God is Good

Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning.
Great is Your faithfulness.
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul that seeks Him.
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:22,23,25,26

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God.

In reading "The Prayer That Changes Everything" by Stormie Omartian we read:
"The Holy Spirit is the most wonderful gifts of all the gifts the Lord gives us. And in turn, the Holy Spirit gives us gifts which are more valuable than any other we can ever receive. To treat this gift and His gifts lightly would be a travesty. To reject the Holy Spirit, to blaspheme Him would be unthinkable for anyone who knew Him. To grieve Him by our actions is something to avoid at all costs. Once you have sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling within you and guiding your life, you could not tolerate life without Him.

The Holy Spirit...is given to anyone who asks of God(Luke 11:13). There are countless reasons to ask and to praise God for His Holy Spirit. The following are just a few.

1. The Holy Spirit comforts us. Jesus said He would send us the 'Comforter'(John 15:26).
2. The Holy Spirit convicts us of wrongdoing(John 16:8)....He does not condemn us. Conviction leads to restoration, condemnation to defeat.
3. The Holy Spirit enables us to obey God(Romans 7:6) It is impossible to obey God in all things without the Holy Spirit's help.
4. The Holy Spirit guides us. "When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come(John 16:3)".
5. The Holy Spirit teaches us. "...He will teach you all things,...John 14:26".
6. The Holy Spirit gives us power(Romans 15;13).
7. The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual gifts (Hebrews 2:4)
8. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us(sets us apart)(Romans 15:16)"

The list of reasons why we should want the Holy Spirit in our lives goes on. When there is time I will continue the list!

Father thankYou for sending Your Holy Spirit to live in us. Help us to grasp how wonderful You are and to experience You through Your Spirit. In Jesus' name, Amen!

Completely Equipped

Many Christians stress that reading the Bible is of utmost importance.
They believe its God's Word to us.

The words in the Bible are the basis for our faith as Christians, and if it weren't all totally trustworthy and true,....than what's the point of our faith?

2 Peter 1:21 says, "for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

The Holy Spirit directed holy men what to say, what to write.

In Timothy 3:15-17 the Apostle Paul encourages Timothy "that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation though faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctorine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man (or woman) of God may be completley equipped for every good work."

God's Word-the Scriptures- are inspired of God.

God's Word is able to make us wise for salvation....

God's Word can make you completely equipped for every good work.

Father God, help us to trust You and Your Word. May Your Holy Spirit open our eyes and teach us as we read Your Word and are lead into Truth. In Jesus' name.

God's Thoughts For Us

When I was really young, around 6 or 7, I nearly met my death.
Being brought up on a dairy farm, I saw my share of deceased cows. The dead stock truck would be called in, and they'd take away the corpses.
One day, the deadstock truck had a grey horse heaped way up towards the front of the truck. I could see it even though the back doors were shut.
Now I was horse crazy, and when I spotted a horse, I had to see it! Morbid as it sounds, I wanted a better look at this grey.

The truck backed up to the barn and stopped. The driver came out and stepped to the back to pull the pins out of the heavy metal back doors to let them slam down. I had to see the grey! I was standing right behind the doors and then they slowly, heavily descended. I was right under them as they came down, and my brothers yelled for me to back up.
Suddenly an unseen force swept me back, out of harms way. Astonished, my brothers looked at me, saying an angel must have swept me back because I was so close to being crushed and the way I got out of harms ways was...unnatural.

I was elated as I thought to myself later that day, "God has a plan and purpose for my life otherwise I'd be dead!"

Today I know God has a plan and purpose for everyone.

"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.
Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13

Know Him

"Not everyone who says to Me(Jesus), 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.

"Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, 'Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?"

And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practise lawlessness!'

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock...his house did not fall." Matthew 7:21-25

This scripture scares alot of people into questioning whether they will be saved in the end. If it troubles our hearts, than we need to question whether we are living in a relationship with God or not. We can go thru all the religious motions and totally miss the mark.

There are many 'mental assenters' who say, 'yes, there is God, there is Jesus who died for sins and rose again' and they mentally assent to many things but they go no further.

God wants us to have a relationship with Him, to know Him and to be obedient to His ways.

In a relationship we speak to the other person. Not only that, we must listen to that person.

There has to be respect and honor for that relationship to flourish.

The life of faith is 'big'. There are so many facets to it; study, worship, obedience, service, giving and the list goes on. But the most important thing to God is 'relationship'. When we have a right relationship with Him, all the other parts of our faith flow out of the abundance of a heart that's been filled with Him.

When we know Him, we come to love, respect and trust Him. Obedience and service flow out of that.

Father, as I read the words of Jesus in Your Word, make them come alive to me, speak to me. Help me to know you. In Jesus' name.

A Talking Donkey

Here is a story from Numbers Chapter 22:21-34 that is very fascinating as it involves a talking donkey.

"Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat her to get her back on the road.

Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between two vineyards, with walls on both sides. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam's foot against it. So he beat her again.

Then the angel of the Lord moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat her with his staff. The the Lord opened the donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?"

Balaam answered the donkey, "You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now."

The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?"

"No," he said.

Then the Lord opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.

The angel of the Lord asked him, "Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her."

Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, "I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back."


If you want to find out why God was angry with Balaam, the story begins in Numbers 22. and carries on to the end of chapter 25. It's quite interesting.

Imagine your donkey or horse talking to you? The Bible doesn't even record whether Balaam was shocked to hear his donkey speak but rather it recounts his angry reply. I guess I'd be angry too if my foot had been crushed as the result of a seemingly insolent mount-all in front of my servants!

But I often wonder if our animals sometimes see things we don't. It makes me think twice about getting angry with them when their resistance seems unfounded.

We often think our world is all there is. But there is a spirit world to contend with. Remember how our "struggle is not against flesh and blood, but ..against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:12 We talked about that last week. It makes us realize that people and even the animals that God allows in our lives are not our enemies.

Often times its our choices and reactions to situations that get us into trouble. And to think, our pets could be more aware than us of what's going on?

The Warmth Of the Son

If we had met Jesus over 2000 years ago and had gotten to know Him, even just a little bit, I know we would have liked Him. I even think that the many atheists and skeptics of our day would have really like Jesus too and would very likely have become His followers and forsake their own ways for His.

In Luke 4:22 it says, "all marveled at the gracious words He spoke."

Jesus was full of love and compassion and spoke of His father's love and mercy towards mankind. He cast out devils, setting people free and healed them all. He showed them the way to the Father, and how to live. He called people to repent of their ways and do things God's way so they could stay free and be blessed.

The only people that didn't like Jesus were the 'self righteous' ones. Those who had their own traditions and ideas about what was right. They had no room for more of God. They had closed minds to the endless goodness and mercy of God. They were good enough in their own eyes and would not put up with anyone that might make them feel like there may be more than what they had already experienced.

Are we open to the more that God has for us? If God asked us to forsake something that we thought was right or held dear, would we lay it down so we could have the more that He has waiting for us?

Intentionally Made

"For You God have formed my inward parts; You have woven me in my mother's womb.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.

My bones were not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought/put together in the lowest parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. Psalm 139:13-16

God made you and me. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. To think, no has the same finger print, and there is no one exactly like us, in all the world even though there are 7 billion of us!

ThankYou Lord for making me. Help me to see the wonder of it all. In Jesus' name.

Jesus Is Alive And Well!

"After His(Jesus) suffering, He showed Himself to His diciples and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God....After this He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." Acts 1:3,9-11

Around Easter time the world can't help but hear about or see images of Jesus on a cross. All to often the truth that Jesus came back to life on the third day, escapes them.

There is so much more about Jesus to tell. He appeared to his followers over a period of 40 days after He came back to life. Then Jesus ascended, went up to heaven to be with His Father so that He and His Father could send the Holy Spirit down at the appointed time to be with and empower all those that would become believers.

And as we speak, Jesus is preparing a place for us in heaven(John 14:2) and at the appointed time, He will come for us and take us to be with Him! That is our hope and God's Word gives us glimpes of this over and over. Nothing in this world, no dire circumstance or anything can compare with with the glory that awaits us.

Father, thank You that Jesus is indeed alive and that someday He is coming back for me. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit that You've put in me, to be my helper, teacher, comforter and friend. Help me to grow in awareness of Your Holy Spirit so that He can reveal You and all that You are to me. In Jesus' name. Amen.

The Gospel

The word gospel stands for 'good news'. Jesus proclaimed the good news everywhere He went and today we are the ones who carry on His message.

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has annointed Me...empowered me
To preach good tidings...good news...to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn...all who greive,
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give those who mourn-beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord,
that He may be glorified." Isaiah 61:1-3

No matter what the circumstance we find ourselves in, God wants to help us through to the other side. He can help. He wants to help you. Will you allow Him?

Say this to Him: God, give me beauty for ashes, the oil of joy and take away my mourning. Give me the garment of praise and take away this spirit of heaviness. Help me know You and help me to know the joy of Your salvation, the joy of You saving me and its benefits. I know its free, from You to me. Thank You God, in Jesus' name. Amen.

He Did It For You

"His appearance was marred more than any man, And his form more than the sons of men....(Isaiah 52:14) Jesus was beaten mercilessly, flogged with cords that had barbs on them so that they tore His flesh away from His body as they were pulled back, only to be reapplied over and over. The soldiers beat Him, spit at Him, pulled the hairs of His beard out....all this, to the only Son of God.

"He is despised and rejected by men...and still is today. A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised and we did not esteem Him.

Surely He has borne our sickness and carried our pains, Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Struck down by God and afflicted.

He was peirced through for our transgressions...our sins, He was crushed for our iniquities...our being bent on taking the wrong course;

The chastisement....the punishment...the payment... for out peace was upon Him....so that we can have peace today,

And by His stripes...by the blows that cut into his body...we are healed.

All we like sheep...like dumb animals...have gone astray; We have turned, everyone, to his or her own way;

And the Lord has caused to land on Him-Jesus- the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:3-6

Why did God allow His only begotten Son who had never sinned a moment of His life, to be the object of such cruelty? Because the penalty of sin required the payment of innocent blood.

Innocent blood for guilty people.

Thank You God.

Whose Your Enemy?

Do you have someone in your life that is really hard to get along with?

They seem to constantly push your buttons causing tempers to flare. Choice words or thoughts start flying and before you know it, you've had a fit of carnality.

What's a fit of carnality? It's when you have a fit and its unspiritual, fleshy, and corrupt. It can range from mild to severe.

An example is when one evening at a bible study, us ladies were hanging out by the food and the topic of the moment was horse manure on public trails. One of the girls there was whining profusely about how it was so gross, smelly and disgusting, especially when her dog would start eating it and then try to lick her infant's face.

Well, I love horses, and coming from a dairy farm background, horse manure is gravy in comparison. Tired of the complaining I stiffly retorted, "Your dog licks it's butt so what's the big deal?"

With that, I turned on my heel and went in search for better conversation. But I felt naughty. I had just had, a fit of carnality. What I said was not nice, and my tone was even worse, and at bible study! Tsk, tsk!

Usually it is our kids, spouse or the people we run into at work that really get us hot under the collar. Or it can be the negative influences in society or the rot that we find in our culture that cause us to rise up and lash out.

But God's Word says, "Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles and schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle or fight against flesh and blood(people), but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." Ephesians 6:1011,12

The devil loves to set us up against one another and watch us tear eachother up. It brings him great pleasure.

God on the other hand wants us to be aware of these devilish schemes and to see the real enemy. Once we realize who our enemy really is, we should take the armour that God, put it on and learn how to fight the real fight of faith.

Read Ephesians 6:10-18 to get the bigger picture. Let's learn how to fight the fight that leaves no aftertaste of guilt.

Prayer: Father, forgive me for lashing out at others. Help me to see the real enemy, and teach me how to defeat him with your Word which is my sword of the spirit. In Jesus' name.

Someone Loves You!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son(Jesus), that whoever believes in Him(Jesus), should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

Let's personalize this verse for a moment, after all its said that God's Word is His love letter to His children....

For God loved me so much that He gave His one and only Son Jesus, that if I believe in this Jesus, I will not perish, but will have everlasting life.

Now if you dare, read that part again and say it out loud.

It's true, God loves you, He loves me and He loves the whole world. He offers the whole world the gift of everlasting life through Jesus His Son, the Messiah.

That's good news, let's not keep it to ourselves!

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, He takes care of me.
I shall not want. I have everything I need.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures; I've never lacked a bed or pillow and have never gone hungry.
He leads me beside the still waters. I've never gone thirsty.
He restores my soul. When I am near Him and let Him embrace me, I have peace.
He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. He washes me clean with His blood so that nothing stands between me and Him.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, when it seems like circumstances will swallow me,
I will fear no evil; For you are with me; Your Holy Spirit is in me.
Your rod and Your staff, Your Word and Authority,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; No matter the evil all around, you nourish me with Your Word and Your presence;
You annoint my head with oil; You annoint me with your Holy Spirit and Power.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life; They will be like my shadow as I stand in Your light.
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.


This is my amplified expression of Psalm 23 and it gives me great comfort knowing how my God cares and comforts us.

Thank You Lord for Your great love

Morning Prayer

"Lord, I haven't done anything wrong today. I have not made any mistakes, spoken any wrong words or thought any bad thoughts. I've done everything right so far. But I'm really depending on you right now, Lord, because I'm about to get out of bed." Stormie Omarian

Settling for Second Best

It was early morning as I walked to the stable to feed the horses. The air was fresh and cool, the sun shone brightly and the birds were everywhere, unable to keep themselves from singing.

Oh it was wonderful to be outside, even if all I saw were shades of brown in the landscape that winter had left behind. I breathed in deeply and grinned with delight as I recalled, "This is the day that the Lord has made..." and its great!

It was then the Lord reminded me how I often settle for second best. Sometimes I do it because I don't know there is something better on its way, and other times it's because of my impatience to wait for what I know is coming.

There are times in this big world, where in my own small space I am filled with such peace and joy, that I can't imagine it ever being better. But then my Lord gently reminds me of something even better that He's been preparing for me, "...in My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you...and I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." John 14:2,3 These are the words of Jesus to all those that put their trust in Him. They remind me that I'm just passing through here in this life and that the real adventure is only yet to start.

I don't plan to settle for what I experience here and now. I'm looking forward to being with Him, seeing the mansion He's built for me and checking out all those white horses mentioned in Revalation 19:14.