~Worship~

Close your eyes. If you close your eyes you won't be able to read this text. So, close your eyes after  reading what I have to say. When you close your eyes, sit in silence. Talk to Father God. Avoid pleading with Him for things you may think you need or requests you think you need to bring to Him at this moment. Use this time of quietness with Father God to seek Him. Ask Him what needs to be changed in your heart and soul. Tell Him you desire to de-clutter. 


Read this passage aloud before closing your eyes in silence:

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:1-2


When you close your eyes and are in silence with God, pray this scripture something like this..."Lord, I give my all to you, my heart, my soul, and my mind. Please renew my mind in You and help me to know Your will for my life."
Then sit in silence and listen! Be patient! Listen! Maybe you will hear nothing at this time. Maybe you will hear a soft whisper. Be open to Father God!
After you have listened for a while, open your eyes and read the following:

"Then he said to me, This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: NOT BY MIGHT, NOR BY POWER, BUT BY MY SPIRIT, says the Lord of hosts." Zechariah 4:6


When we are in a right relationship with Jesus, we can have the same Holy Spirit power in us that raised Jesus from the dead. Think about that! Absorb that Truth! That is a LOT of Godly power!
This time you can either keep your eyes open or closed...just don't give way to distractions. Talk to Father God about this truth of having the Holy Spirit in you. Thank Him for the Holy Spirit in you. 

Sometimes people can be uncertain as to what the Holy Spirit can do. They tend to hold back maybe in fear or doubt of some sort. The Holy Spirit helps you to discern. He speaks to you in that still small voice that shows you what to do about situations. He empowers you to stand strong in your walk with Jesus. He gives you that Crazy Peace and Joy! Talk to Jesus about Him. Read scriptures about the Holy Spirit. Accept that when you have a relationship with Jesus, you HAVE that amazing Counselor and Strength of the Holy Spirit.

Your act of worship is to be in obedience to Father God and His word. Periodically take times of quiet with Him. Maybe He told you to set up specific times to be with Him. Do that! Our worship of Father God is not only to sing to and of Him or to praise Him. Those things are parts of worship. True worship is to live in obedience to what He wants for your life. 

Jesus said, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." John 14:26 The Holy Spirit is to be in our heart, soul, and mind. I become giddy knowing that because I know the amazing strength and joy there is in Him and I know that there is SO much more to Him than I have experienced. 


We all express our Holy Spirit power in different ways. Some are more quiet, some express their minds excitedly and openly...and there are some in between.

Allow the Holy Spirit to work inside you as you daily walk with Jesus and commune with Him. Follower of Jesus, KNOW that you have mighty Holy Spirit Power if you accept it. Proceed in life living with the Holy Spirit and enjoying whatever life with Him brings! 

~The Shadow~

"Jesus never left anyone the same after an encounter with Him."~The Rock, The Road,and The Rabbi page 76.

There are so many instances of Jesus being with such a variety of people recorded in the Bible. He was with the woman at the well who had been with numerous men. He didn't condemn her, he gave her hope. She left Him to tell others all about Him. Zacchaeus the "robbing" tax collector was never the same after meeting and spending time with Jesus. He paid people back four times what he took from them and his heart was changed. The disciples of course were never the same after being with Jesus. The woman caught in adultery whom the rulers said should be stoned was never the same. Jesus told her he didn't condemn her after everyone had left. Scroll through the New Testament of the Bible. Take note of those who encountered Jesus and their changes in their lives after meeting Him.

If we are a follower of Jesus, we are to BE like Jesus. We were made in the image of God. "What sets humankind apart from all other creatures? Only we are made in the image of God(in Hebrew, b'tzelem Elohim).The word for image in Hebrew is tzelem. It is derived from the Hebrew word tzel, which means 'shadow'. A shadow does not act independently but is a reflected image. Thus to be made in God's image means to reflect the image of our Creator. How is this to be accomplished? In Jewish thought , it means that we are to imitate God in all ways.."~The Rabbi, The Rock and The Road, page 44.

With all of that in mind, how then shall we "shadow" Jesus as we go about our lives? Think of how you can be a "shadow" no matter who you are with. I encourage you to breathe a little prayer with each person you encounter in life as you are conversing with them or simply listening to them. Breathe a prayer that you would be the shadow of Jesus and leave them with a positive thought or hope...leave them with something that would help them to not be the same in a positive way....or even simply when you leave them, leave in such a way that they will know that there is something different about you...something that brings hope...a peace...joy.

Be Jesus' Shadow!

~Gossip~

I grinned this morning as I read the title to a "like" page article in Facebook I am connected with: DO NOT READ THIS If You Hate Salacious Gossip. You’ve Been Warned.

There it was in BIG BOLD text. The co-founder went on in the opening paragraph to give warning NOT to read the article if you don't want to read any gossipy news. "I’m serious, you guys. Don’t you dare read this AND THEN come after me for spreading gossip, because I’m warning you in advance that that’s precisely what this post is all about. And if that isn’t something that sits well with your conscience, please just close this post, and save your breath,..." Really? Address it as gossip and expect people not to read it? She gave warning! The reader had a choice; to move on or to read on.

In the course of conversations with some people, they won't give you a warning; "okay guys I am going to talk about (whomever) but you can walk away if you want or you can stay and listen to the juicy details about them I have to share." Conversations begin. People talk! People begin to share "news" about others. You know what? When someone begins to talk about another person(s) in a manner that you know deep, down inside your heart and soul is not uplifting to that other or you know is simply a "story", you do have a choice. You can excuse yourself from the conversation! It may be difficult because you may think, "what will they think of me? Will they think I am judging them?" You know what? So what! Who cares what they think and you may, in stepping away, give courage to someone else who didn't have the "guts" you had to walk away.

Get this, gossip is a sin! You read that correctly. The definition of gossip as found in the dictionary is: idle talk or rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling. Oh how it tickles our ears to hear rumors and about private affairs of others. Walk away from that!?! YES!

As I said, gossip is a sin! Okay, so how do we define sin? As is defined in the dictionary: In a religious context, sin is the act of transgression against divine law. Sin can also be viewed as any thought or action that endangers the ideal relationship between an individual and God; or as any diversion from the perceived ideal order for human living. "To sin" has been defined from a Greek concordance as "to miss the mark". Do you want to mess up your relationship with God, follower of Jesus? Just to be in on the details of some juicy rumor or private "story" about someone?

Following his writings about all sorts of sexual sins, Paul includes the following sins:

"28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them." ~Romans 1:28-32

Paul includes these more "normal" sins right along with the sexual sins and he lists many more sins along with gossip. There is no "degree" or ranking of sins from "best to worst". Sin is sin! As in the Greek definition...when you sin you miss the mark! As an archer with the arrow shooting at the bulls eye, if he/she is not spot on with aim, the bulls eye is missed. When it comes to your relationship with Jesus, do you really want to "miss the mark" with Him? To get caught up in stupid wrong talk just because it is easy to stay there in the "huddle" of people or you don't want to "miss out" on the "story? Or will you stand out and choose to walk away? Choose to walk away from the sin! Choose keeping a right relationship with Jesus, oh follower of Jesus!

DO NOT STAND there if you want to stay away from sin! There is the BIG BOLD warning! Gossip is sin! Be bold and lead, walk away from gossip! HIT the bulls eye! You can do it...determine in your heart that when someone begins to share about another, you will walk away. Plan ahead in a conversation with Father God as to how you will Hit the Bulls Eye then you will be prepared when gossip begins.

~Fasting~

Fasting. What do you think of when you hear that word? Stop eating for a period of time, right? Sure that is one type of fasting. It requires physical discipline and that is possibly something Jesus would want you to do...to show your disciplined obedience to Him.

There are other types of fasting. Sometimes, for our own Peace of mind and soul we need to fast from technology. I grin as I write that because if you are reading this, you are obviously not fasting from technology. At times our brain can become over-loaded with screens and the variety of things technological devices can do. "I can't give up my cell phone! I have to be available to call or text people" (be it for work or whatever), I hear you proclaim in an exasperated tone.

Okay, God may be telling you to give up the media for a while. Many of us become almost addicted (or possibly ARE addicted) to checking the latest news. We have apps on our phones that will alert us with every new news story, we have 24 hour news channels on television, we have a variety of sources on twitter, Facebook, or YouTube, even simply checking various web sites. We don't rest from all of these "distractions" and we become fearful, overwhelmed, exhausted, etc.

Fasting is done in a variety of ways.

Fasting is:
~an act of obedience
~a powerful spiritual discipline
~time set aside to FULLY focus on God

"My soul thirsts for the living God". Psalm 42:2

Our soul needs the saturation of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever seen the pouring down of rain so heavily that the ground cannot absorb it as it leaves lakes in yards or huge puddles in roads? When we fast, the Holy Spirit can truly drench us with His power and strength as we then soak all of Him into our mind, soul, and spirit.

So, what about the fasting? you ask. Why do we do it? We fast to absorb the Holy Spirit. To learn more about Jesus. To only focus on Jesus and the things he wants to show us. When we fast, we spend time in the Bible; learning from His Word. We talk to Jesus as if talking to our best friend (because truly he IS your best friend). Talk to Jesus in words you would use if He were your friend hanging out with you, going out for dinner, just a friend who is With you...by your side.

There is a source that lists 9 types of fasting in the bible:
• The Disciples Fast (Matthew 17:21): Deliverance from sin, addiction, bondage
• The Ezra Fast (8:23): Help and divine protection from the Satan. Ezra said that they prayed and fasted and God answered their request.
• The Samuel Fast (1 Samuel 7:6): For revival – the people were bound by idol worship and needed deliverance. Samuel called them back to seeking the Lord and to bring the Ark back to Jerusalem.
• The Elijah Fast (1 Kings 19:4,8): mental freedom from emotional problems or habits.
• The Widow’s Fast (1 Kings 17:16): She went without food To meet the physical needs of someone else. – the prophet Elijah. Because she sacrificed her food, God made sure that you would have more than enough food.
• The Paul Fast (Acts 9:9): For physical healing of his eyes and to get direction from God.
• The John the Baptist Fast (Luke 1:15): To enhance our walk with God and witness
• The Ester Fast (Esther 4:16, 5:2): Protection from the evil one.
• The Jesus Fast—For spiritual empowerment and victory over temptation, the flesh and the devil.
• The Daniel Fast – The Seeking of God’s favor in His purpose and vision for life.
~Published by Glen Wolf, a blog of practical leadership and encouragement.

Fasting is a spiritual discipline that is too often neglected. My challenge to you is to pray about fasting. Ask God what you should fast from. Then decide on a type of fasting you will do. When you have set the time aside to fast (you may want to fast from food for just a meal, or two, or a whole day...and from the media for a day...two...or longer....and other things to fast from should be sorted) During that time of fasting, that "thing" you have given up; THAT time is for fasting.

For instance if you spend 2 hours a day checking media, spend that time with Jesus. If you are truly honest with yourself and Jesus, add up the amount of time you spend reading the news apps., other news sources, etc...I imagine it is more than you think. It is sort of like when one decides to cut back on carbs, you don't realize how many carbs a day you eat until you keep track.

Whatever it is you fast from, spend THAT time you would have spent in that "activity" fasting.

Another challenge I present to you, don't tell anyone that you are fasting. Let it be between you and Father God. What would the reason be for telling someone? When your fasting period is over, you may choose to tell someone that you fasted, from what you fasted, and why you fasted in order to encourage them. Jesus tells us "But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Mt 6:17 & 18 That means, be normal :) Keep it between you and God.

My hope is that I have inspired you to fast. I hope that fasting becomes a natural practice for you. I also hope that in expressing about fasting, it is clear to you what fasting is, what to fast from, and how to fast.

Fasting gives us insight, strength from the Holy Spirit, Peace, Joy, and enables us to be more in tune with Father God.

~Masterpiece~

YOU are a masterpiece. The Greek word for masterpiece is Poiema (POY-ay-muh) We have derived our word, Poem, from this word~Masterpiece.

You are God's masterfully written poem. "For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them"~Ephesians 2:10. I enjoy poetry and I enjoy writing poetry. Poems come in a variety of styles: limerick, sonnet, haiku, narrative, epic, couplet, free verse, to list a few. Poetry is a genre that has a lot of variation. Some poems are extremely structured, following a certain rhyme scheme and syllable count, while others allow more creative freedom.

God created us to be His living Poem. We are all varied and unique just as the varieties of poems. In His infinite wisdom and imagination YOU were created. He made us all with our various gifts and talents. Some of us were created with what others perceive as a "handicap". All Poems are inspired with a purpose in mind.

We all were created in the image of God. I believe that being created in the image of God is that we are to be like Jesus. In Col. 1:15 we are told that Jesus Christ is "the image of the invisible God." In Hebrews 1:3 Jesus is said to be "the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature." It appears that being in the image of God is about reflecting Him in some way. (taken from Mobile Multiply app).

Putting this all together...God created us in His image....to be a reflection of Him. He created us as His masterpiece...to be an individual "style" of Poem to worship Him and radiate Him. God made us to reflect Him and to "poetically" illustrate His workmanship, attributes, and characteristics. Our identity rests in Him as we radiate His likeness.

Reflect on what it means to be made in the image of God...being his Poetry in Motion :)

~Sharing My Excitement~

You may never know it from the way I carry myself but I am the "Crazy" Jesus-y lady. I believe Him when He says having faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. I believe Him when He says to give Him all of my cares and worries and He will take care of them. I believe Him when He says he SO loves me. I believe Him when He says He has already been "there" so He can overcome it. I simply believe Him and believe IN Him. I believe SO much more of Him than I am expressing in words here.

Inside I cannot contain myself! My heart and soul sing to Him. Outside I am more contained. Why am I more contained? Because I think that what is on the inside of me would totally stun people. Inside I am exploding with so much Holy Spirit passion.

I think there was a time when "we", the Jesus followers, delighted in the works of the Holy Spirit. I know the people written of in Acts did. I also think that "we" the Jesus followers got more timid regarding the Holy Spirit. Sure we knew deep down inside the Strength of the Spirit and the Joy and Peace but we became timid and maybe even fearful. In my thinking that makes no sense!

The Holy Spirit was given us by Jesus to represent Jesus. The Holy Spirit is to be our helper, comforter, advocate, intercessor, counselor, strengthener, and stand-by. The Holy Spirit will teach us all things. He will help us remember what Jesus has taught us. (John 14:26).

I want so much to be able to fully express to you how amazing the Holy Spirit is. I want you to feel the welling up within your soul of Him. I want you to fully experience His existence! My hope is that you already do and are because then I won't sound like a "holy roller" to you :) But the Holy Spirit is so bubbling within my soul, I just desire for all who are Jesus followers to know this reality of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

KNOW that I know that I am still learning and growing in Jesus and I in NO way think that I am more righteous than anyone. I simply want to inspire you to seek Him. Seek knowledge and understanding of the Holy Spirit. He ministers to each of us differently. I don't want to write all that I am learning or welling up inside with as we each have our own ways that the Holy Spirit will fill us.

As I said, I enthusiastically want to inspire you to seek more of Him in the bible. Learn. Read. Be still. Listen. I am excited as to what He will do in and through you!