How Long Can This Go On?

Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.  See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;  that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. Hebrews 12: 14-16

Having been over a month since I have had a moment to continue where I left off, I had to revisit the details of where we were.   If you want to review it click this link.

The first question in the random list was: How long can this go on? Length of time under pressure is indeed one of the first culprits which weakens us enough to take pause, when we are heading toward a crisis.  It isn't the first thing which happens; usually we have made attempts to under gird and manage our discomfort, but we get frustrated and worn out. Reminds me of the Happy Train analogy we use: Our Happy Train is scooting on down the track and at first there is a bump, then a metal sparking sound and THEN a disastrous flailing of bodies and loose objects slinging around the box car?

Most of us can do well with a bump or two.  We are even able to adapt bumps into our everyday life without too much disarray.  However, what happens when we are a bit frazzled from "life" and the ride is bumpy for hours? Add to this: everyone around you being pesky, only to have  the screeching metal sound shrill the airwaves in a grand crescendo!  How would your comfort level be in this moment?

Habakkuk wrote, that it was not of the Lord that we weary ourselves in vain. What does that mean to you? Do you think God desires for us to weary ourselves to the point we are disconnected and tolerating life? What are we pursuing? What are YOU pursuing? Most of us ARE pursing peace....but is it more rightly having what we want, which makes us happy and we deceive ourselves that we are experiencing peace?  Even if we are achieving this goal at the moment and no one seems to be grinding the gears of our Happy Train experience, we must realize we've seriously bypassed one of Gods major train stop.

God allows things to go on so that we understand what is going on.  The reason I went to Hebrews to address this is because in chapter 11, we were given the great cloud of witnesses legacy.   Esau, we are told, sold his birthright to get what he desired to happen.  He may have had peace in the moment, worldly peace, but he was not pursing peace with others; it was only about what he wanted.  Do you think Jacob was on a Happy Train Ride? What about their parents? Were they happy, did they have peace?

The Christmas Hymn, link above, speaks of peace and goodwill toward men.  This is the peace Hebrews 12 was speaking of, not the selfish peace of getting what we want.  Sanctification is the only means of experiencing a peaceful journey through life - How long can it go on till you make it? Till
Christ comes again!

Fortunately, as we begin seeing others and caring about the weight of our own wants upon them, God gives us all the mercy and grace to BE different all along the way.  This year give something beyond a perfect present, give notice to how you have treated others to get where you are and what you wanted.  Give a sincere apology for wrecking their train at times and ask how you might be able to help them find their way back.  If possible.......

When we begin living out the long lives we are blessed with in this way, we might feel less days of "How long can this go on?" and more day filled with " How much longer do I get to experience life?"

For God so loved the world, shouldn't we join in?

Merry Christmas to all and to all a marvelous night,

Kisses,
Candace

© 2016 by Candace Huffmaster / Kaleidoscope Butterfly, Inc ®

Twinkle..Twinkle

 

Twinkle, twinkle little star

How I wonder what you are

Up above the world so high

Like a diamond in the sky………

We wish and wish and sometime even “prayerfully wish” until we realize there is a higher force with the capacity to propel us. And that is hope. Hope is not realized when we can touch what we see. Hopes job is over when we have obtained. True Vision is where the pieces collectively come together and build within our heart and mind. Creating with clarity all details in order for us to be aware when we are in the presence of what we hoped for. Hope is the fuel or catalyst of perseverance.

Think about it……

Evidence of things hoped for…….How will they know if they have not been told

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Galatian 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again.

I love what Erwin McManus wrote in this chapter “Coming our of Nowhere” in Stand Against the Wind.

Romans 12:12 NCV Be joyful because you have hope, Be patient when trouble comes and pray at all times.

 

 

The quest for enlightenment leads us to the wisdom of God. Wisdom is forged through the crucible of Perseverance.

If Rome wasn’t build in a day, neither is character formed in one moment. There is a process in our becoming all that God created us to be. This is the human side of divine change. Transformation is both the miracle of God and the stewardship of man. Godliness is a result of both divine activity and human action. God promises to do what we cannot do for ourselves and He commands us to do that which He will not do for us. There is both miracle and responsibility. God entrusts us with His resources, and then He hold us accountable for what we do with them. It isn’t very difficult to see that we are not all the same. Some people seem to have gotten an overload when God was handing out talents; others seem less gifted. But be assured there is divine talent in you. It is both waiting to be unleashed and depending on your being a faithful steward with what you’ve been entrusted. While we may be unable to perceive it, the great things of God come out of the small acts of faithfulness. When He finds we can be trusted with small things, we then are given responsibility over bigger things. How we serve exposes how we would lead.

When we are Faithful, we are Trustworthy. The person who is unfaithful cannot be trusted. These tow characteristics are inseparable.

If a person does not achieve his or her God given potential, although we might consider it a tragedy we would never think of it as wickedness. But perhaps we should. After all, the servant in the parable of the talents was declared wicked when what he could have done was measured against what he did. Matthew 25:14-30

 

So in conclusion for today -

Think of perseverance as the key to the door that is locked before you….holding you back from what is on the other side.

Will you endure the struggle with the lock or will you just say, I can’t open it?

Just any shape key does not open the lock. Perseverance shapes our character….Our character is the shape of our future.

Just as the key has to be the correct shape – we also have to be shaped to fit our future (deep huh!)

If we do not have the correct shape, the lock does not open. Our frame work is the skeleton key. God is the iron worker, we are the iron he is shaping. Each door we come before he has to take time and effort to bend us to perfectly fit.

The same key does not open all doors. Each key, as each door lock, is special….just for us. If all keys and locks were the same, anyone could open our doors and receive the things in our store house.

Are we willing to be molded, bent, heated till He sees Him image reflected upon us? He tells us the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. “The implications of faithfulness cannot be overestimated and must not be underestimated.”

My prayer for us all today is that we will allow Him to painstakingly shape us so that we fit into what must be unlocked so all may come to the saving knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord….and be shaped to unlock…and so on…and so forth.

Twinkle Twinkle little star

Is there a key to what you are

Up above our world so high

Is your space, your time to fly

Twinkle twinkle little start

How he loves you as you are

My stanza to you all!

Kisses,

Candace

What Do You See?

God did everything in order…..for us to SEE Genesis 1:1 from the Message translation states it like this:

1First this: God created the Heavens and Earth--all you see, all you don't see. 2Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.

As I was reading our verses from Matthew and Genesis yesterday, these words jumped out at me and they will see.

When do you think God wants us to see? Do you think He wants it to be “after” we go through a life of tribulation? Do you think He would have started His story out telling us how He defined everything in such an orderly fashion and gave us the ability to see it all from the beginning of creation if He wanted us to NOT see till it was too late?

His story is a Love Story. It is all of His wisdom, warnings and woes to blind, rebellious people. However, He seasoned it with those of us that have persevered through seeing His reality instead of the distortion of darkness around us. In 2 Corinthians 5 God tells us:

For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord--

for we walk by faith, not by sight--

we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

So I ask you today, “Knowing all these words of God, do you believe them”? “If you believe them, do you trust them to be true?” “If you trust them to be true are you waiting for what God is leading you toward…showing you?” He promised that if we seek Him with all our heart, mind and soul. We will find Him. In Habakkuk 2:4 He states:

"Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith.

In Hebrews 10: 37-38 God states:

FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE,HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY.  BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.

For His Glory and Name Sake in Christ,

Candace

Today, I pray verse 39 of Hebrews over us to cover us and encourage us.”But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.” I ask you to believe what we are studying, to have faith in our Holy God, and to seek His way out of whatever tribulation is battling within your lives.

Do We Even Like Knock-Off's?

Today I am adding another verse as well as some definitions.  Stick with me, I know this will seem random as we add to the puzzle we are working here. 

Hebrews 4: 9 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.

We stopped yesterday with Hebrews 9:5 using GWT this verse states: Above the arc were angels of glory with their wings overshadowing the throne of mercy.  Cherubium are "angels of glory"

Hebrews 4:7 spoke of God setting another "day" and it being "today" - Day is derived from a Greek work Hemero meaning the interval between sunrise and sunset, as distinguished from and contrasted with the night.
Today is derived from the Greek word semeron meaning this day, or what has happened today.

Now to connect some other things we know about spiritual light and darkness: God tells us all things are common to man.  He asks us what does light hav in common with darkness. In 2 Cor. 6:14 He tell us not to be bound together with unbelievers- for what fellowship has light with darkness. In 11:14 He speaks of Satan disguising himself as an angel of light.  Other verses on light refer to us being darkness but are now light as well as light consisiting of goodness, righteousness and truth.  He tells us "all things being visible when exposed by light", also that we are being called out of darkness into glorious light.

We obviously cannot cover all this today.  God plants seeds.  Althought they are metaphorical when planted they become visable within our creative capacities.  They eventually become real...mighty miracles which bring glory to Christ, which glorifies our God.

So lets revisit being in-between.  Yesterday we were pondering being the movement in-between and we defined what the word means.  Today we discovered that Hemero or day means in-between sunrise and sunset, as distinguished from and contrasted with the night. We know we are to be following Christ, therefor  Him being bright light when it falls over us it would cast a perfect shadow.  When we are under him our shadow will not fade.  What happens when the sun starts to set to shadows?  They diminish don't they?  Sometimes do you think it is possible we are following what we think is the Son, however there doesn't seem to be much light? 

This is where our new verse drops in so perfectly!  If the son we are following is a knock-off we will fall...there will be no light and no one to help us.  He is an example of disobedience - He and those around him do not care about us.  They care about "self".

I pray that the eyes of your hear are enlightened, and that you hear what the spirit of God is telling you this day.  I pray that when you are down there is One to help you up.  I pray that you feel the love He offers in the many that love Him and strive to wrap you in their care "today".

Kisses in Christ,
Candace

What is In-between?

In thinking about shifting shadows, I went back into some of my older journals and found a questions I had asked God to help me understand.  This is a great time to ask you a simple question.  When you ask God a question do you expect an answer?  Do you expect it immediately?  I hope I am not out here alone when I share my anwers to these.  When I was a child, I did not know to ask Him anything.  I knew He was God and that our family believed in Him and that Christ was our savior.  I never even questioned that - it was not an option.  Not that I ever desired one, I simply believed and liked the safety that I felt in knowing that.  As I got older, I did have questions.  I knew that our Sunday school teachers and ministers would take the time to answer them.  I also had my bible which I could discover how God thought as well as what He instructed.  When I was in my twenties I actually started talking to God, telling him my thoughts, desires and shattered hope (mostly the shattered stuff).  I would tell Him of my confussion and tell Him what I wanted to be different...but did I really expect Him to answer?  Honestly I do not know.  He was more of an ominous journal I think.  With that being said I hope He has those journals locked in the vault since all our words are recorded for eternity.  Surely there is a confidentiality clause!  Anyway, back to topic -

This was a process through the years of relating to God.  People do not become best friends over night.  We take steps, share things, learn to trust ...or not.  God has nothing but time, and whether or not we know it, He is in control of the time we have here.  He promised not to cut it short.  He desires for us to have a fully mature relationship with Him.  He has GREAT boundaries that are for our growth.  So with that I will tell you what I wrote years ago.  I did not understand it then, He has taken about 3 years to get me to this point of understanding; which of course is only part of it.

"There is but light and dark, we are the movement inbetween"

Defined, in-between means, lying between two extremes in time or space or state; an intermediate.

Think about all the scriptures speaking of light and dark.  God saw light was good.  God seperated light from darkness. We are under the heavenly lights, we move within the light and dark.   He brings light into darkness.  How dark is that darkness?  Darkness will overwhelm me, and the light will be my night. The one forming light and creating darkness. 

These are only a few.  So where are we in the light and darkness?  Another verse to throw into this mix is Hebrews 9:5 (KJ) "And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly."

In this passage they were not going to go there..but we are.  Take the time to look up some of these points, sit with God - whether you think He will answer of not - and ponder some of these things.  I pray you go for the "Ask".  I belive you will hear His voice resonate deep within the midst of your soul.  That is where the gift was placed...the gift of truth, counsel, wisdom; this is the Holiest of Holiess where His spirit calls Home.

With Love and Light in Christ,

Candace

Ministry in Word

Things Unshaken – Part 5

那不被震动的 – 第五篇

Hebrews 12:26-28 (NKJV)
希伯來書12:26-28

but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

当时他的声音震动了地，但如今他应许说：再一次我不单要震动地，还要震动天。这再一次的话，是指明被震动的，就是受造之物都要挪去，使那不被震动的常存。所以我们既得了不能震动的国，就当感恩，照神所喜悦的，用虔诚、敬畏的心事奉神。

Last 3 weeks we examined 6 of the 10 aspects of receiving the unshakable kingdom that will remain. Now we continue with the next three.

上三周我们察看了我们领受那不被震动，常存的这国十个方面之六方面。现在我 们要看下三方面。

7. BY FOLLOWING JESUS
七、 藉着跟随耶稣

Receiving the kingdom means entering the kingdom and living out the kingdom citizenship. As a believer of Jesus Christ we enter the kingdom and as a disciple of Jesus Christ we follow Him. Entering the kingdom is the starting point for a believer’s journey as Jesus’ disciple. Being a disciple of Jesus means following Him wherever He goes and giving our top priority to the kingdom business. In the Bible Jesus was calling a person to follow Him, that person said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Lk 9:61-62) We have put our hands to the plow when we accepted Jesus as our Savior and Lord. Now how can we still look back and be unfit for the kingdom of God?

领受国度的意思是指进入国度又活出国度的公民身分。作为耶稣基督的信徒我们进入国度，作为耶稣基督的门徒我们跟随他。进入国度是信徒走上耶稣门徒的旅程之始点。成为耶稣门徒的意思就是无论他到那里去都跟着他和给国度的事情最高优先。圣经中记载耶稣呼召一个人来跟随他，那人说，「主，我要跟从你，但容我先去辞别我家里的人。」但耶稣对他说：「手扶着犁向後看的，不配进神的国。」〔路9:61-62〕当我们接受耶稣为我们的救主与主时，我们就手扶着犁了。我们怎能仍向後看的，以致不配进神的国呢？

We need to put our heart on Jesus to follow Him. We need to love Him most, because where our treasure is, there our heart will also be (Mt 6:21). Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell his possessions and give to the poor, to have treasure in heaven and to follow Jesus. But this young man’s heart was tied up with his wealth, so he went away sad instead of following Jesus and entering the kingdom (Mt 19:21-24).

我们须要把我们的心放在耶稣身上来跟随他。我们须要爱他最多，因为我们的财 宝在那里，我们的心也在那里。〔太6:21〕耶稣告诉那位年青富有的官去变卖他 所有财产，分给穷人，来积财宝在天，然後跟随耶稣。但这年青人的心与他的财富绑在一起，所以他没有跟随耶稣和进入国度，反而忧愁离去〔太19:21-24〕。

Apparently he loved money more than God.
看来他爱金钱比爱神多。

8. BY LOVING GOD
八、 透过爱神

James says in the Bible that God has “chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him.” (Jas 2:5) We may be poor in the spirit but rich in faith. God has chosen us who love Him to be heirs of the kingdom. We love God because He has first loved us.

雅各在圣经中说神「拣选了世上的贫穷人，叫他们在信上富足，并承受他所应许 给那些爱他之人的国」〔雅2:5〕。我们可能在灵里贫穷〔虚心〕但在信上富足。神拣选了我们这些爱他的人来承受国度。我们爱神因为他先爱我们。

9. BY PERSEVERING IN THE FAITH
九、 藉着恒守所信的道

We enter the kingdom also by persevering in the faith. The kingdom is here and now in the hearts of the believers, but it will be fully manifested when Jesus returns. We will be part of that kingdom. In the mean time we must continue in the faith, as Paul and Barnabas told the believers in the city of Derbe, saying “strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.’” (Ac 14:22) Jesus had also said that if the world persecuted Him, we as His followers, can expect persecutions. Our persecutions may be little or great, but we must continue in our faith to receive the kingdom. That will be the evidence of our relationship with God.

我们藉着恒守所信的道进入国度。现今国度已在信徒的心里，但当耶稣再来时它会全然出现。在这段时期中我们必须恒守所信的道，就如保罗和巴拿巴告诉特庇的信徒要「坚固门徒的心，劝他们恒守所信的道；又说：我们进入神的国，必须经历许多艰难。」〔徒14:22〕耶稣也曾说如果世界逼迫他，我们跟随他的也必受逼迫。我们的逼迫可轻可重，但我们必要恒守所信的道来领受国度。那将会是我们与神关系的证据。

To be continued next week.
下周待续。

May we put our heart on Jesus to follow Him, loving Him more than anything in our life.
May we also persevere in our faith, overcoming temptation to enter His kingdom.

愿我们把心放在耶稣身上来跟随他，爱他多过爱我们生命中任何东西更多。愿我们亦恒守我们所信的道，胜过试探来进入他的国。

Tom and Tehwan Tso
仲谋与德菀

“The outcome of your faith is the salvation of your souls.” 1Peter 1:9

“信心的果效， 就是灵魂的救恩” 彼得前书1：9

Ministery in Word

Things Unshaken – Part 4

那不被震动的 – 第四篇

Hebrews 12:26-28 (NKJV)
希伯來書12:26-28
but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

当时他的声音震动了地，但如今他应许说：再一次我不单要震动地，还要震动  天。这再一次的话，是指明被震动的，就是受造之物都要挪去，使那不被震动的常存。所以我们既得了不能震动的国，就当感恩，照神所喜悦的，用虔诚、敬畏的心事奉神。

Last 2 weeks we examined 4 of the 10 aspects of receiving the unshakable kingdom thatwill remain. Now we continue with the next two.

上两周我们察看了我们领受那不被震动，常存的这国十个方面之四方面。现在我们要看下两方面。

5. BY BEING REDEEMED THROUGH CHRIST
五、 藉着基督得救赎

Let’s look at another aspect of receiving the kingdom. According to Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians, it is God the Father “who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col 1:12-14) So this is God’s process of rescuing us from the dominion of darkness and putting us into the kingdom of light: God the Father qualifies us through His sovereignty, and God the Son redeems us through His blood, to provide us with the forgiveness of sins.

让我们观察领受国度的另外一个方面。按照使徒保罗给歌罗西信徒的信，那是父神「叫我们能与众圣徒在光明中同得基业。他救了我们脱离黑暗的权势，把我们迁到他爱子的国里；我们在爱子里得蒙救赎，罪过得以赦免。」〔西1:12-14〕所以这就是神救我们脱离黑暗的管辖，把我们放进光明的国里的过程：父神照他的主权叫我们能得基业，和圣子藉着他的血救赎我们，使我们的罪得赦免。

Ministry in Word/
真理之言

Today we must give thanks to God for choosing us, saving us, and forgiving us, for we are sinners not deserving God’s grace.

今天我们必须因为神拣选我们，救我们和赦免我们而感谢神，因为我们是罪人不配得神的恩惠。

6. BY ACCEPTING CHRIST’S RIGHTEOUSNESS
六、 透过接受基督的义

God’s salvation plan for us comes with no cost to us, demands no work from us, so is our God a permissive God who sets aside His law and indulges His creatures? Certainly not. Jesus declared during His Sermon on the Mount that He came not to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them (Mt 5:17). He also said, “unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5:20). The scribes and Pharisees followed the law to its letters, yet Jesus questioned the adequacy of their righteousness. We are to have righteousness far greater than theirs. How then can anyone receive the kingdom? The answer is, it is only by accepting Christ’s righteousness that we are counted as righteous before God. After we have accepted Jesus as our Savior, our sins are cleansed in the blood of Jesus and we, the sinners, take on the righteousness of Jesus who has no sin at all. This is how
we are justified by God.

神对我们的救赎计划是免费的，不要求我们费力做什麽的，那麽我们的神是否是一位纵容的神，废掉他的律法来放任他的被造物呢？肯定不是。耶稣在他的登山宝训中宣称他来不是要废掉律法，乃是要成全〔太5:17〕。他又说，「你们的义若不胜於文士和法利赛人的义，断不能进天国。」〔太5:20〕文士和法利赛人守律法守到它的仪文细节，但耶稣说他们的义仍不足够。我们须要有远超过他们的义。那麽有谁可以领受国度呢？答案是只有藉着接受基督的义我们在神面前才被算为义。我们接纳耶稣为我们的救主以後，我们的罪在耶稣的血中洗净，我们这些罪人就得到完全无罪的耶稣的义。这就是我们被神称义的方法。

To be continued next week.
下周待续。

For those of us who have received God’s kingdom, let us give Him thanks and praise.For those of us whom the Holy Spirit is calling to enter His kingdom through His Son Jesus, may we repent of our sin and receive Jesus into our life.

对我们中已领受神的国的人，让我们感谢和赞美他。对我们中圣灵正在呼唤藉他儿子耶稣去进入他的国的人，愿我们悔改我们的罪和接受耶稣进入我们的生命中。

Tom and Tehwan Tso
仲谋与德菀

"The outcome of your faith is the salvation of your souls.” 1Peter 1:9

“信心的果效， 就是灵魂的救恩” 彼得前书1：9

Gephyrophobia, the Fear of Bridges

Hebrews 12:1 (GWTW) Since we are surrounded by so many examples of faith, we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially sin that distracts us. We must run the race that lies ahead of us and never give up.

We have looked at Hebrews 11 many times over the past year. Anyone that I have mentored over the past 5 years knows my deep gratitude for what God has shared with us through the faithful family history folded between the pages within the book of Hebrews. To paraphrase a few verses from chapter 11 as to not restate its entirety: I could keep talking about it because I seem not to be able to exhaust their faithful efforts or to tire of seeing the effect it has as it passes throughout generations. I too am enthralled with what I see on the horizon, desiring to keep the road behind and ahead well marked for others to follow”

So, today I desire to add a connecting piece to some of the perspectives we have been viewing. Between the verses in Chapter 11 and the verses in Chapter 12, which entwines all our topics on running the race, not being crushed and standing in the fullness of Christ, we have this beautiful verse of instruction. It is the bridge that connects these two continents of wisdom.

If Hebrews 12:1 is a bridge telling us we must get rid of everything that slows us down….especially sin that distracts us. We must look at the functionality of a bridge to put it in perspective.

Let’s think about what a bridge is utilized for, it is the intersecting point where we have to decide if we are going to take action. This action is movement, in the form of actually walking across to the other side. We have to decide it is time to walk away from the land of knowledge and facts. We must step out of the safety zone of the land from where we have been and actually walk across the bridge in faith that the land we have heard about will actually be there when we arrive.

Think about what is beneath that bridge. It must not have been an area that could be traveled without someone understanding what it took to safely be transported to the new land. Yet we did not see the engineer that built it. We have heard and seen others have made it. So we go… without hesitation.

We will be discussing this point by point for the next few weeks.

I pray that we will think about the land we are in asking for God’s perspective of the things we have seen; heard and experienced – looking unto Jesus…he is the author and finisher of our faith. To Him be all the glory always in all ways.

Kisses,
Candace

Faith is as the Wind...We Only See It As It Passes

Today we are revisiting one of our past conversations on view points.  I have copied it below so you do not have to search the archives.  In addition we are adding in Hebrews Chapter 11 where we have been discussing "By Faith".

Hebrews 11:3 (GWT) ...........this means what can be seen was made by something that could not be seen.

Our faith  is what cannot be seen.  We keep walking, we endure, we stand, we fight the good fight till we reach what God promises.  Through all this we gain the pieces to add to the view, this is called experience, strength, stamina.  Again, these gains are not able to be seen, only the growth of each of them displayed by us. 

I pray that we all are seen as the one's that do not live by sight....but by faith.  I believe that God is preparing a body to relate to for eternity and I pray that we are all together bound in His love for ever.

With the love of our Christ,
Candace

Today I was thinking about our views on things. Conversations with others; what is our view point? Planning our ambitions for the future; what is our view point? View points are actual “things” they are not simply thoughts. They move us down a physical path, interacting with physical things - people, places, and all the tangible objects within.

There are many paths to branch off from with this topic. For now let me park on this thought; If we never take the time to look from all angles, our view point is only one dimensional.

Now think of the view point we are supposed to have; an omnipresent view, through the vision of our creator. We are to look from all directions; both physically and mentally as He does. He knows the beginning and the end at the same time. We can follow that by utilizing history (the beginning) and his promise of what is to come (the end). We have our memories as well as trusted experience of many wise people.

If we take the time to walk around the object we are viewing; whether metaphorical or physical, ask for God to give us his eye sight and power to perceive, and patiently use our mind and heart to reflect we will certainly have a full view from all prospective positions.

With that in mind what do you see? How do you perceive it? Is it a real or false image? Use the powers entrusted to you as a child of God to cast down false imagination and See what is really before you as well as what is down your road. He promises to tell us EVERYTHING in advance. I trust him…..what about you?

Building the Image

What do we see?

Write down the description only to the point it is clear to you.
Does it have any defining characteristics?

Do you notice any specific actions, conversations etc?

This is nothing more than putting your thoughts on paper, trying to be realistic.  If you see nothing, put down I see nothing...really quiet simple when we don't overthing it =D


These are verses that apply to us all, within them he speaks to us individually. The unique answers will come from your relationship with God through Christ.

We are made in the image of God, we are made like them.

We see that all God said is possible and He himself would manifest it.

We only see in part, but we will see all clearly. God gave us the Holy Spirit so that no thing is hidden and all things are brought into the light for us to clearly understand.

We are to only speak what the Father words, we are to speak the Truth in Love. We are to warn of harm, give wisdom to those seeking it, and to passionately cry out in grief or despair to God when they choose not to be obedient to God.

We are to follow Christ acting in accordance with his actions. Taking whatever action God tells us to for each unique situation.

We are available for Christ to live in us to reach whoever He chooses, whenever He dictates.

Each of us were made to function the same and yet so incredibly uniquely in our commonality. We must seek how we are different from everyone else. Therein is what He designed you to do…better than anyone else – while working together with a heart of gratitude for the other unique people He designed to be part of His body.

Let’s encourage each other, embrace each other, lift up each other….then we will be One Strong Body….made in His Image.

Imagine That!