BUT I'M WEARY

Those moments that come and we wonder, if it even matters anymore! Yes we all have those moments; but remaining there will bring doubt, depression and despair.

If there were ever a time to turn off the news, and hit the floor on our knees it would be now. I knew in March no one especially the body of Christ could go back to the way things were, and I prayed, and I prayed. And then, and then, wouldn't you know it; something else begins to take over the news and social media. 

Now what God? I am still believing for revival and now cities and towns are on fire! And I cry, and I sit, bound to my seat, calling out to my Father, "What do we do?" It seems today I feel like the man in the movie The Green Mile, when he said, "I am tired boss!" But in my soul I know we are not to grow weary, in these times when it appears satan is having his way, and he is shooting his fiery darts out of a gatlin gun, we must press in and press through.

We are to gather around and lift one another up in prayer and lock together in faith, believing and trusting, praying, knowing God is still on His throne and still in control and still perfect. For He is Holy, Sovereign, All Powerful, All knowing and always with us. But I am tired boss!

What am I tired of? I'm tired of politics, I'm tired of evil, I'm tired of the kingdom of darkness, I'm tired seeing no fruit coming forth. I write knowing we are not to grow weary, yet also knowing we all do. God sees into our hearts, He is well aware of our emotions, our pain, our thoughts, He knows and He understands, it is written in Hebrews that Jesus had to come in the flesh to be as we are, that He might understand what we are going through and by dying He destroyed the one who had power over death and He  became our Kinsman Redeemer. He knows His own and we can hide nothing from our Creator, our Redeemer. 

Just now I am reminded of this my pastor said this morning; "through it all we must remain steadfast". 

According to Galatians 6:9 when we allow ourselves to become weary we also become discouraged. I desire to reap what has been sown in prayer, in declaring, in believing for. How about you guys? Then if we expect to see we must remain steadfast in our prayers and in our faith.

So how do we do this? By not allowing the world, the flesh and the devil sit up home in our minds. When we do that we have given place to the enemy to bring into our souls, our emotions, our thinking those things that will steal our joy and our peace. 

Jesus said "When the Son of Man returns will He find faith"! I have used that many times as I write, but now I, perhaps over time I had forgotten, see a greater revelation that when we allow ourselves to become weary and discouraged then where is our faith? So when Jesus returns will He find His bride weary, discouraged, asleep, or will He find us faithful, steadfast, pressing forward?

During this time, we must stay alert, stay in prayer, in the word, we must not allow ourselves to drift away and become isolated from our fellow believers. We need each other, we need to encourage one another, pray for one another, bear one another's burdens. Pray for me that I will persevere, remain steadfast, not grow weary, not be drained emotionally and I will pray for you. 

Thank you for just allowing me the privilege of entering your moment with my thoughts. Be blessed have a great new day tomorrow and sleep well.

Your friend Linda

AN EXHORTATION

WHEN GOD WREAKS ME

Have you ever had one of days or one of those weeks, when God has just come in and wrecked you! Has sit down with you and said "Listen to Me"! I have spend this week listening to God's word and reading His word and just been in awe of Him.

God's word never grows old, each time you hear it or read it, it will speak to you, times we get a new revelation of His word, at times a fresh revelation of what we already knew, and at times a deeper revelation that takes us deeper with God understanding more and more of what we only thought we knew, and then we hear and we read and just like that our eyes are opened to deeper things.

We can never retain everything we read and we hear, so it is always good to go back and review. I suggest if you do not take notes at your church, start, but not just to write them down but to go home and once more open up God's word and go back over the message scriptures and just allow God to speak a word to you. 

Often times, people will just let the pastor speak a word and never give it another thought, our pastors should lead us to the word not be the word for us. Folks we have to listen to receive and allow the word to be conceived within us. It's a seed planted deep within us that must grow by feeding into it, believing the truth of it and allowing the Holy Spirit to bring it forth as full grown fruit in our lives. Going to church should never just about attendance! No it's going with great expectation to receive what God desires to give us and us to give Him all our worship and praise that He deserves.

Our attitudes will speak volumes about true worship. Worship comes from a pure heart that is motivated by our love for Jesus. When we come in agitated at someone, or the pastor, or carrying offense, or murmuring about the temperature, the music, or complaining about a decision church leadership made that we did not agree with. Then God does not hear our worship. 

I have seen people, just stand stiff legged, arms crossed and look like they swallowed a jar of dill pickle juice. And stand definitely as if to say "I will not sing, I don't like the kind of music they play, and they need to turn it down a notch."

Well, I too have my favorite songs and styles, but like I heard this week, we have to get beyond the style of the song, listen to the words and sing to our heavenly Father, a song it will always speak to people, the problem is people shut out the words because they do not like the style. What do I mean by style? Contemporary, Southern Gospel, old Hymns, Blue Grass, Hip Hop. Worship through our songs is about the words of adoration being spoken before Jesus.

 Everytime I read Revelation, I see this "Heaven is noisy, angels are constantly singing "Holy, Holy, Holy, crowns are being placed at Jesus feet and the 24 Elders are singing "Worthy, Worthy, Worthy. The Redeemed are singing their song that only they can sing. Heaven is about worshipping the One sitting on the throne, and all of heaven is centered around Him." There is thunder and lightening and many voices.

 When God puts His anionting on a song, it will accomplish it's purpose, it will lift up Jesus, bring Him adoration, it will bring Him praise and it will glorify the Father. For us it releases a heart that responds to the words by worshipping our God. Some lift their hands, some jump, some cry, some do a little dance, some wave a banner, some shout, some go to the altar. But always true worship will evoke a response!

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. If God is the center of all activity in heaven then God should be the center of all our activity here on earth.

The word says that we are to walk in the Spirit and we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Walking in the Spirit says God is the center of our life, our focus all the time, not just when we go to church, or bible study. All the time, He has captivated our life and He lives in us and because He lives in us so does the same resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead. That power transforms us it doesn't conform us to look like the person next to us, no it molds us and shapes us to look like Jesus Christ, the word Christian means "Little Christ". That same power has released us from the bondage of sin and enables us to say NO to sin and the temptations from the devil, and the desires of our flesh.

There is so much flowing in me right now, God is like downloading a wealth of wisdom and understanding into my spirit. In this process my love for Him grows deeper and deeper, my desire is to love others as He loves, yet, too often I fall short. Loving someone does not always mean we can continue in that friendship, because it is a toxic relationship, and needs to be moved away from. That's when we love from a distance and pray for them. Who knows one day things may change and a friendship can begin again in Christ.

For me I go through seasons, times of just resting in Jesus and times when He seems to speak and take me deeper in our relationship. As I typed these words, the Holy Spirit brought to my memory, during this time I have been praying to go deeper with Him and to seek Him through repentance and faith in Him. I reckon God has been answering my prayer. So this season is truly a blessed season. God was willing and always willing, but we must do our part and choose to seek, to turn off the distractions that hinder us and see God move to answer our prayer. I want to add that He will even use friends to bring you DVDS and CDS dating back 15 years of church services to be used to wreck you. You see I made a decision, "Turn off the television and watch the DVD fill myself with God's word, then read God's word, pray and worship. In between I listen to my music and I just enjoy my Lord and Savior. Oh and I do clean house in between that."

I could go on and on, but I will stop. Just know the word given through a message is for you not your friend, listen closely. When a pastor is giving a word it is always to lead us to God's word. So read it, pray it, meditate on it and apply it.

Just sort of exhorting hoping whoever reads this will be blessed.