I Don't Allow My Heart to be Troubled...it Just Happens!

John 14:1- 6 (NAS) "Let not your heart be troubled:  believe in God, Believe also in Me."  "In my Fathers house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, you may be also.  And you know the way where I am going."  Thomas said to Him, "Lord we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?" Jesus said to Him, "I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

We know that God's word promises that we are told everything in advace in order to not fear.  We also know that we are promised that we do not have a high priest that cannot understand everything that we have been through personally from his own experience.  This is our hope and our confidence which we are warned not to throw away or cast away.  I thank God for Thomas.  No one else asked the embarrasing questions that I need the answers to.  If it were not for his boldness to just put it out there and trust that Christ would not shame him publicly I would be......we'll let's just say in a tough spot for answers in my impatience =D

But as He promised he had already walked this out and witnessed publically to it in John 12.  In John 14 He is simply showing them how to use the knowledge in real life situations.  Let's gleen from that!

John 12: 23-36 (NAS)  and Jesus answered them, saying, " The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but it dies it bears much fruit.  He who loves his life loses it; and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.  If anyone serves Me, let himfollow Me; and where I am, there shall my servant also be; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.  Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, Father, save Me from "this hour"????? (emphasis mine) "But for this purpose I came to this hour.  "Father glorify thy name," There came therefore a voice out of heaven:  I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."  The multitude therefore, who stood by and heard it, were saying that it had thundered others were saying "An angel has spoken to Him."  Jesus answered and said,  " This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes.  "Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out.  And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself."

We will be discussing this as well as the questions from this week in all the tomorrow in group - next week for the other groups and bi-weekly groups the following week.

Also we will be referencing information discussed and the post from 2/19/2011 title:  We Can't be Free Till we Allow Him to Rise.

I pray that your faith not fail you and ask that you pray to not enter into temptation.  I also pray that you go forward with Christ through His trials keeping your peace and firmly rooted trusting His love for you / us always.  For perfect Love cast out fear. And the one that fears is not perfected in Love:  think about it, write about it, pray about it and share!

Kisses
Candace

Believe and Recieve

Genesis 2:16, 17 (NAS)

The LORD God commanded  the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;  but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,  for in the day that you eat from it you  will surely die."

Today I want to make sure that we really look at the accounts leading up to the placement of Adam in the garden and what God actually stated to him about his dietary intake.

We know from our studies that God had completed all boundaries and separation good things from lesser things by the sixth day. He rested on the seventh day because it was a done deal. Understanding this allows us to see what God was telling Adam about what He could, yet should not, ingest. God said you have the right to eat freely, because I set you up to have the right to everything. However, I am going to let you in on some very beneficial insight: the tree of knowledge of good and evil is not a great choice…it is a lesser choice. When you eat from it, it will not increase your life it will work against you and in a matter of time you will surely die.

God desired Adam to “know” that he cared too deeply for him to stop short of anything less than an eternal Zoe life. This would take more than intellectual knowledge. Man would have to “learn”. Understanding comes through experience, trust, relationship which leads to maturity and the fullness of life. God did not desire Adam to have a short life filled up with knowing but never learning; a life of sorrow, held down by the weight of empty knowledge, worry, doubt, fear. No, He desired Adam to have it all. It is good to not worry about the evil …would have been best to not even have the knowledge about the evil, but to trust that God had already given him all he needed to overcome the evil..subdue it and “keep” his dominion. That was the order of each of Adams days.

We have the same order whether male or female we are. God created us in His image. So this day reject empty knowledge of good vs evil. Simply choose LIFE. Tomorrow we will see where God stated this all again in Deuteronomy. Sunday we will see where Christ speaks of things further.

My love and prayers to each of you today…Just trust God, He is able. All we have to do is believe and receive!

Candace

God Has Lost Nothing.

Have you EVER thought about that?

Today I was thinking about being a “Founder”. There are times, many times, when people ask me about “my business”, to which I am quick to say “I do not own a business". "I work for a public charity”. What I did do was “make a decision”. I decided to follow the One that “Founded” ALL things. I decided to give Him the position of “Founder” of ALL things. I decided to “Find Out” what He needed to be done through my efforts.

I simply “discovered” which is not really so awesomely unique. It is what All of us are supposed to be striving to do. I believe we are ONE body in Christ. I believe that He is our head. I believe that if we are his body that ALL our best and lacking efforts are wielded perfectly... because of who HE is. Which does correlate to us being the head and NOT the tail. I pray for those that do not yet understand. I know there is a day when they will. I pray that each moment of every day, God is helping me grow into the maturity of my image; which IS the image we all comprise to uniquely present His IMAGE….The perfect body of Christ.

Whoever you are, where ever you are….know my prayers are covering you ……right where you are…not where you THINK you SHOULD be, but right here…right now. At this moment in time, Let God be God. He has not lost you. His heart and mind were on you before your time had space. His eyes and hand have been watchfully protecting you as you try your best to make it through each day. His love and promises he wrote down for you to be aware, that before you ever knew Him, He had provided your way. He knows the pain, toil and length of all that is on your path. He has set a plan in motion for the moments of battle that lie ahead. He has been calling and patiently waiting for your heart and ears to receive, all the best of the blessings He has reserved with your name in its proper place.

Do not listen to what others call you – your father gave you a name. He is the one that defends you; He knows your rightful place. Do not listen to their mocking; it is His ears receiving their words. Cover all people as you are leaving so they too can endure their days. Run toward your Maker…tell Him you found out the truth. His son was born of Mary, she too decided to listen and believe. She gave birth to our risen redeemer, Jesus the Christ and God’s seed. He lived, loved and shared of His Father – The Almighty and Loving “I AM”. He walked and he spoke with true wisdom, He showed us the power of all things, He told us the helper would be coming, He died, witness, declared what was to be. He now has resurrected our life line; He has secured what can never be destroyed. He is …right now in this moment…in heaven reigning as our King. He is loving and covering….your heart, thoughts and purpose within this plan. He knows you might not feel able….this too God provided in advance.

Today, hear him calling and wooing; sending a serenade from his very throne room. He is calling and saying where are you? I love you and miss you my dear. Please stop; even if for just this moment. I simply want you to know, I care and created you perfect…..perfect in every way. Please do not run so quickly….you might fall and get hurt due to fear. Fear is not why I created you; I desire to protect you from all that might harm. I am your strength and your courage, your vindicator and the lover of your soul. Before you run off let me touch you…your sweet face brings me much joy. Don’t cry this won’t last forever, if you listen…I can show you the way. I will leave the light shining just keep looking I am faithful and true.

I pray you heard what He was speaking, that you hope with everything that you are in Him. I speak because someone must tell you…..He is ALL you will EVER truly need. He knows your deepest desires and longings. He set them in you so that you could live, love and share to the HIGHEST degrees. Be still and Let there be light upon you, within all the darkest of your days. He separated you from the darkness. He set a firm foundation for your feet to stand. He said the light was a “good thing” He said you were created to be cherished and loved. He has something to share with you. It is about what is within you that was planted to share here. He has been so very patient; will you wait to hear what He says?

Christ protected us all before He ascension, now the Holy Spirit has been released, our job is simple….to ”Follow our Founders" universal business plan”.

This is our “how to do, what we are to do: 1 John 5: 14-15 “We are confident that God listens to us if we ask for anything that has his approval. We know that he listens to our requests. So we know that we already have what we ask him for.

In Christ,

Candace

After you Let it Go is There Anything You Can Do?

I am beginning to see the reason that in 7 days God said it is done.  I will hold my rambling thoughts till the 7th day (....my way of saying I care =D )  Today we are adding Genesis 1:3 to our epic.  I am quoting from God's Word Translation Bible.

 "Then God said, “Let there be light!” So there was light."

Continuing on, in case you are unaware, we are reading the "About the Author" section of God's Epic.

Let's put it together so far:

In the beginning God created heaven and earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep water. The Spirit of God was hovering over the water. Then God said, “Let there be light!” So there was light.

We know that God was and has always been.  We now know that He is beginning something new with just the first sentence.  Do you ever just sit and ask Him about what was before the beginning?   What have you got to loose?  Do you think it would be a waste of time?  Do you think He doesn't exist?  Do you think He doesn't talk or converse with each one of us?  Why don't you write about it....maybe within the personal lines on your pages you might go back at some point and find out....He was talking with you.  Just a thought!

Anyway....This new thing He made ...He created, from nothing and formed it into something was Heaven and Earth.  Boom (or Bang as some would say) there it was.  How does He do that?  The earth that He made was formless...empty, AND darkness covered the deep water.  That sounds pretty spooky to me.  I do not think I would want to go there.  If I was there I would be hiding very deep and under a cover too.  But then just like a loving parent...who showed up?  That's right...God showed up!  He stood over that blanket and was probably saying don't be afraid...I'll flip the light on and show you there is nothing here to be afraid of.

God said "Let there be Light".  And There was Light.  However, just because He made it available and it is there does not mean that we are going to let our covers down, see that there is nothing there and rest in His protection.

I think I will leave us with this image of God today.  Our daddy, big, strong, loving and always there to chase out the boogie man, bad dream or whatever else we need.

Today, ask Him to shed some light on your fears.  Trust that His spirit is hovering over your dark areas.  Willing us to open our eyes, cast down false imaginations and be free from the darkness that is suppressing our whimsical lives.

Believe..Be Alive and Be Beautiful...BeCause you already Are.  He already made you that way (He has let it be there and it is)  You simply have to accept it as so.
With Love,
Candace

In the Beginning...

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.


I find it amazing that God does not open up His story to us with “How great He is”. The introduction of Himself to us is simply I started something new. Where there was nothing I created tangible and intangible. This is the perfect starting point.

In order for us to believe in the intangible we have to have something tangible. Otherwise we appear foolish to ourselves and others. God never asks us to trust without proof. He asks us to see and believe. So He took the first step into showing us something we could believe in.

Something from nothing is Huge! Can we trust that? Isn’t that the plumb line? What do you believe?

The Story unfolds in Genesis 1

In the beginning God created heaven and earth……. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep water. The Spirit of God was hovering over the water.

The earth was formless the bible says – this is the definition of the Hebrew word Tohuw:
                      Formlessness, confusion, unreality, emptiness
                                        Empty space, nothingness; wasteland, wilderness, a place of chaos; vanity

In Luke it speaks of how deep is that darkness. Can you imagine how deep, cold, isolating and void this must have been? Can you perceive being a life and falling off the edge into this abyss? Isn’t that a terrifying thought? Think about what eternal separation from God and others must be like? We know what life feels like, we know what separation feels like….and we don’t like it!

Thank Goodness God didn’t like it either. We know this because He did not stop the first day here. He made sure His Spirit was hovering over that formless, empty darkness. He did not stop the first day until He had it protected, well lit and covered. Now that is a great intro!

So today, this is my prayer for me as well as us all.

Father, please help us to push the chaotic, empty space of this world away so that I we might hear and see what you want us to. So that we might be able to speak what you have for us to say as well as be able to walk to where you want us to go. Help us believe and find what is real amidst the confusion sweeping around and through this wasteland. Your spirit is hovering, covering us and bringing us light. This is what we believe and trust.

In Jesus Name, Amen.
Love,
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

With You Always....Even Till the End of Time

When I was reading this I was thinking about why we would want to go it on our own. Yesterday we were reflecting on the verse from Jeremiah. God wants us to depend on Him. He wants to strengthen us, complete us, make us victorious in all things for His name sake. We however think it is an inconvenience to God. He does not see it that way. He is honored when we depend on him. Part of the problem is that we try to create God in our own image. That is one of the most common aspects of idolatry that we unknowingly commit. We preempt God's response to our neediness as if he were a mere mortal that is overwhelmed by our needs due to insufficiency of patients, kindness, maturity.... whatever the case may be.

God is omnipresent, he is able and he is willing. We just have to remember he is God and ask so that we may receive. I pray that we are conscious of how we relate to our God and that we mature into our head which is Christ, His beloved son. May His spirit search the depths of us and teach us where we lack wisdom.

Happy New Year to you all.
Candace

Always With You

Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go. —Genesis 28:15

The highway that winds around the southern shore of Lake Michigan can be treacherous in the winter. One weekend as we were driving back to Grand Rapids from Chicago, a buildup of snow and ice slowed traffic, caused numerous accidents, and almost doubled our drive time. We were relieved as we eased off the expressway onto our final road. It was then that my husband said out loud, “Thanks, Lord. I think I can take it from here.”


Just as he finished saying the words, our car spun around 180 degrees. As we came to a stop, hearts pounding, we could just imagine God saying: “Are you sure?”


Why do we sometimes try to go it alone in life when at every moment we have access to God? He said: “I am with you and will keep you wherever you go” (Gen. 28:15). And He assures us: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).


Scottish mathematician, theologian, and preacher Thomas Chalmers (1780–1847) wrote: “When I walk by the wayside, He is along with me. When I enter into company, amid all my forgetfulness of Him, He never forgets me. . . . Go where I will, He tends me, and watches me, and cares for me.”

What a comfort to know that God is always with us—we don’t need to go through life alone! — by Cindy Hess Kasper

As I travel down life’s pathway,

Jesus keeps me day by day;

And although the road is winding,

Yet, with Him I need not stray. —by Bradshaw

God’s presence brings great comfort

Testing..1..2..3

This is a great devotion by Oswald Chambers / My Utmost for His Highest, and a wonderful addition to this mornings post.

Please share your pondering thoughts and ask your most outreagreous questions, it will help us all grow in a deeper relationship with God and each other.
Candace

Test of Faithfulness

We know that all things work together for good to those who love God . . . —Romans 8:28

It is only a faithful person who truly believes that God sovereignly controls his circumstances. We take our circumstances for granted, saying God is in control, but not really believing it. We act as if the things that happen were completely controlled by people. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, or object of our faith— the Lord Jesus Christ. God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may bring the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him for not recognizing that He had ordained the situation. We never saw what He was trying to accomplish, and that exact event will never be repeated in our life. This is where the test of our faithfulness comes. If we will just learn to worship God even during the difficult circumstances, He will change them for the better very quickly if He so chooses.

Being faithful to Jesus Christ is the most difficult thing we try to do today. We will be faithful to our work, to serving others, or to anything else; just don’t ask us to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Many Christians become very impatient when we talk about faithfulness to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christian workers than by the world. We treat God as if He were a machine designed only to bless us, and we think of Jesus as just another one of the workers.

The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us. God calls us to His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son.