EVENING SONG

The Evening Song.

I stepped outside about 4:30 pm today. It had been pouring rain all afternoon and had just slackened up slightly.  Even in the gathering gloom, with little light left and dark clouds overhead, I heard it!  Hear what you ask?  Why, it was, “The Evening Song.!”

My heart immediately lifted, not that I was down, not at all! It just leapt with joy to hear the sound and began to sing its own evening song. Come and sing an Evening Song!

The Evening Song.

The day it is done

And evening has come

It’s the time of the evening song

Won’t you come and sing along?

The birds lift their voice in Cheerful Praise

Thanking God for keeping them all their days.

In the shadows of the coming night

They know HE alone gives food and Life and Light.

Joining with Creation’s happy throng

My heart burst forth in joyful song

To God, My Saviour, Lord and King

I laugh and shout, Bow and Sing!

While evening shadows grow long

I offer up to You my Evening Song

For You Alone are my Everything

Your Love makes my heart to soar and sing.

You Alone are worthy! You Alone!

You Alone are Faithful You Alone!

You Alone are True, You Alone.

You Alone are my life’s Cornerstone!

You Alone Deserve all my Praise

For You Alone give meaning to my days

You Alone are Lovely and In You

I find My Home. In You Alone.

In YOU ALONE.

© NEM 11-29-11

Yea,Hath God Said?

I want to give you an encouragement today.  I want to be transparent for your sake, that you may gain Christ in a deeper way.  You may think that because I flow with His Words, that makes it easy for me.  Or you may want to flow, but you are afraid you'll miss it, or mess up, or won't say it right, or can't do it "as good" as I do, or as someone else may do it... 

I have talked to Apostles and Prophets, Pastors and Teachers and Evangelists alike and heard their hearts, and 1 thread we all have in common is - everyday is a Faith Walk for each of us!  We choose to walk out our giftings and callings day by day, in obedience to the ONE who gave them to us. 

Does that shock you?  Good!  I don't mean to disillusion you at all, but rather to encourage you.  And if you have all of us on some platform or pedestal, then there is a disparity taking place.  Yes we have a call, and yes it is to be respected and honor given where honor is due. But ALL honor goes to the LORD, who is Master over all.  God wants you to come to HIM. To hear from HIM His heart for you!  He welcomes you and desires that you would flow in a deeper relationship with Him.  So, don't look at your favorite minister and say, "Oh if I could only be like...."  You be YOU and we will all be blessed and happy!

Let me give you some insight to help you here.  Every time we open our mouths, whether to speak, teach, sing, prophecy, Blow the Shofar- or whatever it is that we are being prompted to do; it is a leap of Faith!  And it is not always easy for us to do.  Apostle Paul wrote: " 2Co 4:13  We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;"  I have to believe, exercise MY Faith, 1. that God is speaking , 2. that I am hearing Him  3. and hearing Him CORRECTLY, 4. and then OPEN my mouth and speak out what HE gave me to say (or write!)  It is no different than what Paul said!

And besides that, the enemy of our souls, still uses his age old ammunition to try and throw  each of us off course.  Do you know what that is?  (There are many, but I am speaking specifically to hearing and saying...) 

Let's go way back to the Garden of Eden and let me show you something that will be very illuminating!  Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, "Yea, hath God said...?"  And then he went on to question: 1. Are you sure YOU heard correctly.  2. Was that REALLY God speaking?  3. IF it was GOD, did he REALLY mean what YOU think he said? 4. He (God, really isn't looking out for YOU, he's thinking about himself...

Do you see all that is wrapped up in those words, "Yea, Hath God said?"  And he comes today with that same question, to try to talk you out of hearing God for yourself. To smear your confidence in hearing and your confidence in God Himself!

Sunday, the pastor was speaking and he made this statement: "Is your "check faith" light on?"  Like when your check engine light comes on telling you something isn't quite right, you need to "check your engine!"

Well, the “light bulb” went on in my spirit and all these pieces to this posting began to fall into place!  Faith works by Love. (Galatians 5:6) So, the big question here is, "Do you believe He loves you?"  Because if you believe He loves you, then you will trust that He has YOUR best interest at heart in HIS plans for you!  And if you believe all this, then when He asks you to say or to do something, that seems out of your comfort zone, will you say like Paul “Because I believed therefore I spoke.” (I did, I obeyed, etc.)

Recently, a dear friend of mine, was out running errands.  She related this story to me, and I may not have it all correct but to the best of my recollection this is what she told me:  “I saw an older woman in the store and the Lord spoke to me, “Go tell her that I love her very much.”  She felt very unsure... "Is this me or is this YOU Lord?"  She hesitated, and the Lord urged her again, “Go tell her I LOVE her!”  Then HE ASKED her one of the most powerful and freeing statements, “What have you got to lose?”  She said, she had to answer, “Nothing Lord, I have nothing to lose.”  She went immediately and told the lady, and the lady just beamed.

That was just the beginning!  He has had her on a “steps ordered of the Lord” mission for days now.  And, every time she feels out of her comfort zone, she is reminded, “what have you got to lose?”

See the more we "practice" or exercise walking in Faith, listening, hearing, journaling, speaking, the more adept we become!  The more time we spend WITH HIM, the more familiar we become with HOW He speaks to us.  Because I can guarantee you, He speaks to each of us differently, with special nuances, tones and vocabulary that is special and unique to who we are. To WHO HE MADE US TO BE! 

Therefore, I ask you, “What have you got to lose, In obeying the Lord?  In surrendering? In TRUSTING and taking that Leap of Faith and opening YOUR mouth?  In ancient Greek there is a word: Nike! It means success, triumph and victory.  Triumph over your doubts and fears.  Nike! Just do it!

Who are your Giving Yourself to?

This world picks away at the very centre of your beings... demanding, demanding, demanding...  deadlines to meet, rushing, frazzled, people, you go through motions, disconnected and numb.

Zombies, walking around believing you are successful because you have 2 cars, and a mortgage and can meet the demands for more things imposed upon your lives by the marketroids of the advertising gods.  

Your kids have nice clothes with brand name labels, and you know some people who know some people...

Why then do you feel so empty and weary at the end of each day?  Why do you have no energy to play, to laugh to dream?  

"Oh, but I am living the good life! I am living the dream," you say, while your heart is locked a million miles away...

And you give yourself away, to people who don't care, who pay no mind that you're there...  you give yourself away, in exchange for things that won't last, for all this world shall pass.

And then at last, your soul shall be required, maybe before you retire...and then what will you find as you leave all this world behind?

As you stand before Heaven's door... will you hear; "depart from ME evermore- I did not know you?"  Or will you hear; "enter into the joy of your Lord, and all the Best that Heaven affords?"

The choice is yours, you choose it day by day...to WHOM will you give yourself away?

The same choice was given long ago as MY chosen people before two mountains stood.  Life and death, blessing and cursing... good and bad... seems so simple and yet they stood, wavering on which way they should...

Choose Life , Choose ME that was my plea... it is the same I give to thee.  Choose life, Choose ME, I hold all the keys to your destiny.  Give yourself away to only ME, for I've already given My heart to thee! 

© NEM 11-26-11

Will you sing this song to ME?

The Chambers of My Love: Behind the Veil!

Posted with permission of Henry Falcone. First posted on Open Heaven 11-7-11

http://www.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=38145&TPN=1

Brother Henry's post speaks so much of things that God has been speaking to me and through me.  I thought I would share his post with you. May you be blessed and drawn closer to Christ!

My beloved Love, Come and live with me in my chambers. "Oh my King, bring us into your chambers, is the cry of my bride. I have so many things to reveal to you that is on my mind that I must place within you.. Let my mind be in you, let my thoughts be your thoughts and my ways your ways.

The oneness I desire with you begins with my thoughts filling your thoughts and my ways filling your ways. This is not a theory, but the very life of my being bringing my glory in you and through you.  There is a unity of thought and action that we must have for the days that are approaching.

My thoughts are going to guide you in the ways of truth. My thoughts are going to provide for you, care for you, guide you and lead you in the way of true righteousness and holiness. My desire is to guide you with my own eye.

This will take a much deeper intimacy than you have realized.

I want to guide you with my whisper. I want you to know the nod of my head, so that I was in the World so shall you be. I desire you to become the reflection of my glory that you desire. You must truly understand not in your intellect or your emotions but in the depth of your being, we must be one.

We must truly be one as my Father intended from the beginning of creation. Not in theory, not in emotions, but in the reality of the Glory of Heaven. I in you ,you in me, that we would be one. The two shall become one. A oneness that can never be broken or corrupted. A love that is perfect between us. This is my Glory being revealed to all those who will come and be with Me.

I have so much I must speak and impart to you now. I have much that I have to speak to your heart from my burning presence, but I can't do that if you allow other things to come and fill the time you need to be with me. I so desire you my love. More than you can ever, ever imagine.

I desire to fill you with my richest and deepest presence that you would know the very words I speak will burn from my heart to your heart. That my words would be in you as SPIRIT AND TRUTH in you. That my words will be fulfilled in your life, your family and the lives of those I am sending you to.

The oneness I desire with you starts with our thoughts and my plans filling your very being. This is what truly "living together" means. It means we share our thoughts and desires like a husband and a wife. It means that we are both united in one purpose and one plan, just as I am and always will be united with my Father and His plans.

I know it may seem to you today to be impossible to do. I know you hope I will do it, or someday I will do it, but I say behold Now FAITH IS! I am not going to do it my love, I have done it. It is finished! Only when you come and live behind the veil, only when you come and live with me in my chambers can the "it is finished" become your life's experience.

I know you love me. I know you want this, but you can't allow your failures, your shortcomings keep you from pressing on to the prize of the high calling of God. I have made a way for you to be one with me. I have made a way to fill your entire being with my thoughts and plan. It is a new and living way, the veil of my flesh. As you enter in through my blood and through my flesh, you find the entrance to my chambers. The mysteries of all mysteries.

My chambers is where I desire for us to live so we can truly become one. One in heart, one in thoughts and one in purpose. There is no other way to be one with me unless you come through the veil that was torn in two into the very realm of my Glory.

In that Glory I change you, your thoughts, your mind, and your will, will be totally mingled with my will and my plans. It is behind this veil where our hearts will be together as one. It is here my thoughts will BECOME YOUR THOUGHTS AND MY WAYS WILL BECOME YOUR WAYS!

I want to change you from glory to glory so you will know my whisper. I want us to be one so you will know that I moved without me even speaking to you like a well trained horse knows the movement of his master.

I want to guide you with my own eye. This is the deepest place of intimacy between us we can ever have when my own eyes are guiding you. This is where we live together as onw. This is what i will reveal to you in my chambers. My Chambers are where the "two shall become one."

So please don't stay away from me. Come in your weakness. Come in your emptiness. Come in your neediness, and I will fill you with my Glory and lift you up to the very chambers I have prepared for you. Here we abide together in my will, my thoughts, my plans. In my chambers you will learn how to become with Me in reality and do those very things on earth as they are done in heaven.

I am waiting my love for you to come up higher. I am waiting for you to allow us to be one as I desire for us to be. Then your mind will be renewed. Then you mind will be new. The our minds and thoughts will be one just like mine our with my Father. Then you new creation live will manifest in life in power and dominion. Then there will be a witness of my Glory in every thing you say and do. Then the nations shall see my Glory filling the whole earth.

Come my love, my fair one, and come away with me. I have a place for you beside me, a place for you with me, and a place of our abiding together that your soul has longed for. Come and take my hand today and allow me to take you to the chambers of my love and burn my love, my thoughts and plans in you so we will be one forever and ever.

Edited by Henry Falcone on 11/07/2011 at 7:33am

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                                                                                                            11-15-11

Beloved's of the Lord,

I thought it important for those who read these post that I feel God is giving me to give a "frame of reference" of how the Lord has revealed Himself and still does reveal Himself in our ongoing relationship.

The Lord has taken me on a journey of pursuit that I can only reference from the book of the Song of Solomon. I realize that we are all different parts of the Body of Christ and each one develops a relationship with the Lord uniquely with them, but built upon the same sure foundation in Christ.

My journey has been very similar to the journey the King takes the Shulamite woman to truly desire Him and be changed by experiencing the depth of the Kings love. In that love she learns how to become "willing(ly) submissive" to His desires and to His ways...

The Song of Solomon portrays to us the intimate desire that our Lord Jesus Christ desires to have with us. It is above working for Him, doing things for Him, it is what Love truly desires, TO BE LOVED AND TO GIVE LOVE!

The Shulamite woman is taken on a journey to develop an intimate relationship with the Lord where He awakens her love for Him alone by taking her out of her self life by allowing the circumstances of her life to create a deeper desire for Him alone.

She is taken out from the "daughters of Jerusalem" the "church proper" that have a knowledge of the Lord  as to be "used for his work to satisfy His heart," to be singularly taught by the Lord Himself to desire Him alone and meet the true need of His heart.

Song of Solomon 1 verse 6-7 speak of her working hard for the Lord in the church, but her "own vineyard" she hasn't kept. That speaks of "the relationship of intimacy with Him as a Person has been neglected.

Verse 6 "[Please] do not look at me, [she said, for] I am swarthy. [I have worked out] in the sun and it has left its mark upon me.  Verse 7 My stepbrothers were angry with me, and they made me keeper of the vineyards; but my own vineyard [my complexion] I have not kept."

There is an intellectual knowing of someone like a friend or co worker that has some degree of intimacy in it, but then there is the relationship of intimacy only a husband and wife can know.

The bible says, Adam "knew" His wife. That knowing was a complete submerging of the "two becoming one" physically, emotionally and spiritually. This is a picture of the type of intimacy the Lord desires for us I believe and the scriptures support.

That is why marriages are so attacked today, because they were supposed to be the "natural picture" of the relationship that God so desires for us to have through our Lord Jesus Christ. When Satan can destroy the picture of the family, or the marriage, he destroys the "natural picture" of what God desires with us "supernaturally." I am sure you have seen in this nation a desire to "change the meaning" of the term marriage from being between a man and a woman to become a relationship between two men or two women of the same sex.

Beside the morality of it being an abomination to God, it is worse than that. It is an abomination to destroy the "picture of God and man" and the intimate relationship we are to have with Jesus as our Bridegroom King.

Intimacy and oneness can only be experienced from God's perspective in this natural realm between a husband and wife, and Paul teaches us the importance of this relationship as a "picture of God's desire with us," and he calls it a "mystery between Christ and His church. "

Ephesian 5: 31-33,

31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

32 This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning [the relation of] Christ and the church.

33 However, let each man of you [without exception] love his wife as [being in a sense] his very own self; and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates, and esteems him; and that she defers to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly].

He says in verse 32 " this mystery is very great, but I speak concerning the relationship between Christ and the church. That relationship is not supposed to be just a "work relationship" or even a head knowledge relationship between the man and woman. It is intended to be an intertwining relationship where the two becoming one. They become a "family." A family that can bring forth fruit or offspring that reflect the marriage.

We will never be God, but we surely can become one with Him. Us in Him and Him in us. Just as a husband and wife can experience the totally of them becoming one with their spouse, but never become the other person.

They can become one in heart, purpose, plan, spiritually, physically and emotionally as one as God has made them to be, yet still 2 different people but one. (A little picture of the John 17)

The Song of Solomon is a beautiful picture of what our developing relationship with the Lord is to be as His Bride. Like many in the Body of Christ who have come to the end of "knowing the Lord by working for him alone, she begins to see a new revelation of His person.

It's starts with a revelation in her heart, "I am doing all this work for you, but do I really know you the way you desire. I am still left empty inside. There must be more of you but I have done all this work but, "My own vineyard, I have not kept."

This is what happened to me and why I am explaining it now so you know the "point of reference" I have in the knowledge of the Lord and how He may speak to me and through me. It is not better than anyone else, it is just the relationship that God has revealed to me and in me up to this point in my life.

I have not arrived in any manner, and I don't even really want to write this reply, but I am endeavoring to keep the bond of peace and the Spirit of unity amongst the Family of God the best I know how. Also to try to avoid any confusion by what God is giving me to write.

One of our God given rights in our new life in Christ is to "test and judge all the things we see, hear and experience through the Holy Spirit's gift of discernment. "The Spirit bares witness with the Spirit of what is and what is not of God."

So please feel free to examine what I write in light of that God given right as I am free to use as well for what I read, see or experience through others. What a beautiful God we serve. So we can compare Spiritual things with Spiritual things in the Holy Spirit.

The Shulamite comes to the end of her being filled by "working for the Lord alone, and she begins to desire Him more than just going to church, or just working for him in some ministry and all the other "religious
activity" she did for Him.

This new desire in her heart brings forth a very important 3 fold prayer found in Song of Solomon chapter 1:4 She prays: Draw me! We will run after you! The king brings me into his apartments (his chambers).

Draw me is a "cry" for intimate fellowship with the Lord. "We will run after you is "the totality of her being, body, soul and mind" now in pursuit of truly knowing Him as he desires. "The king bring me into His chambers" is the place of total intimacy as on a Honeymoon night with your bridegroom where the "two become one."

This speaks of a relationship that is heart to heart and from place to place. On earth as it is in heaven.  This is the desire of the Lords heart found in Rev. chapter 3:20 where He is standing at the door of the "church age"  and addresses not one of the seven churches anymore, but to the individuals in the Body of Christ and says to "anyone that can hear, " I stand at the door and knock if anyone hear my voice and opens the door and lets me in, I will come and sup with them and they will sup with me."

This happens at the end of the church age as we know it. There is no where else for the church age to go during this dispensation until chapter 4:1 When John who is in the Spirit on the Lord's day, gets caught up deeper in the Spirit and hears, "come up here, so I can show you the things to come."

This knocking is take us from the church age into the Kingdom age that is now beginning to manifest on the earth. Two prophetic days happening at the same time. The closing of the 6th day and the opening and revealing of the 7th day.

That is why the Song of Solomon is so important. In Rev 19:7 "the Bride has made herself ready and she is permitted to wear the fine line garment which are the righteous acts of the Saints.

So there is an intimacy with God that goes beyond space and time and anything we have ever known. What is this supping with us and us with him in relationship that will lift us up into a higher identity with our Lord. This is the "mystery I speak concerning Christ and the church," Paul wrote to us about. 

The closest living natural example for us to see of the desire God has for us is the picture of the husband and the wife, the bride and the bridegroom. In this natural human relationship of the husband and wife, God "gives us the way" into His heart to see the deep abiding relationship He desires for us.

To gain that access to His heart the Song of Solomon points the way. The Lord must deal with that self life of desiring the Lord for any other reason except He is worth desiring.

In the beginning of our new life in Christ, we desire the Lord to "meet our needs." This is absolutely normal and accepted by the Lord. He wants to reveal to us His love, care and His ability to provide for us. But He also doesn't want us to remain babe only drinking the milk of His word.

The Shulamite woman finds the Lord on this level in chapter 2. She sits under the apple tree and she says, "feed me with flaggons and raisins." She is content in knowing the Lord as "meeting her needs." You could call this a selfish type of love between her and him, because she is desiring him for "what He can do instead of just for who He is. Our children do that to us and it is normal for a while, but we expect them to grow beyond seeking us "just to get" something from us.

 In Chapter 2:16 she says, "My beloved is mine and I am His." This means she seeking Him for her own needs first. "He feeds her under the apple tree with raisins and apples and declares, "His banner over me is love."

In our beginning walk withe the Lord, He does not mind this infancy relationship, but He must teach her to stop seeking Him just for things but to desire Him for who He is alone.

He then takes her on a journey of how to "know Him" as a person. Many people know the presence of God, but few know His person in reality. After dealing with her heart issues and commending her for her desire for Him alone. He helps her to begin to see the "self life" that is in the way of her true desire for Him. He allows testings and trials to come to awaken that "love for Him alone" by allowing her to make right and wrong choices. Each teaching her what she needs to learn in knowing Him.

I don't have time to go to in depth here, but for those who are reading these posts, I hope it will explain the frame of reference that God has worked in me.

As she allows the Lord to deal with her self life and the reasons she is slow to respond to His person, He begins to stir up the flames of love for Him alone. Midway through the book, she has developed a new sensitivity to His desire for fellowship with her.  He brings her to a 60 fold maturity level verses the 30 we just read about in chapter 2. A good portion of her life has come under some submission to His love and His desires for her life.

She is now seeking Him first for Himself, but still has some of that remaining self life in her to seek Him for her needs.  She makes some progress in her spiritual growth and testifies of it by saying in chapter 6 verses 2 and 3:

"She replied, My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens and to gather lilies I am my beloved's [garden] and my beloved is mine! He feeds among the lilies [which grow there].

Now the Lord is first (I am my beloveds), but her needs are still quite important, (and my beloved is mine) but there is a change. She now knows she belongs to Him first. She has hasn't arrived to the 100 fold yet, but He plans on allowing further dealings and testings until she is "completed" or she understands the "Omega side of God." The finisher.

When the Lord completes His work in us, we will have a new testimony because we know longer "live for ourselves, we have been crucified, but nevertheless we live, but not I, but Christ lives in me. This testimony is found as a "group of overcomers" in Revelation chapter 5:9-10,

"And [now] they sing a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to break the seals that are on it, for You were slain (sacrificed), and with Your blood You purchased men unto God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And You have made them a kingdom (royal race) and priests to our God, and they shall reign [as kings] over the earth!

In the heart of a bride that same testimony would speak like this is found in the Song of Solomon when the self life has been put away in her life. She has been made complete and has the overcoming testimony as found in Rev. 5 but personalized to Him alone as her Bridegroom.  Song of Solomon 7 verse 10: She proudly said] I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me!

Now her "knowing the Lord has become "true intimacy" with the Lord like Adam knew His wife.  Her testimony speaks not of a "place"but as being together as one. "I am my beloveds, and His desires is toward me." Another words, His desires are my desires. My desires are His desires! His thoughts are my thoughts and His will is my will. Only after this testimony is she "given the right" to tend the vineyard. (That is a word isn't it)

Song of Solomon 7:11-12, She said, Come, my beloved! Let us go forth into the field, let us lodge in the villages.mLet us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened, and whether the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love.

Do you see this beloved? This is the first time she says, "let us." She is not leading the Lord and telling Him what to do. He is now speaking as one with her. They are together as one! Let us go forth... Let us lodge in the villages... Let us go out early... there I will give you my love.  I could write forever on that alone, but I won't.

Notice the together with the Lord in her speaking. She is not "working for the Lord." She now lives with and in the Lord and the Lord in her and that is where "I will give you my love." Paul calls this the "mystery of Christ and His church.

I think if we try to limit the Lord to "where he dwells and how he dwells" in trying to intellectually explain it we lose so much. Remember, not many wise man or nobles are chosen, but God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. God had to make this developing relationship simple with us. We as men have made it so complicated I am afraid to report.

If we are not careful we can miss the "reality or experience" of this relationship like the Pharisee's in Jesus day. They knew the scriptures, but they couldn't see Him as the Messiah.

So there is a "seeking of the Lord" that is more than just information, plans, strategies, prayer and other stuff. Not that we should not study the Word of God, no matter of fact we must meditate on it day and night. But it becomes our life's experience when we "wait upon Him" to teach us their true meaning as spirit and truth and for meat for us to eat.

This seeking of the Lord in becoming married to him and becoming truly one with Him is "the deepest expression of what love is." The Shulamite woman says in Song of Solomon 3:1-4,

1: In the night I dreamed that I sought the one whom I love. [She said] I looked for him but could not find him. 2: So I decided to go out into the city, into the streets and broad ways [which are so confusing to a country girl], and seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I could not find him.

3: The watchmen who go about the city found me, to whom I said, Have you seen him whom my soul loves? 4: I had gone but a little way past them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me."
Is that the passion in our hearts tonight for Him beloved? Is there any other love that compare to this kind of love burning in us for Him? How does meet the need of His heart? Is this what He is truly longing for?"
Let us read the Kings reply to her in closing. I hope this gives you a reference point of how God give me to write about Him and His love. You don't have to agree, it is just who God has made me to be at this point. I put this on no one else or even present this as "opposed" to something else. It is just a point of reference.
It is a testimony of the burning love in my heart to know this God, our Lord Jesus as a Bride would desire her husband and be pleasing to him in every way. That is my desire.
Read these most beautiful words of our Bridegroom King to His Bride to be: Song of Solomon 4: 7-11:
7: He exclaimed] O my love, how beautiful you are! There is no flaw in you! Come away with me from Lebanon, my [promised] bride, come with me from Lebanon. 8: Depart from the top of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.
9: You have ravished my heart and given me courage, my sister, my [promised] bride; you have ravished my heart and given me courage with one look from your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. 10: How beautiful is your love, my sister, my [promised] bride! How much better is your love than wine! And the fragrance of your ointments than all spices!
11: Your lips, O my [promised] bride, drop honey as the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue. And the odor of your garments is like the odor of Lebanon.
Here are a few more foundational scriptures the Lord has burned in my heart:

John 17:3  And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent.

Ephesians 3:17-19:

17 May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,

18 That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];
19 That you may really come to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!
In His love always,
__________________
Henry J.Falcone
http://www.flameoffire2007.org/aboutus.php

Hungry For You

   I'd like to share one of my "soaking/seeking for more of Him" songs with you.
   Steve Swanson is a gifted brother, whose worship draws (me) deeper into God's Presence. 
   Sit back, listen and let HIM expand your Spirit and create more hunger inside you!
Blessings!  Nancy

Giving Thanks!

My Dear Readers,

I lovingly greet each of you in Jesus Name!  I am so glad that you've come to visit here, and I trust that on these pages you will receive refreshing, encouragement, answers, challenges and love!

Since I have so many different places reading, I thought I would share with all of you about our American day of Thanksgiving.  It is always the 4th Thursday of every November.  It is a National holiday here, and the banks and the Post Office close.  Most retail stores also close, some the whole day, some the afternoon and evening.

The pastor who spoke Wed. night talked about the 5 "F's" that will be celebrated today: Family, Friends, Feasting, Football (American football) and Falling Asleep while watching the game!  We all laughed, because for many that will be the case!

The real point of the holiday, however is to remember and give thanks to God for all of His many blessings and abundance to us.  The tradition goes back to the Pilgrims who settled in a colony on the eastern shore of American. They had much hardship and a brutal winter.  Many died to smallpox.   But some friendly Native American Indians taught them how to hunt, and find wild berries.

One Indian in particular, was a huge blessing. His name was Squanto.  He had been taken captive as a slave and taken to England, where he was schooled.  When he was freed, he returned to find his whole tribe wiped out by disease (much the way some villages in Africa have been wiped out by AIDS.)  He was taken in by another tribe, and it was he and these friendly Indians who helped the colonists survive.

Because of God's Providence the settlers had a big feast and invited the Indians and they all gave thanks to God for His mercy and goodness in this brave new world called America!

So, no matter where you come from, or where you live please take a moment today and stop and thank God for things that only HE can do and give to you!

To help you focus on things to thank Him for, I am going to post below the Scriptures that I put together into a reading for our Community Thanksgiving Church Service tonight.  I hope you will join me in a giving of thanks unto God! And if you can, would you post some of your things you are thankful for in the comment section?  You don't have to leave your name, or where you are from- unless you want to,  but it would bless all of us, to read and rejoice together at God's goodness to each of us!

So, I will go first:  I am grateful and thankful that God knows me by Name and Jesus rescued and saved me and I can KNOW HIM personally, intimately!  I am grateful for my dear family and our friends and for the creative gift of writing that He gave to me.  I am grateful too, I can share what He gives me, with all of you!  I am grateful that His giftings are without repentance, and He never gives up on any of us.  I am grateful for my Health (after having been sick for over 4 weeks!) and God's protection upon each of us.  And I am thankful for 5 soft and purring cats who amuse and keep me company when kids and husband are not around!  There's more, but that is a good start.  It's your turn now!  What are you thankful and grateful for?!!

God Bless You, over and over!
Much Love,
Nancy

I   

I read: (The Amplified Bible)

Psalm 103:1  Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul; and all that is [deepest] within me, bless His holy name!

Psalm 103:2  Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits--

Psalm 103:3  Who forgives [every one of] all your iniquities, Who heals [each one of] all your diseases,

Psalm 103:4  Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy;

Psalm 103:5  Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's [strong, overcoming, soaring]! [Isaiah 40:31]

The Congregation responds with:

Psalm 107:1  Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!

Psalm 107:2  Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has delivered from the hand of the adversary.

I read:

Psalm 105:1  O give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name, make known His doings among the peoples!

Psalm 105:2  Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; meditate on and talk of all His marvelous deeds and devoutly praise them.

Psalm 105:3  Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those rejoice who seek and require the Lord [as their indispensable necessity].

Psalm 105:4  Seek, inquire of and for the Lord, and crave Him and His strength (His might and inflexibility to temptation); seek and require His face and His presence [continually] evermore.

The Congregation responds with:

Psalm 107:8  Oh, that men would praise [and confess to] the Lord for His goodness and loving-kindness and His wonderful works to the children of men!

Psalm 107:9  For He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good.

I read:

Psalm 106:1  Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever! [1 Chronicles 16:34]

Psalm 106:2  Who can put into words and tell the mighty deeds of the Lord? Or who can show forth all the praise [that is due Him]?

We all respond:

Psalm 107:31  Oh, that men would praise [and confess to] the Lord for His goodness and loving-kindness and His wonderful works to the children of men!

Psalm 107:32  Let them exalt Him also in the congregation of the people and praise Him in the company of the elders. 

IF you do not know Jesus as your personal Saviour, you can know Him!  He WANTS you to know Him and He wants to show you His Glory.  If you want to believe, but are struggling to do so, He already knows about your struggle and wants to take away that torment.

First, you must believe that HE really exists and even though He is creator of the Universe, He cares about YOU!  So ask Him to help you to know Him and to believe. 2ndly, you must ask Him to come into your heart.  He wants to, but He is waiting to be invited in.  You may say something like this:

Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God and that you died on the the cross to take away all my sins.  Come into my heart and forgive me and cleanse me now.  Make me into a brand new person that is Born Again by The Spirit of God and Live with me all the days of my life!  I give you my life and heart, so help me live pleasing you from now on.  I THANK YOU for forgiving me, accepting me and making me Yours!  I now belong to YOU JESUS! And YOU belong to me! Wow. Thank you for saving me and giving me a brand new start.  I receive it all and pray in Jesus Name. Amen.

Email me at: heart_and_hands@yahoo.com  and tell me of your decision.  I want to email or postal mail you some material to help you in your new life with God!  Hallelujah!  Now that is something worth Praising and Thanking God for! 

I Believe In You

My Beloved One, it is true. I DO believe in you. I know you wonder how that can be. I hear your heart question, "is it really true?  You believe in me?  But how can You Lord?  Aren't you disappointed in me?"

It's true, you've messed up and made some ill chosen choices.  But that does not mean that you are a failure. It doesn't even mean that you don't love Me.  It simply means you haven't yet learned how to trust and to make right choices that will lead you further along the path I have laid out for you.

The Truth is, even in those wrongly thought out moves, I AM still working in your to bring you to a fuller revelation of ME and of MY LOVE for you.  I AM dealing with your heart, dealing with your emotions, dealing ever so gently that sometimes you do even recognize it.  But I AM with you!  Doing and willing of My good pleasure, to bring you into a fullness of relationship with ME.

So believe it when I say, "I believe in you," and choose to both believe in ME and to believe in yourself. Disappoint ME?  Never!  The very meaning of the word means to unsettle, to defeat or hinder from enjoyment...  Dear one you cannot unsettle ME!  You can hinder yourself, but you cannot hinder ME!  And I enjoy you very much, and long to show you so much more than you now see and experience.

So dear one, do not frustrate MY Grace, which is mightily at work in and through you!  I say that for YOUR benefit, that it may go well with you.  I say that for the benefit of those whose lives you WILL touch, even unknowingly!  For you see,
you are a delight to ME and a worry to the enemy!  So trust and obey, rely and relax, look forward and not backward, and Live your life to the MAX!  I have ordained it to be so and full of blessings much more than you know.  For that is how life is meant to be when it is lived fully surrendered to ME.

Word of Love to You Israel From Your God and King

Israel, My Israel.  All may forsake you but I will never forsake you.  Others may hunt you, and track you down like a wild animal to slaughter you and bring you to extinction. But I Your GOD hunt you to bring you back from the four corners of the Earth.  To bring you from dispersal to rehearsal of your greatest days! I bring reversal, I am the Great GOD and their is no one like me.  With cursing and plotting your enemies lay in wait, to annihilate. I, your God, the One who has called you by Name, who has led you to the place where I choose to dwell with you...  It is I who will turn your enemies back at the gate. It is I, the I AM THAT I AM,  who does lay in wait to show MYSELF strong unto you once again my chosen people.  All hell may try to prevail.  There are yet Zionist Christians willing to travail on your behalf because MY heart is in them for you.  I have given you a home, one to call your own. It belongs to you because YOU BELONG to ME and I will see you free from the tyranny of hatred against you, trying to uproot you, trying to invade you, trying to take you out.  It is time MY People to give the VICTORY shout unto ME and blow the SHOFAR strong and long.  I desire to give you a song. One that no one can drown out, no matter how angry and loud they shout.  Because MY sweet People, YOU Belong to ME and I find great delight in thee.  Meet ME in the secret place of your heart and let ME set you apart, apart unto ME once again you see.  My Israel, I LOVE THEE!

Seeds of Abuse being uprooted

A young woman in my church that God often gives "Holy Ghost" nuggets to, texted this to me Sunday morning.  God showed her this while in prayer. Receive the revelation and the release from any of this in Jesus Name!  He showed it so you can be free!

"The spirit of abuse has the church in a choke hold. Attached to it is fear, pain, unforgiveness, anger, revenge and contentment. This morning we need to take authority over the spirit of abuse.  I was shown a pomegranate cut in half. 

The spirit of abuse lays many seeds that become deep rooted in our hearts, minds and soul.  It has become a splinter in our side as we work to bring souls to the kingdom.  The spirit of abuse has erased childhoods and destroyed families, but it ends today!

In the name of Jesus allow families to be released from the bondage of abuse.  Give them the understanding of the effects of abuse and the strength to cast it out along with any spirit attached to it.  Father, I ask that you begin the healing process within them right now.  Break the barriers that abuse has built around their heart.  Renew their minds and take the blinders from their eyes Lord.  It is time to live the abundant life. In Jesus Name. AMEN!!!!!"

I answered her immediately:

"Yes!  Abuse takes MANY forms.  It robs and steals and destroys; potential, confidence,  dreams, identity.  Indeed, I have seen entire childhoods erased and memory GONE, and tangled, painful, confused emotions left in their place.

But God!  Indeed Jesus came to set the captive(s) free.  And He gave the task to you and me to Speak the NAME and to Proclaim the Good News!  What an Awesome GOD we serve!  Be Bold and Strong in the Power of His Might. Tell the World that Jesus has come to bring them sight and put an end to their endless night.  Amen."
~~~
Abuse does take many forms, from constant put down and belittling, or control and manipulation, to physical and sexual abuse.  It may be happening in your home, your school or in your church.  DO NOT LET IT CONTINUE!  You are not alone!  Nor, do you "DESERVE" this. Nor is it "YOUR FAULT."  Get out, get away, tell some one who is in a position to help.

***( The word contentment- is not a typo.  When you resign yourself to a situation, you gain a "false contentment" thinking it can never change. Don't buy that lie!)***

God created you to be loved, to be respected and have the dignity befitting a Child of the King!  You are wonderfully created and greatly adored by a LOVING Heavenly Father, who will help you walk through the ashes in your life and PROMISES to RESTORE,  REDEEM and MAKE YOU WHOLE.  HE gives Beauty for Ashes.  Receive Hope this day, and not only Hope, but the Wisdom and Courage to walk out of those situations that have had you bound and be set free.
In Jesus Name. AMEN.

Isaiah 61:3  To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

And Jesus said:  Luke 4:18 (Amp)  The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity],
Luke 4:19  To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound. [Isaiah 61:1-2]

Handwritten Note of Love

My Dear One,
How it pleases Me that you seek Me.  Your hunger and searching will be rewarded.


Even as you recognize a thirst in your spirit and a hunger in your soul, as you seek Me you will be made whole.  I create the hunger and I alone can fill it.  Not only can I but I WILL that you be filled to over flowing and renewed in your mind, in your heart and refreshed in your life. 


Yes, it sometimes takes effort on your part to come apart from the hustle and bustle and noise.  It takes time to learn to quiet yourself as a child at its mothers breast.  For even the fussy ones soon snuggle down in deep contentment, drinking in the nourishment that they require and so desperately need.  So it is with you.  Tune out the distractions, and noises that are meant to frighten you and latch onto and cling to ME, for I am your source and sustenance in this ever changing world.


I am the LORD, I change NOT.  Nor have I changed my mind about you!  You are still my delightful darling.  The delight and joy of my own great heart.  I look at your face and I smile.   I hear your voice calling unto ME and I am happy at its sound, knowing that you desire to have Me around!


For though I am God, and I am omnipotent, I am brought low by the sound of my child's voice calling out for Me.  I stoop to lift you up, to raise you higher than you have dreamed.  For I have already placed you in the heavenly realms, realms that have yet to be seen.  But if you look with the eyes of your spirit and with a heart of faith, you will find that you can see into the heart, My heart of Eternity. 


For in My heart, you will see all the glorious plans I have planned and laid out for thee!  In My heart you will find, more Love and needed Grace of every kind.  In My heart, in My heart, I have you deep in My heart! My child, you are so a part of Me, your every breathe and move, your very life, is found and released in Me!


Why do you struggle so?  Come, sit on my lap, listen to My Heart and then you will know.  For with every beat of my heart I am longing for you.  With every beat of my heart, I've promised to to see you through!  Don't run away, or hide your face in shame.  I am aware of your frailties, and I STILL call you by name. I chose you then, before the world knew, I choose you now and call you anew.  Come away with Me, and spend awhile.  Let me soothe your brow and send a smile.


Great joy there is in My loving you.  Come and let it be your joy too.


Forever Yours,
Love, ABBA


Psalm 131:2 (AMP)  Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me [ceased from fretting].


Acts 17:28a (WNT)  For it is in closest union with Him that we live and move and have our being...

Why Do You Delay?

God is asking you this question.

Why do you delay?

Come to ME today.
I take all sin away

Feelings of failure they cannot stay.

You look with

Eyes that see

Far too much of you

And not enough of ME.

I've told you before

I'll tell you again

Only in ME will you 

Find the Victory to win.

I know your struggles

 I feel your pain

I see how you battle

With Fear and with Shame.

You look at your shortcomings

But I look at you coming to ME

So now, come in Faith believing

And Let me set you free!

He who comes to ME
I will not turn away

See the Love in MY eyes

Believe the words that I say.

I am a rewarder of 

Those who seek Me

Believe that I AM and I shall ever be

ALL that you need throughout Eternity.

                                                  © NEM 11-18-11

Dear One,

I do not know who you are, but GOD knows you by name! He prompted me to write this to you...He knows where you are. He knows you've been running, hurting, searching.  Searching for answers, but even in the midst of your search, you are afraid to find them, because you fear the pain that might lie in the answer, that what you fear will be true.

HE says " I AM TRUE- count every man a liar (in comparison.)  STOP! Stand still.  Run no more.  Turn and come to ME again, I AM waiting with outstretched arms.  I AM waiting to do you no harm.  This is what repentance really means; to stop and turn around, change your mind, and LET ME change your heart!  You cannot change things that only I can change. I can and I WILL change your life, IF you will but LET ME.  It is NOT too late.  COME HOME my child. I AM WAITING FOR YOU."

John 6:37 (AMP)  All whom My Father gives (entrusts) to Me will come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will most certainly not cast out [I will never, no never, reject one of them who comes to Me]. 

John 6: 63 (GNB)  What gives life is God's Spirit; human power is of no use at all. The words I have spoken to you bring God's life-giving Spirit.

John (LITV) 8:36  Therefore, if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.

Heb 4:14  Let us, then, hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we have a great High Priest who has gone into the very presence of God---Jesus, the Son of God.
Heb 4:15  Our High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin.
Heb 4:16  Let us have confidence, then, and approach God's throne, where there is grace. There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it. 

Heb 11:6 (MSG) It's impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.

Crisis or Chrysalis Revisted

Crisis or Chrysalis? Revisited. (First posted April 29, 2009)

When Jesus went to the Cross, it was a time of tremendous emotional upheaval for his Mom, His Disciples and even his distant followers. It was also a time of upheaval for Heaven and Hell and Earth itself as evidenced by the natural happenings of eclipse, unusual darkness, earthquake and ripping of the temple Veil.

Some of you may indeed feel that you are in a crisis, even as you read this. But the Lord gave me a Word today that will set you free! Do not allow your vision to become eclipsed by the things in your immediate surroundings. Nor fear something that may loom in the distance. It may seem all dark around you. But the Light of the Gospel and the Love of God has been shed abroad into your heart. Walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, even as He told us I am the Light of the World. He is lighting and lightening your way.

What may sound like thunderous cheers at your struggle by the enemy is really signaling the beginning of the end of Hell's grasp on your throat. The enemy has tried to strangle you. He has wanted to keep you down, keep you quiet, keep you unable to rise and soar. But! What he perceives as your "end" is really his end!

Even as a caterpillar goes into a cocoon, and it seems a death is taking place to the caterpillar, so too it seems you have entered into a "Valley of death" from which you wonder if you will escape. But there is a transformation taking place. Do not let the crisis of the moment and the tyranny of the things being demanded cause you to look away from the Face of the One who Loves you and Who gave (yielded) Himself up [to atone] for Your sins [and to save and sanctify You], in order to rescue and deliver You from this present wicked age and world order, in accordance with the will and purpose and plan of our God and Father--

Do not doubt, HE WILL bring you OUT!
The Veil that hides Him from your view is being removed.
Your eyes have seen and will yet see again the Glory of the Lord. But, you need to see that it is not just in HIM, but it is in YOU and has RISEN upon you! He has taken you into the Holy of Holies with Himself and ushered you past everything that cries out that you are not worthy, you are not ready, you can not do this. He makes you both ready and worthy and He tells you when to fly and when to stay under His wing. He alone can make your tired, heavy heart to sing! He alone is your strength, your reason for being. He alone is Life and in Him is the Light you need for right now.

You are not in crisis as you suppose. You are in Chrysalis- and He is transforming
what was, into what He says IS and you shall be-
the gift of Beauty and Grace to this Earth that He has created you to be.
Selah and give thanks!

As you can see by this, it was written back in 2009.  I have walked through many a “Crisis/Chrysalis” moment since then.   And yes, HE has brought me out of all of them, and IS bringing me out, even of what is now in front of me.  I am no different than you.  I Must walk by Faith, day by day.  Chrysalis is the  process of a caterpillar spinning a cocoon and then being locked away… the worm is transformed and becomes a beautiful butterfly. That butterfly must beat its wings and struggle to get out of its cocoon…but in that struggle it is strengthened to take on the harsh realities of living in the world no longer secluded and hidden from view in its former prison- the cocoon.

These days, finds your surroundings in crisis. Israel is being threatened daily, by those trying to wipe out her existence. Uganda is experiencing daily black outs. Kenya & Uganda have had drought and so has So. Africa. India has seen soaring prices on everything, as you also have seen. Now is a time to watch and pray, not with fear but with authority and power!  We must stand with and for Israel and pray for her as well as for our own corners of the world that we each live in.

My dear ones, our earth is in crisis!  The world is speeding headlong into a worldwide crisis that they have no clue how to stop!  Scripture is urgently calling out to us to take our place, to fulfill our destiny, to run the race.  We must stop majoring on inconsequential things and become Kingdom minded!  We must not look at what we (think or in reality) lack, but what we have already at our disposal and within our reach.  All of Heaven stands ready for action; they are waiting on our move!  It is our voice speaking HIS WORDS, that propels the angelic host to do His Bidding at the sound of His Word.

It is our actions of Faith and Obedience that puts into motion events spiritually, which translate into the natural.  

Rom 8:18  (AMPLIFIED) [But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us!

Rom 8:19  For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God's sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].

Rom 8:19  (WNT)  For all creation, gazing eagerly as if with outstretched neck, is waiting and longing to see the manifestation of the sons of God.

Rom 8:22 (MSG)  All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs.

This world order- the world’s way of doing things, is pregnant with the sin it has engaged in.  The creation, the world and its animals and its people all created by a loving God are being held captive in the grip of the sin that so easily besets us. (Hebrews 12:2) 

It is when we come out of our cocoon, just like when the butterfly emerges from its cocoon, the world will see the transformation.  That transformation is now taking place with in us as we renew our minds and set our affections on things that are above.  As we pursue HIM, to KNOW HIM and be KNOWN of HIM as Paul wrote in Phillipians.

Php 3:8  Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One),

Php 3:9  And that I may [actually] be found and known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law's demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith.

Php 3:10  [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]

Php 3:11  That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].

Php 3:12  Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own.

Php 3:13  I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,

Php 3:14  I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.

There is an upward calling. It is taking the high road, of Honor and Righteousness, instead of resorting to fleshly, worldly and carnal desires and actions, even when in the face of great persecution, fear and disappointments.

The small choice you make today to live holy, to speak the truth in love, to pray for one another and Israel, and governments,  to walk away from an argument, to not say the last word… to not frustrate the Grace of God, but rather to grow in grace as He is helping and enabling you day by day.  All of these things matter!  The smallest details of your life MATTER in the great scheme of things.  YOU matter to HIM.  And you matter to the course of things here on earth. 

Now I can hear you saying, “Me?  I matter, I can change the course of a Nation? Oh come on, you have got to be kidding me!”  No, I am not joking, I am speaking very seriously and honestly.  You name the Name of Christ, then, LIVE like Christ!  Live in Divine union with and to and through Him.  For as you do, you are a living Epistle, read and known of men.  2Cor. 3:2 in the Message Bible says it like this:

(MSG)  You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you.

As you live for Christ, and are HIS, then as they read, they are reading Christ in you the Hope of Glory. They are SEEING Christ in you the hope of Glory. 

I had a bumper sticker sign on a car once that said, “Jesus, Changing The World, One Life At A Time.”  As your life changes, people see and they begin to want to change too. Then you share the love of Christ, you share the Word of Christ, you SHOW the World Christ, by your very life.  There will be change.  As you speak to the things around you and command them to line up with the Word of God, you command a sphere of influence. As that influence is exerted and then your neighbor gets saved and is taught, and they speak to their surroundings… do you see how this works? 

Begin where you are, but begin TODAY.  YOU speak the Word.  YOU live Holy. YOU walk in Love. Because Beloved FAITH only WORKS by LOVE!

Galations 5:6

(AMP)  For [if we are] in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love.

Let me put it in simple terms.  Whether you are educated or uneducated, whether you have money or have none, whether you are black or white, or yellow or red, male or female, pretty or plain, none of this matters where faith is concerned.  Did you act in Love and walk in Faith?  The anointing beautifies and changes you from the inside out. And like a bug in the night is drawn to the light, so all of creation is drawn by and to the LIGHT that is inside of you.  That “Light” is CHRIST, and His Glory residing on the inside, begging to be activated and loosed to come to the outside!  You are more valuable than any riches this world can offer.  Your life matters. You matter.  Live like it. And make a difference!

Taking Away to Establish

Remember the Robert Frost Poem, about two roads? It is actually entitled, "The Road Not Taken." It illustrates a biblical point actually that my Dad and I were discussing of recent..  Here is the poem first: 

Robert Frost (1874–1963).  Mountain Interval.  1920

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Now the most obvious thing about that poem is that for him
to go down one road meant that he could not go down the
other road.


I recently went through a situation that was most uncomfortable and a little perplexing to me. I sought the council of my Mentor Dad, who simply stated, “There is a Law of ‘taking away to establish.’”  This has set me pondering this, and of course looking for biblical examples.


The first that HE brought to my mind, has been a scripture that in my early walk with the Lord, quite frankly frightened me to no end! It frightened because I did not understand it, and so the enemy used it to condemn and torment me with fear of being cast out as worthless wood!

That scripture is John 15:1-8 Below is the Amplified Version

John 15:1  I AM the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser.

John 15:2  Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit.

John 15:3  You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the word which I have given you [the teachings I have discussed with you].

John 15:4  Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.

John15:5  I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.

John 15:6  If a person does not dwell in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken-off] branch, and withers; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and they are burned.

John 15:7  If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.

John 15:8  When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine.

We are not worthless wood!  We are grafted in, by the Blood! But, He trims and prunes what He should, knowing it is for our own good. We may not understand, and that pruning may be severe, cutting to the quick. But scripture says, when He wounds HE heals, and there is a balm applied as the sword cuts deep and wide.He is divinding asunder bone and marrow… removing what will hinder us tomorrow.  He knows our thoughts and intents, even when we do not, and He calls us his own for with a price we were bought!

Look, He called “Abraham, come out and away.”  Abraham picked up and left that very day! He told him, “I must take away to make covenant with you.” And so, He removed from him, all that he knew.  Then put him on a journey of total trust and obey, saying. “Come I have a city prepared, I’ll show you the way.”

As I pondered these things, I heard Him say:

“For I am taking away some things, to establish something better.  This includes all things that would hinder you from following me, completing the Call that I have placed upon your life.  You will find that some people are removed from your circle because they will not help you in this journey with me, they are a stumbling block you see. 

There are commitments that you will put down.  And pursuits, that although they are good, they are not from ME.  I need you to see.  I NEED you to BE. Be what I have called you to be. Not what you think or what you think others think you should be.  I need you to be free. Free to follow Me in a bold new way, in a dimension of my Glory and in a freedom from fear and self-doubt.  Don’t you see, I am calling you to ME. I need you to BE. Be my witness, be my mouth, my pen with which I write upon peoples hearts. But to BE you must first BE STILL WITH ME! 

I am taking away to establish, far more than you can see. It stretches out to Eternity.  Yes my love, you are touching into Eternity, with every breathe you breath, every stroke of your pen, every Word shared that comes from ME. God breathed Words, God Breathed inspiration, God breathed moves at my direction.   

Ah, I heard your question, “how will I know, how can I be sure, that it isn’t just me?” You hear far well, and you see, now I’m teaching you, it’s all about leaning on ME. “Practice makes perfect,” in the things of this world. But, with ME, “Patience makes Perfect,” as you wait on ME.  Be Patient with yourself, Be Patient with ME as you hold out your being, heart and soul, waiting expectantly.  I will not be late, I will bestow.  Give yourself time to Grow in the Art of Waiting so you will know. 

Remember the scripture, Paul did write?  That these light afflictions, are really so slight in view of the Eternal weight of My Glory.  Afflictions are vexations, not just outward, but inward too.  These are the things I am taking from you.

For My Glory will cover and blanket you and you must learn to wear it well. The weight of my Glory is a “show and tell.”  I will show you and I will tell you, and it will show and you will tell.  For I cover you with my Glory, My Princess Bride, I take you for My Queen to live by My side.  You must know your worth, how dear to Me you are!  You are far more beautiful than the millions of stars. For you sparkle and shine with a light Divine that comes from within, as I bid you to “Come and Dine.”  Feast at my table, prepared just for you. At this table, there is room for only us two!  This is a private banquet, for my love and ME. For I desire your face to see. I desire you voice in My ear as you whisper sweet nothings of how I am so dear. Does that shock you, or surprise you that I would say, “I desire you My Love, so Come Away?”  For as much as you long to hear My voice, loud and strong, I long to hear your heart beat out to ME, it’s own special Love Song.  It is the song, that only “we” can sing, it is the song of My Bride in Love with Her King.”