Thanksgiving

Be joyful always; pray continually give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" 1Thessalonians 5:16-18

In Thanksgiving

My Lord, My God, My Father, master of all men, Author of our lives, we come humbly before you unworthy though we be; we offer our thanksgiving for all you have done.

We give to You thanksgiving our most sovereign of all Gods, that in thy wisdom, Thou choose to save us though your Son. Forgive us great one so holy, and Father of all things, for we stand incapable of understanding a love so great to us, but through you precious Son, our Jesus, You have laid before us life through faith in your Son. For this we give thanksgiving above all things to Thee; for granting Your permission for Your Son to set us free.

We give thanksgiving to thy Son, for being the faithful one, for standing in our place, and facing all our sorrows that we might overcome. On to Him we give the glory, openly for the entire world to see. For as it was in the beginning and once more it shall be life everlasting through our precious Jesus, Eternal live shall be. We give onto our Jesus, the Father and the son a shout of praise most worthy from the Spirit to be heard through eternity. Every trial He suffered from the garden to the cross, bought for us the power to overcome. In total complete humility we offer forth our Praise, worship and troth for His flesh was pierced for all the world to see to bring Salvation to you and me. No greater gift could ever be, He died for you and me. We could start our praise this moment to last for eternity and it would prove unworthy of the price He paid for you and me. There is no word known to man to express the love he showed.

Please hear our thanksgiving God and our precious Jesus; for the acts you showed brought to us the Spirit to feed our souls. The Holy spirit to abide within was an act only our Great God could have had the wisdom to show.

The mystery of the Trinity the abiding of the son with man through the Holy Spirit; even to today; the power within Jesus Blood to save us yet today. All these gifts so grand, He gave forth to man. To reconcile man to our Creator; We humbly give thanksgiving for all those things Dear God that thou has blessed us in the love of Your Spirit through the love of the Father to the Son and the Son to the Father creating a love beyond reason for God’s creation. In this love may we eternally abide.

We give forth a shout of thanksgiving praying that eyes open and ears be given to hearing so that all man may know your love. The harvest is at hand Lord, bring forth wisdom and knowledge with understanding of you mysteries. We ask that more may sing of your glory in the name above all names our precious sweet Jesus our master from above. Amen.

Response to Doubting the Word of God

A recent letter
When we spoke on Thursday you mentioned those you know who doubt in their believe in the Bible. Saying just that the hand of God is bigger than the hand of man and was over it, was sort of a cop out on my part for I do have very strong feelings in that area. I did not give you any of my feelings about those who do not believe in the bible when we spoke for fear of appearing to be preaching to you, I am told that is a big fault of mine; and I respect you far too much. Plus I am going on the assumption here that you were talking of believers who doubt the word. So here is just a few of the things I share when I run into those who suspect the word.

Personally I find failure for a believer to believe the word of God to be an oxymoron how a person can claim to believe in God and reject his word to me is totally insane; for in my heart to reject the word of God is to reject God. To say he is not powerful enough to preserve what he wants us to know is saying that the spirit of the living God does not work!

The bible is our (His children’s) gift from God. It holds our origin, past, present and future in a timeless, beautiful array of parables. Parables in his wisdom so that we are dependent on His love, the gift of His son and the birth of the Spirit to understand it! It is His way of explaining His plan to His children. I go pretty deep into the study of the gifts, just being me! I believe the gift of discernment is an understanding and discerning of His word. The bible itself tells us it is written in a matter that all will not understand, to a brief point this is to encourage fellowship, those who do understand (preachers, priest and teachers) to place the word in a plainer manner for those who are seeking but still have problems understanding or who are not mature in the spirit; Paul preached in every letter, Christ crucified is the channel or doorway. (Understanding and discernment hold the same meaning when I am speaking of religion, just the way my brain works on the subject.)

To a second brief point there are those who become puffed up in knowledge (those who take a little or a lot and decide that they know it all) and run with it; leaving the spirit of God’s spirit and what God has for them sort of standing in right field waiting for a fly ball (fly ball here means whoever back on their knees, usually threw some trial; trust me I know on this one I have witness there). The church, his children only really have two tools to work with the word and our witness (words of Paul). When we leave the word of God behind and rely on our witness alone we get out of time, for the bible is timeless therefore it keeps very up to date, right to the millisecond; It is a source of nourishment to the light of the spirit; thus, when we stay in the word it keeps us from spending to much time in right or left field. (The bible is like the wellspring of the spirit, from which we draw our understanding)

That is my witness, I stray all the time; however, the Lord has taught me; for now I know, the more I learn, the spirit teaches me how little I really know. The farther we stray from the written word, the farther we stray from God’s will for us! (That second brief point is why we have so many religions!) There are dozens of other good examples of puffed up knowledge but I am going to leave it here.I believe we live by the grace of God and the bible is the tool he uses through Jesus Christ and the Living Spirit. It is in combination with the Spirit how God teaches. The bible contains how and why He created us and what our purpose as His children is: it shows His love for us, His patients with us, why He created us, His desire for us; and most of all His entire plan for us! It is a chronicle of his Love, Laws and His ways, born in the deep love of the Father to his Son and the Son to the Father, a creation of that miracle of the Spirit that guides and teaches us. Without faith in his word, what do we have?

The bible says that the fear of God is the beginning of understanding a person has robbed their selves if they reject it or leave it behind.That awe is no where better illustrated than in the Bible. But it is closed to those who do not ask “we have not for we ask not” so I advise those who doubt to spend some time on their knees, the author knows just how to lead them to the understanding they need, to accomplish their destiny in Christ, after all he wrote the book.
At this point I would love to say I could write out a venue that would lead people to understanding the Bible or to change the doubters mind, however, there is only one who can remove scales from eyes and plugs from ears, and open our hearts to understanding our Father.

I will close with these few items to point out to doubters, because I could probably write a book on all of the reasons we need his word in our spiritual lives. Of the beautifully written parables of how and why we need to keep our eyes on God and the gift of the seed that is demonstrated in the Bible. When it comes to the word of God I tend to go on and on.

But in a nutshell as Paul said it is all through that doorway of Christ crucified, sometimes we just need to get back to the basics to see, with a clearer eye (or understanding); Back to the renewing of our mind Paul speaks of in Ephesians.Old and new testaments alike warn us repeatedly of the dangers in leaning to our own understanding and losing the simplicity of Christ Crucified. And looking at it from a very simple outlook, it was words from that book that brought you to Christ to begin with, doubting once you believe is sort of like jumping off the train half way to your destination (or getting a little puffy with world knowledge) you may get there, but when?
Or to use a popular Bible story, thousands left Egypt on a twelve-day journey that took forty years and only 2 of the original thousands entered the promise land. Sounds like a whole lot jumped off the train to me. Ask me how I know? I jump off regularly. It is truly just by grace I know the Lord! And on behave of the Israelites, Grace was just not as clearly defined in the exodus as it is in Christ, however I pray you get my point.

But His love for us was so great… My next statement sort of goes without saying, knowing someone who claims to believe but doubts the Bible I pray earnestly for! And if you agree, agree also with my prayer for wherever two or more agree on any one thing so is the Lord. For our Brothers and Sisters who doubt we pray:

Our Heavenly Father we give thanksgiving with lifted hearts full of praise and thanksgiving for the love you show toward us in your many gifts to us through your Son Jesus Christ, humbly we ask, that you to touch the hearts of ……and all who doubt your written word with a renewal of the heart and mind towards Christ and Your gifts. That as they, as well as we, seek Christ, we are renewed with a new understanding and revelation of the truth and beauty in the reality of your Word. That through our faith and knowledge in Christ crucified that your spirit write those words on our hearts with clarity and give understanding of the written word to those who call out in your name. Our prayer Lord is that you have an abundance of eyes that see and ears that hear with hearts of flesh in which you can write your word. That we doubt not and give hope and reason for others to believe also, to bring Glory and honor to our Lord Jesus Christ today and forever. We ask this in your precious name Jesus. Amen

Prayer Concern

A prayer concern

As the power of prayer grows stronger each day our Lord grows nearer, it is important to keep the prayer source and theme in the steadfast vein of Gods incomprehensible love.
All grace is the outflow of this love and it has an intent purpose. To further the Word of God as vessels of the love of God. All miracles and healings are for the glory of God in Jesus Christ our Savior. As vessels and reflections of the light of God in our lives as we pray for healings and miracles we need also to pray for the absorption of the word of God into the life of the person. For God to grant them eyes and ears of understanding that they grow into full knowledge of the love of God that their walk be steadfast.
Their miracle or healing is for the benefit of the gospel of Christ for them to share with others how the awesome love of God worked in their lives and that same love is available to all. So that we pass on that vein of Christ’s blood for it is indeed the love of God, always praying they seek out this knowledge for themselves, by seeking Christ..Keeping ever in our mind it is in no way connected to ourselves, but, a furthering of the Gospel of Christ through us.
Pray all reach for and receive a true hunger for the word of God, knowledge of his immense love, for it is the beginning of understanding.Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

A new life in Christ

An outer profession of an inner conversion
Adult Baptism is an awesome experience, as you with confidence experience and share with Christ His cross, as you die to the flesh as the water pours in or on you or over you. You are sharing with Christ the death of the flesh… and as your head rises – it rises in a new hope, you are sharing with him the promises of of God through Christ; your new life and growth to come by the Holy Spirit. Your old man washed away in the waters of baptism!
This is the most awesome experience ever….
Your decision to seek after Christ to learn and grow in his love...to leave who you are behind in hopes of seeking to be more like Christ through his truths and love is a big turning point in life as you know it…
I remember how I felt after my baptism I even prayer “Jesus, take me now---While I am washed clean of the ways of the world”…..So little did I know then …
I remember that time in my life like it was yesterday, I returned to life, the everyday emotions but something was different. Something inside had changed a barely noticeable change at first then I began to take notice….
Every time I would pray the Lords prayer when I got to that word “”as”” we forgive those who trespass against us….I would get stuck right there! Like I had no knowledge of the next line…This really started to work on my mind, I had a lot to be forgiven for – but, I knew through my confession Jesus had forgiven me and washed them all away. Why then every time I pray I get stuck right there and why was I always thinking about:
Who had hurt me…
Who had betrayed me…
Who had angered me…
Who had done unspeakables to me…
Who had never loved me….
Who had abandoned me…
Who had shamed me…
Who had lied about me…
Who had shamed me…
And that is a list that could go on forever, for anyone. However in the beginning my mind would focus on that one person that I knew I could not forgive…. Every time I prayed I thought of them. And I literally argued with God~~~ “God I cannot forgive them”~~~~ they hurt me beyond repair, then I would be able to put it away for a time, then it would start over. Only there was a difference…I began to pray Lord I do not know how to forgive them, please teach me your ways Lord that I might be forgiving….
And God took me on a journey I will never forget for the next several years…As he taught me, that every un-forgiveness was like a piece of stone in my heart, hardening it, and that he loved me, and he writes on the softened flesh of a heart and that soften flesh was found in the heart of those who forgive. And there where a few on my list that literally took years to forgive. You see I was forgiven! but I carrried unforgiveness in my heart towards others.
Over time the flesh of my heart still finds a few stony patches, but I look to Jesus with this prayer “Jesus, I can not find it in my heart to forgive this person, please show me your mercy and guide me to forgive ______ and those I find unforgivable.”
And in time I find myself re-evaluating, finding out something I never knew about the situation, my perception about my feelings seemed to change….Jesus working is what I have always called it! And with every new forgiveness came spiritual growth that was above and beyond measure.
Is forgiveness an important part of Christian walk….It has been for me! It is the event that draws me close to God.   If you do not know what your spiritual state is, look in your heart, see how many pebbles, rocks or boulders of unforgivness are blocking a writing on your heart, or your next spiritual growth experience.
Was it a smooth journey? No! Am I still on it, Yes!
The road to forgiveness began with Baptism for me and has embarked me on a journey above and beyond any boundaries the world can give, into a supernatural love from a supernatural God that creates a super natural inner peace that His only begotten Son gave for those who call on his name. The beauty of it all….. Is the great mercy and love we learn from Christ on our journey. The peace and healing that we find in seeking the truth in the word of God; is amazing, and ours for eternity for when we seek, God is faithful to see to it we find.

Christ lives

The fire of the baptism of the spirit is within us, the light of his incomprehensible love is within us through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Our hope, our faith is in the promise from God He will restore; His Glory to His House and His children through our faithfulness to pray and stay ever seeking His wisdom, His knowledge, the discernment of His word in our hearts through His love begotten in the spirit to guide us to Jesus Christ in and through His word and by his spirit, we just need to receive.