Life is a Tabernacle! Isaiah 55:3

This series, the Isaiah 55 series of blog posts was written as an ongoing prayer for my church; but it's a prayer for all churches, for all people.

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Isaiah 55:3

Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.  I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.

David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant
Google image.

People say that the model used to establish our "Shore House of Prayer" is based on David’s tabernacle.  And I think that’s a very good thing!

But God didn’t love David because of the tabernacle, the tabernacle was a demonstration of David’s profound love for God.  And that love created a party; a 24/7/365 celebration of mutual affection.  

That’s something Shore Vineyard seems to be be very good at, living a life of mutual affection.  Loving God should be a party!

God is faithful!  His love, for me, for us, is everlasting!  It never runs out and it’s never withheld.

The culture of Shore Vineyard focuses on developing, fostering and practicing communication with our loving Father.

Lord, it seems as if everything should rest on this foundation of the understanding of mutual love and communication.  That’s my prayer prayer for Shore Vineyard; that they would continue to grow in loving you, understanding your insane love for us and how you communicate that to us.  You tell us, over and over, in so many ways, how you cherish us, approve of us, revel in us!  Help us to always hear you and respond well.

Thank you for being crazy about us!

Knowing Verses Wondering

Matthew 8:8-9 8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.  9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

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Is it a question of “knowing” versus “wondering”?  The centurion understood the hierarchy principle.  The Jews wondered who you were.

The leper, at the beginning of the chapter, said, ‘If you want to, you can heal me.”  He didn’t wonder if you could but he wondered if you wanted to.

The centurion didn’t plead with you to heal his servant.  He stated the facts; he was paralyzed and suffering.  He didn’t say, “Please come.”  He didn't say, “Please heal him.”

When I pray for people I often speak like that.  I tell you what the problem is, like you don’t already  know.   I guess it could be said that I state the obvious.  But then, rather than asking you to heal, I proclaim that it is, or will be done.

You gave us the authority to do what you did and you said we’d do even more.  But the power to heal was not yours while you maintained your earthly body.  It came from the Spirit of your Father moving through you.  And that’s exactly who gives me the power.

Sharpen my mind.

Sharpen my faith.

Sharpen my discernment.

Use me!

He's That Close

Psalm 16:8

I have set the Lord always before me.  Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

It’s a choice.  The scripture says, “I will set the Lord always before me.”   It doesn’t say, “The Lord is always before me.” (Although He is!)

It’s my choice and my goal to always set Him before me, so that He is always the first thing I see.  My whole life needs to be informed by the fact that my Lord is always before me.  I have to look around Him to see what’s behind Him.  Sometimes I ignore Him or even wish He was invisible, but I don’t think I could ever wish He wasn’t there.  How can I turn my back on him when he’s always before me?

And what is the significance of Him being at my right hand?  

To be seated at someone’s right hand means to have the place of honor.  So, I guess it means that I choose to give the Lord the place of highest honor in my life.  

And being that close, less than an arms length away, my rescue from any circumstance is assured!

Fear: Revelation 14:12

image courtesy of google

Revelation 14: 12

The words of three angels precede this verse; (Revelation 14: 6-11)

The first one proclaimed that now is the hour of God’s judgement.  We are to fear, glorify and worship him as our Creator.

The second angel proclaimed the fall of Babylon, the wicked city who enticed all to drink her wine of maddening adultery.

The third one proclaimed damnation to anyone who bears the mark of the beast.

Then comes verse 12;

“This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.”

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Times could get hard before Jesus returns.  In the face of want and need we will have to remember that the Creator of the Universe is always good and always providing.  But we must also never forget that Jesus is the reason that we fear, glorify and worship.  Without the testimony of Jesus there is not righteous fear or point to glorification and worship.

image courtesy of google

In the face of this truth, what will the fall of Babylon mean?  Is it a place or an ideology or a government system?  Is it Russia?  Is it Europe?  Is it the USA?  All are guilty of drinking that maddening wine.  Will this fall bring rejoicing to God’s people or weeping?  Or both?

People have questioned the mark of the beast for 2000 years.  Is it the tefilim worn by the observant Jews?  Is it the world system of credit?  Is it the micro chipping of our children or retina or fingerprint identification?  Is it in place now or should we still be on the lookout for it?  Will be subtle?  Is it now subtle?

image courtesy of  google

Here’s what I know that I know that I know, Jesus is my Savior.  He made a way for me to come before my Father.  His Holy Spirit dwells in me and because of that I am perfect in the eyes of my God.  There is no need to fear God the way we should fear Babylon and the mark of Satan.  

Holy fear is knowing what we deserve and glorifying God in worship 

because of his immeasurable gift to us!

Breathe Deep and Trust

1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.



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Where will I live? 
Will I have a home to live in? 
Will I live? 
Or will I die? 
Can I die if I’ve already died in Christ?
Where will they live? Will they have enough? 
Will they be safe and secure? 
Will they survive?

These are big, scary questions; especially in today's global climate.  Things are very bad in some places, for those who believe.  Will it get so bad where I live?  Is it that bad where I live now ?

What does it mean, that “he cares for me”?  Does it mean I don’t have to worry about what I will and and drink?  Does it mean I will never feel threatened by outside forces?  Does it mean that I can lay my illness down at his feet and walk away healed?

It seems there are more questions, more “I don’t knows” than there are “I do knows.”

Loved ones die of devastating illness.  People lose their home and have to live in their cars, or in an unsafe shelter.  People are randomly attacked everyday. 

How does God care?  Do you believe that Jesus is alive?  Do you believe that he dwells inside of you?  Do you believe the Holy Spirit gives you the power to overcome in any situation?  What does it mean, to overcome?

Part of it is recognizing that your body is only the tent that houses you; just as your body and your spirit houses the Lord,  once you’ve invited him in.  Part of it is believing that no matter what happens to you, who you are is safe in God.  You are eternal.  When your tent collapses you go on.

If the Lord loved you enough to die for you, to make a way into the eternal presence of the Father, if he loves you enough to live inside you no matter what you’re going through, if he loves you enough to be always faithful and trustworthy, then we can trust him in each and every situation.

We can breathe deep and trust him.  If he’s never let you down in the past, you can be assured, he’ll never let you down in the future.

The Effervescence of Creation

Genesis 1:4

God saw that the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness.
Seven times the words, “God saw that it was good.” are repeated in Genesis, chapter 1.

The word, “saw”, in Hebrew means many things in many different situations.  In Strong’s Concordance, they are given in alphabetical order.  These are the ones most people think of when reading these verses;  He approved; He beheld; He considered. 

But there are others, that when I look at them fill me with a new assurance of understanding; like “make to enjoy”, to “have experience”, to “joyfully look”, “be near”, to “stare” and “visions”.

The story of creation is the story of how excited God gets when He makes something new.  He gazes at it, He enjoys it.  He looks joyfully at it.  He stares at it.”

He made this thing called Earth and he was delighted with what He’d done!  Any creative person know that feeling when something we’ve made comes out just as we “envisioned” it.  It’s that feeling join our core that is warm and delightful and when flows outward from our center to our skin it becomes effervescent and the roots of our hair tingle.  It’s like, if we don’t do something physical right away, that effervescence will burst out of us and just make a terrible mess!

I think that’s what our Father felt when He was creating the earth.  Each new thing He made filled Him with bubbling joy.  He stared at it, thinking how wonderful it was!

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Every time someone chooses to believe in the salvation offered through Christ, the Father makes them a new creation!  That same bubbling joy comes from His core and fills heaven with His delighted laughter!

 Isn’t it amazing to think of how much hilarious joy we bring God when we say yes to his perfect plan?

                For each and every one of us it’s His first day of creation all over again!

                                             It makes me tingle just thinking about it!

I Am Not Abandoned

Ps. 16:10  ...because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will let your Holy One see decay.

This is my strongest hope and belief.  I will not be abandoned to the grave.  Because Jesus did not see decay, and I have faith to believe it, I have an eternal home.  Life may be crappy sometimes, in the here and now, but when things get ugly and stressful I can picture heaven and see myself there.  My hubby calls it  a “mental vacation.”  Toil and striving will cease.  To be in God’s presence and worship him will be my eternal delight.  Like someone in church said once, “ To stand before the throne and sing out, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’ for all eternity and never get bored!”

Thank you, Lord, for eternity with you.  

Thank you, also, for the deposit of you, Holy Spirit, the evidence of my inheritance!

God is Not Like People

Numbers 23:19 - God is not like people, who lie; He is not a human who changes His mind.  Whatever He promises He does; He speaks and it is done.

And my response is; “ Be transformed by the renewing of your mind”, “There is now no condemnation...”, “I know the plans I have for you... to prosper you...”

I am an heir.  Even an earthly king will break his promises to his children sometimes.  But our Father does not.

I made a list of scripture verses that are the promises of God to His righteous people.  It’s a very long list and incomplete.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  That’s true!  Not sometimes, not just when I’m feeling particularly holy or useful.

I gave my life to Him 40 years ago.  Looking back, I see the evidence.  I have not always been faithful, but He has always been faithful.  He has never changed His mind.  

His plans for me are perfect.

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him.  Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13 (NLT)

“Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus

Just to take him at his word.

Just to rest upon his promise

And to know, ‘Thus saith the Lord’

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him!

How I’ve proved Him ‘ore and ‘ore.

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!

Oh, for grace to trust him more!”

Neat, huh?

The Perfect Pattern

Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will.

Last night I dreamed about sewing patterns.  I was making piles of the tissue pieces and trying to sort them out.

Sorting out the patterns of the this world, trying to figure them out, looking at them from different angles, trying to make sense out of them, to make them fit, can be an exhausting, lifetime endeavor!

Trying to conform to this world; to figure out how things that happened in my past fit together with what’s happening now and what it will mean for my future, not to mention how it fits together with what’s happening around the world, is like trying to sew together a crazy quilt when the pieces won’t come together, no matter how hard I try.

But, if every day, I focus on the good, pleasing and perfect will of God for my life, then my life, looking back, will seem like a woven fabric, every line perfectly blending with the one before it and the one after it.  It’s a tapestry that was begun the day I first surrendered to Him and will never be completed.

Even the somber, heavy hues of suffering add exquisite beauty to the piece of art my God is making out of my life.

It is cohesive.  It is breathtaking.  It is a perfect pattern.

Our Very Own Prophet

We have our very own prophet in our tiny church. When Anthony speaks most people pay attention. He will be 30 years old in a couple of weeks. It's not always easy to understand him, sometimes even listening really hard isn't enough.

Anthony was born with Down Syndrome. He lives in a Godly home with his mom and dad and attends church almost every week.

On any given Sunday you'll see him sitting up front and during our worship time he has a wonderful time! Almost every week there is a time of public speaking. Whether it'giving testemony about a healing, or reading from scripture and telling how that verse impacted their lives, people are free to give voice to how they feel God has blessed them. And most weeks, not all, Anthony hears God speak to him and he shares. Usually his words are in response to someone elses testemony. He will read a scripture verse that perfectly folds into what has been said. And sometimes he ever speaks openly the words that the Lord gives him personally. I likek to say he, " knocks my socks off!" the truer phrase is, "he blesses my bones!"

Life on Earth is Seldom Easy

Someone that I know and love is going through a very difficult break up. Engaged to be married since Christmas, his fiancee announced last week that she does not love him and is moving out of his apartment.

I sorrow for him. And I grieve his loss.

She does not have a relationship with God, in any way. At this time in his life, neither does he. He sees the relationship that exists between my husband and myself and thinks that he can have that for himself. And someday he may, if he once more chooses to walk with Christ.

Unfortunately, he has walked his own path for many years now. I have always thought that he feared asking Christ to be his Lord becasue he wants to live his life his way and thinks that God won't let him. So he lives in the world and he looks to the world to provide him with a life mate.

I know that he was raised in the knowledge of the law of natural consequences. ie: if you behave in a certain way, you can expect a certain outcome. But love, as they say, is blind, and he did not see this consequence coming.

I cannot tell him this. He will not hear it. But I continue to pray that he may, someday soon, come to the realization that he cannot run his own life successfully and that he can trust the Lord to see him safely through all trials and tribulations.

Life in Christ is a joy. That's not to say that it's often easy. Life on earth is seldom easy. But the desire for God's will in my life takes a great portion of the sting out of lifes disappoitments and sorrows.

I hope he comes around soon.

The Terror I May Never Know

The Terror I May Never Know

The television is filled with images of people in desperate despair in China. An Earthquake measuring 7.9 struck that country, in the middle of the morning, on a busy week day. Many of the buildings that collapsed crushed thousands of school children. The populations of entire towns are sleeping out of doors, some, even camping out under umbrellas, for fear that more quakes will happen and more misery added to their lives.

Parents stand on the edges of the rubble that was once their child’s school. They cry and scream out their children’s name but hear only silence. Rescue workers stand nearby, with nothing to do but watch and add their tears, because they must wait for other workers to remove as much wreckage as possible before they can climb inside to pull out the bodies.

I saw footage of Chinese people standing on a train platform. They were experiencing another aftershock. The look of terror and dismay on their faces said more to me than any news commentator could.

I see their fear and can imagine it in my mind. But I cannot know it and I probably never will.

My life has had its share of devastation. I have lost loved ones and seen my children suffer. But there is a difference. I place my faith in a God who loves all people. I believe that each one of those grieving parents brings sadness to my God’s heart.

Because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, because of his death, I can come before my Father. I can stand in the throne room, beside my savior and know that my Father hears my prayers and desires only good for me and those I love and even those I have never met and yet have included in my prayers.

I cannot reach out to people in China, or Myanmar, or Columbia to bring help and comfort. But there is no doubt in my mind that my prayers, and the prayers of countless others reaches God’s throne and that he hears and acts because we have boldness to come and ask him.

Someday I may be caught in a tornado. I may have the world collapse beneath my feet. I may be caught in a flood that sweeps away everyone I know and love. But if I am the only one left, although I am sure that I would feel terror, loss and uncertainty, I know that I would not be lost. My God is my sun and my shield. He will protect my mind and see me through until I reach past this life and enter into Heaven where he will wipe away my tears and fill me with such gladness that I will no longer remember the devastation of life lived in a fallen world.

And so I pray. And I ask the Father what I can do. And I do what I can. I pray that there will be those who can and will.

I am safe. No matter what happens, I am safe.

Painting the Corvette

Every other Tuesday I volunteer at our hospital. I paint pictures for oncology patients. I've painted everything from the cliffs in Spain, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea to the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen Harbor to a fondly remembered park in the city of Newark in New Jersey. I've also painted dogs, cats and horses. Today I painted my first Corvette. It was gold metalic with black trim.

The gentleman that I was visiting with had brought all his paper work and several magazines depicting his beloved car. It obvious that he loved his car! And he was a very pleasant and interesting person.

About halfway through the painting session a volunteer from Pastoral Care stopped in to give him a book of prayers and scriptures and to ask if she could do anything to "meet his spiritual needs" He acted embarrased as he explained that he really hadn't been involved in church for years now.

This is why.
He said that he was a Vietnam vet and that he had started having flash backs. He went to his church and told his priest, asking for help. The priest told him he couldn't help him. That was when he stopped attending church.

As I was finishing up the painting a housekeeper entered his room and I felt that what I had wanted to say should no be spoken in front of her. So I packed up, shook his hand, told him I would be praying for him and then I left.

But I had to go back! I wrote down the names of three different services that I have used in my trip through life. I walked back in to his room and handed him the list. I told him, "It's not the church you go to, or the priest you see. It's knowing that God loves you and that he cares enough to send someone like me to offer help. Feel however you want to about the priest, but don't forget that God loves you." And then I left.

I felt better, exhilarated! I'm so glad that I can be used by God to bless folks! That's what life is all about!

My Relationship with the Holy Spirit

My relationship with the Holy Spirit
Scripture says that after Jesus ascended into Heaven, his Holy Spirit became the indwelling of God in all people who believe in Jesus as redeemer and Lord.
I believe that every person who has made that leap of faith has the Holy Spirit living in them. And that is that aspect of God that we deal with on a practical level. We pray to the Father, through the mediation of his son and our daily walk is informed by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
The fruits of the Spirit listed in the book of Galations reveals the ways our understanding of God and his purposes deepens as we learn to trust in God as a perfect provider. These fruits, when evidenced, are the visible signs of our maturity.
I was baptized in the Holy Spirit when I was 14 years old. I began to speak in tongues, and to prophesy in tongues. I prayed over people with infirmities and injuries and watched with joy and assurance as they were healed, sometimes right before my eyes, other times gradually. I found that I was able to sense the presense of the Holy Spirit in others and also to sense unclean spirits.
But! None of these supernatural events was anything I did on my own. Each instance, each occurance was the Holy Spirit working through me. I have learned that wonderful and fearful things alike can happen when we desire to see him working in and through us.
Lately I have begun to viualize just how it is with us and the Holy Spirit. Our pastor talks about calling down the power of the Holy Spirit. But if we are Christians, it seems to me that when we enter into worship and fellowship the Holy Spirit is already there. To call him down is unessesary. What I visualize is the Holy Spirit welling up in each of us and overflowing out of the tops of heads to flow among us and fill the room to overflowing with his presense and power.
The Holy Spirit is with me all the time. There is not a second when he is not in me and with me. Sometimes I like to think about how he looks out through my eyes and I see his holy power streaming out of my fingertips. It's a cool thing to picture.
Power! That's what the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is all about! The gifts he gives enables us to live righteous lives. They are the tools we need to succeed in doing his will on a daily basis. If it were not for the sin that creeps in on a moment by moment basis then it would be possible to use those gifts on second by second basis.
Life is hard! But it would be so much harder without the knowledge of God's presense with me, in me every moment.
How Cool!!

Prophesy

Prophecy
Today I start a blog on my relationship with God. That's becasue I have a feeling that things are going to be changing for me, that I will be heading down a new road.
Here's what happened;
I have been a member of our church's intercessory prayer team for several months. Terry our team leader has prayed over me a few times and the same theme seems to pop up. She has prophecied that God intends to use me now and that I need to be ready. (I had been sick for several years with Lyme disease and chronic pain but God performed a miracle on Friday, Oct. 29, 2006 and lifted my illness and pain from me.
So,after the second time Terry pronounced that word over me I started to look for the way God would choose to use me. I believe that I am being sent out as a speaker of hope and encouragement. I believe that I am to become a public speaker, giving my testemony to womenn's groups in my area.
But I have had, all my life a problem with seeing things through. Like I said to my husband last night, "All my threads are hanging out and none of my seams line up!" I'm a person who sews. As opposed to being a sewer. 80)
Today, at Terry's house I told what I said and she told me about the dream God had given her six months ago.
Terry saw a very large peice of beautiful cloth hanging on a line, flapping in the breeze. She noticed that the end was frayed and that the threads were unraveling. She was concerned becasue she thought that the beautiful cloth would just unravel until the design on it was ruined. So she thought, "What can I do to save this beautiful blanket? I don't sew and I don't know what to do." Then the Lord answered her and said, " You have two choices. You can cut the threads away. That will make it look neat but it will not solve the problem. The fabric will continue to unravel. Or, you can take the threads, one by one and tie them together. That will stop the fraying and save the beautiful artwork."
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up! Here is an answer! Somehow, all my ends will be tied together. The beauty of the work that God has for me to do will be preserved and I will know what to do
So now I prepare a presentation. There is so much I can talk about, about a loving God who has walked me through so many dark valleys. When I know what the Lord wants me to say I will pick a date and give my testimony to the ladies of the IPT. Then we'll see where the Lord leads me from there.