settingatthepoolofgrace

Ever given any thought to what you would do if you were told you had 1 week to live?. Who would you want to spend your time with? and what would be the most important things to accomplish?. Life has no guarantees one curve ball can derail the train. You would have to step to the challenges ahead; decisions must be made and plans changed. How do you prepare for the unknown when you have no control over the situation or circumstances that surround you.

What will your legacy be? Will you still be able to show love during your dark walk with destiny? Will your faith sustain you or will you “curse God and die?.”  Life will be filled with uncertainty making you realize how limited your control, the only hope you have is found in your connection too the life giver. No matter what hand you have been dealt by life the answer is always found when you give the problem to the problem solver. A gleam of light will always shine through the darkest cloud, the sun will shine between the rain drops and there will always be someone or some memory to make you smile.

Remember no matter how devastating the news may be love is the best cure. No matter how long or short the time you have love is what will be remembered.Celebrate those you love with each opportunity you are given. Love is the golden thread that connects us to the HEART of GOD.

Thank you Lord, you are my burden bearer. You have restored my joy and my soul cries out Glory to your name. Your love showers me and I am so grateful.Whisper to my heart your tender mercies that I might meditate on your goodness. You have heard the silent desires of my heart and granted those desires. What was lost is now found. I will continue to give you all praise  for the love that you constantly send to me.  All nature sings of your goodness, the rain refreshes the grass with your kiss of renewal, the sun shines it’s rays of love and life springs forth. Your handy work is seen thought out all creation.

You are my provider, healer, strength in weakness; I look to you for my sufficiency.I wait on you and listen for your voice and instruction. Give me to know the task you have set before me that I may give myself to your use. Speak to me through your Holy Spirit,lead me in the path I should go. Search my heart erase all that makes you frown or turn away from me. Speak the word and I shall be made new. Teach me to honor thy laws and be obedient  to thy will. Let me see through your eyes that I may know how to love others as you love them. Keep me in all my ways as it is your will.

Remove  anything that distracts me from hearing your voice when you speak; eliminate any spitefulness, envies, or any malice you find within me and cleanse me thoroughly. Let not my transgressions consume me but forgive them and teach me thy ways. Transform me into thy perfect will for me and be thou my guide in all things.      To be with you is my greatest desire……..AMEN

We set aside days of the year to celebrate holidays and those we think have been great contributors to our world. However; God breathes life into our nostrils each day we are above ground, we love him when he answers our prayers by giving us what we ask. Yet, he sacrificed himself to a horrible death so we would know how much he loved us. He covered himself in humanness and enter a world of decay and darkness to show the lost the way to glory. In the beginning we were given two precious gifts, life and choice.

We live as if he doesn’t exist and we choose to honor ourselves. We amass material things to make us happy,we only help those that can return the favor, and look away from those who may truly need.  Our thoughts are consumed with “I” and “me” we live as if nothing else matters that does not begin with “us”.We close our eyes and hearts to others in pain,to their smile less faces  and to their cries for help,forgetting how lost we were needing to be rescued. Torn and tattered by the sharp rocks of life and desperate for saving grace. We have forgotten the unseen love that wrapped us in its arms,lifted us from the mud,washed us off, and gave us joy.

We forget about him until we need or want something we feel we can’t do ourselves. He seeks us daily with out stretched arms, a heart of love, and a desire to be close to us. We should celebrate him daily who gave deliverance and salvation. His name is Jesus; celebrate his life, his death,  his resurrection and his promised return. Let us open our hearts and fully surrender to the love he is so willing to shower upon us. Submit to his will for our lives, accept his gift of the Holy Spirit and plan for eternal life with him. When we allow him to change our character there will be love where hate once lived, where there is injustice equality will reside, peace will calm the storm of confusion and prejudice will see beyond the outer appearance and recognize the HEART///

When your sister & brother are hungry will you feed them?, when they are cold & lonely will you clothe them?, and will you hold them in your arms to allow your joy,peace and love surround them?. Do you tell them that they are important to you? As the light of Christ love shines on me I will walk in his love that others may find their way to him through the light that shines through me.

I was once trapped on a desolate island of sin confused by the storms of life and feeling hopeless. His forgiving love pierced the darkness in my life and rescued me from the chains of sin that held me captive. Through his redemptive love I have been restored. His gift of restoration has given me joy and peace in him,strength to stand in time of storm,faith to know I can be victorious and the desire to lead others that are enslaved.  To him who can break all chains and bring healing and restoration to all who wish to be free.

No valley is to deep that he will not seek after you or no mountain to high that he will not seek after you, his arms are open to receive you. You must choose to be restored, only when you open your heart and invite the redeemer in will forgiveness & restoration begin.  Therefore I will be my brothers keeper; I will feed him , pray for him,clothe him, and I will hold his hand through the storms. I’m so grateful that Father God has given me the opportunity to serve even the least of them.

They called him a healer, he was; they called him a teacher, he was. The lessons he taught were lessons of life,of love and of sacrifice. The teachers responsibility is to share the lesson with his students. He has no control as to how long it will take the student to understand and master the lesson. Some students will grasp the lesson immediately, some will take a little longer and there are those who will find it very difficult to learn the lesson.

Some students may be visual learners and learn by example. They will need to sit at the feet of the teacher, hang on every word and take many notes.  All the students are of great importance to the teacher. His greatest desire is for his students to be prepared for the challenges they will face. The student must invest what is necessary to complete their studies.

Only those who are persistent will be prepared for victory. The teacher will give the student as much help as they need to accomplish their task.  As Christians we too are being prepared for the challenges ahead. Our teacher has asked that we share his story with the world. A story of unconditional love for all creation. A story of his desire to reunite his family. He has given us a helper in the Holy Spirit to instruct us on how to tell the story, to erase any doubt that would keep us from accomplishing our task and to prepare us for victory.  We must stay under the shadow of his wings, we must be persistent in the study of his life, his word and his example. On graduation day he will say “enter into my kingdom my good and faithful servant” Well done, well done.

How often do you find yourself thinking back over your life and wondering how it would have been different if you had made different choices? We write on the pages of our hearts all the things that make us smile. People,places,and special events enhance our lives with their essence. These are at the fore front and the first memories to emerge.

We hide in the crevices of our minds those things that cause us pain, sorrow, or disappointment. They remind us of things we don’t care to remember.  Words we said that have hurt others and words others have said that hurt us. Pain we have caused others and pain others have cause us. To relive these memories would remind us of how unforgiving we are.

We carry the scars of our hurt and pain as if they were a badge of honor to justify why we have not forgiven and forgotten the hurts of the past. By holding on too them we decrease the room in our hearts to chronicle more joyous experiences and create new memories.  It only takes a flicker of light to shine in the darkness.

God has created us from his love,love that surpasses all our faults,inconsistency, and issues of our past. Love that clears the cob webs in the dark corners of our minds and erases the pain and hurt hidden in those corners.

His love will give us the strength to forgive ourselves and those who have hurt us as well as forget the pain they may have caused. Leaving clean pages on which we can pen the memories to come.

There will be a time in the life of every one when we look in the mirror of our lives and the truth of who we are will flood our minds like a tidal wave.  All the words spoken in anger, the lies told, the pain we have inflicted on others for our own gratification,our own sadness and coldness of heart as well as un forgiveness will look back in our faces.

We say we know God we have a relationship with him but we exhibit none of his character. How can you say you love him who you have not seen, and hate your brother who you see? there is no love in you. How can you feel you are worthy of respect when you can’t give respect?How do you consider what you need or want is more important than the needs or wants of others?.

God is not your father, you serve the DECEIVER. Your heart is filled with envy,hate,lying and deception. You are consumed with your own selfish desires, you throw stones and hide your hands thinking no one has seen you. Your goal is to cause others to join you in your sadness, anger them and cause hate to grow in their hearts; stealing their joy and peace. Your mirror will reflect that you are captive of the MASTER DECEIVER and he has encased you in darkness.

You can escape his grasp if you recognize you are a captive and allow the light of love to penetrate the darkness of your heart. The love of God transcends any power the deceiver may have over you.You must fervently seek the face of God, ask forgiveness of those you have mistreated and forgive those you feel have mistreated you and then yield your will to the ONLY ONE who knows all your secrets.  The hurts, the lies told, the rocks thrown, and the stumbling blocks placed in the path of others.

ONLY he can release you from the prison you are confined in and give you back your joy, peace of mind and love you with an unending LOVE.  He is your only hope for change, don’t you think you should open the door to your heart, he’s knocking for you.

Seldom do we think about the foundation of our homes until we have a problem.  We know for our home to stand we need a strong foundation.  When we see cracks appear,  first a small one which seems insignificant we may not worry.  We often ignore the signs, then we notice there are more small cracks starting in other places in the home.  This gets our attention and we recognize there is a problem.  The wider the crack grows the more serious the problem becomes.  Repairs must be made to secure the foundation.

As Christians we are the temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells, however; the Holy Spirit can not inhabit a dwelling place where walls have cracks in them. These cracks are caused by envy, hatred, unforgiveness,anger,discard,malice, lust for power and indifference. These cracks reflect how far we have strayed from the character of our Father.  Just as the foundation of the home weakens by the cracks growing wider our relationship with our Father grows weaker as we allow these cracks to permeate our lives.  The longer we hold on to them the more we lose focus on his Love for us.

To repair the foundation of your home sometimes requires digging out the decay and replacing it with a more substantial element. The repairs must be made by a professional in that field.  The repairs to the Christian temple must be made by a Master Craftsman, Jesus is that craftsman.  Only when we recognize there are cracks in our temple, we acknowledge the need of repair, and yield to the workman can our temple be fortified and strengthened that the Holy Spirit can dwell in us.  As Christians our focus should always be on Jesus Christ, he tells us that” where there are 2 or 3 gathered in my name I will be in the midst”.  But do we really believe this, if we did we would be more mindful of how we act and what we say.  It is time to evaluate your condition……. Do You have any CRACKS???

Standing in the shadow of our redeemer requires reflecting his character. Loving unconditionally,treating others as you wish to be treated, forgiving without conditions, denying self to benefit others,being tolerant and patient and obeying the leading of  the creator in you; which is the Holy Spirit. As a follower of our redeemer we should exhibit joy, peace,kindness, and temperance. If you are not reflecting these”what are you reflecting”?

If we are in love with the things of the world, we are at odds with the things of God. This world is a reflection of it’s ruler. Hatred abounds, violence runs  rampage , selfishness is king,deceit is the order of the day and fairness is non-existent. Men lust for money and power they obey not the laws of God. Their hearts are stone and void of the light of love. Their outward  appearance seems perfect but within is death for they abide in darkness. Our world is dying but their is hope, only the love of God can penetrate the darkness of evil and transform the lives of men. Only he can change a heart of stone into a heart of flesh. When we accept his gift of salvation the Holy Spirit teaches us how to reflect his love and character.  We must make a choice, who will you choose to REFLECT???

It is common place to look at ones self in the mirror when preparing to leave home and venture into the public view. We know that all who see us will form their opinion of who we are by what they see.  We check to see if our hair is in place,clothes are fitting properly, and if our shoes are the right ones for the outfit we have chosen to wear.  We look at all the superficial things we think others will judge us by. We worry about what others think of us so we put on our different mask to reflect what we think others expect. Forgetting we cannot hide the truth from the all seeing eyes of the Father who will be our ultimate JUDGE.  When he looks below the surface what will be revealed. Do you live to gain fortune and fame, deceive and cheat others for your selfish benefits, show yourself helpful to those in need and do what is right regardless of the consequences to you.  When you stand naked before your  CREATOR will you hide your face in shame or will you stand in the shadow of your REDEEMER who has washed away your shame with his own BLOOD.