Giving God My Best...

Are you feeling forgotten by God this morning?  Is there a dryness to your relationship with Him?  Are you longing for intimacy and deep connection with Him?  Listen to this...The Lord spoke so clearly to my heart through Malachi 3:6-11...  

The context is God speaking to HIS people and the personal application is that He STILL SPEAKS TO US...

6-You can trust me!  I am the same yesterday, today, and forever.

7-You keep turning away from me-STOP IT-Return to me and I will return to you.

8-You act confused-How are we turning away from you?  Really?  Don’t you see how you rob me from the first fruits of your life...you give me your leftovers.

9-Because you give me your leftovers you will be cursed as you sin against me and rob me of your very best

BUT LISTEN...THERE IS HOPE!

10-STOP IT!  Return to me AND I WILL return to you.  Starting today I want you to give me the very best of you!  Your finances, your marriage, your ministry, your margin, your whole life!  I WANT YOU TO TEST ME so that I can show you that you can TRUST me. 

Mary, I am the same yesterday, today, and forever!  As you walk by faith and learn to lean on and trust In me, I will throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing (beyond finances and temporary treasures) you will not be able to contain it...it will bubble up, overflow, and spill out! 

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.  STORE YOUR TREASURES IN HEAVEN, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.  Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”  Matthew 6:19-21

FREEDOM!!!!!

“So IF the Son sets you FREE, you WILL BE FREE INDEED.”  John 8:36

This morning as the Lord spoke to me through His Word...”IF” kept popping off the page.  ”If” is conditional...I have an active role in being set free.  

“But the scriptures declare we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom ONLY BY BELIEVING in Jesus Christ.” Galatians 3:22

🙌Freedom from LEGALISM and LAW 

🙌Freedom From DEATH

🙌Freedom for being a victim to temporary CIRCUMSTANCES

🙌Freedom from FEAR

🙌Freedom from ADDICTIONS

🙌Freedom from FEELINGS

Are you feeling overwhelmed and all consumed by feelings of hurt, pain, fear, betrayal?  Let the Son set you free!  (Stay tuned this week for information about an 8-week workshop coming up that changed my life and can change yours too) 

“So, if the Son has set you free, YOU WILL BE FREE INDEED!” John 8:36

HE IS FAITHFUL...

“The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid.” Deut 31:8

FORSAKE=Leave entirely, desert, abandon, reject, withdraw from

This morning I am preparing my heart to go to the cemetery for some final details.  It will be the first time I’ve seen grandma’s finished site with the engraving completed.  I woke in the middle of the night and felt small anxiety wanting to rise up...I immediately cried out to the Lord and He settled me right now.  Then today this was our assigned reading in our God’s Promises study...

 “The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid” Deut 31:8

Mary, I will go before you.  I will be with you.  I will never leave you...not today, not in the middle of the night, not when you are ready to take your last breath...you do not have to be afraid.  What a good and gracious God we have.  

What are YOU going through that is robbing you of peace?  I’m asking the Lord to stir your heart to run to HIM as you read these words...

🌷“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and sound mind” 2 Timothy 1:7

🌷“God is the source of our strength and the shield that guards us”. Psalm 27:8

🌷“Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” — Lamentations 3:22-24

2019 WEEKLY WRAP-UP

Oh how I long for my Sunday Weekly Wrap-Up’s....

MONDAY: Ransomed and Rescued: (Isaiah 43:1-3)

❤️I am HIS

❤️He will ALWAYS be with me

❤️The waters of life will not sweep over me

❤️The fires of trials will not incinerate me

TUESDAY:  Human Weakness Can Be Exchanged For God’s Strength (Isaiah 40:31)

❤️I must HOPE in the Lord...and then He will:

❤️Renew My Strength

❤️Soar Like Eagles

❤️Run and not grow weary

❤️Walk and not faint

WEDNESDAY: Rebuilding My Mountains & Hills. (Isaiah 54:10)

❤️Mountains and Hills WILL BE shaken

❤️HIS Unfailing love WILL NOT

❤️His Covenant of Peace WILL NOT

❤️HE Rebuilds My Landscape

THURSDAY:  Reverent Love (Proverbs 9:10)

❤️Reverence of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom

❤️Reverence is a healthy fear born out of love, respect, and esteem of the one in authority

❤️Freedom comes in reverent submission to those God places over me

FRIDAY: Standing Firm While Staying Holy (James 4:7)

❤️When I HUMBLE myself before God

❤️He will empower me to RESIST my sinful nature

❤️Resisting my flesh by focusing on God’s truth causes the sinful nature to flee and the spiritual man to stand strong!

SATURDAY: Grasping Godly Sorrow (1 John 1:9)

❤️Confession brings Forgivness & Purification

❤️Godly Sorrow bring LIFE

❤️Worldly Sorrow brings DEATH

❤️Choose LIFE!

Faithful & Just❤️

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

❤️Confess-To own, acknowledge our role and/or mistakes.

❤️Purify-To make clean, to redeem, to atone

❤️Godly Sorrow:  Manifests itself by repentance and the experience of divine grace

❤️Worldly Sorrow:  Brings death because, instead of having God-centered sorrow over my wickedness-I am self-centered and focused on the painful consequences of my sin. 

Lord, I am so incredibly thankful that you are FAITHFUL AND JUST! I can trust your steadfast love and that you are devoted to me...not in an enabling manner that overlooks those things that bring harm, but in a reverant love that keeps me safe by gently rebuking and redirecting me back to those things that bring LIFE!  Teach me to hunger after Godly Sorrow and to recognize the ingenuiness of worldly sorrow.

Standing Firm & Staying Holy....

“So HUMBLE yourself before God.  RESIST the devil, and he will FLEE from you.”

The definition of devil in this verse:  May be said to act the “part” of the devil or to side with him.

This is important because not every attack we have is from the devil.  he is not omnipresent and cannot be everywhere at once.  But we have a sin nature that wants us to drift back to the darkness of who we were before we were saved.  It wants to enslave us, to keep us from the best...it focuses on temporary satisfaction that fascinates and then when we engage and turn away from God-it ASSASSINATES. (Thank you for that phrase Debbie Friley)

With that in mind...

Mary, humble yourself before me this morning by remembering who I am.  

🙏Resist the devils ways by standing FIRM in the truth you already know from my Word.  

🙏Stay in my Word and let me by the shield that guards you and the source of you strength.  

When you do this...when you engage with the Holy Spirit within you THIS enables you to stand firm in holiness...the devil and his nature will have no way with you.  

Lord, this morning I lift up every area that will come under attack today.  You already know the temptations I am going to have to not believe the best about others.  You already know the Holy Bootcamps that are going to come my way.  I’m so grateful that nothing is a surprise to you.  Dress me in the full armor of your Word today and show me how to stand firm in truth even when my “feelings” and physical stamina want to do something contrary.

Defining & Digging into Reverence

“The FEAR OF THE LORD (reverence) is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding”

-Proverbs 9:10

This morning my entire heart is focused on finding and defining reverence, which is the definition of Fear of the Lord.  My dad was the superstar of modeling this in the human form.  I am sitting here remembering fondly.

DEFINING: Reverence is a healthy fear born out of love, respect, and esteem of the one in authority.  It’s trusting that they love you completely and want what is best for you even if you don’t agree or understand.

HUMAN EXAMPLE:  My dad modeled this so well for me.  I KNEW to say yes sir, and no sir, I knew when there were chores they better be done, I knew that I could not be one minute past curfew. If I did...watch out!  But I also knew that I could trust my dad to take care of me and that no matter how mad he was at me, you better not mess with his kids😊

I still remember an incident from when I was just 16 years old.  A male manager at the fast food restaurant I worked at had been saying and doing things that were become increasingly more and more  inappropriate.  (Nothing horrible...just escalating) I sought out my parents for counsel.  The very next day dad took me to work and in front of the entire staff and my bosses boss put that man in his place.  This morning it makes me laugh...at 16 I was embarrassed and angry, but if I were to admit it, relieved.  Even though my behavior looked outraged, inwardly, that was a defining moment in my life of what it looks like to have someone who protects. (I’m so sorry to my friends who I know did not have this)   

Reverence for me was learning the freedom that comes in submission to my authority.  (Even though I came kicking and screaming most times)

What does Holy Reverence look like?

❄️Do I believe that no matter what happens to me or to those I love that I can trust that God knows better than me.  

❄️Can I submit to His plan for my life even though I may not understand it?  

❄️Do I acknowledge that humans fail us and cause us pain and hurt, but that God is absolutely JUST and that He will deliver justice better than any human authority ever could?