Enjoying the spirit of praise.....

This morning I was worshipping along with Hillsong on the iPod, enjoying praising Jesus with all of my heart even as I folded laundry. Praise God for modern technology! (of course I can do this even without the technology, but it sure is a huge blessing!) The song Lord of Lords, came on, and it just really spoke to my heart. Beholding your beauty is all that I long for. I have so desperately been longing to see, with the eyes of my heart, in a revelation way, the beauty and splendor of His face and His Presence. To worship you Jesus is my sole desire. For this very heart you have shaped for Your pleasure. I feel like this line so fits with my last post. Loving Jesus has become an all consuming fire burning in my heart, and this is possible because he has made me a new creation in Him.
Spirit now living and dwelling within me, keep my eyes fixed ever on Jesus face......Oh I just love this song because I can sing the words and they really flow truly from my heart......anyway, I just had to put the song on here for all to enjoy!! May the Spirt of praise wash over you as you listen! Enjoy!

Enjoying the spirit of praise.....

This morning I was worshipping along with Hillsong on the iPod, enjoying praising Jesus with all of my heart even as I folded laundry. Praise God for modern technology! (of course I can do this even without the technology, but it sure is a huge blessing!) The song Lord of Lords, came on, and it just really spoke to my heart. Beholding your beauty is all that I long for. I have so desperately been longing to see, with the eyes of my heart, in a revelation way, the beauty and splendor of His face and His Presence. To worship you Jesus is my sole desire. For this very heart you have shaped for Your pleasure. I feel like this line so fits with my last post. Loving Jesus has become an all consuming fire burning in my heart, and this is possible because he has made me a new creation in Him.
Spirit now living and dwelling within me, keep my eyes fixed ever on Jesus face......Oh I just love this song because I can sing the words and they really flow truly from my heart......anyway, I just had to put the song on here for all to enjoy!! May the Spirt of praise wash over you as you listen! Enjoy!

Spurring On........

I don't know about you, but I need to be encouraged and spurred on constantly! I need to be immersed and saturated in all that God has for me daily, hourly and even moment by moment. And if I am not getting happy in the Lord or my fellowship with Him isn't growing deeper and richer, well then something ain't right!! I like how Joseph Prince says it, "If you don't preach grace radically, then your lives won't be radically blessed, radically transformed!" It's so true! I need to be exhorted regularly in the grace of God. All my life was spent learning in a legalistic, what to do for God way! When all along, God just wanted to be in a personal loving intimate relationship with me! He's like okay I can give you a way to live for me, (the Law) but that's not what I want, that's what you want because you are afraid of My Awesome Presence, too afraid to enter in to My Almighty Power! But He knows we can't live for Him, and that's just not the point of our Christian life anyway! So, for me, I want to be taught and encouraged in my friendship with God. My pursuit of His Presence is my # 1 priority! I don't want to know about God, I want to know Him and you know what, He wants to know me too! Awesome! Just this morning I was sitting thinking about all of this, and I sensed a peace wash over me for a few minutes, and I closed my eyes and imagined God standing there, His shadow over me and Him reaching out his hands and caressing my face! Just thinking about it now makes me melt! God you delight in me!!! How can this be!
The more I hear from pulpits about how to live right, and what to do for God, the more it just takes me away from knowing Him a bit, because apart from knowing He loves me and accepts me, I can't live for Him! I want to live in a way that pleases and honors Him, when I am brought to a confidence in Him, and His Amazing Love. His love alters me dramatically, His love invigorates me to love and to live in a way that pleases and honors Him! Knowing I am already absolutely Loved and accepted and that nothing I can do, will do or have done, can EVER change that fact, makes my heart sing and gives me a deep passion and eagerness to be ready to hear His voice and honor Him in all of life!!! Whoa! My faith is deepened when I am in pursuit of Him and He meets me. He touches me tenderly and speaks lovingly to me, reassuringly! Only He can give me what I need to live a life that pleases Him!!!!
That said, let us spur one another on in Love, He is Love....Let's encourage one another in pursuing Him, as we pursue Him and spend time in His Presence, genuine friendship and fellowship with Him, we can then out of the overflow of our hearts bursting with joy from His touch on our lives, speak, encourage, love, do ........all this can bless others only by His transforming Life impacting ours first.....We can love others because of first fostering a love with HIm, all because He is Love and He has loved us since before the foundations of the world.......if you don't understand the Love of the Father, if you aren't so deeply blessed and marveling in His love and Great Grace for you and towards you, how can love flow through you to others, which in essence is the summation of the Law and the Prophets and in the New Covenant the one way we can fully obey Christ, by loving one another! You see it's all by Him, through Him and for Him! How can we think we can do anything for Him apart from Him! We get to take part in what He is doing and that to me is so cool, God loves me and wants me to love others and take part in His glorious plan to spread His love to all the world........
Getting a grip on God's excessive grace and vast Love and continually being drenched in it, has the Power to dramatically alter your life........!!! Don't settle for anything less .......

Spurring On........

I don't know about you, but I need to be encouraged and spurred on constantly! I need to be immersed and saturated in all that God has for me daily, hourly and even moment by moment. And if I am not getting happy in the Lord or my fellowship with Him isn't growing deeper and richer, well then something ain't right!! I like how Joseph Prince says it, "If you don't preach grace radically, then your lives won't be radically blessed, radically transformed!" It's so true! I need to be exhorted regularly in the grace of God. All my life was spent learning in a legalistic, what to do for God way! When all along, God just wanted to be in a personal loving intimate relationship with me! He's like okay I can give you a way to live for me, (the Law) but that's not what I want, that's what you want because you are afraid of My Awesome Presence, too afraid to enter in to My Almighty Power! But He knows we can't live for Him, and that's just not the point of our Christian life anyway! So, for me, I want to be taught and encouraged in my friendship with God. My pursuit of His Presence is my # 1 priority! I don't want to know about God, I want to know Him and you know what, He wants to know me too! Awesome! Just this morning I was sitting thinking about all of this, and I sensed a peace wash over me for a few minutes, and I closed my eyes and imagined God standing there, His shadow over me and Him reaching out his hands and caressing my face! Just thinking about it now makes me melt! God you delight in me!!! How can this be!
The more I hear from pulpits about how to live right, and what to do for God, the more it just takes me away from knowing Him a bit, because apart from knowing He loves me and accepts me, I can't live for Him! I want to live in a way that pleases and honors Him, when I am brought to a confidence in Him, and His Amazing Love. His love alters me dramatically, His love invigorates me to love and to live in a way that pleases and honors Him! Knowing I am already absolutely Loved and accepted and that nothing I can do, will do or have done, can EVER change that fact, makes my heart sing and gives me a deep passion and eagerness to be ready to hear His voice and honor Him in all of life!!! Whoa! My faith is deepened when I am in pursuit of Him and He meets me. He touches me tenderly and speaks lovingly to me, reassuringly! Only He can give me what I need to live a life that pleases Him!!!!
That said, let us spur one another on in Love, He is Love....Let's encourage one another in pursuing Him, as we pursue Him and spend time in His Presence, genuine friendship and fellowship with Him, we can then out of the overflow of our hearts bursting with joy from His touch on our lives, speak, encourage, love, do ........all this can bless others only by His transforming Life impacting ours first.....We can love others because of first fostering a love with HIm, all because He is Love and He has loved us since before the foundations of the world.......if you don't understand the Love of the Father, if you aren't so deeply blessed and marveling in His love and Great Grace for you and towards you, how can love flow through you to others, which in essence is the summation of the Law and the Prophets and in the New Covenant the one way we can fully obey Christ, by loving one another! You see it's all by Him, through Him and for Him! How can we think we can do anything for Him apart from Him! We get to take part in what He is doing and that to me is so cool, God loves me and wants me to love others and take part in His glorious plan to spread His love to all the world........
Getting a grip on God's excessive grace and vast Love and continually being drenched in it, has the Power to dramatically alter your life........!!! Don't settle for anything less .......

Just for kicks...........

It's funny how we can perceive someone whom we haven't ever met before..........this is in case you pictured me blond, blonde (?)

Just for kicks...........

It's funny how we can perceive someone whom we haven't ever met before..........this is in case you pictured me blond, blonde (?)

Sunset...

Sunset...

Inspiration....

Our first genuine snow came today! Something about a snow day, that's both invigorating, cozy and inspiring! I decided to go through my many disks of photos taken over the years. (sad to say, that have never been printed out!) As, I was going through them I was freshly reminded of how blessed I am to have a husband that loves to take pictures, and not only that, he's really good at it!! The more I looked through the photos the more I realized how talented he is! I married an artist, who still doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up! So I thought, maybe I can get some wheels turning here and put up some of his pics on my blog for all to see! And see where it goes from there......so stay tuned!

I am convinced that God has gifted this man in many ways that have yet to be fully tapped into. 

Here we are in Bar Harbor, Maine, several years ago. Enjoying the absolutely gorgeous scenic views and God's creativity displayed so evidently!!

Inspiration....

Our first genuine snow came today! Something about a snow day, that's both invigorating, cozy and inspiring! I decided to go through my many disks of photos taken over the years. (sad to say, that have never been printed out!) As, I was going through them I was freshly reminded of how blessed I am to have a husband that loves to take pictures, and not only that, he's really good at it!! The more I looked through the photos the more I realized how talented he is! I married an artist, who still doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up! So I thought, maybe I can get some wheels turning here and put up some of his pics on my blog for all to see! And see where it goes from there......so stay tuned!

I am convinced that God has gifted this man in many ways that have yet to be fully tapped into. 

Here we are in Bar Harbor, Maine, several years ago. Enjoying the absolutely gorgeous scenic views and God's creativity displayed so evidently!!

Immersed in grace, by two great grace teachers!!!

I am finding a lot of similarities in the teaching I am receiving at my church, Grace Community Church, and the teaching's I have so greatly benefitted from by Rob Rufus. 

One thing I noticed that I have heard from both Don and Rob, was how to approach reading and applying the teachings of the  New Testament letters. It was Rob who taught me that I needed to get a firm grip on the Grace of God, who God is, what He thinks of me and just really soak in it for a long time before moving on. And even then, continue to immerse myself in grace, as I will never grow out of grace like old clothes. It is the very foundation of my life! I was so grateful for this wonderful advice, as so many Christians seem to be so focused on what we "do" for God, and fear they are not doing enough. Well, that is not God's heart for us. And Don always says, "God wants to be known for His grace."  So yet one more reason we can plunge ourselves deeply into being saturated thoroughly in grace, grace and more grace!

What I learned from Don was that if we read the New Testament letters and get to the "to do" parts without first reading and hearing and focusing on the reminders in the beginning of every letter of God's grace to us, through the Gospel, we will very quickly miss the whole point. Oh, we may see behavior change or modification, but it will not be a transformed heart that out of adoration and joy is moving forward in grace. 

I guess people tend to feel valued more for what they do, so much that they miss the whole crazy and awesome truth, that God loves us just because He wants to! Not because we ever did one single thing to merit that!  

Here's a quote from Rob, out of his book, "Living in the Grace of God,"  that is so close to what Don shared in a recent message as well.

"There is an apostolic pattern to Paul's letter. He always begins by telling his readers how wonderful they are because of the grace of God; how they're accepted, justified, loved by God, viewed as sinless. He lays a foundation that says, 'You are valuable, irrespective of your performance!' 

Then later in the letters he says, 'Because you are accepted, because you are valuable through God's grace, throw off sin. Come on, stop doing that. Sort it out and move on in God!'

This may seem like semantics to some people, but until we get the bottom line right - that we're  accepted regardless of our performance - we cannot go on to challenge other believers.

Many Christians don't want to hear another promise of victorious living, or another promise from the Scriptures of the exciting life they can experience, because in their minds they are saying, 'That's torture and torment. I can't attain that! I can't live up to that! I've tried and failed.'

But once they have the revelation 'I am accepted; even if I don't pray, I am still accepted!' they can respond to the call, 'Come on, let's pray. Let's go to the nations,' because they are not doing it to obtain God's acceptance and approval - they already have that.

The majority of Christians who backslide do so because they do not understand this bottom-line grace principle and are constantly living under a feeling of 'I am not doing enough to be accepted. ' (or a feeling of not being worthy....my words.)

"True Christian victory = simply learning to live in the grace of God" - David Devenish

Immersed in grace, by two great grace teachers!!!

I am finding a lot of similarities in the teaching I am receiving at my church, Grace Community Church, and the teaching's I have so greatly benefitted from by Rob Rufus. 

One thing I noticed that I have heard from both Don and Rob, was how to approach reading and applying the teachings of the  New Testament letters. It was Rob who taught me that I needed to get a firm grip on the Grace of God, who God is, what He thinks of me and just really soak in it for a long time before moving on. And even then, continue to immerse myself in grace, as I will never grow out of grace like old clothes. It is the very foundation of my life! I was so grateful for this wonderful advice, as so many Christians seem to be so focused on what we "do" for God, and fear they are not doing enough. Well, that is not God's heart for us. And Don always says, "God wants to be known for His grace."  So yet one more reason we can plunge ourselves deeply into being saturated thoroughly in grace, grace and more grace!

What I learned from Don was that if we read the New Testament letters and get to the "to do" parts without first reading and hearing and focusing on the reminders in the beginning of every letter of God's grace to us, through the Gospel, we will very quickly miss the whole point. Oh, we may see behavior change or modification, but it will not be a transformed heart that out of adoration and joy is moving forward in grace. 

I guess people tend to feel valued more for what they do, so much that they miss the whole crazy and awesome truth, that God loves us just because He wants to! Not because we ever did one single thing to merit that!  

Here's a quote from Rob, out of his book, "Living in the Grace of God,"  that is so close to what Don shared in a recent message as well.

"There is an apostolic pattern to Paul's letter. He always begins by telling his readers how wonderful they are because of the grace of God; how they're accepted, justified, loved by God, viewed as sinless. He lays a foundation that says, 'You are valuable, irrespective of your performance!' 

Then later in the letters he says, 'Because you are accepted, because you are valuable through God's grace, throw off sin. Come on, stop doing that. Sort it out and move on in God!'

This may seem like semantics to some people, but until we get the bottom line right - that we're  accepted regardless of our performance - we cannot go on to challenge other believers.

Many Christians don't want to hear another promise of victorious living, or another promise from the Scriptures of the exciting life they can experience, because in their minds they are saying, 'That's torture and torment. I can't attain that! I can't live up to that! I've tried and failed.'

But once they have the revelation 'I am accepted; even if I don't pray, I am still accepted!' they can respond to the call, 'Come on, let's pray. Let's go to the nations,' because they are not doing it to obtain God's acceptance and approval - they already have that.

The majority of Christians who backslide do so because they do not understand this bottom-line grace principle and are constantly living under a feeling of 'I am not doing enough to be accepted. ' (or a feeling of not being worthy....my words.)

"True Christian victory = simply learning to live in the grace of God" - David Devenish

"Our Transforming Love"

I was just able to listen to the message I missed this past Sunday. (as soon as the messages are up, I will be sure to link them to my posts.) I think this was my favorite message Don preached so far. I thought I would put up a few quotes here. 

"Love is the soil from which all Christian character grows."

"If I could sum up my entire message in one line it would be; Love is the God given Gospel purchased engine of change in our lives."

"When love is planted and pursued, sin is starved, stifled and drowned by the goodness and the work and the fruitfulness of God's Love planted in our heart."

"Sin is starved by virtue of what we are pursuing in grace!"

"We are not called primarily to be preoccupied with the patterns of sin in our lives. We are called to be attentive to the progress of God's grace in our lives." 

"Not to grow lazy or lax in any sense, but to give our full attention, yes in a sense, to give an account of what God is doing, and in the process of what God is doing, there will be evidence of areas that there needs to be greater attention......"

It's the language of Hebrews 10:24

"We stand blameless before Christ, but there is still good stuff to be stirred up, but let's stir it up!!"

Hebrews 12:1&2 

Don shared a story of someone who said they were struggling to worship on Sunday(not here, in other contexts) and feeling not worthy or ready to worship......"where have we gotten those kinds of ideas from, that we grow worthy of worship rather than worship to grow. What do we need when we are down trodden and very aware of our sin? WE NEED A BIG VIEW OF GOD! We don't get ourselves ready for worship, we worship to get ourselves ready for life - we raise our eyes to The One who is Big Enough, Rich Enough, and Delightful Enough to get our attention and reshape our lives, from there we go out renewed aware of the worthiness we have in Christ. We don't grow so that we can worship, we worship so we can grow, and part of the problem is that so much of the spiritual instruction of our day points us to ourselves- the titiles of our books have "us" in them instead of God in them."

Then Don shares a quote from, C.S. Lewis' essay,  "Weight of Glory"

If you asked twenty good men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you had asked almost any of the great Christians of old, he would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance. The negative idea of Unselfisheness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love. 

"We have become so self-absorbed in our spiritual pursuits we live in ourselves - we've been called to love, we've been called not to reflect deeply on what we need to change, not to reflect deeply on what's wrong, but to reflect deeply on what is available. To be amazed that the very love of God can be displayed and delivered a step further into other lives through our lives - that we can draw attention to Him and we can draw attention to others......."

"The expression of Christian fellowship shaped by love dynamically alters us.....it transforms us!!"

"Loving fellowship is not a duty or an obligation, it's a delightful expression of God himself in our lives - and it's a dramatic experience of growth because love covers a multitude of sins....."

"Our Transforming Love"

I was just able to listen to the message I missed this past Sunday. (as soon as the messages are up, I will be sure to link them to my posts.) I think this was my favorite message Don preached so far. I thought I would put up a few quotes here. 

"Love is the soil from which all Christian character grows."

"If I could sum up my entire message in one line it would be; Love is the God given Gospel purchased engine of change in our lives."

"When love is planted and pursued, sin is starved, stifled and drowned by the goodness and the work and the fruitfulness of God's Love planted in our heart."

"Sin is starved by virtue of what we are pursuing in grace!"

"We are not called primarily to be preoccupied with the patterns of sin in our lives. We are called to be attentive to the progress of God's grace in our lives." 

"Not to grow lazy or lax in any sense, but to give our full attention, yes in a sense, to give an account of what God is doing, and in the process of what God is doing, there will be evidence of areas that there needs to be greater attention......"

It's the language of Hebrews 10:24

"We stand blameless before Christ, but there is still good stuff to be stirred up, but let's stir it up!!"

Hebrews 12:1&2 

Don shared a story of someone who said they were struggling to worship on Sunday(not here, in other contexts) and feeling not worthy or ready to worship......"where have we gotten those kinds of ideas from, that we grow worthy of worship rather than worship to grow. What do we need when we are down trodden and very aware of our sin? WE NEED A BIG VIEW OF GOD! We don't get ourselves ready for worship, we worship to get ourselves ready for life - we raise our eyes to The One who is Big Enough, Rich Enough, and Delightful Enough to get our attention and reshape our lives, from there we go out renewed aware of the worthiness we have in Christ. We don't grow so that we can worship, we worship so we can grow, and part of the problem is that so much of the spiritual instruction of our day points us to ourselves- the titiles of our books have "us" in them instead of God in them."

Then Don shares a quote from, C.S. Lewis' essay,  "Weight of Glory"

If you asked twenty good men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you had asked almost any of the great Christians of old, he would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance. The negative idea of Unselfisheness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love. 

"We have become so self-absorbed in our spiritual pursuits we live in ourselves - we've been called to love, we've been called not to reflect deeply on what we need to change, not to reflect deeply on what's wrong, but to reflect deeply on what is available. To be amazed that the very love of God can be displayed and delivered a step further into other lives through our lives - that we can draw attention to Him and we can draw attention to others......."

"The expression of Christian fellowship shaped by love dynamically alters us.....it transforms us!!"

"Loving fellowship is not a duty or an obligation, it's a delightful expression of God himself in our lives - and it's a dramatic experience of growth because love covers a multitude of sins....."

Relaxing with my Father....

I had a mellow weekend. Peaceful, in my spirit, that is. Friday night I went to a meeting at my church to listen/discuss the vision the pastors have for this new local body. It was the most refreshing church meeting I have ever been to! I am excited for what God has done and will do in this church body!! Saturday was a low key day, I wasn't feeling so great! At one point I just sat on my couch talking to God, and he just washed over me with His peace. I just sensed His nearness and was so comforted! Sunday, well, I was up for hours in the night and somehow had the grace to get all my boys ready for church with ease. (usually it is quite tense, as I have to get me ready and 4 little ones alone as my hubby goes to church early to participate on the worship team.) It was just so nice, and to top it off my kids are getting better about making it through worship without too much fuss!! Praise God for small miracles! I missed the message due to serving in the toddler class. I heard it was a good one!! Anyway, despite my lack of sleep, the Lord sustained me through the day and I attempted to go to bed early. Went to bed with the Ipod on, listening to a Rob Rufus message, thinking I would drift off into la-la land. That didn't happen, after the message was over, the next message on there came on and I decided to listen to it. It was the first time I have listened to a Bill Johnson message and I most thoroughly enjoyed it. I was inspired and blessed greatly! Then another message came on that I had already listened to, so I fast forwarded it to the end and listened to Tony Johnson play his guitar and sing a very worshipful, heartfelt song he either had already written or possibly just made up on the spot. I just adored his playing and was so lifted up by his song and the words!!! Again, this whole time, I felt the peace of God wash over me, I literally sensed His Presence. This has been a heart's cry of late for me, to genuinely sense the tangible Presence of my Father. I really enjoyed hanging out with my Daddy this weekend!!! I am so grateful for the freedom to meet with Him and spend time with Him, and that He longs to be with me too, and spend time with me!!! Thank God we are in a New Covenant, where the veil has been torn in two and we now have total access to our Father all the time!

Relaxing with my Father....

I had a mellow weekend. Peaceful, in my spirit, that is. Friday night I went to a meeting at my church to listen/discuss the vision the pastors have for this new local body. It was the most refreshing church meeting I have ever been to! I am excited for what God has done and will do in this church body!! Saturday was a low key day, I wasn't feeling so great! At one point I just sat on my couch talking to God, and he just washed over me with His peace. I just sensed His nearness and was so comforted! Sunday, well, I was up for hours in the night and somehow had the grace to get all my boys ready for church with ease. (usually it is quite tense, as I have to get me ready and 4 little ones alone as my hubby goes to church early to participate on the worship team.) It was just so nice, and to top it off my kids are getting better about making it through worship without too much fuss!! Praise God for small miracles! I missed the message due to serving in the toddler class. I heard it was a good one!! Anyway, despite my lack of sleep, the Lord sustained me through the day and I attempted to go to bed early. Went to bed with the Ipod on, listening to a Rob Rufus message, thinking I would drift off into la-la land. That didn't happen, after the message was over, the next message on there came on and I decided to listen to it. It was the first time I have listened to a Bill Johnson message and I most thoroughly enjoyed it. I was inspired and blessed greatly! Then another message came on that I had already listened to, so I fast forwarded it to the end and listened to Tony Johnson play his guitar and sing a very worshipful, heartfelt song he either had already written or possibly just made up on the spot. I just adored his playing and was so lifted up by his song and the words!!! Again, this whole time, I felt the peace of God wash over me, I literally sensed His Presence. This has been a heart's cry of late for me, to genuinely sense the tangible Presence of my Father. I really enjoyed hanging out with my Daddy this weekend!!! I am so grateful for the freedom to meet with Him and spend time with Him, and that He longs to be with me too, and spend time with me!!! Thank God we are in a New Covenant, where the veil has been torn in two and we now have total access to our Father all the time!

SIMPLICITY

So I decided to go with a new look, for now.....I was getting tired of the busy and dark chaos of the other one. Hope you will still come back and visit......Gotta keep things fresh ya' know. Anyway, I stumbled across several wonderful sites to help me learn how to mess around and edit my blog, as I am no technological genius. Here's one to enjoy!

SIMPLICITY

So I decided to go with a new look, for now.....I was getting tired of the busy and dark chaos of the other one. Hope you will still come back and visit......Gotta keep things fresh ya' know. Anyway, I stumbled across several wonderful sites to help me learn how to mess around and edit my blog, as I am no technological genius. Here's one to enjoy!

The Phantom of Romans 7....

Reading through Romans is a wonderful yet complicated task.....I have enjoyed reading it many times and have sought to gain insight on the tricky passage in Romans 7, that it seems the Doctrine of Indwelling Sin is based from, in addition to "the heart is deceitful passage", found in Jeremiah 17:9. Anyway, I can't understand how a doctrine is based on 2 verses of the Bible when there are so many amazing clear passages all through the New Testament after the death and resurrection of our Lord. I also can't understand why on God's green earth any Christian would want to focus on this "doctrine" when we are taught we are dead to sin and alive to Christ. And why, oh why would they want to allow these great truths be overlooked and spend any length of time teaching on "indwelling sin".  I confess, I just don't get it! Our inheritance in Christ is rich and wonderful, and sin's curse has lost it's grip on us!!!! Hello!!! So, I have been searching and searching the Scriptures asking reputable grace teachers and looking online for something to help with this confounded passage! I honestly think the enemy really uses it to keep "right living, literal bible translating Christians" in bondage. (of which I once was!) Well, tonight I found a very interesting article that I think could shed some light on this very thing.  It's called the Phantom of Romans 7, check it out here.  Do by all means let me know what you think? 

The Phantom of Romans 7....

Reading through Romans is a wonderful yet complicated task.....I have enjoyed reading it many times and have sought to gain insight on the tricky passage in Romans 7, that it seems the Doctrine of Indwelling Sin is based from, in addition to "the heart is deceitful passage", found in Jeremiah 17:9. Anyway, I can't understand how a doctrine is based on 2 verses of the Bible when there are so many amazing clear passages all through the New Testament after the death and resurrection of our Lord. I also can't understand why on God's green earth any Christian would want to focus on this "doctrine" when we are taught we are dead to sin and alive to Christ. And why, oh why would they want to allow these great truths be overlooked and spend any length of time teaching on "indwelling sin".  I confess, I just don't get it! Our inheritance in Christ is rich and wonderful, and sin's curse has lost it's grip on us!!!! Hello!!! So, I have been searching and searching the Scriptures asking reputable grace teachers and looking online for something to help with this confounded passage! I honestly think the enemy really uses it to keep "right living, literal bible translating Christians" in bondage. (of which I once was!) Well, tonight I found a very interesting article that I think could shed some light on this very thing.  It's called the Phantom of Romans 7, check it out here.  Do by all means let me know what you think? 

~tidbits & morsels ~

......"when a preacher puts God's people under pressure to performance to earn the blessing, you can call it whatever you want, but it is the Law. You may not call it the 10 commandments, but you can say it in a way that people think, you gotta earn the blessing by efforts, drivenness, and performance. This is deadly and you are bringing a curse on God's people. If you think you can balance grace and performance, you make grace invalid if you mix it with law. You can't balance grace by preaching balance. If you preach one part you must preach all parts, the law was meant to be kept as a whole. YOU CANNOT BALANCE GRACE WITH LAW." (Rob Rufus)

...." any change grace makes is without effort, but by the power of the Spirit of the LIVING GOD."(Rob Rufus)

......"JESUS + anything = nothing

        JESUS + nothing = all the blessing" (Rob Rufus)

......"Give up trying to be more HOLY

         Give up trying to be more adequate

           Give up trying to have more faith

             Give up and let the HOLY SPIRIT....."(Rob Rufus)

..."It's Christ in you, for the benefit of others........I couldn't make my life work without God, I failed at making it on my own....This is the key to successful Christianity.......You couldn't live without God, but you can't live for God either and the Awesome thing is....You don't have to, it's all been done.....I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I that lives, but Christ in me......God cannot, will not partner with self - sufficiency or self - righteousness......." (Paul Andersen Walsh) 

" Jesus primary ministry was to heal the broken-hearted and bind up their wounds...God's heart is to bind up broken hearts - he wants our wholeness, the only way is to abide in Him. If your heart feels condemnation you will not enter into His Presence." (Ryan Rufus)

"Our thoughts form our beliefs - Our beliefs form our convictions- our convictions form our attitudes - 

our attitudes form our perceptions, our perceptions form our behaviour"(Rob Rufus, from "How Wonderful is the Gospel")  

then he said, "if I was the devil I would put thoughts in your head - arguments, pretensions, mis-information.... 

~tidbits & morsels ~

......"when a preacher puts God's people under pressure to performance to earn the blessing, you can call it whatever you want, but it is the Law. You may not call it the 10 commandments, but you can say it in a way that people think, you gotta earn the blessing by efforts, drivenness, and performance. This is deadly and you are bringing a curse on God's people. If you think you can balance grace and performance, you make grace invalid if you mix it with law. You can't balance grace by preaching balance. If you preach one part you must preach all parts, the law was meant to be kept as a whole. YOU CANNOT BALANCE GRACE WITH LAW." (Rob Rufus)

...." any change grace makes is without effort, but by the power of the Spirit of the LIVING GOD."(Rob Rufus)

......"JESUS + anything = nothing

        JESUS + nothing = all the blessing" (Rob Rufus)

......"Give up trying to be more HOLY

         Give up trying to be more adequate

           Give up trying to have more faith

             Give up and let the HOLY SPIRIT....."(Rob Rufus)

..."It's Christ in you, for the benefit of others........I couldn't make my life work without God, I failed at making it on my own....This is the key to successful Christianity.......You couldn't live without God, but you can't live for God either and the Awesome thing is....You don't have to, it's all been done.....I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I that lives, but Christ in me......God cannot, will not partner with self - sufficiency or self - righteousness......." (Paul Andersen Walsh) 

" Jesus primary ministry was to heal the broken-hearted and bind up their wounds...God's heart is to bind up broken hearts - he wants our wholeness, the only way is to abide in Him. If your heart feels condemnation you will not enter into His Presence." (Ryan Rufus)

"Our thoughts form our beliefs - Our beliefs form our convictions- our convictions form our attitudes - 

our attitudes form our perceptions, our perceptions form our behaviour"(Rob Rufus, from "How Wonderful is the Gospel")  

then he said, "if I was the devil I would put thoughts in your head - arguments, pretensions, mis-information.... 

Defending Grace!

I have honestly been, so far, pretty tame in my defense of grace and against legalism. I have been tempted to condemnation over it time and time again, but I am convinced I should not be afraid to be angry and indignant towards legalists. I have spoken up to people I know, in an intense passionate manner and gotten blank stares, have been called self-righteous for speaking out against my old church, have been told "everyone is in a different place, and there's a different church for everyone", and you have to be careful grace will lead you to license to sin, and you don't want to be involved in that agape love stuff. Also, people use the "God is Sovereign" statement like a trump card in defense of not facing up to the fact that legalism is heinous. It's insidious and deceptive and easy to fall into and not know you are in it. It should not be one bit tolerated, not one single bit!!! Yes of course every person has to get their own revelation from God on this and it will be a process that is individual to everyone. However, that does not mean I should not bring it up and stand up to it, even if someone doesn't like it, or if it makes them uncomfortable. So, that said....I must express that if you go to a church that does not preach PURE Grace, and you will know if it does...you are attending a legalistic church and they are preaching a false gospel. If your church spends more time on talking about sin, and how to overcome sin and how to pursue right living, you are in a legalistic church. And don't tell me so and so is a great preacher, when one week he preaches about God and a bit of grace, after he has preached numerous messages that were legalistic. If you become aware that your church is legalistic and you say, "Oh I will just ignore the legalism and take the good stuff they teach" -you are placing yourself under a ministry of death and of condemnation. You can't have both, you simply can't!!! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Leavening agents are meant to spread over time to increase and rise up!!! You will soon become under law and NOT under grace!!! If you say, "well my church talks about grace", it is not enough to simply talk about grace here and there when there is ANY form of teaching that is about what YOU HAVE to do. Grace is all about WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST ALONE!!! And what's even scarier to me, is when a church says they are preaching grace alone all of a sudden after years of indoctrinating their people with a half-false gospel and not even so much as mentioning they were wrong, and now they want to preach the WHOLE gospel of Grace!!!! Yes we should get ANGRY! Jesus died for you so you could be set free from the law and from doing, performing and focusing on your sin, He said,"IT IS FINISHED!" Now we are to live in freedom, with Christ living in us as us, and as we abide in Him, and rest in Him and walk by the Spirit -He will accomplish His very purpose He has for us in this life! It is never about us learning to become more HOLY. We are  already perfectly righteous in the sight of the Lord! This can't be added to or taken away from!!

Don't be afraid of Grace - be afraid of LEGALISM! So many Christians are wary and frightened of PURE grace - SO many!!! 

Paul spent much of his time preaching against legalism and for Pure GRACE. He even said in Galatians to those who let anything but GRACE come into their teaching, they are under a curse and let them be eternally condemned. That's pretty serious to me! 

Jesus was not very nice to the legalists, the Pharisees, he said things to them that in that day were the most insulting things you could say. He didn't tolerate it! He got downright violent in the temple making a whip and driving people out of the temple. And if Jesus didn't put up with legalism, neither should we! 

I believe the whole pure gospel of grace is worth defending ....for years I knew a half false Gospel and it proved to be nothing but heartache and pain and passiveness....now that God has shown me the truth and the veil is off, I am ruined for anything less!! 

Defending Grace!

I have honestly been, so far, pretty tame in my defense of grace and against legalism. I have been tempted to condemnation over it time and time again, but I am convinced I should not be afraid to be angry and indignant towards legalists. I have spoken up to people I know, in an intense passionate manner and gotten blank stares, have been called self-righteous for speaking out against my old church, have been told "everyone is in a different place, and there's a different church for everyone", and you have to be careful grace will lead you to license to sin, and you don't want to be involved in that agape love stuff. Also, people use the "God is Sovereign" statement like a trump card in defense of not facing up to the fact that legalism is heinous. It's insidious and deceptive and easy to fall into and not know you are in it. It should not be one bit tolerated, not one single bit!!! Yes of course every person has to get their own revelation from God on this and it will be a process that is individual to everyone. However, that does not mean I should not bring it up and stand up to it, even if someone doesn't like it, or if it makes them uncomfortable. So, that said....I must express that if you go to a church that does not preach PURE Grace, and you will know if it does...you are attending a legalistic church and they are preaching a false gospel. If your church spends more time on talking about sin, and how to overcome sin and how to pursue right living, you are in a legalistic church. And don't tell me so and so is a great preacher, when one week he preaches about God and a bit of grace, after he has preached numerous messages that were legalistic. If you become aware that your church is legalistic and you say, "Oh I will just ignore the legalism and take the good stuff they teach" -you are placing yourself under a ministry of death and of condemnation. You can't have both, you simply can't!!! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Leavening agents are meant to spread over time to increase and rise up!!! You will soon become under law and NOT under grace!!! If you say, "well my church talks about grace", it is not enough to simply talk about grace here and there when there is ANY form of teaching that is about what YOU HAVE to do. Grace is all about WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST ALONE!!! And what's even scarier to me, is when a church says they are preaching grace alone all of a sudden after years of indoctrinating their people with a half-false gospel and not even so much as mentioning they were wrong, and now they want to preach the WHOLE gospel of Grace!!!! Yes we should get ANGRY! Jesus died for you so you could be set free from the law and from doing, performing and focusing on your sin, He said,"IT IS FINISHED!" Now we are to live in freedom, with Christ living in us as us, and as we abide in Him, and rest in Him and walk by the Spirit -He will accomplish His very purpose He has for us in this life! It is never about us learning to become more HOLY. We are  already perfectly righteous in the sight of the Lord! This can't be added to or taken away from!!

Don't be afraid of Grace - be afraid of LEGALISM! So many Christians are wary and frightened of PURE grace - SO many!!! 

Paul spent much of his time preaching against legalism and for Pure GRACE. He even said in Galatians to those who let anything but GRACE come into their teaching, they are under a curse and let them be eternally condemned. That's pretty serious to me! 

Jesus was not very nice to the legalists, the Pharisees, he said things to them that in that day were the most insulting things you could say. He didn't tolerate it! He got downright violent in the temple making a whip and driving people out of the temple. And if Jesus didn't put up with legalism, neither should we! 

I believe the whole pure gospel of grace is worth defending ....for years I knew a half false Gospel and it proved to be nothing but heartache and pain and passiveness....now that God has shown me the truth and the veil is off, I am ruined for anything less!! 

Is God disappointed with YOU, when YOU sin????

So, one time when I was meeting with a pastor for council discussing struggles in my marriage and with my husband. And my pastor said this, "God loves Keith, but he's not happy with him!" HMMM! At the time I was tempted to agree, cause I was mad at Keith.......but it didn't sit well with me!!!! Now I know that statement was a lie!!!!

Is God disappointed with YOU, when YOU sin????

So, one time when I was meeting with a pastor for council discussing struggles in my marriage and with my husband. And my pastor said this, "God loves Keith, but he's not happy with him!" HMMM! At the time I was tempted to agree, cause I was mad at Keith.......but it didn't sit well with me!!!! Now I know that statement was a lie!!!!

a testimony of His Grace....

So, today I was reflecting on this past year and remembering where my family and I were at a year ago this time. Last year this time we were going through a really difficult time(what seemed like hell to me) in our marriage, as well as job, home and other issues. I had left my husband in one state and moved to another with my kids, and was very pregnant!  Our finances were scary and we needed to sell our house! I struggled greatly with fear for our future. I was convinced there was no way my husband would change and I would end up a single mom with 4 kids to feed!! (actually that was my emotions talking to me, in my heart of hearts I knew God could triumph over our situation!) I was an emotional wreck!  I wouldn't even speak to my husband because every time we spoke we just got in a fight! Part of the problem became me laying a ton of expectations on him as a sort of list of remedies, so to speak. The more he tried the more I wanted of him and he eventually became very overwhelmed and depressed, as did I. I realize now, how self-righteous I had been with him in many ways. I was holding up a bar to high for him to reach, and honestly it wasn't at all what God wanted from him......He just wanted his heart, and mine so he could have a relationship with us. Instead of us trying to "be" a certain way, or acheive certain "godly" attributes in our marriage relationship.

I remember at some point we had a break through and began to relate and talk over some Scriptures we were reading independently of each other, but they were the same Scriptures. We were so encouraged by what we were learning and that the Lord was showing us the same things at the same time. I think that was the beginning of us communicating again and we eventually worked our way toward living together again and going to counciling. (which by the way did not help at all!)

Anyway, this is an abbreviated version of what fully happened, but I share it only to boast in God's goodness, faithfulness and Awesome Grace! I believe it was this time last year he planted a seed of His Love in our heart that began to grow over the course of the year and has now become a good sized plant, if you ask me! We did not do one single thing in our own effort that got us to this place of peace, joy and restoration! In fact when we did try to make things better, we only made things worse and failed miserably! Now we just continue to bask in His Grace and let it do the work in our hearts which eventually flows out through our actions and speech! We are in a Great place compared to a year ago! We are the best we have ever been! It's quite amazing actually. Freeing! To just rest in God knowing He will live His life through us and we just allow it and cooperate with the Spirit! How cool is that!!!! God is way too COOL! 

(oh and a side effect, we can't stop talking about God, and all that He is teaching us and we enjoy being together sharing our hearts with each other, it is so rich!) Praise God for His faithful pursuit of us, for capturing our hearts so fully with His Lavish, wonderful, amazing, sweet, fabulous, totally GREAT GRACE!!!!!  Thank You LORD!!!

a testimony of His Grace....

So, today I was reflecting on this past year and remembering where my family and I were at a year ago this time. Last year this time we were going through a really difficult time(what seemed like hell to me) in our marriage, as well as job, home and other issues. I had left my husband in one state and moved to another with my kids, and was very pregnant!  Our finances were scary and we needed to sell our house! I struggled greatly with fear for our future. I was convinced there was no way my husband would change and I would end up a single mom with 4 kids to feed!! (actually that was my emotions talking to me, in my heart of hearts I knew God could triumph over our situation!) I was an emotional wreck!  I wouldn't even speak to my husband because every time we spoke we just got in a fight! Part of the problem became me laying a ton of expectations on him as a sort of list of remedies, so to speak. The more he tried the more I wanted of him and he eventually became very overwhelmed and depressed, as did I. I realize now, how self-righteous I had been with him in many ways. I was holding up a bar to high for him to reach, and honestly it wasn't at all what God wanted from him......He just wanted his heart, and mine so he could have a relationship with us. Instead of us trying to "be" a certain way, or acheive certain "godly" attributes in our marriage relationship.

I remember at some point we had a break through and began to relate and talk over some Scriptures we were reading independently of each other, but they were the same Scriptures. We were so encouraged by what we were learning and that the Lord was showing us the same things at the same time. I think that was the beginning of us communicating again and we eventually worked our way toward living together again and going to counciling. (which by the way did not help at all!)

Anyway, this is an abbreviated version of what fully happened, but I share it only to boast in God's goodness, faithfulness and Awesome Grace! I believe it was this time last year he planted a seed of His Love in our heart that began to grow over the course of the year and has now become a good sized plant, if you ask me! We did not do one single thing in our own effort that got us to this place of peace, joy and restoration! In fact when we did try to make things better, we only made things worse and failed miserably! Now we just continue to bask in His Grace and let it do the work in our hearts which eventually flows out through our actions and speech! We are in a Great place compared to a year ago! We are the best we have ever been! It's quite amazing actually. Freeing! To just rest in God knowing He will live His life through us and we just allow it and cooperate with the Spirit! How cool is that!!!! God is way too COOL! 

(oh and a side effect, we can't stop talking about God, and all that He is teaching us and we enjoy being together sharing our hearts with each other, it is so rich!) Praise God for His faithful pursuit of us, for capturing our hearts so fully with His Lavish, wonderful, amazing, sweet, fabulous, totally GREAT GRACE!!!!!  Thank You LORD!!!

Get behind me Satan!

There was a lady and she went shopping alot, she had a shopping problem. Every time she went shopping she had to buy a new dress. She and her husband were having alot of financial problems and they were in debt. 

So the husband said to her, "Dear, today when you go shopping, please, please dear, don't buy a new dress! Let's get out of debt first, then you can buy 10 dresses every day."

So, she said, "Okay, I'll try."

Two hours later she comes back, with a shopping bag..and lo and behold she had a new dress.

And she said to her husband, " I just couldn't help it! I saw this dress and I thought well maybe I'll just try it on. I tried it on, and I looked SO GOOD, I just couldn't help it, I had to buy it!"

He said, "Well why didn't you tell the devil, Get behind me Satan!"

She said, "I DID! and he said to me, it looks even better from behind."

Get behind me Satan!

There was a lady and she went shopping alot, she had a shopping problem. Every time she went shopping she had to buy a new dress. She and her husband were having alot of financial problems and they were in debt. 

So the husband said to her, "Dear, today when you go shopping, please, please dear, don't buy a new dress! Let's get out of debt first, then you can buy 10 dresses every day."

So, she said, "Okay, I'll try."

Two hours later she comes back, with a shopping bag..and lo and behold she had a new dress.

And she said to her husband, " I just couldn't help it! I saw this dress and I thought well maybe I'll just try it on. I tried it on, and I looked SO GOOD, I just couldn't help it, I had to buy it!"

He said, "Well why didn't you tell the devil, Get behind me Satan!"

She said, "I DID! and he said to me, it looks even better from behind."

Edifying myself......

I grew up in a Reformed Baptist church, and never knew much about the Holy Spirit and the gifts. As an adult I attended a church that was more charismatic, and taught on the Holy Spirit and encouraged prophecies during Sunday meetings. Over the years I only learned a little about the gifts, such as tongues. One time at a teaching time on the Holy Spirit, someone prayed for me and said I believe God wants to give you the gift of tongues. At that time I was a little bummed, because I honestly didn't understand tongues and was weirded out by the gift. So I told some friends about this and asked some questions, they didn't really satisfy my full curiosity. Some years later I began to become interested again in speaking in tongues but still had my hesitations about it. One night we had some guests and some friends over and we were worshipping the Lord and it was amazing! We then began to pray for each other and I was prayed over to "receive" the gift of tongues and then everyone proceeded to wait for me to open my mouth and begin to pray in tongues. I felt very uncomfortable with this as all eyes were on me and I felt pressure to perform, so to speak.  Anyway, I did not speak in tongues after this event and forgot about it until this summer when I talked to another friend about it. She said try praying in the shower so you can't really hear yourself and no one else can, maybe you won't feel so weird. 

Then recently I began to desire to experience everything God has for me. Reading the book of Acts and and 1 Corinthians inspired me to seek God again about this gift. Listening to Rob's preaching has inspired me to, "Be being filled." In one of his messages, he shared how he experiences God's manifest presence every day and said if he didn't he would feel very lonely.

My husband has been speaking in tongues since he was saved, back in the 80's in a rather Pentecostal church. He says, " Tongues is easy, just open up your mouth and start moving your tongue and just speak whatever comes." Okay, so then I read a devotional by Joseph Prince and he talked of the benefits of praying in tongues to your health, and that was the final thing I needed to hear. So I have been seeking the Lord to pour out His Spirit on me and allow me to sense His manifest presence, this has been a regular heart's cry as of late. Well, He answered me! 

Last night I was in bed longing for some much needed sleep. The past several nights the baby has been up alot in the night and Keith has been snoring, quite intensely(at least he's getting some sleep!).....so I was quite frustrated about this re-occuring arrangement and I began to pray for God to pour out His Spirit on me, and I opened my mouth and began to pray in tongues, for the first time, and I became so relaxed and it was so cool as I prayed in tongues, I subconsciously prayed, so I could understand, that God would let me sense His Presence, and as I lay there, He came, and gave me a sweet taste of intimacy with Him. I was so encouraged and full of joy. Next thing I remember, I woke up after sleeping soundly the whole night! No baby waking me up and no husband snoring to keep me up! Thank you Lord for meeting me and for giving me my heart's desire. 

I share this story to encourage others, and hopefully you will see that my fears and lack of comfortability with this gift have been melted away by God's faithfulness to me, to pursue this gift. Tongues is so that we can edify ourselves.....how cool is that, God gave us this manifestation to build ourselves up!!! 

******ADD IN *********

I found this article on Jesse Phillips blog, Resurgence, and I found it very thorough and helpful in answering anyone who has questions about the gift of tongues might want to read. Check it out!