Does A Bully Understand?

  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. ~ 2 Timothy 1:7
 

The spirit of God is a power force to be reckoned with.  When human power wants to tango, so to speak, with the righteousness of God which indwells in His children, I must believe they do not understand or they would be too afraid to arrogantly, tauntingly, unconscionably puff up as they do. 

But what preserves and propels our ability to pity them as we should, and not fear or be angered by their actions is the power of the Holy Spirit; His indwelling love and sound mind.  Amen!

I am meeting  with a new mission group today so I will finish this when I return later.  I have much to share with you on this verse.  For now - meditate on the power of God we have received and the might which is bestowed through Christ in the dynamic presence of His most holy spirit.

Selah,
Kisses,
Candace

Definition of Greek word Pneuma from which we derive the word used here: spirit

1. the third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit, coequal, coeternal with the Father and the Son
2. sometimes referred to in a way which emphasises his personality and character (the \Holy\ Spirit)
3. sometimes referred to in a way which emphasises his work and power (the Spirit of \Truth\)
4. never referred to as a depersonalised force
5. the spirit, i.e. the vital principal by which the body is animated
6. the rational spirit, the power by which the human being feels, thinks, decides
7. the soul
8. a spirit, i.e. a simple essence, devoid of all or at least all grosser matter, and possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting
9. a life giving spirit
10. a human soul that has left the body
11. a spirit higher than man but lower than God, i.e. an angel
    1. used of demons, or evil spirits, who were conceived as inhabiting the bodies of men
    2. the spiritual nature of Christ, higher than the highest angels and equal to God, the divine nature of Christ
12. the disposition or influence which fills and governs the soul of any one
    
    1. the efficient source of any power, affection, emotion, desire, etc.
13. a movement of air (a gentle blast)
14. of the wind, hence the wind itself
15. breath of nostrils or mouth

^{©Candace Huffmaster, 2012  All Copy Rights Reserved}

^{Kaleidoscope Butterfly, Inc™}

Running From The Dream

 Heart and Mind of an Artisan
Through the eyes of true love
All things are beautiful when seen
There is no lack or division
The lesser and imperfect are complete

The eyes of God are always searching
Seeking that which He calls His Delight
We are His children and name sake
He is the love of our lives
Together we reach to each other
Throughout the days past and yet to come
His heights and the depths merge together
His love everlasting searching all
In true spirit protecting while teaching
Always encouraging us bringing us joy
Our out pour of praise is unto Him
The one who began all things

He IS and forever Will be
The creator of all in all ways
The giver of life everlasting
The protector of all intricacies unknown
The redeemer of that which is forsaken
The healer of harm hurt and hate

We live because you first loved us
Your love covers our bodies of shame
We wear this glory unto you
Exposed - your brilliance is seen

Each imperfect and rough without you
Yet namesake designs through your artisan craft
Each of us objects of your making
Given life to not be cold and flat

We are creatures created for conversation
Living out YOUR passionate dreams
May WE never leave nor forsake YOU.
May nothing ever pass from your sight.

By Candace Huffmaster 2011 ©All Rights Reserved

We have been looking at our thoughts - Deeply.  We have been discussing our Dreams.  We have been writing our thoughts and illustrating some pieces of them.  Tomorrow we will  be going on a journey with Hagar.  She was living a dream, but not hers.  She was living a nightmare.  Yet she named the Lord "Your Are the God Who Watches Over Me"? 


 ¹³Hagar named the Lord, who had been speaking to her, “You Are the God Who Watches Over Me.” She said, “This is the place where I watched the one who watches over me.” ¹⁴This is why the well is named Beer Lahai Roi [Well of the Living One Who Watches Over Me]. It is still there between Kadesh and Bered. Genesis 16:13 GWT

May each of your continue to keep your neck stretched out focused on His promise.  May you wait with joy, work hard with your hands, pray deeply to cover us all and sing the new song that He gives you each day.

With the Love of our Christ,

Kisses,
C

THE SPHERE OF EXALTATION

"Jesus leadeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves." Mark 9:2

We have all had times on the mount, when we have seen things from God's standpoint and have wanted to stay there; but God will never allow us to stay there. The test of our spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong. It is a great thing to be on the mount with God, but a man only gets there in order that afterwards he may get down among the devil-possessed and lift them up. We are not built for the mountains and the dawns and aesthetic affinities, those are for moments of inspiration, that is all. We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle. Spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mount. We feel we could talk like angels and live like angels, if only we could stay on the mount. The times of exaltation are exceptional, they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware lest our spiritual selfishness wants to make them the only time.

We are apt to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching, it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz., into character. The mount is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a great snare in asking - What is the use of it? In spiritual matters we can never calculate on that line. The moments on the mountain tops are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God's purpose.
By Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

I pray that we not try to stay alone with God but abide in His presence as He flows through us overtaking the valley to rush in His glorious light.  So today, stand up, walk out and speak life to all that is about you.  Be the salt....Be the light...Be free because in Christ there is liberty....."Today".

With Love,
Candace

Listen ...

Today, the winds of change are blowing.  Today, listen to all the watchmen and what they say.  Know that the Lord is Almighty.  Trust in the divinity of His hand. The destruction is counted and measure, the debris will be swept from your path.  Do not look around you at the devestation, keep your eyes set on the horizon of your path.  Today know that He loves you and His tears rain down as a summer shower.  He is your deliverance and power to make it.  He is prompt and fulfilling for your good.  Trust Him, be watchful and waiting at times you will not want to speak.  You will know from his prompting...the one in your midst for your needs.

I love you all....all is well.  Say that and believe.
With a Holy Kiss and the Heart of Christ,
Candace

Proper Prospective by the Water’s Edge

– Reflections of a still heart

Be still my child; know that I am God
Stretch out your arm and reach for my hand
I have been calling you through all time; whispering gently “your name”
Sitting beside the still waters; which calmly run through your path
Here all tension is drifting, as you grasp to hold firm my hand

Rest as deep as the waters; which have no beginning nor will they end
Twisting, turning rolling inward then flowing over and out
All time is a continuum in motion; plunging deep while running at my speed
Years folding into seconds, the sorrowful desire to turn back the hand of time
I desire to wash away their broken memories; there is a lesson to for all to learn.

To return a wave, requires an earth movement; for man this is impossible to achieve
My hand, however, has strength and power; things your mind cannot comprehend
To stop the world from turning, you must watch closely to understand.

As I think, it surely happens, because my love knows no bounds
When flowing as life giving water it quenches the driest of sand
My time is the distant shoreline; the boundary for us all
Its water the lifeless’ lifeblood; running throughout each soul
My knowledge is everlasting power, the heartbeat understands
My energy is pure motion, pumping my lives over and beyond
My spirit propels each vision, empowering good and halting bad.

Sit by my still waters; come near to contemplate life
Listen to the distant babbling, of all the years we’ve passed by
Listen to only their laughter, forget all of their pain
My joy is through the Holy Spirit and peace is in my right hand

Lengthen your own shoreline, take the pure water in
Deepen your own tide pool, this way you will understand
Dive in with a deep breath, then kick hard to reach the top
Breath in all that freshness, allow your face to burst through the wet
Emerge in me a new life form, truly cleansed now from your past,
In beauty to walk as the righteous, upright and straight ahead

Now you can see forward, when looking as you wave goodbye
So wait for proper prospective, before standing to leave them behind
Always focus your pathway, designed from my trusted lead
Follow the heavenly highway, perfectly designed to carry you home
Together we will share this journey, it’s a walk to remember and enjoy.
By Candace Huffmaster ©

What Do We Have to Say?

Genesis 1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light!” So there was light.

We derive the word Light from a Hebrew word owr which means:  means light of day, heavenly luminaries such as the moon, sun and starts. It also means morning light, day-break or dawn. It can mean light of a lamp or lightening. The light of night or the light of instruction or the light of prosperity are other definitions. It is figuratively the light of face such as Christ’s face. As we know ultimately it is Jehovah as in Israel’s light.

We left off with God said and what that means. We are picking up with what His actual statement was. Let there be light ….and there was light.

Understanding all the implications of light from our definition, I want to add in the 2 Corinthians.4:6

"We are his servants because the same God who said that light should shine out of darkness has given us light. For that reason we bring to light the knowledge about God's glory which shines from Christ's face".

We know that Christ came not to do away with the past but to fulfill all things by bringing them into and through Him. It is the collection of the the past, present and future into Him to pass through Him, entering into eternal things or the kingdom of God as our home. We know this because He said it in 2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Tying a couple of thoughts together from our past entries on this topic we started with God telling us about the new thing He was doing; his story being told.  His new thing was creating the heavens, earth and light.  We are now focusing today on the light of this New thing.  We see the parallel of Christ being in our midst as a "New Thing" and drawing the older thing into it.  I want to leave off here today with a conversation God had with Israel through the prophet Isaiah in Chapter 48.  God gives us his view point on history since He originated this new thing.

Isaiah 48
Israel's Obstinacy

"Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are named Israel and who came forth from the loins of Judah,who swear by the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness. "For they call themselves after the holy city and lean on the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is His name.  "I declared the former things long ago and they went forth from My mouth, and I proclaimed them  suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. "Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead bronze,therefore I declared them to you long ago, before they took place I proclaimed them to you,
so that you would not say, 'My idol has done them, and my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.' "You have heard; look at all this.And you, will you not declare it?

I proclaim to you new things from this time, even hidden things which you have not known.  "They are created now and not long ago; and before today you have not heard them, so that you will not say, 'Behold, I knew them.' "You have not heard, you have not known even from long ago your ear has not been open, because I knew that you would deal very treacherously; and you have been called a rebel from birth. "For the sake of My name I delay My wrath, and for My praise I restrain it for you, in order not to cut you off.  "Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. "For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; for how can My name be profaned? and My glory I will not give to another. "Listen to Me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called; I am He, I am the first, I am also the last. "Surely My hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand together.  "Assemble, all of you, and listen! Who among them has declared these things? The LORD loves him; he will carry out His good pleasure on Babylon, and His arm will be against the Chaldeans. "I, even I, have spoken; indeed I have called him, I have brought him, and He will make his ways successful. "Come near to Me, listen to this: from the first I have not spoken in secret, from the time it took place, I was there  and now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit."  Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go. "If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. "Your descendants would have been like the sand, and your offspring like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from My presence." Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare with the sound of joyful shouting, proclaim this,Send it out to the end of the earth;
                         Say, "The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob."  They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts He made the water flow out of the rock for them; He split the rock and the water gushed forth. "There is no peace for the wicked," says the LORD.

I know this is a lot of scripture today, however there is quiet a bit of history we need in order to move beyond just the first few verses of Genesis.  If we are going to understand our story we have to be willing to take the time and know the journey He has been on

I pray that we all see today "that it is Good" just as God saw it.  Speak blessings on everyone you pass today.  That is the reason you are here....blessed to BE a blessing.
With Love,
Candace

......And the Question Will Flee!

As I took my own advice yesterday journaling some of my questions, this is what He said to me. 
"My hands hold the answers to your questions in all. In all ways trust Me…..the questions will flee."

I know this is what "the sojourn is the answer; the question and endless plight" means.  Speaking of meanings we are moving on with "The Story Being Told" today.  Verse three of Genesis 1 states "Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.



God Said.....is where we are parking our cars today.  We are going to get out at this overlook and SEE the sights before us. Let me open the door for you....

God Said is EVERYTHING.  It provides in all ways.  This is all we ever need to know.  Therein lies the question.  It poses "itself" mighty and strong, in its self righteous stance.  It is taunting, as it asks the question......."do you even need to get out and look"?     Let me assure you that as this taunting shadow of darkness is standing over you, God is hovering over -  covering (which is why until we make the choice Satan is "crouching" at our doors.)      God is wooing us with his Love  simply asking ..."Do you?" "Do you feel propelled to get out and look or do you see a  wall or vast darkness where I see all the beauty of the mountains, valley's and horizon?"  

So today, I am opening this door. I am sitting here with you.  We are talking a bit before we broach the answer.  Remember there is a time to not speak as well.  Just because someone poses a question do not always feel propelled to justify it.  Think of  the times Christ just stood holding His words.  For now... let's just ponder some things.

The question posed "itself" Do you believe "God"?
Do you believe IN him, Of him, About him.? For you teachers out there - God is the great Preposition and we are the object (of His desire)
If we do not believe "God" then what ever He said is a mute point.
However, I am not going to let you off the hook that easily.
I am going to tell you what Said means in Hebrew.  This my friends IS the sojourn and why all questions are an endless plight.

"Amar" has a much more complete definition than simply "said".  It has forms such as to say, speak or utter.  However it also means to answer or to say in one's heart.  It compiles the essence of to think, promise, command as well as intend.  It means "to be told", to be said, to be called as well as to boast and to act proudly. It also means to avow. In case you are not sure what that means - It means to acknowledge openly, boldly, and unashamedly; confess as in guilt. There is a second meaning of stating positively. This is a derivative from the word advocate. Avouch means to declare the provable truth or validity of; affirm:

We will pick up here tomorrow..


Today I pray that we think of him as the Great Preposition and ourselves as the object of His desire: that  we see His face and  like a whimsical butterfly we fly to Him, around Him;  that we will be with Him and glean from His wisdom, counsel, patience, peace, joy and love; that we flutter out from His presence with a changed mind, whole, complete, restored, liberated and free and yet that we not seperate our self from His position or fly from His view.

With Love in Christ,
Candace

A Shadow of Things to Come

Colossians 2:17 states:


"These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts the shadow belongs to Christ."

I decided to go back to the beginning and see if I couldn’t find something resembling the first shadow. We have been speaking about things going before Christ. However, we know that God is the beginning and the end. This must mean that He went first, then we Go, then Christ Goes. This is such a great ebb and flow. It is the perfect example of how God is in all things and fulfills all things.

God is behind all things….so it stands to reason that everything else must go before His presence.

We will be pulling from segments of past conversations and blending them with new pieces of information. Get ready to sit with God and allow your shell to burst….your roots to grow down…and His life to sprout.

I preface this journey of enlightenment with 1 Corinthians 2

A letter from Paul:

Brothers and Sisters:

When I came to you, I didn’t speak about God’s mystery as if it were some kind of brilliant message or wisdom. While I was with you, I decided to deal with only one subject – Jesus Christ, who was crucified. When I came to you, I was weak. I was afraid and very nervous. I didn’t speak my message with persuasive intellectual arguments. I spoke my message with a show of spiritual power so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power. However, we do use wisdom to speak to those who are mature. It is a wisdom that doesn’t belong to this world or to the rulers of this world who are in power today and gone tomorrow. We speak about the mystery of God’s wisdom. It is a wisdom that has been hidden, which God has planned for our glory before the world began. Not one of the rulers of this world has known it. If they had, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. 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. Now, we didn’t receive the spirit that belongs to the world, Instead, we received the Spirit who comes from God so that we could know the things which God has freely given us. We don’t speak about these things using teachings that are based on intellectual arguments like people do. Instead, we use the Spirit’s teachings. We explain spiritual things to those who have the Spirit. A person who isn’t spiritual doesn’t accept the teachings of God’s Spirit. He thinks they’re nonsense. He can’t understand them because a person must be spiritual to evaluate them. Spiritual people evaluate everything but are subjected to no one’s evaluation.

“Who has known the mind of the Lord so that he can teach him?”

However, we have the mind of Christ.

I thank God that we are not left to flounder like we were lost and unloved.

Be still and know He is God…and that He loves you deeply, honestly, passionately and freely.

Kisses,

Candace

There is good and there is GOOD

That You May Marvel

from Experiencing God Day by Day devotional

"The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel." (John 5:19-20)




Jesus, realizing that His role was that of a servant, never sought to initiate activity for the Father (Matt. 20:28). The servant never sets the agenda—the master does. The servant must be so alert to what the master is doing that whenever the master begins to move in a direction the servant quickly joins him. Even the Son of God did not assume He knew the best thing to do in a situation. Instead, He looked to see the Father’s activity and then joined Him. Jesus knew His Father so well that He was keenly sensitive to divine activity around Him, immediately recognizing His Father at work.



It is possible for us to be so busy trying to bring God into our activity that we don’t even notice Him at work around us. He seeks to redirect our attention so that we might join Him, but we tend to be self-centered, evaluating everything by how it affects us. We must learn to view events around us from God’s perspective. Then we will see our world very differently. When God brings someone across our path, we will look to see if God is convicting that person of his need for salvation. Perhaps God is comforting someone in her sorrow. God might be encouraging your friend as she faces a challenge. We will then adjust our lives to join God as He works in that person’s life. We ought to live each day with tremendous anticipation as we look to see where God is working around us. As our eyes are opened to His activity, we will marvel at His great works. -By Blackaby


When I read this the first thought was "So when things are not flowing I must have stepped out of God's work and into MY work". I wish it were as simple as that. It is as if we are in a thick rain forest of distraction trying desperately to discern where God is and God is not. Our world is so filled with people who know how to walk the walk and hide the agenda. Yet if we stick close enough, for long enough their true intentions will finally be revealed. Isn't that what God promised? Light will shine into darkness and show it for what it is. But how dark is that darkness? We desire to put it on a scale from 1 to 10. This distorts our perception, dark is dark and light is light.  There is no scale, except on our eyes.  That is why we are in the rain forest isn't it? We see how lush it is. We are drawn to its color, sound, it is very surreal from the exterior. We know that there is a high possibility that IT has to offer the experience we have been looking for, the place we are to be. So let us ponder, what if...we ARE looking for God in the rain forest and not simply a vain experience to grow "our person". What if..we think the reason it is so surreal is due to the supernatural outpour of God's essence? Wouldn't that be the most wooing of all? Isn't that what we desire to experience? And there it is again...that is a self experience. If you have ever listened to more than 5 of Joyce Meyer's segments you will hear her drone "What about me, What about me, What about me!" The reason we have to laugh is because it is real...some times it is a nervous laugh =D. Okay, let's try this one more time..What if... we see it, think it is surreal so surely we will find God there? Well, maybe what we should have been asking is why am I not with God before I get there? God is everywhere...He is not in an experience..he is the experience.

Further down in John 5:22-25 which I will close with and pick up here tomorrow it states:

"The Father doesn't judge anyone. He has entrusted judgment entirely to the Son so that everyone will honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever doesn't honor the Son doesn't honor the Father who sent him. I can guarantee this truth: Those who listen to what I say and believe in the one who sent me will have eternal life. They won't be judged because they have already passed from death to life. "I can guarantee this truth: A time is coming (and is now here) when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who respond to it will live. The Father is the source of life, and he has enabled the Son to be the source of life too. "He has also given the Son authority to pass judgment because he is the Son of Man. Don't be surprised at what I've just said. A time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice, and they will come out of their tombs. Those who have done good will come back to life and live. But those who have done evil will come back to life and will be judged.

I thank God that He doesn't judge anyone and that the Son has promised we are saved from what we do not understand. I thank God he has mercy on us and give us the grace to stick in every time we miss it. I pray for us all to extend this Kindness in God's love to everyone, knowing all things are common to us. And this was even the work of God so that none of us could boast.

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

Some-thing, No-thing, All Things

For those of us that have freedom in Christ, is it so large a thing to bear with those that are confused and hurting. What if in that moment we were to share of the liberty and hope that comes through Christ? What if we explained that "all things are possible through Him"? What if we simply paused to listen and care - allowing Christ to fill their presence as we pray over them, whether silently as they speak or in union with them.

So many options, so many needs.....the spirit is willing, it is the flesh that is weak.

God I pray that your spirit rise up in us, your angels run before us to prepare the way and we witness to all that you are for your names sake.

In Christ,
Candace Huffmaster

To The Rescue

www.rbc.org daily devotional by Joe Stowell

READ: Luke 15:1-7 There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. —Luke 15:7

Martie and I recently traveled to some major cities in several countries. We were struck with how lost our world is and grieved over the millions who have never heard the message of the saving grace of Jesus. The thought of reaching our world for Christ felt overwhelming.

Until I remembered the story of the boy walking on a beach. Encountering hundreds of starfish dying under the heat of the burning sun, he started throwing them back into the sea. A passerby asked, “What are you doing?” “Saving their lives,” the boy replied. “Forget it,” the man said. “You can’t possibly save all these starfish.” “Right,” replied the boy, “but it makes a big difference to each one I do save.”
I love the boy’s perspective. When the wave of sin threw us onto the shore to die, God sent His Son to walk on the beach to rescue all who would repent. And, as Jesus told His listeners in Luke 15, each time someone is rescued, heaven throws a party. “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7).
Has heaven rejoiced over your rescue? If so, join the ranks of those who reach other lost souls with the rescuing grace of Jesus.

Your love, O God, would spare no pain

To conquer death and win;

You sent Your only Son to die

To rescue us from sin. —M. Gustafson

When you’ve been rescued, you’ll want to rescue others.