Returning To Our First Love

Returning To Our First Love

I was pondering this bible verse in Revelation 2:4-5, Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

I began to think about the fact that we say we want a move of God in our lives like we had in the beginning of our walk with God, or even greater, like maybe Azusa Street, or the Isle of Lewis Revival, but do we really? What did our first love look like. When I thought about this I became greatly convicted.

What did my first love look like? I sought God will all my heart, read the bible through in a year. I cried out to God with everything within me for the fullness of the Holy Spirit. I shared my testimony with anybody who would listen. I would stay up all night in any place to share the gospel and try to bring somebody into a saving knowledge of the one I loved. I would spend untold hours trying to bring light and understanding to a lost soul. I would weep over the lost state of those very souls and groan before God for their salvation. I was consumed with a zeal for my Father’s house. I was love sick for my Jesus. What about now? We say we want more of God, but do we really?

If we are to return to our first love, and do greater works than Jesus did, what will we have to do to get there? Will we not have to return to our first works, will we not have to inconvenience ourselves, interrupt our precious me time, our my space, our TV shows, our no access compartments that we feel we need for us? Will we not have to come back to the place where we prefer others as greater than ourselves?

I am all messed up because I watched a DVD called “Compelled By Love” about Rolland & Heidi Baker. As I watched that I saw what real love looked like. It was a love that took no thought about themselves but a laid down life love that went to any lengths to love others into Kingdom of Love. Heidi had kids crawling all over her, nothing of material possessions to worry about, all was given for the love of others. I have never seen anything like it, I have never seen love in action like that before, and that is really a sad thing. I am not like that, but I want to be.

I believe God is calling His people to a place we have never been before, a place where the lost are won by Revelation 12:11, And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Pastor Judy gave me a DVD by Billye Brim in which she shared a little testimony of a lady that has really impacted my thought for several years. This old lady who was a fireball for God was asked why she had so much energy and her son was so worn out all the time, and she said “ he holds too much of himself for himself”. That is so amazing. When we lose our lives we gain them, when we preserve our lives we lose them. It is lives that are poured out that are always filled. The more we pour out  the more we receive.

So if we really want to see the fire fall, lets be burned up for Christ. If we really want to see the love poured out, let’s pour ourselves out that we might be filled again. We say we want His fullness and a power, but He only fills what is empty. We need to pour our lives out and waste them, like the alabaster box of perfume, on those around us with no respect of persons, because God loves them and poured His life out for every one. I hope you will get that DVD, Compelled By Love, and allow it to mess you up too. God is calling for such a people. Will we answer the call? Or are we to comfortable on our couches of ease,  and isolation enjoying our me time. God forbid.

Hot or Cold - Not Lukewarm

Lukewarm - Not Hot Or Cold

This morning I was thinking about the state of lukewarmness as the verse in Revelation 3:16 warns about. I thought what really is lukewarmness? Here is the verse:

"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."

Lukewarm in the Strong's Concordance means in the original Greek - 1. tepid, lukewarm 2. metaph. of the condition of the soul wretchedly fluctuating between a torpor and a fervour of love.

torpor means 1. a state of mental and motor inactivity with partial or total insensibility 2.  a state of lowered physiological activity typically characterized by reduced metabolism, heart rate, respiration, and body temperature that occurs in varying degrees especially in hibernating and estivating animals 3.  apathy, dullness, these are the Synonyms = apathy, casualness, complacence, disinterestedness, disregard, incuriosity, incuriousness, insouciance, nonchalance, indifference, unconcern

Jesus state that He would spue us out of Him mouth if we were lukewarm.

This is what the Vine's dictionary has to say about Revelation 3:16 -

Lukewarm:
"tepid, warm" (akin to chlio, "to become warm," is used metaphorically in Rev 3:16, of the state of the Laodicean church, which afforded no refreshment to the Lord, such as is ministered naturally by either cold or hot water.

I got to thinking about what cold water means, it means refreshing, quenching to the thirst, fresh, delicious, healing, life giving, exhilerating, and much more.

Hot water washes clean, makes coffee and tea taste great, sterilizes bacteria and germs, soothes the aching bones and muscles, and also much more.

I was just thinking nobody wants to drink tepid topor lukewarm water, it tastes flat lousy and we would spit it out. That is the way the Lord feels about what we offer to Him when it is neither hot nor cold. It is time to check ourselves and see what we are really made of, what we are really like. Time to get off our indifferences and jump into the fire. There is a fire burning in the heart of God just waiting to ignite His people with flames of Himself. Are we willing to wait in His presence until we are aflame as the church in Acts was? Are we willing to, or do we have the desire to turn the world upside down? We are being offered just this in these closing hours of this age. Do we really want Jesus and His kingdom more than the things of this world. We better find out because God is raising up a remnant, and we have a choice in the matter. Choose you this day who you will serve and how you will serve Him. I am hearing this in my spirit for myself and all those who call themselves by His name. Let us all go out with a bang.

The Parable of the Wound by Kathy Clark

April 11,2015

The Parable of the Wound - by Kathy Clark

This morning I was pondering the fact that some people are discouraged because they are not used in the same way that God uses others to touch lives. God began to show me how each of us are unique and His perfect craftsmanship. I believe He gave me a picture parable about this very thing to encourage those who have trouble seeing God at work using them in the way He chooses.

I saw a wound that was the result of someone falling on the ground and getting dirt and stones packed into their wound. I saw each of us as part of the process that has to take place to heal the wound. First you have to convince them that the wound needs to be tended, then the dirt and stones have to be carefully picked out, then the wound must be washed, next disinfectant must be applied, then salve, then a bandage, some tears might need to be wiped away. That is not the end of it, next the wound must be kept clean and the more salve and bandages applied periodically until the wound is healed.

God showed me that when somebody comes in the church, usually very wounded, they are there most of the time because somebody spent agonizing time on their knees pleading for their salvation. Next the ministers, either through preaching or prophetic ministry speak words that touch their hearts, they go to the altar and people gather around them to show love and support. The minister speaks into their brokenness, then maybe somebody else has a word to encourage them, somebody else lays hands on their shoulders and prays in the spirit, or weeps with them, etc. etc. etc. Each person ministers from what God has placed within them and each part is important to God and important to the person receiving ministry. No one part is more important than the other, each part is valuable and life giving. Even a hug makes a big difference to somebody who needs one, which we all do, taking them into our lives for fellowship is essential, some are called to hospitality, love looks like something.

It is time we stop wanting to be something other than what God created us to be. We need to know our calling. What is that you have in your hand? Use it to the fullest. The bible says the parts that we give the least honor to are the most honorable. In other words the person that groaned and wept over that person just might be the most significant part in the process and they don’t even know it. There should be no competitive spirit in the Body of Christ. No jockeying for position. We need to see that God has put what He wants us to use right within our grasp. We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the glory might go to the Lord. We need to use our one, two, or three talents wisely and not count them as worthless. We each have our part to play. Let’s start presenting ourselves to God to use in any way He may choose. The bible does say desire the best gifts, but the best gift is love.

I felt to encourage those who get discouraged because they don’t think they are being used to keep your eyes on Jesus, stay in the Word, worship with all your heart and then rivers of living water will flow out to refresh and free all those around you. Jesus just walked through life and ministered as He went, so must we. The fields are white unto harvest everywhere we go. Let us all thank God for what He has placed within us and know that the Master-builder does all things well. 

Ears to Hear

April 8, 2015

Ears to Hear - By Kathy Clark

Today I was reading a book by Art Katz titled “Apostolic Foundations”, one of my favorite books. I began to think about what is meant in the bible verse spoken by Jesus,

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Matthew 11:15

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

I looked it up in the Strongs Concordance and this is what it means.

He that hath =

to have, i.e. to hold

to have (hold) in the hand, in the sense of wearing, to have (hold) possession of the mind (refers to alarm, agitating emotions, etc.), to hold fast keep, to have or comprise or involve, to regard or consider or hold as, to have i.e. own, possess external things such as pertain to property or riches or furniture or utensils or goods or food etc.,

used of those joined to any one by the bonds of natural blood or marriage or friendship or duty or law etc, of attendance or companionship, to hold one's self or find one's self so and so, to be in such or such a condition to hold one's self to a thing, to lay hold of a thing, to adhere or cling to, to be closely joined to a person or a thing

Ears =

the ear, metaph. the faculty of perceiving with the mind, the faculty of understanding and knowing

Ears to hear, let him hear =

to be endowed with the faculty of hearing, not deaf, to hear,

to attend to, consider what is or has been said to understand, perceive the sense of what is said, to hear something,

to perceive by the ear what is announced in one's presence to get by hearing, learn, a thing comes to one's ears, to find out, learn to give ear to a teaching or a teacher, to comprehend, to understand

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I felt like God was saying we need to take heed how we hear. The word spoken by the Spirit of God through His servants requires us to take action in some way if it is from the heart of God. I know some preaching is the pet peeve or soap box of the speaker, but what if it is a message birthed in the heart of God? What do we do with that message? Do we nod our head and agree and then go away unchanged. We have a responsibility to meditate on that word, to search the scriptures to see if those things be true, and if they are, we are to take them to heart and be changed by them. If we allow ourselves to walk away and forget what we have heard we will miss the very things God sent to transform and  impact our lives. We need to take the message going forth very seriously. If God sent the message, we better have ears to hear what the Spirit would speak to the churches. In the days ahead our life just might depend on it.

What Is That You Have In Your Hand?

What Is That You Have In Your Hand

This has been running through my heart and thoughts for some time and I felt to put my thoughts on paper so others might be benefited by it, empowered by it.

Many people in the church today can be discouraged because they are not pastors, song leaders, or maybe teachers, or what ever else they have in their sights. But God has shown me that the most important thing we can do is to find out what we have in our hands, and how we are to be good stewards of those very things.

Early on as a Christian I grumbled because my husband didn’t go to church and that put limits on how much I could participate in many things that others had great freedom in. One day I was listening to a sermon on the radio and the speaker spoke about being put in a box. I don’t know what else he spoke, but at that moment I got a revelation about the box I found myself in. God showed me that if I would use every bit of space that was allotted to me fully, He would kick out the walls. I saw that when you put something in a box there is much unused space in there all around the object, all the way out to the furthest corners. That space could be utilized to the fullest, and nothing had to be wasted. What is that you have in your hand? That is the question. Sure you can’t do exactly what you want, but can you find the hidden treasure that lays right at your side. Stop grumbling over what you don’t have, and get a vision for what you do have. All these things flooded my heart by way of revelation. This was a very liberating thing for me. Since then I have learned to be at peace with my boundaries, but also know God will broaden my horizons in His time if I will just be thankful where I am. Hallelujah!

I have found that within my box I have great opportunities for the Kingdom of God. The number one thing I have, that nothing can limit but me, is prayer, intercession, standing in the gap. I can proclaim and declare God’s word over people, churches, cities, nations, and the earth. I can take God’s word and speak it out of my mouth and see changes effected almost immediately at times. Nothing happens without prayer. I can weep over what God weeps over, and rejoice over what He rejoices. I now know that I have my part in the next great move of God in this earth, and it is not an insignificant part, it is a powerful part. Is that prideful, no, it is just a reality. There are countless little trickles of water, like me, that are making up the great river of God that people can swim in. I am privileged to have my part in it. God has shown me that the most important thing that any believer can do is pray, it isn’t a side note, but a framework that under-girds everything that is built for God’s glory and kingdom. This is filling in corners of my box. 

The next thing that God showed me I could do was encourage people. There are people that have nobody to talk to, or those who think they have been forgotten, or forsaken, and God wants us to let them know that He, and we, care about them. I can just say hi to somebody, pray for them, tell them they are going to make it, or that God has a plan for their lives. Only eternity will reveal how far touching someone else's life can reach. The internet, or even Facebook, gives us opportunities to encourage one another without even leaving our homes. Just recently I contacted a friend I had not talked to in a while, she was going through some real rough places, with just a few moments time of letting her know I cared about her she was better. I won’t mention her name, she knows who she is. She is a person who has poured her life out in acts of love to others, sharing her home, food, faith, time, etc. But she was in need of encouragement, and God wanted to give her that, even though she was a long distance away, even using Facebook. Encouragement is not an insignificant thing, it saves lives. Some people are sinking in despair and a word spoken in a timely  manner can turn that person around and give them hope. This is another thing I can do to fill up those empty spaces in my box. 

Hey a blog to share the things God had been teaching me on a daily basis is another great opportunity to fill up those empty spaces.  Maybe something I share will make a difference in a someone's life, be the answer to one of their questions, who knows!

I still have a number of limitations because of my life, but I have found that I am not useless. God can use me to significantly impact people and things around me in just these two ways, and there are many more ways if I keep my eyes open to the possibilities. I know that as I fully use the space allotted to me I will see more vistas open before me. I am keeping my eye upon the Master. I find life so fulfilling. I find myself telling God I must be the most blessed person on the face of the planet because I am so fulfilled. I walk in peace and rest because I know I am in His will. I am not striving for any position. I am just walking and seeing what each new day brings. The steps of a righteous man or woman are ordered of the Lord.

Do not grumble at your lot in life my friends. Paul learned to be content in all situations, why, because he was walking in His light. He knew that his steps were ordered. He used all that he found in his hand to the fullest.

If you are lonely, remember there are those even more lonely. God sets the solitary in families. You can reach out and find treasure in the most walled up places. You don’t have to be alone, be a friend to someone else. Forget you, and you will find you.There are those just waiting for a hug that says they have value, and that they are going to make it. You have this treasure in an earthen vessel, all the glory goes to God, but you and He, and me, are a team.

What is that you have in your hand? Use it to the fullest. 

Safely Keep That Which Is Entrusted To You

I would like to share this with my church family. I have been 38 years in the Lord and that sort of qualifies me as an older woman, and I am proud of every grey hair I have earned.

But what I want to share is an admonition that we all be very careful with the pieces of other peoples lives that they entrust us with. Before we share things that others have privileged us to know by sharing their hearts most painful secrets, we need to set our mouths like a safe and never share those things without their permission. We need to be good stewards of that which has been entrusted to us. We need to be trustworthy of the hearts of of others. We need to think if their story was our story, and they were sharing it with someone else without our permission, how we would feel about it. God will hold us accountable for passing on information that in no way is ours to pass on. Let us all be good faithful listeners, and good faithful safe-havens for those who are terrified to share their painful pasts  with anybody. Many of their lives depend on what we do with that trust they have bestowed upon us. Just saying.

I love you all and believe that a great revival is coming to worldwide body of Christ, we need to determine now that we will look different than the world around us. We need to only have motives of love. People will come limping into our fellowship, bleeding, dying, aching, and we will have opportunities to share life with them. If we have been those who have shared things entrusted to us in the past, we need to repent and determine we are going to be a different people from now on. It is a great temptation to speak beyond what we are supposed to but:

James 3:2-8
For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

I would suggest studying the entire chapter of James 3.

Loose lips sink ships. We do not want out brothers and sisters in the Lord, or anybody else for that matter, to go down. Let us all weigh carefully what we allow to proceed from our mouths. Love covers a multitude of sins. Jesus remembers our sins no more, He binds up our wounds, let us go and do likewise.

I can remember when the healing balm of Gilead washed over me, and I knew I was healed of my past. It was like nothing the world had to offer. The world scoops us up and uses us, and then casts us off, but Jesus never does. He saves to the uttermost. We are called to be like pastor Cameron shared Sunday, little christs. We need to love like He loves. You know, love is a person. He does not give us love, but He is love in us. In order to show love to others we must stay connected to the source. Love big, love faithful, love to the uttermost, and bring your sheaves with you into your Father's kingdom. Amen?

Paul's Estimate Of Life

By G. Campbell Morgan

 



Paul's Estimate Of Life - by G. Campbell Morgan

"To live-is Christ, and to die-is gain. I am in a strait betwixt two. I desire to depart, and yet for your sakes I would tarry a little longer."

Life and death have lost their old significance to him, because there is on vision that fills the horizon whether he look this way or that. Here is is Christ, and there it is gain, and gain is Christ, and Christ is gain. There is no darkness but only light, for everywhere he sees the Master. That is Christianity.

Now, beloved, I want to take that estimate of Christian life and meditate upon it for a little while. Do not expect me to exhaust it, for in this text lie all the possibilities and potentialities of the Christian life.

"To me to live is Christ." What did the apostle mean? There are seven things which he might have meant. By these words he intended to say that:

1. Christ was the author of his life. It was as though he had written, "To me to live at all is Christ."

2. Christ was the sustainer of his life. "To me to continue to live is Christ."

3.Christ was the law of his life. "The conditions in which I live my life are summed up in Christ."

4. Christ was the product of his life. "To me to live is to reproduce Christ."

5. Christ was the aim and influence of his life. "To me to live is to lead men to Christ."

6. Christ was the impulse of his life. "To me to live is to be swept along under the compassion of the Christ."

7. Christ was the finisher, the crown of his life. "To me to live is at last to be what he is, and to find the crowning of all my manhood in him."

Christ the end, as Christ was the beginning. Christ the beginning, and therefore Christ the end. Whether this man looked back upon the past, at the present, or into the future, within or without, behind, above or beyond to the consummation-wherever he turned his eyes, he saw Jesus only.

The first thought is that when Paul wrote these words, "To me to live is Christ," he meant to say, "Christ is the author of my life."

This man did not count that he had any life except the life which was named "Christ". He began to reckon his life only from the day when Christ was born within him through the power of the Holy Spirit. In the life of this man, there is one clean line, dividing it about at its center. Behind that line is the old life, the "old man," to which he so often referred, while on the other side of the line is the new life, the "new man." To Paul, the crossing of that line was something that went to the very depths of his being. It transformed him so that in looking back to the days when he became a new man in Christ, he said of the old days, "Old things are passed away." They had all vanished out of his sight. He took no account of anything that was behind him, and he said, "All things are become new," and in the new things he lived. The years that he spent on the earth, prior to the moment when Jesus found him, he did not reckon worth speaking of for a single moment.

Was Paul mistaken? Had not very much of value been crowded into the years before his conversion? Stop him for a moment and ask him:

"Paul what do you mean by this? You lived a very remarkable life before you met Jesus of Nazareth. You had been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. You had all the advantages of learning and religion. You had never been a prolifigate. Your life had been straight and pure, clean through. You were a Pharisee of the Pharisees, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. In all outward seeming, and what is infinitely more, in all inward sincerity, you had been a remarkable man.

"Perfectly true; but the things I counted gain, I now count but dross."

"Why?"

In comparision with what I found, when Christ found me. When I turned my back on the old, I did it forever, because my face was set towards the new."

I do not think this man ever had five minutes' questioning as to whether he ought to go back into that old life once a week for enjoyment, and live the new life all the remainder of the week as a duty. The old life passed away, and the new life opened before him bright with joy, thrilling with delights, expanding all the way.

The apostle's new life began when there shone a light round about him on the way to Damascus. We learn so much by contrast. Look at him for a moment on the way to Damascus. Remember that he was straight, upright, moral, righteous, sincere to the core of his being; and on his way to Damascus he carried in his hand some very important documents-letters from the high priest. What for? Because in Damascus there was a little company of men and women who were daring to slight the religion of their fathers, singing hymns about this Jesus, whom the friends of Paul had crucified. If they should go on singing their hymns they would soon undermine the national religion, and Paul was going to put an end to it. So he was riding with the priest's letters in his possession, when a light from heaven fell, and a voice from heaven spoke. Paul fell to the ground, and the man upon the earth said in answer to the voice from heaven;

"Who arth thou, Lord?"

The revelation that came to him must have been the most startling of his life: " I am Jesus whom thou persecutest."

Now hear the next word and never forget it:

"Lord!"

What a change! Why, this man has joined the church at Damascus before he arrives there! That is all they are doing, calling Jesus, Lord, and Paul has done it. Do you see the radical nature of this change?Do you see that he has taken the crown of his life from off his own head and put it on the head of Jesus?

"Lord,"- and what else? "What wilt thou have me to do?"

That is henceforth the keynote of his life. The music is true to it through all the future; through missionary journeyings, through perils by land and sea, in prison and among robbers, when suffering persecutions or preaching the gospel of the grace of God, he is always true to the keynote which he struck when he said, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" There his life began. There the old life dropped away, and the new life opened before him; and looking back to that beginning from the jail in Rome he writes:

"To me to  live is Christ."

Life began there, and we may judge how real the change was by asking him a question, which I often think I shall want to ask him when by God's grace I meet him in glory:

"Paul, you have not forgotten the ride to Damascus?"

"No, I still remember the hour of my apprehending by the Lord,"

"But, Paul, what did you do with the high priest's letters?"

Did you ever think of that? I shall want to know some day. They went clean out of his life like everything else of the old life. Old things passed away.