Pray without ceasing. Man that seems impossible... or is it?

I have so loved inviting Jesus into everymoment. You have probably heard of 'grace for the moment', but do you know Grace is a Person? I fully believe Grace is Jesus! We need Him in each moment. As you recognize His presense you will have more revelation and more excitement and more joy because like Psalm 16:11 says,
"You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore."

John 1: 16From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Eph 3:4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Wow. This is staggering! I am trying to study for boards exam and I just can't get it off my mind! If you think of grace as a person, does it not make this scripture come alive?! Grace is Alive- And He's living in ME! That's the power of Christ living in me! That's why I can have peace and grace in each moment because I am imdwelled by THE Peace and THE Grace: THE Son of God! I am IN HIM and He is in me! Let that sink in for a minute...

Jesus (can you picture me holding my shirt out and speaking into my own chest where He lives in me?) thank you for loving me and for going to the cross even while we were still sinners and disgusting. Thank you God for giving this great gift and all we have to do is believe that's what you really did. It's by [Christ] we've been saved through faith: Not a work of my own. It's not my faith that makes it powerful, thank goodness b/c I don't have much, but it's the object of my faith! YOU!

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=58&chapter=2&version=45&context=chapter

Read col chapter 2 from the amplified bible... it says it all better than I can! The brackets are the amplified translations of words... i love where it says that faith is in [e]leaning of the entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness].

6As you have therefore received Christ, [even] Jesus the Lord, [so] walk (regulate your lives and conduct yourselves) in union with and conformity to Him.
7Have the roots [of your being] firmly and deeply planted [in Him, fixed and founded in Him], being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and abounding and overflowing in it with thanksgiving.

If He is in us and we are in Him, that's pretty united right? The more we walk in our one-ness with Him the more we can trust that we have His power, wisdom, goodness, etc!!!!!
PLEASE read this chapter for yourself and let the Holy Spirit reveal it to you.

Ashley got married a couple of weekends ago and she's doing great. Wasn't she sooo beautiful (and still is of course!) The Lord is so faithful to accomplish the good work he began in each of us (Phil 1:6). He is always working and somedays it's more exciting than others but trusting Him when nothing is happening can be joyous as well. Talk to him about your grocery list, your bedtime, your outfit, and it will increase such an awareness of His presense that you will hardly ever be dulled by the mundane :) And even if it still is that "long stretch of highway with no sights to see" trust Him through it because He is still faithful. That's all he asks is your faith.

I always remember that salvation means wholeness. As cheesy as it sounds, we do have a God-shaped hole that only He can fill. Contrary to Hollywood's belief your mate cannot complete you. Complement maybe, but complete no way. Single people are just as whole as married, hello! And God is more than capable of filling that need. I listened to a tape on "toxic love" by Malcolm Smith today. Toxic love is the kind that kills relationships--family ones, spousal ones, friend ones, bf/gf ones... Yep. It's love that is dangerously wielded in a sick powerful way. It's very CONDITIONAL. One example is if I am not complete in Christ I have carry shame in me for one reason or another. (there are many christians who don't recognize their completeness in Christ and have not acknowledged to Him that they need his love b/c they are too busy covering their shame of the fact that they cant make life work for them but anyway...) To cover this shame I must find a way to feel good about myself so I find my happiness/significance in your smile. Because if you are feeling bad or doing bad then it's definitely either my fault or up to me to fix you or both. Yikes! What responsibility! I carry around as much responsibility as God does...to do the things only HE can do. And HE can only do them if people yield their will to Him to work how HE wants! (So you see I have taken on an impossible task and am destined for failure). Well, I don't want anyone to know I'm a failure, or let you down by not fixing you, so I cover it up more by toxic loving you more and the shame builds up and I keep toxic loving to hear that one remark of approval, get that one pat on the back, experience the opportunity to be your messiah. Please love me! Will you please? Will YOU fill my cup... and toxic love me back? ???

ugh. sickening. and for some reason we make excuses and give out of our need in total selfishness. God has a different plan.

God does not NEED us! He is totally content in and of himself in relationship with the son and the spirit. intimate. deep. satisfied. And out of HIS fullness (lacking in nothing) He loves us. He CHOOSES to love us out of deep pure agape love. He has no underlying motive. He is not offended if you dont love Him back because he is secure in who he is, and is not dependent on your response! He IS love! And He offers this fullness, this wholeness, this...
SALVATION!

As far as the joy of my salvation goes... something i have learned is it's not a feeling but it's something you know. The word says "then you will KNOW the truth and the truth will set you free"(John 8:32) not then you will feel. But the more you know His joy, the more you dialogue with Him and not yourself or the lies the more often your feelings will line up. You will find yourself recognizing lies, handing them over to Jesus at the cross, and experiencing freedom from bathing in the truth. I have so much joy in knowing that God is in control. If something tough happens, I feel sad sometimes but it's not overwhelming. It's probably at a 2 or 3 on a scale of 1-10...most of the time. The joy i have received from Father is abundantly more. HIS fullness dwells IN me and all i do it let Him stir it up! He is so real! He has freed me from the toxic love cycle to participate in a divine love relationship that is secure, deep, intense, unchanging, and satisfying to no end. THIS is eternal life: Knowing God... John 17:3 and that is going on right this very second. You don't have to wait! Just participate!

We all have our own journey to the cross. God made it that way so that we reckon ourselves dead and remember that we rose again in newness of life in Him. Jesus experienced all that we have experienced and more. Part of sharing the gospel with someone can sometimes include their personal journey to the cross through brokenness. What great relief it is to be able to totally surrender everything when our circumstances are all showing our insufficiency apart from Him.

We can also agree with the Lord daily what he has given us in Himself in exchange for hurts and lies that we may be tempted out of. For example.. What people think about me/my reputation could be a thing that removes my eyes from the Savior to myself (idolatry) and then I could believe the lie- I am stupid/look like a fool. Well don't you know that Christ had people probably screaming that in His face?! Imagine how he looked to people after telling the Jews and Roman soldiers alike that He was here to save the world and here he was facing death...actually in the process of dying. The world was shouting in His face how powerless and foolish he looked. The King of the Earth being hung in humiliation for all the world to point at and shame him. To man,y his ministry had failed, yet he knew the 'joy set before Him.' "For God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners (people who were slave to self, lived for self, lived in shame and have lives consumed with covering that shame) Christ died for us. Wow. I have seen when I am faced with any of these distractions it is best to take it to the cross, where Jesus can take care of it. He has ALREADY paid for it all, I just need to confess, a.k.a. agree that he did and receive my salvation (wholeness) from Him alone. He is the all-sufficient one. That is the gospel: just another example of how it applies to life all the time, every day. It IS our vital necessity! What can man do to me?! I am accepted, liberated and indwelled by the beloved who is my ONLY authority!!

Thank you so much Jesus. Thank you for your FINISHED work on the cross. Thank you that I don't have to go out searching for anything but you have given me an inheritance that has all I could possibly need for life here on earth and godliness in your sight. Thank you for lifting me out of the evil desires of the world and allowing me to partake in the divine nature that you have place inside me at and for salvation(2 peter 1:3-4)

Who is He? Where is He? Is He in the sky? In nature?

In YOU!?

It's true! He's in you and me and he speaks. Closer than your heartbeat, He is in each moment past present and future because he is timeless. Have you been hurt in the past? Ask God where he was when that happened. Ask Him to speak to you in that moment.
Ask Him to speak to you in THIS moment.
Ask Him to speak to you.
Ask Him.

We have access to the God of the universe. Do you need some TLC? God's got it. I went through a trial this weekend where I just needed my daddy. That is not a term that is really comfortable on my lips, but I could sense my spirit crying out to Abba- Daddy because I was (and still am of course) desperately in need of His love. The deep soothing comforting safe accepting patient kind love that He so freely gives. He let me cry my guts out. He asked me to crawl up in His lap and He held me safely and stroked my head. As I emptied out my tears and sadness to Him He replaced it with Himself.

What does God have to offer?
I AM...
peace
calmness
comfort
REST
tenderness
present... here. in THIS moment. Enjoy me for this moment. Don't miss it dear child. Don't try to fix it. Let me minister to YOU in this moment.
Remember? The pain is not yours to bear. I bore your griefs and sorrows on the cross (Is.53) and I offer wholeness in light of this brokenness. Surrender to me all your pain, your need to fix, your need to understand. You are at this point of total surrender [in this moment I give up my rights to understand why, my right to be happy, etc etc] so that I, your Abba, your Daddy can love on you. No one else will do! I am eternal. I am spirit. I am yours! I love you.

And God is faithful even to send me an email through my earthly father, sharing His love for me in it and to picture him and mom hugging me 'unwilling to let go' God is so neat to paint pictures to lead us to Himself. What a great, personal God!