The Set-Apart Life

"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord."

1 PETER 3:15

The set-apart life is the ONLY life that actually partners with the Holy Spirit.

He does not reign in POWER while only occupying  half-a-throne in our hearts. 

We 'rule and reign WITH Christ' not by sharing the rule and the reigns, but by saying 'YES' to His reign in the daily struggle. 

Our lives become 'set-apart' unto God always and only in The Moment.

To weep at the altar and declare we are 'surrendering all to Thee, My Blessed Savior' is a start. But it is not TRUE surrender until we've risen from our knees and say 'yes' to Him in the Daily. 

The moments of the Holy Spirit's whisper, and our response in that momet,  is when it is shown if we have truly Surrendered All. 

Everyone of us finds ourselves off the sweet altar of Surrender at times. What then?

Take the time to Pause throughout the day for a check-up. 
Repent of any place the Holy Spirit brings to mind where you may have denied Jesus His Lordship in your life. We must call sin what He is showing us is sin. 

Repent of it, Confess it to Him. Surrender it and say 'yes' to His Way.  

Receive His forgiveness (so important!). 

Then set upon the rest of your day in the renewed partnership of Surrender. 

This is where the power of a truly set-apart life will propel you supernaturally into God's fullness where His Kingdom is Come and His Will is Done! 

When You Need To Make Room

{LENT} Day 4-7

If you want to get filled, you got to make room.

That is, if you want to get filled with the things of God. With the thoughts of God.
The ways of God.
Something has to go. A life only has so much room...

I awoke to this God-thought. It was what I needed to thrust back the covers and stand up in my still-dark bedroom. He knows what I need to motivate me to keep my appointment with Him these days.

How often do we say, I need more of You, God!  These desperate prayers can seem pious to us, devoted and spiritual. But just picture Him coming, and pouring over you.... but wait!
 It seems the vessel is already filled.. filled with other things...

When the Spirit came pouring out at Pentecost, filling, filling, OVERFLOWING, it came after days of self being poured out in prayer. And is there any other way? We, too,  must make room.

Prayer-  true watchfulness and wakefullness in the Spirit is not the easy thing. Not for the flesh.  Even the disciples couldn't manage it. Wake up! Why are you sleeping? Watch and pray...so you will not fall.

God always has a way to keep us. He always has a plan. He always has the provision and the desire to give us what we really need. It's our desires that must be changed. The inner dial of our hearts that must be recalibrated to mirror His.

When we want what He wants, He sees that we get it.  The Christ in us attracts the resource of Heaven.

Like Mary who emptied the bottle of ointment on His feet, we must empty these vessels. Like the Chirst-followers who prayed, hard, in that upper room. Pouring out, pouring out...

 And then -

The Filling Came.






Linking with these...

Taking the Long Road Home

There is no short-cut to becoming like Jesus. Trust me, I've tried.

 Running fast through life, inviting him to run along side... it just doesn't produce the results my heart is truly longing for. When I schedule time into my everyday life to be quiet with Him, beholding Him, I come face to face with His goodness, His kindness, His holiness.

                 And my heart cries out, like Isaiah long ago, I am unclean!

Funny how something looks white until you hold it up to something that's brilliantly white, and suddenly what we thought clean and bright shows itself to be dull and yellowed.

 We can all seem holy or righteous when we use other imperfect people as our measure, but the measure we use must always be... HIM.

And this awareness of who He is, and calls me to be, only comes through looking long at Him.

 The good news is, it doesn't end with us just looking and longing. For us who are living on this side of the cross, our longing to be like Him doesn't have to remain an unfulfilled hope...

So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace.

2 Corinthians 4:15 MSG

Here's the truth in the simplest form I know...  within me lies the seeds of the very nature of God. A whole, new created being that awoke to Him the day I cried out in my sin and shame for His salvation. 

And now, those seeds of life have taken root. They've begun to sprout here and there. As the roots grow larger and deeper, the old, dead nature in me continues to be routed out. 

Like any seed, it must be watered... time in the Word, time with Jesus. "Let all of you who are thirsty, come to Me and drink..."

To grow, a seed needs the Sun. Alot of time in the presence of the Son.... 

No shortcuts to greatness here. No quicker routs to Holiness. Just the simple formula of lots of time in His word, in the presence of His light. And before we know it, the reflection we behold now dimly, shall eventually shine like the Son.

Joining today with...

    

He is at Work

"God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey." Philippians 2:13

Have you ever thought you could change someone else?

If you just tried hard enough... wanted it bad enough for them, somehow it would come about eventually.
I have. It's exhausting.    Mostly because it doesn't work, and all it does is leave us frustrated, resentful and ridden with anxiety. That alone should be a sure sign that we aren't doing it God's way.

Didn't Jesus tell us that if we took His yoke upon ourselves it would be an easy yolk... a light burden? 
But trying to change those around us is not easy, it's hard. And the burden of doing so is a heavy one.

             That's because it's not our job.

The process of transformation in each person is always, only the job of Jesus.  He is the Author of each person's faith, He alone is the perfecter. He alone is the one who began the good work in them, He alone will be the one faithful to complete it.

When we stand before him one day, it will be to answer for that which we ourselves have been given. Our life. Our days. Each will give an account for themselves.

Sometimes in our love for those around us we can mistake our anxiety for their spiritual growth as a mark of our spirituality, or our depth of caring. This is a wrong thinking. When the disciples were surrounded by stormy seas, they accused the Lord Jesus of not caring if they drowned. As if him being in a place of rest about the situation showed a lack of compassion or concern.   Jesus? Not caring, really?      He rebuked them for their fear and lack of faith. (Mark 4)

True spirituality is marked by our ability to entrust the care and growth of those we love into the loving hands of God. Our God, and theirs. 

Pray for them, in faith. Speak words of encouragement and life. Yes.
But let us not resort to 'helpful hints', manipulation by guilt, or any other fleshly means to accomplish the holy work of transformation in another soul. It is God's work.

^" [Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight."   Philippians 2:13 Amplified Version 

Linking with these great sites today:

To Be Kind

The words were on the tip of my tongue. My mouth actually open, when I heard a whisper,


                        "Be Kind."

My world at home is filled with the noise of four children and a husband that works from home, too. Noise,  I am used to. So much so that I've gotten pretty good at tuning it out to focus on whatever task is at hand.

     But a whisper... A whisper catches my attention.

My mouth snapped shut, swallowing my words hard. (They did not go down without a fight, but they went down.) Swimming up from memory came the fruit of His Spirit,
    
                                                       KINDNESS
                            PATIENCE
                JOY
LOVE        
       
I did a quick spiritual health check-up and realized it's an attribute that has been missing in me of late.
Kindness doesn't ramshod over others to express itself. Like patience and gentleness, it's one of the quiet graces, the kind not celebrated too often in the world we are sojourning through. And yet, it is a huge part of who God is.

What does kindness look like?

Today, for me,  kindness meant holding back words that were better left unsaid. I'm hoping that as I lean in to hear that whisper again this week, I can be teachable. Learning from the God of kindness, what it means to be kind.

"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,   he saved us..." Titus 3:4

I'd love to hear what some of you have learned from God about kindness. Perhaps we can learn together.
                                      

What Can I Give?

Coming to consciousness this morning, prayers in my head if not yet on my lips, I heard this from the Still place within:
 
     "Focus on giving today, not getting."

It was given like a key from the One who loves me best and wants everyday to be my best. I felt this splash of joy that opened me up inside. Anticipation came into my heart as I thought of simple ways I could focus on giving today to all those around me...

I could give a clean kitchen to my husband and children (and myself!) which had been left a bit chaotic after my (now) 13 year old son's birthday party that went late last night...

I could give a peaceful and joy-filled heart to my kids because I would take the time to get filled up with the word and quiet time with my Father before they awake this morning...

I could give an open home and heart to my friend's children who would be spending the day with us as she went off to work...

And to God... what do you give the Someone who has everything already??


 I could give a sacrifice of praise on my lips even though my heart's felt a bit heavy lately...
I could give obedience to the things He's said to complete...
 I could give trust that He's handling the things I can't  (hasn't He earned it?)...
 I could give thanks, true heart-felt thanks, all day, as I remind myself of all I've been blessed with.

I'm on the hunt today. A treasure-hunt of my own to find ways to give. And in doing so, I'm imitating my Father (bonus!) I'm setting my inner-dial of focus on giving.  I'm anticipating giving. The joy of giving. The blessing of giving.

  "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Howdy Neighbor!

             Anybody here grow up in Sunday School? For many, we remember from those early years the great stories of the Bible. It is filled with amazing accounts of real people in everyday lives who did extraordinary things.  Queen Esther and her rise from obscurity to royalty.   Daniel alone all night in a pit with hungry lions, their mouths held shut by an angel.  Paul and Silas singing praises in the dungeon until the earth shook beneath them and their chains fell off while the prison doors swung wide.   David and Goliath.   So many great, true stories. Our teachers used those stories to teach truths to us in a powerful way.

Abide In Me

“Abide in me….”

The branch must be attached to the vine for life to flow into it. “By God I am in Christ”

(I have been placed into the vine by God and not of myself) but abiding in Christ is up to me. So then, the question to ask is, HOW do I abide?

VENTURE CHURCH

Let the adVENTURE begin!

The dictionary definition of Venture: An enterprise in which something is risked in the hope of profit. The name Ventures originally came to us in the naming of an evangelism program my husband had written some years back. It was an outline full of adventure and life for a group of people that were motivated to see those in their own relational spheres come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

New roads

Woke up to a heavy fog today. (No, I am not referring to my state of mind prior to my morning coffee.) It hung over my town for miles. As I drove my daughter to school we talked about things that we are thankful for. For family, our house, the gift of God’s Son to us. 

Thankfulness stirs up joy. Memories of past blessings and reminders of current ones do a lot to add joy to your morning cup.