Phil Laeger's song with video

someone put his song with this video. The words ,"thank you for showing me the emptiness of all held unto" never were more vivid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0uxDQYYsC0

Going to the unfamiliar places

I have absolutely no sense of direction! It takes me a while to walk the same path in order to know it well. Oh, I guess there goes my dream of being a tour guide :). And if that wasn't enough, I also hate surprises- they make me nervious, insecure and just annoy me, really. I can't enjoy them.Boy, am I in trouble or am I trouble!?!?!?! God loves both- unfamiliar places AND surprises!
With my Bible Study group here we're studying Joshua. Our last time we read Joshua 3. I challenge you to read it- lots of good stuff there. Having a phobia of unknown things- couple moments in that Scripture stood up to me more than before.

Joshua 3:2-4 "After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people: "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before..."
How can we follow GOD to the place we've never been before? That unknown place was their Promise Land- a place they've dreamed about for 400 years or so....and now it's so close!
As you read Joshua 3, you'll pick up few keys Joshua gave :
in vv. 9-17 you'll see them:

1. Come to God.

2. Listen to His Word. (I like the fact that he didn't say, "drag your Jordan to me and make it listen to Me"...but He began with us- YOU come and listen...let me consecrate you through and through...bathe in My Presence and My Words. And about the Jordan- that's My problem).

3. Consecrate yourself. (make it right with God...spend more time with Him, make sure your heart is in the right place).

4. Now believe God for great things , even those that seemed impossible! ( God promised to get rid of all their enemies- all the "ites" nations. Someone told me that "ites" means snakes. But I wonder if if they had to face more enemies than just "ites"; enemy like "fear " was something more real at the moment).

5. Get your feet wet. They didn't see the miracle until the very first toes actually got in the water.


So, what is your unknow land God is leading you to? What is your Jordan- the obstacle too impossible to get over? How wet are your feet? God is bigger than our phobia, He is way bigger than Jordan and all the "ites" together. Our Promise Land in our journey with Christ is waiting- will you cross the Jordan with me or will you stay on the shore and miss the blessing.

2007 is a place none of us has been before. Let's get busy and get ready for a trip!

A Christmas Wish/ Hint

A College Student writes a letter home:

"Dear Father,
School i$ really great. I am making lot$ of friend$ and $tudying very hard. With all my $tuff, I $imply can't think of anything I need for Christma$, $o, if you would like, you can ju$t $end me a card, a$ I would love to hear from you.
Love, your $on."

After receiving his son's letter, the father immedeiately replied :

Dear Son,
I kNOw that astroNOmy, ecoNOmy and oceaNOgraphy are eNOugh to keep even an hoNOr student busy. Do NOt forget that the pursuit of kNOwledge is a NOble task and you can never study eNOugh.
Love,
Dad"

:):):):):):):):) I love you all friends...hope all of you got what you wished for Christmas.
My Christmas was great! I spend sometime home opening presents with my husband. I really think I'll be worse than our kids, because when it comes to Christmas I am a joke of the week- I get up early, make my coffee and bugg my husband to hurry up to start opening presents. He takes his stinking time, just because he enjoys watching a nerveracking Russian sitting by the tree in expectation. LOL
I was blessed this year, he always does more than I expect. My friends blessed me with their love, support and warmth- what more can I wish.
Thank you Jesus! It's Your Birthday, but I get all the presents- you truly love me, don't You? ;) :):):):):):):):):):)

You know You're Living in 2007 when....

1. You accidentally enter your PIN on the microwave.
2. You haven't played solitaire with the real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone ## to reach your family of three.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that you don't have their e-mails.
6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.
7. Every commercial on TV has a website at the bottom of the screen.
8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have just few years ago, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.
9. You get up in the morning and go online before getting your coffee.
10. You start tilting your head sideways to smile :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! By the way! I still don't do #9- PRAISE GOD!!!!

Fath-stretching promise

I have shared this story with the few of my friends. If you go to Montaclair Corps, you probably heard it from your officer :)

Anyways...about a month and a half ago our pastor challenged us to give a faith promise- extra money on top of the tithes and offerings, and that faith promise would go to our missioneries that we support.
Before the service began I have already decided in my heart how much "my faith can afford" :)...So, here comes time to pray and our pastor says this , "If it doesn't scare you, it's probably not a faith promise". I tried to dismiss that one, because I already decided how much "faith" I'll give today (not to be cheap or anything ) LOL...

So , I close my eyes and here is the conversation that took place between God and me:

Me: ok, LORD, how much do you want me to give? You do remember that I don't have that much this time, so please, have mercy on me.

GOD: $100.

Me: ????

God: $100

Me:$50 it is, Lord!

God: $100- trust me on that one.

Me: I can trust you for $50 too, it's a stretch for me, you know.

God: But does it scare you?

Me: well....define "scare"...$50 I can handle, that I am sure I can find in case of emergency.....so what do you think?

God: you know what I think...

Me: Let me pray about it first...

God: LOL (I can almost picture Him going through His holy hair and laughing).

Me:....is our pastor EVER going to stop praying....

God: so, child, would you believe Me for $100 extra each month?

Me: I guess...let's do it....

Finally, I have heard an "amen" coming from my pastor....Never before have I desired an "amen" as much!..I thought I was done, but the real test just begun!
My husband looks at me and asks me ," so how much did God tell you?"....I look down and whisper under my breath , "$50?".....
"NOOO"- Zach replys and continues ," God told me how much and He told me what He told you too...so how much?"....sigh...."does He tell you EVERYTHING?....$100, that's what He told me"....
Zach said ,"that's what we're going to pledge, honey"..... OK....
I came home and had a conversation with GOD, telling Him , "I know we both heard from You $100....and frankly it does scare me a lot, but this I know- You will not fail me....so, LORD, I am willing to go on that adventure with YOU, increase my faith, help my unbelief. You have created seas and trees, You can do anything, so why am I fussing over it, that's just silly....let's do it! Actually, YOU DO it and I'll just stand and watch the glory of the LORD"......I felt Him smile over me.....

Since that few things happened :
-within 2 days I got blessed with $145- just because. People were giving me money, because they felt to.
-I got blessed with the tickets to visit my best friend Carole
-my TV broke and the very next day a friend of mine had an extra one and she wanted to give it to us.
-I got a computer for free
-the tires on my car were still under warantee (sp?), so I got it done for free
-my electricity bill was unusually small
-I did pay my very first faith promise in full!!!!
-I started Christmas shopping and I actually have some money left!

.....Just think about it....some stupid $100 fuss was actually a key to unlock a bigger blessing.....

What is GOD asking you today? What do you have to loose? (other than an OK stuff exchanged for BETTER!)..

Let's believe GOD even when He makes no sense!

My husband has blogger!!!!

Hey everybody!
My husband has opened his blogger. Check it out! He is pretty good.
http://worship-warrior.blogspot.com/

Back Home

I am back from my WONDERFUL trip to Carole! It was the best time ever! I don't know if I have ever prayed that much with any other group of people in one than I prayed with Carole, Mhairi and Cindy! It was great! God taught me new things- how refreshing!
My trip there and back was good. My luggage however got lost on the way back, but it safely arrived by Friday morning. (not a biggie ).
My flight from NY was late for about 40 minutes, so I was praying on the way to Chicago to make on my next flight. I only had 20 miniutes to make it there! I prayed, I read my Bible and then I realized that I will be at least 45 minutes late for my next plane! Boy, did I panic. Then I heard God telling me , "Look out the window". I did. He continued , "I can hold all these clouds in one place, I can hold sun in it's spot. Do you believe me I can do a mirracle of getting you on the next plane?". Just before I was reading Joshua (that happened to be our next Bible Study book). So I told him , "I believe you, LORD". Then He gently spoke to my heart , "do what Joshua did". My face probably looked funny for other people, because I was starring at the window with confused look and lips tight. "Do like Joshua did"- I heard again. I knew where He was going and I didn't think I can do it. "Do like Joshua did"....OK....I looked outside the window, looked at the sun and said ,"Sun, stand still in Jesus name"....waiting for God to make a mirracle. He did. When I landed to Chicago it was 1 hour behind from NY, I totally forgot about the time difference! Well, actually , I think He made me to forget it for a minute just to see if I will have guts to thrill Him with my brave request. You see, I totally believe He gets tickled when we do such thing. I think He goes, "finally, someone asked me to do something BIG".
What about you? Do you believe GOD for BIG things? Do you dream BIG? Do you pray for BIG things to take place? Do so, friend, excite your BIG GOD with the real task, He LOVES it.
Thank you, LORD, for being bigger than we think. Thank you for doing bigger things that we could ever imagine. Thank you, for being a BIG GOD.

I am not home

Hey there, friends,
I am in N.J with my friend Carole.
On the way here I prayed hard that God put me on the same plane with Beth Moore (silly, I know, but it was silly as well, when I asked for prayer to visit my friend Carole and He answered, huh?)..so far I haven't seen Beth Moore, however, I sat on the plane from Omaha to Chicago with the guy who looked just like Max Lucado...I thought to myslef , "hey, I'll take Lucado as well...my God can do more than I ever expect :)
anyways...I am having fun here..tired though, but very excited to meet new people :)

Bible vs Cell phone

(this is not mine, but very thought provoking!)


I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phones?
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we used it to receive messages?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
What if we used it as we traveled?
What if we used it in case of an emergency?
What if we upgraded it to get the latest version?
This is something to make you go...hmmm...where is my Bible?
Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cellphones, we don't ever have to worry about our bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill!

Shape Up or Ship Out

Ok now...I know only women can write this and only women can get excited reading this :):):):) but this morning I could fit some of my old pants that I couldn't fit 1 month ago! YAY! (I fit in them whithout laydown on the bed trying to zip it up! important note:))

Anyways, I gotta make it spiritual somehow :)
So as I was working out this morning, I thought of that: If we are the Body of Christ, we all were meant to function well. The reason we don't function well sometimes could be that we are getting out of shape. The more we're getting out of shape, less we can do to be effective.
I had an interesting conversation the other day with someone. This person called my home and was telling me how worn out and discouraging this past month was and how there is no desire or energy left to do anything for Christ. I asked one simple question , "how is your prayer life, study and quiet time with God?"...the answer amazed me ,"well, it's lacking lately, BUT IT'S NORMAL, everyone goes through it".
It is not normal! And the moment we make it normal- we're in trouble. We're running the race TO WIN and "normal" things may not be our best friends to do it. This is the common lie of the enemy ,"it's normal, tomorrow will be different". I had friends in Russia who's being in denial for 3 years already telling me it's a "normal" thing that all go through. I am not saying we'll loose your salvation over it, but we WILL loose our daily victories and blessing.
So that inspired me to stay in my shape spiritually and be alert and praying so that when temptation comes I won't give in.
I encourage you the same!!!
We don't serve "normal" God, we serve extraordinary God Almigthy who wants to give victory!

excellent tool

If you're like me love the deep study of the WORD and knowing the origional meaning of the phrases makes you excited (like me!)...then you might find this site VERY helpful for your studies.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/ there you can find Strong's concordance, commentaries, even songs for Scriptures- pretty impressive!

coming before the throne

Hebrews 4:14-16

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. "

This Scripture was one of many that we looked at during our last Bible Study. I pray that few insights that I found by doing a word-study will bless you just as much as it blessed me!

The word "sympathize" in Greek i very similiar to Englsih- "sumpatheo":
sum=with someone, patheo=feel. Therefore, it means to feel with someone.

Christ is not just feeling sorry for us in our time of trouble, but He feels it WITH US, hurting just as bad as we do, EVEN when He knows it'll be alright. He feels our pain.
One of the Commentaries suggested this thought: the reason He can sympathize with our weaknesses is because He's not only been there, but He was STILL be able to say "NO". The intensity of the temptation knows not the one who gave in, but the one who remained sinless. That's powerful! So we can come to Him with anything on our heart and trust that He will understand every single thing without us trying to express with better words.

Now...are you ready for this??? "Let us approach then the throne of grace with confidence"......I hope you're sitting as you're reading it!

The word confidence in origional Greek is "parhesia" (Strong #3954) and it means:
1) freedom in speaking, unreservedness in speech
a) openly, frankly, i.e without concealment
b) without ambiguity or circumlocution
c) without the use of figures and comparisons
2) free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, boldness, assurance
3) the deportment by which one becomes conspicuous or secures publicity

THAT'S A WORD FOR SOMEONE TODAY!!!!

Who would have thought of freedom of speech before the throne of God? MY GOD!


Do you think Jesus was an American? :):):):):):):):):):):)

Turnning things upside down

John 2:14-16

"In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"

I wonder what would Jesus do if He walked in our churches today? What would He overturn and be deeply offended by? Would He overturn the tables in our church Headquorters, church offices, Bible Studies (ouch!), church dinners??? What would He have to overturn in my life, my marriage, my heart???? It's gotta be something that has appearance of "serving Him"or "being in His presence" but in reality it's nothing but a fog. Scary thought, really. I remember hearing someone tell me (when I was serving overseas) , "Well, I work in the church office, that's for God, I don't need to do anything extra on Sunday".....I wonder if Jesus would overturn all of our activities upside down saying ,"Get these out of here! How dare you turn our relationship into a performance, show and paper work".......that's a reality check for me.

Recently I felt that God is preparing me for a turn in my ministry that would most likely bring some painful changes. I told God that that would be the last thing I want to see, BUT if turning some tables upside down would bring us closer to Him and open our eyes in the areas where we were blind- by all means LORD, do it, just cover us with Your grace. Our heart and our desire is to have our heart beat with the same beat as God's. So, let's ask God to shove the obstacles out of our way in whatever areas of our life or our church.

Father, forgive us for bringing "tables" where we should bring our hearts and remind us of Your holiness, give us the fear of the LORD ; bring us closer to You Father!

In a mighty, saving, freedom giving name of Jesus,

AMEN!

Who Am I

2 Sam. 7:18 "Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?" was in my heart last night.
I've been praying for a miracle for a while now. You see, I've been wanting to go visit my friend in NJ , but it just couldn't happen according to my check book. Last night at the Bible Study I told my ladies, "I really want to go the very first week of November, and it's only 2 weeks away and I haven't seen my check book expand in any way. But this I know: It took God only 3 days to raise Jesus from the dead, so I guess my 2 weeks is plenty of time for Him to show up in a mighty way"...All of them "amened" me.
Little did I know that the answer for my prayer was 3 minutes away!
After our prayer time my girls said they wanted to show their appriciation to me and handed me an envelope with a card- HOW SWEET. Inside the card was my ticket to go NJ (round trip) to visit my dear friend and get this- the first week of November!!! SWEEEEEET!
Isn't God good?!?!?!? The ticket was an awesome answer to prayer, but their warmth and love and care broke my heart into pieces.I told my friend after we left , "I know I didn't cry there because I'm still in shock, but I know I'll be sobing tonight". As I laid in bed last night, King David's prayer from 2 Sam. 7:18 never felt more real!
Thanks you Jesus for a wonderful family you gave me here. Thanks, girls! You have blessed me! (better stop now, before mascara runeth over :). The 11-th commandment : Thou shalt not cry with mascara on. :)

Lesson on Holiness

Have you seen a recent report on CNN about the "Ice Man". The guy who was in a mob for years and his family had no clue. He was one of the most severe murderers who not just killed people, but did a lot of ugly things with them and truly enjoyed it?..That was sickening. The thing that stuck with me about him was that he was a regular "church goer" AND he had a ministry, he was an usher in his church. Nobody had any idea. That is so sad, he heard the living WORD of GOD weekly at least and kept on living his life in a habitual sin- SCARY.
I thought of him when I prepared for my lesson for tonight's Bible Study. A hard lesson on holiness is described in Lev.10
"Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.Moses then said to Aaron, "This is what the LORD spoke of when he said: " 'Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.' " Aaron remained silent.
Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, and said to them, "Come here; carry your cousins outside the camp, away from the front of the sanctuary." So they came and carried them, still in their tunics, outside the camp, as Moses ordered.
Then the LORD said to Aaron,"You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, and you must teach the Israelites all the decrees the LORD has given them through Moses."

WOW! The "Ice Man" is lucky he wasn't living back then, or he could have burned alive in his suite right then and there. Thank God for the grace of Calvary, we don't die in church when we approach God in "unauthorized "way. The one and only way to approach God, to worship Him and pray is through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. It seems we loose respect for holiness sometimes, we think we can "play" church and believe we can get away with it. May be today we won't die physically in the church, but we sure will expirience death of our connection with God. That was a sobering reminder for me today of His Holiness. "Be holy, for I AM HOLY" He said, and there was a reason for that.
Another thing that caught my eye in this portion of Scripture is "You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean". Notice, that common may not always be bad for you, but it will be useless. We don't serve the GOD of common, we serve Holy GOD, so why not choose holy instead of common? Distinguish- that involves discerment, prayer and knowing the heart of your God.
Let us be challenged today to distinguish between holy and common and CHOOSE HOLINESS (through Christ) AS A LIFESTYLE.

Lord,as we approach You, show Yourself Holy and remind us to respect that.

Praise Report

God is so good!
Our church was in need of a new sound system. The worship team has been praying about that for a long time. So, our pastor made a call to the congregation challenging them to give GOD extravagantly. We needed $6000. I am happy to report you that the LORD answered our prayers beyond our wildest dreams (just like my GOD :)), we've got the offering for $10.000 that Sunday!
You should hear all of the testimonies Sunday after that one when people stood up and shared how GOD rewarded their faithfulness!
Once again I am reminded and Malac.3 "Test me by giving and you will see showers of blessings"

Word for me this morning

I am alive and well! I know I haven't been here for while- life is too buzy lately. God is being buzy too trying to keep me in line :)
Anyways...So many great things happened, I can't describe His Faithfulness with the words.

This morning He spoke to me a fresh Word and I claimed it and received it. Let me share it with you:

"My children, be silent before Me that I may speak to you. I will lift up My voice as the sound of the trumpet- I will speak clearly to you, for the hour is at hand.
Be obidient, and raise your standards of discipline and dedication to a higher level. For My face is set towards My imminent return to earth. I wait only the release from the Father's hand. I long to come and be united with My chosen ones ; but the Father holds the times in His power.
And I say to you, though I am ready and longing to come to you, yes, I would have rejoiced to have come much sooner, I say to you, you are not yet ready. I have wooed you and warned you. I have spurned My entreaties, and you fought against the restraints of the Spirit.
Break through the religious curtain, and behold Me in My glory! Keep your vision filled with ME. Keep your life in tune and your worship in mutual harmony. For I will come singing over you, and what will you be if you are in discord?"
("Come away my beloved" , p.251)

Share with me your thoughts, what really stood up to you in this word?

As for me, these two things peirced my heart:
#1)be obidient and raise your standards of discipline and dedication

#2)Break through religious curtain, and behold Me in My glory. (more and more I find proof that religion and Christianity are 2 different things. Religion is nothing more but the letter that bounds me, Christianity is of the Spirit and sets me free).

Now it's your turn...share with me...I want to know your thoughts :)

new and BETTER things...

How refreshing is that!
You know how they teach that the book of Philppians is the book of "joy" since the word "joy "or "rejoice" is mentioned there more than 10 times. Well, after my little study I come to conclusion that the book of Hebrews is the book of "Better things"! Just look at the amount of BETTER things we get through Christ Jesus mentioned in Hebrews. I pray it will be your word for today and your anchor that reminds you that you are in possesion of BETTER things- that's is God's promise to you.

Hebr. 6:9 "Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case—things that accompany salvation."

Hebr. 7:19 "(for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God."

Hebr.7:22 "Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant."

Hebr.8:6 "But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises."

Hebr.9:23 "It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these."

Hebr.10:34 "You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions."

Hebr.11:16 "Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."

Hebr. 11:35 "Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection."

Hebr. 11:40 "God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."

Hebr.12:24"to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel."

LOOK AT THAT! These are some awesome promises that God gave us! Let us stand on them firmly and believe Him. God can do what He said He can do and He IS who He said He is.

Glorious Garments

One again God's tenderness touched my heart today. I was reading Exod.28 and vv.2 and 40 showed me a new aspects of God's care for me.

V.2 "Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron to give him dignity and honor".
v.40 "Make tunics, sashes and caps for Aaron's sons to give them dignity and honor. "

God's covering for us has a unique purpose! God is in the restoration business. He wants to restore what the enemy has stolen from us. Our dignity and honor is what satan is after; enemy wants us to feel naked, violated, robbed, shamefull, unworthy. By stealing our dignity and honor enemy robbs us off many blessing, because when we're ashamed and feel unworthy we don't believe we deserve anything from God. ( although, His blessing and mercy has nothing to do with that)...
So God had a plan and He revealed it as a foreshadow in the Old Testament,"make them garments to give them dignity and honor" (back, as I would add).
God is our best Fashion Designer! Check this out!
Genesis 3:21 "The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them."
Isa.52:1 "Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength.Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again. "
Isa 61:10 "I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels."
Ezek.16:10 "I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put leather sandals on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments."
Zech.3:4 "The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes." Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you."
Ps.132:9 "May your priests be clothed with righteousness; may your saints sing for joy."
Rom. 13:14 "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."
Gal.3:27 "for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."
Rev.16:15 ""Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed."

There is a brand new wardrobe available for us, but sometime we wake up in the morning and habbitually put on the old rags and filthy clothes that enemy made us wear for years and we think that is "as good as it gets" and God is telling us over and over Genesis through Revelation that He has prepared a new garments for us to give us back our stolen dignity and honor- the garments of praise instead of despair, forgiveness instead of shame, future instead of old past. Open your closet and see what is yours. It's time for us to be fully dressed and take back what the enemy had stolen.

A Gift Giving GOD

We're still studying the Tabernacle with my home girls here. So I am all in that study.I ask God to show me new things and surprise me every time. I delight in the fresh new manna every day and refuse to be sustained by the old revelations only. So, here it is- He is Faithful as always, showed me something I never saw before!

Numbers 18: 5-7. " So the LORD said to Aaron", "You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that wrath will not fall on the Israelites again. I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD to do the work at the Tent of Meeting. But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death."

Check this out!!! How thoughtful of God to put it this way and plan it ahead just for such a time as this! God had carefully planned the purpose for Aaron and all the priests and He handpicked all the helpers for him and presented them AS A GIFT! AWWW....To know that I am GOD's gift to my pastor- what a delight! To know that GOD spend time picking the right Russian girl for such a time as this , for such a place as this just to be a gift to someone. Not just a poor favor out of compassion like crumbs of the leftover dinner for the beggar, but A GIFT- carefully and thoughtfully picked.
And look at the way GOD presented ministry- HIS GIFT to Aaron. I wonder if it's a sobering thought for someone today to be reminded that what you do for the LORD is not just your job or work or burden, but it is a GIFT from GOD that helps you to be more and more shaped into the person you were meant to be!
Actually all of us are like Levites and I want to encourage you and tell you- you are GOD's gift to that person, whether he treats you as such or not. They will answer to GOD how they maintained their gifts. But GOD sees you as a gift to your pastor or anyone in authority over you, so treat yourself a such- bless your leader with your attitude, prayer, help, ministry- you are a GIFT.
And all of us are like Aaron as well- we have a ministry that the LORD intrusted to us, no matter what is it that you do in the church: preach from the pulpit, teach Sunday School,clean the bathroom or water the plants.....whatever you do is the gift that GOD carefully picked that fits only you, so never give up! And as I love to say, "When GOD gives vision, He gives proVISION",so if God blessed you with the gift of ministry, He will be faithful to bless you with the gift of helping hands. Let your "Levites" know how much you appriciate them :)
GOD IS SO CREATIVE!

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.