It just isn't enough

I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me. Psalm 101:3

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45

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. Philippians 4:8

My heart is heavy with the burden to seek God daily, first, most.  I find myself so quickly seeking out other "loves" that easily displace God, readily distract me from Him, completely consume my attention and affection.  So it becomes all the more critical to be vigilant, selfless, obedient to Christ alone.  If I'm not training my own heart to seek and love Him first, how the world do I think I can teach my own children to do so?

I am overwhelmed by what parents allow their children to view, by what they set before their children to entertain them.  My opinions on such things are usually kept to myself, knowing that every family unit is different, every parent is different, every situation is different.  But tonight, I am deeply troubled to hear and see to what children are exposed.  It is too early to begin exposure to these things, these movies, these forms of entertainment.  These children will grow into adults and will be inundated with this "junk food" on a regular basis; don't start it now.  Begin healthy habits early.  We as parents desire our children to know and love and follow Jesus as their Lord, but at the same time we are attempting to feed them Truth, we are simultaneously feeding them rot, expecting them to choose the better.

I wish I could do better justice to my thoughts, attaching words to them in a clear manner.

We as Christians are so quick to justify a movie, a tradition, a whatever because we think if we sprinkle enough Bible spices on it, it will change the content.  But fish doesn't flavor salt, salt flavors fish.  If we want children who understand Biblical standards for living, who embrace Truth, who adore Jesus, then we can't contaminate those teachings and lessons with worldly living.  To me, that looks lukewarm.  We've got to be on one side of the fence only, not balancing on top of it.

Lord, please give us wisdom.  Please give me wisdom, insight, discernment, clarity, direction, and consistency.  Let my children see me loving, following, and worshiping You alone.

the prayer of my heart

O, Lord, my King, my Savior, my Creator, my Love

in the same way you provided and blessed in abundance...
to the point that the blessings were too many for the people to keep,
so they piled the overflow in HEAPS,

please send heaps
PLEASE SEND HEAPS
please provide in abundance
multiply
bulge the storehouses
overflow the barrels
make our sacs heavy with blessing
our nets breaking with fish
let us see in faith
move in faith
press on in faith
let us see you move, Lord.
show us Who You are.
let us make no mistake that it is by Your hand we are satisfied, fed, clothed, filled, loved, saved, and given heaps.  

God, I love You.  I love and I love and I love You.

simple gifts

...I had just started making coffee this morning and was opening the kitchen shade when I looked up to our cherry tree and saw a little downy woodpecker, hopping around and pecking away.  Then his wife (or brother or whoever) flew in.  I never get to see those little guys in our yard, so I was thinking how much of a treat that was.  Then I was thinking how if I hadn't been looking for anything in the cherry tree, I wouldn't have even seen them.  I would have missed that little gift this morning.  And so I was encouraged to continue to seek the Lord's face and then to look for His blessings and gifts and answers.

I love Him today...

God, I'm thankful for You, for your faithfulness, for your mercies that are brand new every morning.  Thank you for meeting my biggest and main need in giving Jesus to save me, to offer forgiveness, to make me friends with you once again.  Thank you for your love that envelops me and sweeps over me like a sweet fragrant meadow wind.  Please fill me with your essence, so whatever I do today, wherever I go, whoever I see, I am spreading your essence, that sweet fragrance of Christ.  Please overwhelm me with yourself that I might lovingly and persistently share you with others.  Keep me near Jesus today...amen.

the message of the Gospel

the world was good, all that God created
all taking shape and form just as He had stated...

then came the serpent, crafty and lying
deceiving, distorting, degrading, denying

a taste was taken, then passed to the man
who tasted too, motion now given to the Master plan

sin entered, clouded minds, bringing curse, veiling the divine

sacrifices now required, atonement demanded
blood brought forth, not enough, final life from heaven handed

Jesus sent, as infant enters
fallen world around His life now centers

charges brought, cross erected
Jesus hung, no sin detected

blood streams down
cleansing, saving, unveiling, redeeming

hope restored, life is given
forgiveness won, promise of heaven

death for life
souls now secured
love is seen
eternal life assured

-nettie hogan

He Leadeth Me...

He leadeth me, O blessèd thought!
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be
Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters still, over troubled sea,
Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me.

Lord, I would place my hand in Thine,
Nor ever murmur nor repine;
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.

And when my task on earth is done,
When by Thy grace the vict’ry’s won,
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me.

-words, Joseph H. Gilmore
-music, William B. Bradbury

creation groans

...and my heart groans with it
aches for heaven
yearns for audience with the King
cries out for His presence
longs to kneel before Him...

so, until heaven...
my heart will bow here
love here
worship here
rest here
find peace here
be anchored here...

...to Christ.

He keeps, sustains, leads, nourishes, provides, loves.  And, He's showing me that's enough.  He's enough.

hidden in Christ

park walk
evening sun
setting in the west

shadows cast
thrown east
tall in the grass

sun on my left
sweet daughter on my right
keeping stride on the trail

two of us
one shadow
hers hidden in mine

remembering Colossians 3
died with Christ
now hidden in Him

my shadow melds with His
hidden in Him
united with Him

let it be

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:3-4

the gospel in Revelation 1:17-18

with passion in her eyes and conviction in her voice, my friend proclaimed her love for Jesus, His life, death, resurrection, Word, and His revelation to John... 

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Revelation 1:17-18 

She said, "I see the gospel here.  I get that Jesus loves me; I do, I get that.  But, my mom loves me, too.  Why should it matter that Jesus loves me?  Because He died for me, He rose, and He holds the keys of death and Hades; He is alive forever."

I love my friend, but I know You love her more.  Please keep her near You; remain in her...

her heart is pounding with love for You...

my heart is refreshed by her...

keep her...

quiet tears

the kind that form, gather, and fall unannounced

the kind that speak volumes on behalf of the heart

the kind that fall slow, steady

the kind that wet cheeks

the kind that reveal burdens, aching

the kind that fall quietly

my girl has quiet tears today...she doesn't feel well

Lord, please heal her...

intimate conversations

intimate conversations between two people known to each other

among true friends with a connection through Christ

between husband and wife

between believer and God.

if we are strangers to God, there is no intimacy

we don't know Him like we might know a good life-long friend

so, how do you talk with someone you don't know?  how do you share your heart, fears, struggles, joys with a stranger?

intimate conversations with God are possible when we really know Him, really know Him.

do you know Him?

"Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
 ⁸ Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
 ⁹ Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. ¹² I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing..." John 14:6-12

I love how Jesus shows us that we know God through Him, they're One, which is such a beautiful picture to me.  They are united, undivided.  What a treasure that if we know Jesus, we know God, too.  

How do we come to know Jesus?  What does that mean?  

The Bible says that it's as simple as believing Him.  

I believe that He came from heaven to earth as a baby, growing through boyhood, into manhood.  He healed lots of people - from heart-healing to demon-driving-out-healing to skin-healing to hunger-healing and more.  

He came to broken people living in a broken world needing to be helped in it, through it.  

He was tried publicly because He stood for and preached Truth.  He was whipped till His flesh was torn, He was bloodied from spikes of thorns pressed into His head, skin, He was insulted in the most horrific manner, and He was attached to a cross of rough-cut wood.  He was nailed to it.  The soldiers with nailing and execution orders continued their murder of this Man.  They stood the cross, sliding its vertical post into the ground.  

Jesus was nailed to and hanging on the cross.  

Why was He there?  

If He didn't do anything wrong, what was He dying for?  

He was dying for the people He had created, the people who turned against Him and sinned, bringing a death curse on themselves and on the world.  He was dying so that His death, His sacrifice of Himself, would speak for us...on our behalf.  He died for sin once for all that day on the cross.  

I believe it.  I believe I need Him, the Savior, because I was born with sin.  I couldn't pay for my sin myself.  My kind deeds for others wouldn't ever be enough.  The death of Christ was recognized as payment for my sin, for the sin of all because He is "in the Father, and the Father is in" Him.  

His sacrifice/payment is complete when He snuffs out death by rising from it; the grave couldn't hold Him.  He is the Life-Giver.  His life gives life.  

So, believing in His death, His coming back to life, believing in Jesus, calling Him my Master, my King, my best Friend, leads me to knowing God...because Jesus says they're One.  It is then that I can talk with Him...I know Him.  We can have intimate conversations.  We listen to each other; we know each other.

Do you know Him? 

 

do you ever

Sometimes - lots of times - my tongue gushes folly (Proverbs 15:2).

My words pour out quickly, without restraint.

I release the tongue-belt, and soon my heart is aching with regret.

My mind is filled with anguish at what I just heard myself say.

And, I find myself praying that the words would be unheard, or forgotten, or used in some way by God for good.

Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Proverbs 12:18

Please, Jesus, give me your wisdom, that the words from my mouth would bring healing...that they would be like honey to hearts around me.

Please give me wisdom to be quiet, gentle, kind.  Oh! how I need You.
keep me.

I love, and I love, and I love you.

I love you mountains high

I love you oceans wide

I love you valleys deep

I love you honey sweet

I love you blossoms bright

I love you starlit night

I love you sunny day

I love, and I love, and I love you.

nourishment of the written word

"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested."

-Francis Bacon

fresh manna, sweet manna

we're tired, we're hungry

we oughta have died in Egypt

at least we would have died surrounded by food

yes, we were slaves there, but we had some food there

now, we're tired; we're hungry

Moses, where's dinner?

How are you going to feed us?

sure, we're free now, but you've led us to the desert!

you've led us to our deaths!

now, we're going to starve here. 

Exodus 16:11 "The LORD said to Moses, ¹² “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.’"

God heard that grumbling

the ungrateful hearts

the forgetful hearts

He rescued them from some hard slavery...

intense slavery

cruel slavery

generational slavery

400 hundred years of slavery

rescued them after they cried out for a Rescuer

He set them free

He parted the Red Sea like a comb to hair

separated right down the center to the scalp of the earth

the people walked right through

they didn't get wet

now here they are...forgetful

God has been forgotten

His power?  all those plagues in Egypt?  His protection?
their exodus by His hand?  all forgotten

Now, God promises food, His food, His way, His time

He makes good on His promise - manna comes, fresh every morning

it satisfies, gives them just what they need

and each day, God sends His very own version of manna to our home,
our hearts, our lives

He provides the food we need

the clothes

the warmth

the everything

it's fresh every morning

His Word is fresh

the Bible is living and active ... fresh, new, just what we need

let's eat there daily, that fresh Bread, that satisfying manna

good for the body, good for the soul

and, let's not forget it.  let's remember.  let's be thankful.

Sweet Land

Let us hope that we are all preceded in this world by a love story.

~Of Time and Memory

natural warmth

There is a fire brightly burning behind a charcoal-colored metal screen.

Our fireplace houses many fires during the winter months.
It warms our home, our hands, our faces, our hearts.

I wonder the draw of a natural fire.
Is there something other than a need to be warmed that causes people to congregate near this bright warmth?

We sit near it, read beside it, work with it before our eyes, play board games while it crackles behind us.

There are people I know who draw me to themselves like a fire draws me...
these people have natural warmth, the kind that melts the cold of my heart, the kind that beckons tears from my eyes, the kind that brings comfort like rays of morning sun.

What these people possess is Christ-likeness.
They are simply emanating His warmth, His Spirit, His Life, His Love.
That is what draws me.

It is simple.
It is warm.
It is lovely.
It is Christ.

...in quietness and full submission...

I was thinking yesterday that there are probably a lot of good reasons God encourages women to learn to be quiet and to learn in quietness...
(1 Timothy 2:11)

He reminds women of the great and lasting value of the beauty coming from a gentle and quiet spirit...
(1 Peter 3:4)

The context surrounding these gems of truth are rich with direction and instruction, and they have so much to teach me.

And so, one of the reasons for God encouraging women to be quiet occurred to me yesterday while my hands were deep in kitchen sink bubbles and warm water.  Women are pretty good communicators and desire to be understood and heard, which are good things.  I think what I tend to overdo is talk.  Time that could be used to learn from others by listening or to draw others out by asking questions, is sometimes spent instead with aimless chatter, numerous details, or gossip.

My desire is to take to heart God's instruction to learn in quietness and full submission, to be an intentional listener, to realize what God intends when He says to put others ahead of myself, and to apply His Word to my life.  I want to make a difference with love.  I want to use words wisely, not carelessly or with barrels full of regret. 

Do not be quick with your mouth,
   do not be hasty in your heart
   to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
   and you are on earth,
   so let your words be few. Ecclesiastes 5:1-2

communicator

"God is not silent. It is the nature of God to speak . The second person of the Holy Trinity is called "The Word."

A.W. Tozer