Hello all!  I know I haven’t blogged for a while.  God has had me on a little “retreat” with him and I.  A little trip, so to speak 🙂  Actually, I am in the process of writing a book that He had been prompting me to writing for several years and  I finally  decided to become obedient (which hasn’t been the easiest road if I have to admit) and I have been engrossed in the trip that He and I have been on………and oh, what a trip it is starting out to be!

To give you a little taste, it hasn’t always been a beautiful, smooth ride so far on our “trip”….however, life changing already……that’s how you know it’s a God-trip!…it is a book about a year or so in my life about God dealing with my heart and some heart issues…… heart issues……you know, the deep stuff.. the HARD issues…. and how transformation continuously takes place in our walk with HIM or it should….walking out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12)….inwardly first and it flows outwardly……. God concerns Himself with our heart and what is in there………..more than I believe we realize at times.  The heart is mentioned many times throughout the Word……..depending of course which translation is used…….heart is found hundreds of times throughout the scriptures….however the interesting part is that God is very concerned what is inside of our hearts, knows what is inside of our hearts, wants to transforms what is inside of our hearts to become more like His son in attitude and that starts in our hearts and not in our outward appearance.  That’s why His Word even states that murder starts in the heart even if we hate our brother…(1st John 3:15)….it’s a heart attitude…….that why adultery starts in our hearts when we look in lust with our eyes…(Matthew 5:28) ……..it’s a heart attitude……and our actions reflect what in inside our hearts and our heart attitudes.    “For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks”……..Luke 6:45

In other words, it starts in our hearts…..it protrudes from our hearts.  So, I am on yet another journey.  I have aways been able to relate to Jesus when he seemed angry with the Pharisees when their outward appearance seemed so right and they knew the laws and did the “right” things yet they didn’t have the greater things right like agape love, mercy, grace and their hearts right.  I also got angry because of those attitudes…..  I want my heart right.

Revival?  I am one of those that will say I don’t think we need another revival.  Why?  Because we go to one.  We get all charged up.  Kind of like a spiritual drug.  Sorry…..lack of better word, maybe??  But I have been there.  And then the high goes down.  The charge goes down.   We don’t need another revival.  We need Jesus and we need the simple revelation of what He has done on the cross for us to penetrate so deeply in our hearts and to ask Him to change our hearts where ever HE thinks needs changing today and then we need to cooperate with Him……working out our salvation…….with His grace and help……He knows what we need best, where we are at, what needs to be addressed, where His grace is resting upon us, what is on the road ahead, hmmmmmmm

so resting in His gift of the cross, His finished work, asking Him to change us and what He wants us to work on and allow Him to do it (because we can’t do it on our own) so we are made further into His image and simply be spreading His love and the simple message of His cross……to make other disciples?

could it be that simple ????

Here is where I think its at……….more of His presence…….practicing His presence…….12 years ago……I didn’t even know what that means…….but I do now……and it is where I get my fulfillment, my rest, my true relaxation, my refill, my energy……….the peace that truly surpasses all understanding………  Sure, we can get fulfillment from other things and situations but we know it only last temporary, then we can go for the energy drink to only last for so long, then we can go on a vacation only to come back to reality and all of that is good and fine and I participate in those as well BUT BUT BUT, God is calling us to HIM, to be with Him, in His presence, in His still quiet voice, without the clamoring of noise around us, His stillness, even His silence.  Even in His silence, we can be changed.  In our very small minds, sometimes, we don’t see that or think that is possible OH but it is……..he can touch those parts that we can TRY for YEARS to fix and perform for and yet we could sit in His presence possibly for weeks, day, or maybe longer, or maybe minutes?? and see how He will work.  He wants to lead, guide, direct our steps…….that how He does it, by His still, quiet voice……..The key is His presence and us practicing the stillness and hearing His voice.  I had a Bible study at my home several years ago and that is all we did most weeks.  We got right to it.  We got our spots, we sought God in quietness, we journaled and we had powerful testimonies that came out of just His presence!  I am going after that AGAIN!  Anybody with me?

I see in the scriptures that Jesus went for His solitude…….if He needed and find the time to do it, don’t you think it is important for us to do it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S31R-ENSj4g

The Bible says allot about love in 1st Corinthians 13 includng “And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” .

Wow, those are pretty “impressive” things.  Prophetic powers, understanding mysteries, knowledge, and faith to remove mountains!!  But if we don’t have LOVE (emphasis mine :)) we don’t have nothing?  The song talks about having money, cool friends, mansions, and even everyone’s attention………but if we don’t have love, we do NOT have anything.

To me, that’s deep AND worth meditating on.  In fact, when asked what the greatest commandment in the Law is, Jesus answered “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it:  Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the Law and the Prophets hand on these two commandments.”

The word love in that verse, in greek, means “to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly”………..to love God that way and our neighbors…….

Seems to me that love is an extremely important thing to get!!  The first and greatest commandment!  Do we just get it?  How do we get it, this deep kind of love for God and our neighbors, meaning everyone……

Let’s start by praying for God to touch our hearts once again today, everyday……to see with His eyes, to feel with His heart, to hear with His ears and have Him to develop an attitude like Him.  We are made in His image and the baggage we carry can be dealt with as well by giving it to Him……………Let His love shine through today!  There is freedom just in that!

Enjoy the song!  It is beautiful!

Let me know what YOU think!?

Blessings!

Kelly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3yCcXgbKrE

Watch, soak in, and think of those things today 🙂

Blessings!!  Kelly

What A Wonderful World -Louis Armstrong

click on the link above and take a moment to listen to a beautiful song………The Bible says in Philippians 4:8 …….” Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. “. ……..we can start with focusing on the “smaller” things in life.  Despite all the sadness and ugly around us in the world today, and there is, we can find those other things to focus on…..starting with His beautiful creation and all that entails and God Himself!  Soak in the song and Enjoy the scenery on His creation today!   This was one of my dad’s favorite songs……..miss you dad!

Come all who are weary and heavy burdened……I was at the park taking pictures the other day and this made me think of all the times the Holy Spirit wants to whisper in our spirits what He wants us to know….are we listening?

It seems I confused some people with my “test” post! It did make me think though. So I am flowing with it! There are many things we think about when we think of test. What is the first word that you think of when you think of the word “test”? Sometimes it is back in school days, sometimes it is a medical test and possibly it is a test we think we are receiving from The Lord. All of which we could absolutely dread taking. God DOES not tempt us. The Bible says he doesn’t and he doesn’t! But the tests of even general life can certainly feel like we are certainly being “tested”. I believe we are tested. Again, just circumstances in life or we find ourselves in will test what is really in our hearts…….. It will challenge mindsets, it will challenge our flesh and it will challenge what we really believe or not believe. In Thessalonians 2:4, it uses the phrase in many versions of the Bible that God “tests” us, or “trieth” our hearts. I looked up the greek meaning of the word test in that scripture. The greek word, “dokimazo” means to test, prove, scrutinize (to see whether it is genuine or not) It is a verb. Wow. Think about that and let that soak in. I want God to find genuineness in me, trueness, loyalty to Him, when these “tests” come. It is so easy to go through days/weeks when everything is good or even just ok in our lives. But when life comes, or those pesky circumstances, or tests, how would we be graded? God already knows what we are going to do, how loyal we are, how genuine. Is it possible that our reactions should show us what we have to give to God? What to yield to Him? What we need to study on?

Here is the good news! The great news! It is an OPEN BOOK test with God! He WANTS us to pass. He is the teacher we had in school that says “Yes, you can!” How did we love when a school test was open book! It was so much easier and we scored better if we took the time, when we went thru the book for the answers and then applied those answers to the paper. Well, we can have an open book test every single time we go through ANYTHING, small or big, and God will give us the answers through His Word, His Spirit, and even other resources He uses so we can pass. I repeat, He wants us to pass and He is willing to give us all His resources to pass with honors!

It starts with the Word. To be in it and study it. To meditate and re-read it. To have His Word become a part of us. To have His Word hidden in our hearts so that it is stored there and we will know it when a circumstance comes our way.

I am so thankful for all His resources……..His Word, His Spirit, His voice, the Godly counsel of others……..and more………… Let’s use them today! Come on, let’s do it, let’s get on the honor roll!