Lord."

The challenge before us as followers of Christ is to serve Him with excellence now so that we can hear His words, “Well done”.

Open the eyes of my heart, ,LORD...let me see You, let me see like You see...I want to love You more and love more like You love.

What a comfort to know that God is always with us—we don’t need to go through life alone! "I will never leave you or forsake you"

God’s faithful care will extend to every day of the new year. We can count on that promise."I AM with you always...My grace is sufficient"

To everything there is a season. A time for every purpose under heaven.

Five Challenges for the New Year

Num. 13:1-12,17-20

1) Reprioritize your life
Focus on the Blessor (not really a word) not the blessings. It's about Jesus!! The 10 spies were concerned about the fruit of the land. How much, how big, etc. . .

2) Become a Risk-taker
Satan helps in building our walls. The walls need to come down in order for the reward to be maximized.

3) Embrace your struggles
If we can embrace the struggle, then we can learn the lesson, then we are able to give encouragement to those that may be going through the same thing. Struggles are good~they build us up so we can build up others. Think of all the men in the Bible who were NOT delivered from their struggle. Noah, Moses, Joseph with his bros., Samson, Daniel, even Christ. They had to go through the struggle to become life-changing agents for the Word of God.

4) Look Beyond your Circumstances
Faulty assumptions lead to faulty conclusions. When the spies took their eyes off Jesus, their focus became distorted. This lead to exaggeration about the people in the land and caused them to want to quit.

5) Envision the Extraordinary
God is so much bigger than we can possibly imagine. The spies forgot what God had said and their outlook was too small. Joshua was just an ordinary man but had extraordinary vision AND did something with his vision.

Dr.Tom Thompson-Shadow Mountain Community Church 1/03/10

Riding The Storm Out

  Scripture     Acts 27:20 Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would ...