TRANSPARENCY IS THE KEY

" Let My Love seep into the inner recesses of your being. Do not close of any part of yourself from Me. I know you inside and out, so do not try to present a "clean-up" self to Me. Wounds that you shut away from the Light of My Love will fester and become wormy. Secret sins that you "hide" from Me can split off and develop lives of their own, controlling you without your realizing it.
Open yourself fully to My transforming Presence. Let My brilliant Love-Light search out and destroy hidden fears. This process requires time alone with Me, as My Love soaks into your innermost being. Enjoy My perfect Love, which expels every trace of fear."
Today's (7-28-11) devotional
Taken from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

Just this morning i prayed about this very thing. Wanting to continue to allow myself to always be transparent before the Lord. He see's all of our hurt, even though we may wear a mask that says we are alright for the world. He see's all of our sins, even if no one else finds out. He is well aware of our dirt and flaws that remain, although we may boast that we are clean. He is fool proof and nothing gets by His all seeing, all knowing eye. NOTHING! Let His Light of Love shine on you today and He'll show you what to do with your hurt, He'll take away your sin and He will sit you up on a rock to stay. He will justify you, you will have no need in doing so. For whom the Son sets free IS free indeed, and let NO man call dirty what HE has cleansed. But He cannot do any of this until you get honest about all of it. Transparency IS the key!
Be Blessed!

YOU'LL "NEVER" BE SATISFIED

Good Morning All!
This is the day that the Lord has made...let us ALL rejoice and BE glad IN IT!
Today i was thinking about a conversation that my sister and I had had some time ago. We were discussing a future show topic and she said something that really made a lot of sense. We were talking about some things that we as women, or even sometimes men, desire out of our mates. Like for instance, if your mate isnt sensitive enough to your feelings, or if you're not feeling loved like you want to, or even if you are not being financially provided for like you feel you should. And it was like the light bulb came on...what she had said was like God himself standing there asking "what am i...chopped liver or something??" "am I NOT enough?" " Do i not supply all of your needs?" "Do i not love you unconditionally?" "am I not ALWAYS there when you need someone to talk to or to give you a shoulder to cry on?"...we seek these things from our spouses, and dont get me wrong there's nothing wrong with wanting to be loved and provided for, but God is saying IF they dont why are you so upset? We push God away and place man in His place not realizing that NO MAN amounts to Him and that as long as we continue to look for what only HE can provide limitless and consistently in MAN, than we will NEVER be satisfied. So, He gets to the point where he says, "ok...go ahead and go after their limited and selfish form of love..you'll be back. And yes, go ahead and depend on their bank accounts..that i provide for them anyway. Go right on ahead and keep wishing they understood you when they dont even see you the way I do." "Go ahead my child...you will be back, and yet and still the difference between Me and them..i'll ALWAYS be here waiting to love you even the more."
God IS love my brothers and sisters. We have to keep him first and in the forefront of our lives. We have to give Him our hearts desires and allow Him to fulfill EVERY need. We have to stop putting others/flesh/man in His place. Unless we truly understand that He IS all we need..we'll forever be chasing a fantasy. We'll NEVER be satisfied.
Be Blessed

YOUR FEELINGS ...A DOORWAY TO TEMPTATION

Bring Me all your feelings, even the ones you wish you didnt have. Fear and anxiety still plaque you. Feelings per se' are not sinful, but they can be temptations to sin. Blazing missiles of fear fly at you day and night; these attacks from the evil one come at you relentlessly. Use your shield of faith to extinguish those flaming arrows. Affirm your trust in Me, regardless of how you feel. If you persist, your feelings will eventually fall in line with your faith.
Do not hide from your fear or pretend it isnt there. Anxiety that you in hide in the recesses of your heart will give birth to fear of fear; a monstrous step-child. Bring your anxieties out into the Light of My Presence, where we can deal with them together. Concentrate on trusting Me, and fearfulness will gradually lose in foothold within you.
Taken from "Jesus Calling" A 365 Day Journal by "Sarah Young"

What feelings are you allowing the enemy to play on and use for his demise? What fears do you have that he feeds off of? Do you realize that the devil loves to paint you a picture full of "what if's" and "suspicions", just to get you in the doorway of temptation? Ask the Lord today where and what areas in your life you are fearful, be honest with him about your true feelings. Even the ones that you cover up from the world. Dont allow the enemy to use your emotions to trick you into unnecessary pain and heartache.
Be Blessed

BEING "BLIND" HAS ITS ADVANTAGES...

When you think about someone who is blind you may think that their life may be hard and difficult. Although, not being able to see your family and love ones faces and not being able to see the trees, or even your own face may be a bit discouraging. However, i do believe there are some advantages. How many of you have seen the movie "Ray"? It was a movie about one of the most talented legends in history, Ray Charles. He was blind...YET...he became a star. I'd like to wonder if Ray wasnt blind, would he had still become Ray Charles or just another ordinary man. Some say, and studies show that when you are blind, your other senses are heightened and become stronger. Your sense of smell increases, your hearing is more keen, and you can feel the presence of someone else around you without even hearing them speak or move. And i'd also like to say that the blind have an amazing trust level in those around them. Wouldn't you think? Well this is how it should be with God. We go through our periods of trust and faith in God but because we CAN SEE we get distracted and begin to lose hope. Life is full of distractions. But because we can SEE our problems, our SENSE OF HEARING Gods reassuring voice, is muted. Because we can SEE our defeat, we cant SMELL that victory is just around the corner. Because we can SEE tragedy, we cant TRUST that God is our protector. Because we can SEE the turmoil around us, we cant FEEL the presence of God in the mist of it all. NOW faith IS the substance of things HOPED for and the evidence of things NOT seen. I believe God in a sense wants us to take the advantage of being blind to this world and our circumstances and allow our spiritual senses to be matured and heightened. Again, i wonder if Ray Charles would had been a legend, had he not been blind? hmm.. only God knows. But ask yourself, how far could you possibly go..if you'd just allow yourself to be blind. How high will you soar? How much would your trust in God increase? How much more could you hear his voice? Being BLIND DOES HAVE ITS ADVANTAGES!
Be Blessed!

WE ARE NOT TRUSTWORTHY

In prayer this morning i learned that everyone can repent. Not only can everyone repent BUT there is something that everyone can find in their lives to repent about. The fact is, we are flesh, sinful at nature, and as far as im concerned there will always be a war between our fleshly desires and our spiritual desires. Now i know that most of your minds began to think of sexual sins and desires, when you see the phrase "fleshly desires", however, sex is not the only sin that our "flesh" desires. There's hatred,unforgiveness, bitterness, disobedience in any form, jealousy, backbiting, lying..etc. Now think about this. Have you ever heard or have said so your self that you cant trust anyone? Ever consider the reason we cant trust others just may be because we realize that we ourselves cannot be trusted? Yet who on this earth will admit that they themselves cannot be trusted?? Whatever it may be..can you trust yourself to say the right thing? Can you trust yourself not to cheat on your taxes? Can you trust yourself not to lust in the presence of that man/woman? Can you trust yourself to dwell on the right thoughts? Can you trust yourself to keep all side conversations holy? Probably not. Reason being, we are all of a fleshly sinful nature. And flesh is always subject to/and READY.. WILLING to fail. But God NEVER fails and He even commands us not to put all of our trust in man but to lean and depend on Him who will not and CANNOT fail. He'll never let us down nor forsake us. And just because we are flesh doesn't give us right to sin for He even promises to keep those who WANT to be kept. No, we are not trustworthy...but God IS and IN HIM you CAN depend! Trust Him with your life and with others.
Be Blessed!

HOW DIFFERENT THINGS WOULD BE LOOKING THRU THE EYES OF LOVE

"Seek to live in My love, which covers a multitude of sins: both yours and others. Wear My Love like a cloak of Light, covering you from head to toe. Have no fear, for perfect Love decimates fear. Look at each other through lenses of Love; see them from My perspective. This is how you walk in the Light, and it pleases Me. I want My Body of believers to be radiant with the Light of My Presence. How i grieve when pockets of darkness increasingly dim the Love-Light. Return to Me, your FIRST LOVE! Gaze at Me in the splendor of holiness, and My Love will once again envelope you in Light."
June 9 Jesus Calling "A 365-Day Journaling Devotional by Sarah Young

My God my God!...How different things would be if we would actually look at ourselves and others through the lenses of Love. Its not what you can prove that's wrong in someones life that pleases God, but how you can love them. Love COVERS...its COVERS a multitude of sins. Yet, we love to uncover and expose them. What benefit do we get from exposing someone? What benefit to we obtain for placing their sins forever before them? If God receives the repented heart and promises to cast their sins into the sea of forgetfulness... shouldn't we do the same? Are you pleasing God in how you judge others? For the greatest of these..IS Love!
Be Blessed!

Starting over MEANS starting over

This morning in prayer and scripture, we learned in Psalms 53, that there was a point where God had searched and couldnt find one person who truly sought after him. Now being the creator that He is, He very easily could have wiped everyone off the face of the earth and started over. Well He didnt. Instead He came down from heaven and wrapped himself in flesh and made what was wrong right. He gave us another chance. He made the ultimate sacrifice and for that we ought to be grateful! How many times in your life had you wanted to just throw up your hands and say "thats it! i quit! DO OVER!"? Nothing is going quite as you planned so you just give up and start over again. Some of you have; marriages, jobs, children, dreams, businesses, and goals, that may not be working as planned and you have decided to just give up and start over. That i do understand, been there done it and may even feel the same way too. But one thing i have learned this morning is starting over truly means starting over. It doesnt promise that things will be better, and nor does it promise that you wont face the same issues again. It just means you will be starting things over again. From the beginning. However, the process that God is wanting to take you through will still need to be fulfilled. You may start a different job, divorce and remarry, have more children, start a new business...BUT the process will still be the same process. You may have been more than half way through the process, but now you have to start over from the beginning because you failed to make the sacrifice. Whether its the sacrifice of love, patience, long suffering, peace, forgiveness, or understanding. Whatever it may be, wouldnt it be wiser to get it right the FIRST time, than to spend life starting it all over again?? God made the ULTIMATE sacrifice. What He's asking you to do compared to what He gave up is nothing. I pray that God has ministered to you today, that you will think for a moment..is it worth starting over, just to begin the same process over again? Starting over MEANS starting over.
"Those that wait on the Lord..HE SHALL renew their strength"
Be blessed!