Posted by: jakinnan | March 13, 2014

A Wonderful Secret

Indian Peaks

I am letting you in on a wonderful secret.

What happens when God comes and releases us from long-held fears or fears that have long held us? What happens when we surrender fear to God and invite his love to overwhelm it? What is on the other side of fear? Is it faith? Yes, but the form it takes is desire. What comes is a surfacing of desire. Or perhaps a resurfacing of desire.

Desires surface that you didn’t even know you had. Freedom rises to embrace your life and live it. I mean really live it. To live unabashedly. Desires rise in your heart for yourself and for others. Desires awaken regarding what you want to offer, do, experience, become. No longer bound by fear, how high can we soar? How deep can we dive? How much delight can we experience? Yes, there will be sorrow too—it’s a part of the deal—but life gets the final word. Life. Life always gets the final word. Every single time. Forever. 

– Stasi Eldredge, Becoming Myself

 

Leave a Comment

Posted in Ransomed Heart | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: jakinnan | March 13, 2014

03/13/2014 Scripture

Watchtower

I will climb up to my watchtower
and stand at my guardpost.
There I will wait to see what the Lord says
and how he will answer my complaint.

-Habakkuk 2:1 NLT

Photo Courtesy of: http://peteandthewonderegg.blogspot.com/

Leave a Comment

Posted in Daily Scriptures | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: jakinnan | March 12, 2014

His Way or Your Way?

Path

The Bible doesn’t condemn the person who makes plans for the future. Rather, it criticizes the person who makes those plans with no thought whatsoever for the will of God. That is a dangerous thing to do. God won’t share His glory with another.

There is nothing wrong with making plans. Paul told the believers in Ephesus that he would return for renewed ministry among them, “God willing” (Acts 18:21). He wrote to the Corinthians that he planned another visit “if the Lord willed” (1 Corinthians 4:19). On other occasions, Paul spoke of his plans to do certain things and how the Lord changed his plans. We have our plans. We have our purposes. We have our agendas. But the Lord may redirect us.

Jesus taught us to pray, “Your will be done” (Luke 11:2). Our prayers will be effective and successful when we align our will with the will of God and pray accordingly. Prayer is not getting our will in heaven; it is getting God’s will on earth. It is not moving God our way; it is moving ourselves His way. We need to remember that His will may be different from ours. And we must be willing to accept that.

The God who knows you inside out also knows what lies ahead for you in life. We can always fall back on the simple promise of Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

God’s plans for you are better than any plans you have for yourself. So don’t be afraid of God’s will, even if it’s different from yours.

– Greg Laurie

 

Leave a Comment

Posted in Christian | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: jakinnan | March 12, 2014

Embracing the Glory

Single tree

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us . . . And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. (Marianne Williamson)

When I first read this quote, I thought, No, that’s not true. We don’t fear our glory. We fear we are not glorious at all. We fear that at bottom, we are going to be revealed as . . . disappointments. Mandela is just trying to make a nice speech, like a sermon, to buoy us up for a day or two. But as I thought about it more, I realized we do fear our glory. We fear even heading this direction because, for one thing, it seems prideful. Now pride is a bad thing, to be sure, but it’s not prideful to embrace the truth that you bear the image of God. Paul says it brings glory to God. We walk in humility because we know it is a glory bestowed. It reflects something of the Lord’s glory.

– John Eldredge, Waking the Dead

Photo: Thomas Morkes

Leave a Comment

Posted in Ransomed Heart | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: jakinnan | March 12, 2014

03/12/2014 Scripture

Winter Forest

This prayer was sung by the prophet Habakkuk:

I have heard all about you, Lord.
I am filled with awe by your amazing works.
In this time of our deep need,
help us again as you did in years gone by.
And in your anger,
remember your mercy.

Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
even though the olive crop fails,
and the fields lie empty and barren;
even though the flocks die in the fields,
and the cattle barns are empty,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord!
I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
The Sovereign Lord is my strength!
He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
able to tread upon the heights.

-Habakkuk 3:1-2 & 17-19 NLT

 

Leave a Comment

Posted in Daily Scriptures | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: jakinnan | March 11, 2014

Just Pray

The light

Three ministers were debating the best posture for prayer. One claimed the best way to pray is to always have your hands pressed together and pointing upward. The second insisted the best way to pray is on your knees, while the third was convinced the best way to pray is stretched out on the floor, flat on your face.

As they were debating, a repairman from the telephone company overheard their conversation while he was working in the next room. He walked in and said, “Excuse me, gentlemen. I don’t mean to interrupt, and I am certainly no theologian. But I have found that the most powerful prayer I have ever prayed was when I was dangling upside down from a power pole, suspended forty feet above the ground.”

When we look at instances of prayer in the Bible, we discover that any posture will do. People prayed while standing, lifting their hands, sitting, lying down, kneeling, lifting their eyes, bowing, and pounding their chest.

We also see that any place will do. People prayed during battle, in a cave, in a closet, in a garden, on a mountainside, by a river, in the sea, in the street, in a home, in bed, in prison, in the wilderness, and in the belly of a great fish. So any place will do.

Last, we find that any time will do. People prayed early in the morning, in the mid-morning, in the evening, three times a day, before meals, after meals, at bedtime, and at midnight. Both day and night are good times for prayer. Isn’t that great to know? You can pray anytime, anyplace, and in any posture. So just pray.

– Greg Laurie

Leave a Comment

Posted in Christian | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: jakinnan | March 11, 2014

God is With Us.

Sunlit Forest

Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous . . . Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. (Josh. 1:6-7, 9)

Joshua knew what it was to be afraid. For years he had been second in command, Moses’ right-hand man. But now it was his turn to lead. The children of Israel weren’t just going to waltz in and pick up the Promised Land like a quart of milk; they were going to have to fight for it. And Moses was not going with them. If Joshua was completely confident about the situation, why would God have had to tell him over and over and over again not to be afraid? In fact, God gives him a special word of encouragement: “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Josh. 1:5). How was God “with Moses”? As a mighty warrior. Remember the plagues? Remember all those Egyptian soldiers drowned with their horses and chariots out there in the Red Sea? It was after that display of God’s strength that the people of Israel sang, “The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name” (Ex. 15:3). God fought for Moses and for Israel; then he covenanted to Joshua to do the same, and they took down Jericho and every other enemy.

– John Eldredge, Wild at Heart

Leave a Comment

Posted in Ransomed Heart | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: jakinnan | March 11, 2014

03/11/2014 Scripture

rocksnlighthouse

“I will search with lanterns in Jerusalem’s darkest corners
to punish those who sit complacent in their sins.
They think the Lord will do nothing to them,
either good or bad.
So their property will be plundered,
their homes will be ransacked.
They will build new homes
but never live in them.
They will plant vineyards
but never drink wine from them.

-Zephaniah 1:12-13 NKT

Leave a Comment

Posted in Daily Scriptures | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: jakinnan | March 10, 2014

Venturing Forth

Zion

It’s better to stay in the safety of the camp than venture forth on a wing and a prayer. Who knows what dangers lie ahead? This was the counsel of the ten faithless spies sent in to have a look at the Promised Land when the Jews came out of Egypt. Only two of the twelve, Joshua and Caleb, saw things differently. Their hearts were captured by a vision of what might be and they urged the people to press on. But their voices were drowned by the fears of the other ten spies and Israel wandered for another forty years. Without the anticipation of better things ahead, we will have no heart for the journey.

One of the most poisonous of all Satan’s whispers is simply, “Things will never change.” That lie kills expectation, trapping our heart forever in the present. To keep desire alive and flourishing, we must renew our vision for what lies ahead. Things will not always be like this. Jesus has promised to “make all things new.” Eye has not seen, ear has not heard all that God has in store for his lovers, which does not mean “we have no clue so don’t even try to imagine,” but rather, you cannot outdream God. Desire is kept alive by imagination, the antidote to resignation. We will need imagination, which is to say, we will need hope.

Julia Gatta describes impatience, discouragement, and despair as the “noonday demons” most apt to beset the seasoned traveler. As the road grows long we grow weary; impatience and discouragement tempt us to forsake the way for some easier path. These shortcuts never work, and the guilt we feel for having chosen them only compounds our feelings of despair.

– John Eldredge, The Sacred Romance

Photo: Kurt Stephan

 

Leave a Comment

Posted in Ransomed Heart | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: jakinnan | March 10, 2014

03/10/2014 Scripture

sunlit path

Gather together—yes, gather together,
you shameless nation.
Gather before judgment begins,
before your time to repent is blown away like chaff.
Act now, before the fierce fury of the Lord falls
and the terrible day of the Lord’s anger begins.
Seek the Lord, all who are humble,
and follow his commands.
Seek to do what is right
and to live humbly.
Perhaps even yet the Lord will protect you—
protect you from his anger on that day of destruction.

-Zephaniah 2:1-3 NLT

Leave a Comment

Posted in Daily Scriptures | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »

Categories