how late is too late

It is true that our time here in this world is limited.  We each have a finite amount of time to ride around the sun.  We aren't aware of the amount of trips in any way.  what would happen if we knew.   what would we do different if we knew when the father was going to call us home?  would we live differently, would we lower our veil and shine the light of jesus, or would we continue to hide behind our veil? 

we all pass people each day, buying groceries, putting fuel in our vehicles, at work, getting lunch that need some light.  I would dare say most of us pass them without a second glance.  how would our time of this earth be different if we showed the compassion jesus showed us by giving his all on a roman cross.

Lord, help us to always be mindful of not only the compassion and mercy you showed us, but that we cant hide that love behind a veil.  Help me to shine that love and mercy everywhere i go and to all i meet!


need to breathe - lay 'em down

jars of clay - of my god

the city harmonic - holy (wedding day)

Bananas

Just One Banana by Aletha Hinthorn

Darlene Deibler Rose writes in Evidence Not Seen the story of her four years in a Japanese internment camp. She spent weeks in solitary confinement with very little food and much harsh treatment. One day with real effort she climbed up to look out a window to watch some prisoners in the courtyard and saw a woman grab some bananas from a hand that shot through a tangle of vines while the guard's back was turned. Darlene began to crave bananas. "Lord, I'm not asking You for a whole bunch like that woman has. I just want one banana."  She looked up and pleaded, "Lord, just one banana." Then she began to rationalize. How could God possibly get a banana to her through those prison walls? She would never ask the guard. She bowed her head again and prayed, "Lord, there's no one here who could get a banana to me. Please don't think I'm not thankful for the rice porridge. It's just that--those bananas looked so delicious!" The next morning, she heard officers coming. "Lord," she prayed, "officers are coming. Give me strength to make a proper bow." But with her guard was Mr. Yamaji, a camp commander, where Darlene had previously been imprisoned. He said, "You're very ill, aren't you?" After a few words he and the guard left. Then it hit her. She had forgotten to bow. She heard the guard coming back and knew he was coming back to beat her. He opened the door, walked in, and laid at her feet--bananas! "They're yours," he said, "and they're from Mr. Yamaji." Darlene sat down stunned. She counted them. There were 92 bananas. Darlene said, "In all my spiritual experience, I've never known such shame before my Lord. I pushed the bananas into a corner and wept before Him. 'Lord, forgive me; I'm so ashamed." He answered back in her heart, "That's what I delight to do, the exceeding abundant above anything you ask or think." She knew in those moments that nothing is impossible with God. Thank You, Lord, for even answering prayer when our faith fails. "Consider the great love of the Lord" (Psalm 107:43)

Enjoy

From one of my devotionals, enjoy.

When my friend Mary went to see her granddaughters, she took them shopping and offered to buy them each one thing they wanted. The younger girl, as usual, wanted a book. "And what do you want?" she asked the other.

"Nothing. I just wanted to be with you," she replied. 

Sometimes we need to come to God without offering requests but simply desiring to enjoy His presence.
God longs for those He loves to enjoy His fellowship. He enjoys ours. Jesus promises that if we simply open the door, He will come in and eat with us (Revelation 3:20). 
The Greek word for eat means more than just having a brief snack together; it means sharing the main meal of the day. 

Jesus encountered the woman at the well--a woman others would not have bothered to speak to--and took time to correct her concept about worship. Why? Because He knew that His Father loved her and yearned for her fellowship.
"God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth," Jesus told her (John 4:24). Wanting to encourage her to approach God, He told her that God anticipates the worship of those who come in spirit and in truth. 

We grieve our Heavenly Father more than we imagine when we act as though He is a stern or even distant God only slightly interested in us. More than anything else, we need to "know and rely on the love God has for us" (1 John4:16). 

Thank You, God, that You are not an angry judge watching for my slightest faults but a loving Father longing for my fellowship. 

"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16).

 

Lean on him

The text below is from my devotional this morning.  I thought it appropriate to share.

I always do what pleases Him," Jesus said in John 8:29. He believed that each moment He could be pleasing the Father. He wants us to have that same confidence. 

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse described his daily activities showing the possibility of looking to the Lord for guidance. For instance, when his secretary brings in his mail, he said, "A swift prayer must be sent heavenward....Every detail has to be done in the strength of the Lord, in a moment-by-moment looking to Him....I have come to the place where I never take one of the letters that are brought to me without a quick prayer to God for the ability to meet the need." 

The late Dr. Richard Taylor once told me, "I think most of the time I have the sense of the Holy Spirit's leading. Of course, I tend to pray about most everything." 

In 2 Chronicles 20 it was after Jehoshaphat prayed, "Our eyes are on you," that he received the word "The battle is not yours, but God's."

It is always that way. As long as our eyes are on the Lord, it is not our battle. We have to remind ourselves of that again and again. 

When confronted with a need, it just takes a moment to say, "My eyes are on you, Lord." By this we can mean, "I trust You to give me all I need. I will say and do only what you give me. I trust that the ideas that come to me are Your choice of words, attitudes, actions-not my own. I rest from my own works of trying to manipulate, to control, to strategize."

Thank You, Father, that when I look to You, You fight my battles.

"We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you" (2 Chronicles 20:15).