Category: Jesus

Gratitude makes the heart happy

christianity, devotionals, faith, Holy Spirit, inspiration, Jesus, life lessons1 Comment

Have you ever spent time with a person or family that are going through a difficult time?    I have at certain times, and always try to help in some way with either an encouraging word, a prayer, some cash or even food items.

A few weeks ago a friend and myself went to visit a family going through a very challenging time in their lives.   We did not know them, and  were asked to visit  as they needed some prayer and hope.    It did not take long to figure out what their main problem was.

We were with this family for over five hours with prayer and guidance, and not one time did we hear anything positive come out of their mouths.   When we asked them to give thanks to the Lord for something, anything, nothing could come out.  We received blank looks.

It´s important to find the good in all circumstances and give thanks.

The last part of Luke 6:45 says   For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Their hearts were filled with frustration, disappointment, heartache.  I am not minimizing their current situation, but giving thanks  is vitally important.

If the worse comes out of our mouths constantly, the enemy takes advantage of that and then we don´t see the light at the end of the tunnel.

We had to explain to watch their words and begin declaring victory. With their words, they need to begin to turn the tide. With their words they need to give thanks, to praise the Lord, and listen to worship music.

This brings me to the season we are in where we celebrate life.  The life that Jesus gave for us, his death on the cross to take our shame, our sins, our guilt and give us eternity in heaven with Him.

Living in a developing nation has his drawbacks in many areas, but there is always something to be thankful for, and I look for it.  If I look for the bad, I will find it.  If I keep looking, I will find more bad things to complain about.  But I choose to look for the good.

Look for something to be thankful for, even in the small things and begin to praise and thank the Lord.  What we have is salvation, and that alone deserves our praise.

One thing I am thankful for, the view from my home.

The view from my house

 

The calm of the ocean

christianity, devotionals, faith, Holy Spirit, inspiration, Jesus, Journal entry, Prophecy6 Comments

In my prayer time this morning, the Lord showed me an ocean.  As I looked, I thought it was a lake, as the waters were not moving like the ocean does.  But it was not a lake, it indeed was the ocean.

I saw boats scattered throughout the ocean, some of these small boats had one person inside, others two, sometimes three.  They all had a single fishing pole.

Lord, what does this mean, what are you showing me?

I will calm the waters to bring in my lost sheep.  The harvest will be performed on a personal level, one on one, or two on one, in intimate settings.

It is time for my harvest to be reeled in. They will be saved from the depths of the sea, the sea of sin where it is dark, cold and lonely.  They will come out of the depths into the light, and I will expose them to the “Son” and they will receive healing.

It is a season of restoration and harvest of souls.

I have loved ones that I am praying for, and this word encouraged me. May it do the same for you.

 

 

Why obedience is important to you and God.

christianity, devotionals, faith, Holy Spirit, inspiration, Jesus, self-improvement8 Comments

In sharing the Christmas message at church, our pastor focused on Joseph, the husband of Mary and his obedience to the Lord.

I don’t recall hearing many sermons about Joseph during the Christmas season.  It is usually about Christ and His sacrifice, and mostly about Mary and her response to the Angel –  Behold, the maidservant of the Lord.  Let it be to me according to your word.  Luke 1:38

Obedience

In hearing about Joseph, our pastor pointed out key truths.  He was a son of Abraham,  a just man, wanting to please God, obedient and operated in faith.

Imagine for a moment.  Joseph is engaged to Mary, and the scripture says before they came together or were married, Mary was found to be pregnant. Joseph did not want to disgrace her, and he made plans to break off the engagement silently.

How do you think Joseph felt at hearing this news?  His betrothed was pregnant, and not by him.

As Joseph was thinking about how to end his relationship, it was during this time an Angel came to him in a dream and informed him Mary was pregnant of the Holy Spirit.

Would you believe a story like that?  Joseph did, and his obedience to the Lord is recorded.  Not only here, but also when he was warned of yet in another dream to escape Egypt to save Jesus´  life.

I have been meditating on this sermon all week, and I ask myself, where have I been disobedient to the Lord in my daily life?  It´s so easy to read this story many times over, but never stop to think about Joseph´s obedience in all of this, and how vital it was.

This type of obedience took courage and faith.

If we read of all the accounts in the Bible where the Lord calls someone to operate in obedience, many times it goes against logic.

  • Moses parting the red sea
  • Moses striking a rock and have water gushing out of it
  • Noah building an Ark
  • Gideon choosing only 300 men  to defeat the Midianites
  • Sauls conversion on the road to Damascus

Of course, there are many more examples of obedience in the Bible.  If we strive to be obedient in the smallest of things in life, imagine how the Lord will trust us with the bigger things that come our way.

The bigger things may result in blessings, greater gifting and anointing upon our lives and satisfaction that you are in God´s will.

Operating in obedience to the Lord demonstrates our love for Him.

John 14:15  “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

My prayer for 2018, When I hear the voice of the Lord leading me in a direction that may seem unlogical, may I be obedient.

How to see in the spirit exercise

christianity, creativity, devotionals, faith, Holy Spirit, inspiration, Jesus, Journal entry, see in the spirit4 Comments

In my last post regarding Seeing in the Spirit,  I shared my journey into something new and the beginning steps to achieve this goal.

Today I would like to share with you an exercise these books suggest you do to increase your capacity to “see” in the spiritual realm.  If you have not yet purchased these books, I encourage you to do so.

see in the spirit

 

One of these exercises to seeing in the spirit is the following: I am to sit or lie down in a darkened room that has some light present, but not much. This exercise works well for me in the mornings, as the sunlight is starting to shine through the blinds in our bedroom.  Where I live sunrise is 5:30 a.m, every morning, every day, all year round.

In this exercise, I am to “look” at the empty space between me and the ceiling, or a far wall for ten minutes, and try to detect any images that appear and make note of them. I am not to dismiss “my eyes playing tricks on me” but pay attention to what I am seeing.  When I do this, I look intently, asking God to open my spiritual eyes so that I can “see.”

As I began doing this exercise, I saw a swirling white object move in the room and it seemed to go from side to side. I also saw something quite strange, and the only way I can explain it, its shape was a volume bar, white in color and it was going from side to side as well.

The next part of this exercise is to ask the Lord what I saw and make a note of it in my journal.

In journaling,  the Lord said the following:  ” What I saw was an Angel called Lapidus, and Lapidus brings joy and peace. The music bar-shaped was another Angel, and this Angel was giving God glory, praise and honor, and exalting his name.  He was dancing, praising God.”

I looked up the meaning of Lapidus, and it means made of stone, pleasant or charming.

We have had our praise music on more than normal since I began doing these exercises, and it has made a difference in our household atmosphere. I sense more peace and joy.

I am encouraged as I began “seeing in the spirit.”  I still have much to learn and grow.  I am seeing dimly for now, but I have faith as I continue these training exercises it will become clearer as I press forward.

I continue to repeat these exercises.  Sometimes I see something new, other times I see the same Angel swirling around.  It is quite fun, to say the least!

I will be sharing another exercise and its results in my next post.

How to see in the Spirit

christianity, faith, Holy Spirit, Identity in Christ, inspiration, Jesus, prayer, revelation, see in the spirit3 Comments

Do you ever find yourself desiring to learn something new, and when you find it you delve right into it?  Recently I have been reading books as to how to see in the spirit.

These are:

How to See in the Spirit

You could say the Lord has placed it upon my heart to study this.     As a young child before Christ, I had the ability to see in the spiritual realm, but what I would see were not always nice or pretty. 

Once I became a believer in Christ, my seeing in the spirit was not as active, and I was relieved.   Instead, I became aware of my surroundings,  but not always. 

There were times where I knew if something was off, or if someone was of the Lord.  Some people would call these types of people feelers.   I understand now it is the gift of discerning of spirits the Lord has given me.

Recently, my interest has peaked to be able to see in the spirit more accurately and frequently. I can sense, discern, and when I pray visions are common, but I wanted more.  

These books have helped me, and I would like to share a few nuggets with you that may help you see in the spiritual realm.  If you are truly interested, these books and others  are available at Amazon. 

Repent of any sins.  Yes, we all sin. Confession and repentance is a good thing.  Admiting something you did wrong does a lot for you. 

Intimacy with Christ is important and staying close to Him. Read the Bible, journal and pray.  I have journaled for years, so this was very easy for me.  It is in my journal where I can truly be myself and share my heart with Him in my notebook. I also have times of gratitude, praise, petitions, joy and sadness. Here I am real. 

Pray for others.  I purposely joined my church´s prayer chain years ago when I noticed that all my prayer request were for myself and my own family needs.  I realized that I was becoming selfish, and this is not right. I joined the prayer chain to move my focus from me to others.  I have always enjoyed prayer and praying for others, but I went out of my way to see whom I could pray for.  We receive our prayer chain in the mornings, and often times there are certain prayer request that I pray for throughout the day. 

Listen to praise music, as often as you can.   I am the type of person when reading or working, I need complete silence.  My husband, on the other hand, works best with music on.  To make matters worse, the spare bedroom in the house functions as our shared office.   So what we now do,  is having praise music on our Smart T.V. as soon as we wake up, and this has helped with the spiritual atmosphere in the home.

Fast and pray in the spirit.  We have a habit of fasting the beginning of the year, but this is an area where the Lord is telling me that I need to fast more, not just at the start of the year.  This type of fasting could be a meal, or one day a week.  Instead of cooking, eating and cleaning the kitchen I would use that time to pray and read the Bible.

On my next post, I will be sharing an exercise listed in these books and how it went for me.

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