Cities of Refuge

As we're finally saying goodbye to Joshua, I was thrilled to teach one last lesson. I think it was a perfect ending for such a book as this! Really.

At the end God spoke to Joshua (Joshua 20) and told him to build Cities of Refuge for a guilty person to hide after a crime. Well, that also meant unintentional sin.
The more I studied that portion of Scripture, the more it became clear to me that Christ is my City of Refuge! And He had upgraded the "illegal allien" policy since His death: now ANYONE who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved! (Rom.10). And now ANYONE- guilty or not , can find refuge there.

So, check it out: I am studying this chapter and I decided to look up the meaning of the names of those cities.
See for yourself:

KEDESH=to consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be separate.

SHECHEM= neck as a place of burden; to incline shoulder; to load up a man or a beast with a burden.

HEBRON= to unite, join, bind together, be joined, be in league, have fellowship with, be compact.

BEZER= to gather, restrain, fence, fortify, make inaccessible, enclose.

RAMOTH= to be lifted up, to be raised.

GOLAN= to uncover, remove ,to reveal (as God reveals Himself)

Can you see a prefect picture of Christ as He offers Himself there? What is it that you need of Him today? HE CAN DO IT!

Jesus is your Kedesh-a place where you're pronounced pure again and whole again!

Jesus is you Shechem- a place where He offers His neck and shoulders for your burden.

Jesus is your Hebron- a place where you find perfect fellowship and sweet company.

Jesus is your Bezer- a place where He keeps you inaccesible from others to get you.

Jesus is your Ramoth- a place where you're lifted out of your pit and placed on solid ground.

Jesus is your Golan- a place where your shame, pain and hurt are uncovered and removed and God is revealed in a new glory!

Where do you run when you're in trouble? Who or what have you made your refuge city? If it is not Christ- it is a false security! RUN to GOD!

So, in Joshua 20 it says that the guilty person could stay in the city as long as the high priest lived. After his death, the guilty person has to go back and deal with the past.

Hebrews 7:24-25

but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

That means we can stay there all we want to!! Celebrate that with me, somebody!!!!!! Praise GOD!!!

Are we still having Easter this year???

Can you tell that satan is working over time lately?
Some stuff that is shown on TV is just out of control.
First they found the Tomb of Jesus and tried to sucker us in. Gosh! Really, do they think we're THAT stupid?!?
And as if that wasn't enough, "jesus" himself appeared on TV last night. Puertorican (sp?) guy who lives in Florida now claimed to be Jesus of the Bible. This guy was smoking, drinking, had bad financial credit, problems with the law, DUI and divorce tried to convince the world of his "diety" or whatever. The funny thing is his reasons why he's doing what he's doing...Get this!!! He said that he died for all the sins the first time he came 2000 years ago, now no sin is in his body (he used Scripture and quoted Paul about "no sin should control me") and he said now we are all free to do what we want to do. There is no such thing as sin. How easy! He also said that there is no devil and no hell. The only punishment we'll ever get is natural punishment (like jail and stuff) here on earth. And!!! He and all of his followers (which by the way he has opened several churches in several countries already!) have tatooed "666" on their wrists!
C'MON now! Really! Do you really think that Christians are THAT low to buy it. My feelings were hurt because somebody totally underestimated my intellegnce THAT much!!!
What really grieved me was that he had so many followers and they all bring their kids to that "church" and kids call him "abba father" and praise him. They also convinced that all kinds of immorality is fine and one little boy said ,"because god does the same"......SAD! Very SAD!!!
They have not only limited me, they lowered my GOD so much. They have have no clue HOW BIG my GOD is!!!! Oh, how dissapointed one they will be.
A lady from that church said ,"there is only one god and no other. And he just left this building and got into his BMW"....LOL....
Well, I'd rather serve my God who is everywhere with me at all time, who is not giving an easy way out , but seeks the best way to transform my life! Who loves me unconditionally and prepared an eternity for me, because I'm on a short trip here on Earth.

2 Tim.3:1-7" But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. (don't even even try hard to get of form of godliness!)Have nothing to do with them.
They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth...."

2 Tim. 4:3,4 " For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

BOOOORING

Like I wrote earlier, we're studying Joshua with my group. I LOVE that book. The story of insecure young worshipper who achieved a lot simply because he BELIEVED GOD!

I have heard a story of a man who was given an opportunity to go in a bank and take whatever he wanted. He man came out with a penny. Whose fault was that he was poor? The same thing with us- God's bank account of blessings has our name on it and we can dithdrawl (sp?) anytime we want. Whose fault that we are poor spiritually?
Looks like Joshua was the man who learned early that FAITH is a PIN number for that account and he got blessed.

With our group we'll read several chapters at a time, and then we'll scan them through together and I share with them what stood out to me. Oneof my precious ladies said the other day ,"boy! I don't know what you're going to teach, but I'll tell you that some of those chapters were BOOOORING" ( she has the most amazing British accent, so picture that). I agreed with her wholeheartidly. Some of those chapters should be named "The worst baby names book ever" or "If you don't love your baby, name it something like that"....(LOL). Another lady looked at the chapter and said ,"I am NOT reading this portion outloud!" Ha-HA!
As I was preparing for that lesson and saw the list of the king's names, I asked God to give me something fresh on that. He did!
We read in chapters 11-19 all the achievments of Joshua and his army. Then you'll see the whole list of the Kings and their location- 33 altogether.

I looked and at list and God started speaking to me. He said, "look again....what do you think those kings represented to Joshua?"...."Obstacles?"-I said/asked God. He smiled, "yes....some are bigger than others. But all of those kings were fighting Joshua to have ultimate authority over him and make him captive to their will. Are you getting the point now?"...........AHHHH.....
I stared at the list again and I could almost picture the Scripture being re-written before my eyes....."and Lenna by faith had conquered the kings....the king of offense and hurt feelings that tried to stop her from fulfilling her purpose...the king of insecurity that tried to convince her she was no good in the Kingdom of God......king of fear that tried to stop her from moving to the new heights.....king of doubt that ried to paralize her with unbelief.....all these kings tried to establish their thrones in her heart, but by faith Lenna and her God have overcame them all, because she believed.".... wouldn't that be wonderful????

You can put your own enemy in the blank. The king of eating disorder, pornography, lust, fear, unbelief,bitterness, resentment etc. Put your own king that you have and are battling at the moment, the king that is trying to put his throne next to God's throne in your heart and gain control over you. And be sure, just like Joshua was, that GOD is in the middle of that battle with you and He is getting the hail out to kill your foes right before you eyes! JUST BELIEVE!!!!
And at the end of your life, there will be a chapter that records your personal victories through and by faith. Anticipate, beloved! The LORD SABAOTH( The LORD of the Heavenly Army) is with you!!!!

"Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us." (Rom. 8:37 AMP)

update

Ok....I really haven't been here for a while....lots of things happened!

I got really sick and had a surgery last week. My very first one EVER. My husband got really worried, though he did an excellent job hiding it and being strong for me. He slept on the chair in the hospital next to me and prayed with me every time I got scared. The surgery went well and I was out of hospital the same day. I am feeling MUCH better though and I don't miss that gall bladder at all!

This whole expirience made me slow down and take a deep breath ( after the pain drugs kicked in, since you can't breathe when you're having a gall bladder attack :))) and be still. It is nice once in a while to do that. At first, when I started having minor attacks from my gall bladder, I was convinced that enemy was messing with me (andmay be he did!), but God showed up through all of that in a mighty way! Like one of my favorite devotions said one time, "Defeat may serve as well as victory: to shake the soul and let the glory out!".....Love it! If enemy tried to crush me and put me down, God just used that time to heal me, restore me and refresh me.
While in the hospital and then at home on the couch (I couldn't walk much or sit straight :) for a while) I have caught up on reading some books and picked few new. I read the Bible and just enjoyed my little break! How refreshing! I think God missed me........I missed Him too....
Through all of it- God showed Himself Faithful , Just and more than anything Loving and Caring! He is so good to me!
My Bible Study ladies were so great! Speaking of Bible Study- next Monday is our last visit of Joshua! We're about to say good bye to another great achiever of God and ready to expirience personal victories through Christ who leads us into triumph!

Oh YEAH! I got my BETH MOORE tickets this week too! YEAY!!!!!!! All the "Beth Moore groopies" please stand up and shout "Hallelujah" with me :)

Church with Room 203

I just watched the "freedom Writers" (http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/freedomwriters.html).

Anyone who is in any type of ministry (especially the one that deals with kids and youth!) must watch.

I sat there fully aware of the brokeness that this world throws awaylike spoiled leftovers. Broken lives, broken hopes, broken dreams, broken hearts. The whole time I set there I kept on hearing the same thing, "God is attracted to brokeness and emptiness". If only those kids knew THE hope of the world.................................................................................................

Who will go and tell them?

If you watch the video from the link above, you will hear the dairy of the last guy. In the midst of all the trouble he knew that there is a refuge in the "English" class..the Room 2003 became their shelter. The Room 203 became a place of unity. The Room 203 became a place of reconciliation. The Room 203 became a place of restoration.......God is calling you and me to become Room 203 for someone who is closer to us than we know. I was challenged to become Room 203 to someone who the world had thrown away, to someone unwanted,to someone who is underloved.....I want to become Romm 203- a place of belonging..............a place they can call HOME............It is here in Room 203 I want them to find Father's embrace and hear Him whisper in their ear "Welcome home, child".................

You and I can be the Freedom Writers...........There is bigger freedom that they don't know about. Galatian 6:1 "It is for FREEDOM that Christ had set us free"......let's embrace the promise and let the rest of the world know!!!!

Revival begins within myself

I am halfway through a new book called "Revival starts within myself"(the book is in Russian)- an old story of a missionary to Africa-Christian man since childhood who expirienced God in a deeper way and got transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and through an incredible encounter with Jesus. As I was reading this book, I caught myself comparing the church of the 1-st century with the 21-st century church. I pray we will not shame the Bride that was born in Jerusalem.

Father, speak to us, touch our hearts, may our lives blaze for You. Jesus prayed in Luke 12:49 ,"I have come to bring fire on earth, and how I wish it was already kindled!"-let the fire of the Holy Spirit do it, Father!

Amen and Amen!

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. :)