The Close of Chapter One - God's Epic

Genesis 1:29-31 (NAS) Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which hass fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves  on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so. God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

As we close out the first chapter of God’s Epic to us can see how much love and care He took to safe guard all things from any harm. In God’s divine order he had nothing taking life blood from any living thing. He said this was good. We know this order changed after the fall of Adam and Eve.

I am excited to make it into chapter 2 and look into all the small details of God’s story that I might have overlooked over the years. Here is a brief compilation of chapter one.

Day one – earth, deep, spirit moving over surface – God called light to be there and the light was good to separate light from dark

Day two- God put the expanse in the middle of the waters to separate what was above and below. He called it heaven.

Day three -He gathered the water below the heavens so the dry land would appear. He called this earth and the gathering of waters He called the seas.

Day five- the water had living creatures, the sky had birds flying in the expanse of the heavens each like each other in separate spaces.

Day six - the earth brought forth living creatures after their kind: cattle, creeping things, and beasts. Then God made man in His image and likeness. Man is to rule over the fish, birds and every living thing that moves on the earth. He gave us every plant yielding see on the surface of the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding see for our food. To beast of the earth, birds of the sky and every thing that moves on earth which has life, He gave every green plant for food.

I pray that each of us think about God's divine order of things, look around us and marvel. There is nothing that He has not put thought, time and effort into creating.  He asks us not to lean on our own understanding, so today ask Him why He choose these ways and said it is good.  Ask Him to tell us anything that has been hidden - Through Christ, He gave us His spirit for this very reason.  He made us in His image to understand who He is, how He is and then Be "like" Him here on earth......as it is in Heaven.

With the Love of our Christ to each of you,
Candace

The Epic of I AM

Genesis 1:13-16 (NAS) Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.



Matthew 24:29-30(NAS)"But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.

God is so very good and loving. He has such skill in telling His story. I pray that you reflect on your character within His epic and review some of our study of Genesis today.

With the Love of Christ,

Candace

God's Arm is Strong and His Hand is Skillfull...We Must Believe.

Deuteronomy 1:29-32


"Then I said to you, `Do not be shocked, nor fear them. `The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.' "But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God, who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.



Referencing Genesis 1:14, 15 God said "let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons…

Referencing Matthew 10: 26-27"Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

27"What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.

Referencing 1Samuel 2:10"Those who oppose the LORD are broken into pieces. He thunders at them from the heavens. The LORD judges the ends of the earth. He gives strength to his King and lifts the head of his Messiah."

Psalms 135:7 He is the one who makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth, who makes lightning for the thunderstorms, and who brings wind out of his storerooms.

Proverbs 11:23 The desire of righteous people ends only in good, but the hope of wicked people ends only in fury.

I praise God that He has instructed us to not worry about tomorrow but to live THIS day within the mercy and grace He provides us. I thank Him that He is faithful to give us the sign and wonder each morning that He is with us in the lights above us as well as within each of His children. I am awe of His faithfulness as each day comes to a close and I have seen His hand at work to provide, protect and increase His goodness where needed.

To Quote Isaiah:

Don't you know? Haven't you heard? The eternal God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn't grow tired or become weary. His understanding is beyond reach.

To Quote Christ:

I've told you this so that my peace will be with you. In the world you'll have trouble. But cheer up! I have overcome the world."


God set all time in place He marked the days and the years. We do not know these times, but He does. So today when you are afraid do not loose heart..”cheer up, your deliverance has already taken place.” Be as Habakkuk stretch your neck out and wait eagerly for Him to show up and show out for you.  Just look at His track record of doing this.  His arm has NEVER been too short!

I pray that as you read this all your troubles are as water gone by. I pray that you will “Let what God said Be.” It is waiting for you.

With the Love of Christ,

Candace

Is God in Your Way, or Are You in His?

Genesis 1:9-13


Then God said “let the waters below the heavens be GATHERED in to One Place, and let the DRY LAND appear; and so it was.

The first thing that really stormed my mind about these verses today was how awesome it must be to have total authority, confidence and trust in the ability to literally / materially realize what you have been conceiving. I am in awe of what it looks like when there is nothing standing in God’s way. He says it is so…..and so it is. “Boom, there it is!”

That is where a question met me square, eyeball to eyeball. It was taunting me, “If you are made in God’s image and He REALLY gave you all the same authority to conceive / realize just as He does, why is it not happening? Are you standing in God’s way, or is He standing in yours? “Boom, there it is!”

It is not as if I am the first woman ever to be taunted by this question. Heaven’s no! Eve was the first and Satan has very few tricks up his petty little sleeve. So I simply acknowledged that He is a liar here to steal, kill and destroy what God has “allowed” us to partake in. He is NOT that tough once you “decide” to believe God.

If God said, “Let it be so” about anything. We simply have to “Let it be so and get out of the way”. So…moving forward let’s look at the Hebrew word Qavah from which the translators’ derived this word.

What this verb means is:

1) to wait, look for, hope, expect 2) waiting (participle) 3) to wait or look eagerly for 4) to lie in wait for 5) to wait for, linger for 6) to collect, bind together 7) to be collected

When we understand the meaning of Qavah we can’t help but realize that “whatever” entity this verb is a speaking of has already been formed and made. This entity is simply expectantly, hopefully, eagerly, waiting. It is lingering with such a great propensity of how wonderful it will be when it is displayed or uncovered.

Let’s look a bit further into this verse to understand what this entity was “going through”. The waters above and the waters below the horizon were in movement. They were being gathered “into one place”. (Genesis 1: 1-8)

When God gathers something into one place, he sets the place, once for all. It is predestined to be there and available.

We are stopping here today. I pray that you look at what is going on in and around your life. I pray that you ask if you are with God or against God. I ask that you prayerfully listen to his disclosure of facts and that you wait with expectancy for the sight of His revelation.

With the love of Christ,

Candace

At the Crossroads...are you looking both ways??

Jeremaiah 6


Stand at the crossroads and look.Ask which paths are the old, reliable paths.Ask which way leads to blessings.Live that way, and find a resting place for yourselves.But you said that you wouldn’t live that way.

God told the people "I posted watchmen over you. Pay attention to the sound of the ram’s horn. But you said that you wouldn’t pay attention. Listen, you nations, and learn, you witnesses, what will happen to them. Listen, earth! I’m going to bring disaster on these people. It is the result of their own plots,
because they won’t pay attention to my words. They reject my teachings."

He then went on to ask them: "Whom can I speak to? Whom can I give a warning to? Who will listen?

He rebuked them and said "Their ears are plugged, and they aren’t able to pay attention. When the LORD speaks his word to them, they show contempt for it and object to it.

He warned them and said "I am filled with the anger of the LORD. I am tired of holding it in."

Can we really be so arrogant as to think God is not the same yesterday, today and tomorrow?  He is still telling us this same message.  For anyone that knows he can speak to us, who is hearing his warning, who is listening 24/7 and their spirit in unity with the Lords heart is grieveing, this is what the Lord is saying - we continue in Jeremiah 7:1-11

The LORD spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, “Stand at the gate of the LORD’s house, and announce from there this message: ‘Listen to the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who go through these gates to worship the LORD. This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Change the way you live and act, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust the words of this saying, “This is the LORD’s temple, the LORD’s temple, the LORD’s temple!” It’s a lie. “ ‘Suppose you really change the way you live and act and you really treat each other fairly. Suppose you do not oppress foreigners, orphans, and widows, or kill anyone in this place. And suppose you do not follow other gods that lead you to your own destruction. Then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave permanently to your ancestors long ago.  ‘You are trusting the words of a saying. It’s a lie that cannot help you. You steal, murder, commit adultery, lie when you take oaths, burn incense as an offering to Baal, and run after other gods that you do not know. Then you stand in my presence in the house that is called by my name. You think that you’re safe to do all these disgusting things. The house that is called by my name has become a gathering place for thieves. I have seen what you are doing,’ ” declares the LORD.


Now to take this back to the beginning  - Genesis I leave you with Isaiah story...just a chapter in God's Story Being Told:

Isaiah 45:19 I have not spoken in secret,In some dark land;I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,Seek Me in a waste place';I, the LORD, speak righteousness, Declaring things that are upright.


Your story is in the Book too.....will it be a story of light or dark?

As Christ pleaded: I lay before you life and death....please choose life....Please!

With the Love of Christ - Selah
Candace

What REALLY Matters?

We are going to look at the first question from yesterday and giving some knowledge to base our answer.

What exactly is the “expanse”?

While others are debating what word correctly translates the Hebrew word Raqiya’, we are going to sidestep all that and simply find out what it even means. At that point all arguments will be mute.

Raqiya’ annunciated raw-kee’-ah means an extended surface (solid), expanse, firmament. As an expanse it would be a support or flatness as a base. As a firmament it would be a vault supporting waters above. Think of architecture what the vault of a ceiling looks like.

Here are two translations one from God’s Word and the other KJV of Genesis 1:6, 7

Then God said, “Let there be a horizon in the middle of the water in order to separate the water.” So God made the horizon and separated the water above and below the horizon. And so it was.

And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

As we can see by understanding the Hebrew language. This is something solid, it divides, it is not emptiness, or taking on the form of things: it is amidst and it supports.

Looking a bit further down we also see that this is the first thing God “made”. The darkness, light and day He said “let it be and it was”. This, solid matter that supports, He said let it be and Made.

Today, I want us to prayerfully focus on what “matters”, what is solid, real and supporting. Look at what we "Let" happen and what we take part in “making” happen.

With all my love to each of you, in Christ,
Candace

Makes Me Wanna SHOUT!....(sing it with me now)

Genesis 1:1-4 (KJV) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.


Just when I think we can move beyond these first 4 scriptures of Gods story, I have to sit back, rest in His presence and say with all smallness….W…O..W! Even as I am typing this and looking above at the italicized words I see it more visibly. Hinged perfectly between nothing and everything good is the “Spirit of God moving”.

I am going to reflect and move forward for us. Hang tight Snoopy! Pull out those aviator goggles, scarf and gloves ….we are going into the great blue yonder!

We know that ra’ah means to see:

We are made in His image (we WILL get to those verses...just not today) in order to reach our full mature image we are trying to understand what our image looks like, behaves like and understand it. When I state we are reflecting and moving forward we have to pull all this in to truly see. As we look at what God saw, we also have to look at God. We have to observe him, watch him, look upon Him, give attention to Him, discern things and distinguish them. He gave us His spirit to be our helpmate (again, we will get to these scriptures) The Holy Spirit causes Him to be seen, His truth to be seen. His image is exhibited in us, and this causes others to see us….to see the very face of Christ.

We know that Badal means to separate:

We as His Body are set apart, distinguished for the purpose of making a difference – and the Holy Spirit is our indwelling in order to be able to make this difference. Apart from God we cannot make a lasting difference. We are one body yet different part of the same body. We are to withdraw or separate ourselves from things opposing God, unless we SEE we cannot discern these things. God separated us unto Himself; the sacrifice …a body to call His own.

We will add in this scripture from 1 Corinthians and I leave you with this blessing of peace for this day. Do not worry about tomorrow for Today has enough troubles of its own. Rest and Relax in the presence of God.

With the Love of our Christ,
Candace

I Corinthians 2:9-11 (GWT)
But as Scripture says:
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him.”
God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, especially the deep things of God. After all, who knows everything about a person except that person’s own spirit? In the same way, no one has known everything about God except God’s Spirit.

The Darkness Ends Where There is Light

After taking a day to think through these first 4 verses of Genesis 1, I know I am loaded and ready to take on the second thought in verse 4. (using God's Word Translation)

God saw the light was good. So God separated the light from the darkness.

We discussed earlier the full meaning of God laying His eyes on what he had perceived.  We know that the light was everything He desired it to be.  So in His wisdom, love, authority (I am sure I am leaving out something here) He "separated it from the void, obscure, ominous deep or whatever else pertains to this "darkness".  If that is so, and we all believe that it is, Why?  If it is good, wouldn't that help?  Why didn't He just throw it in the muddle?  Loaded with these questions, you know me, I had to look up the Hebrew meaning for "separate"; which is badal pronounced baw- dal (kind of similar to battle isn't it - that's for another day).

Badal means to divide, separate, sever, set apart, to make a distinction, to make a difference, to divide into parts, to withdraw from or separate unto oneself, to exclude.

Knowing this answers my questions.  I simply had to know the meaning of the word. 

We discussed a while back amidst the discovery of shadows some verses on darkness and light. Reflect on those today go to the search icon on the lower left side and type in light.  You can also type in dark, chaos, vision, any topic that you feel represent light  - darkness and separation.

We will pick up here tomorrow.
With the Love of Our Christ I cover us.  Join me today.
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

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