Home » Posts tagged 'Life' (Page 2)
Stand-
This land is new, your train is leaving.
Are you afraid, skeptical?
Breathe-
Lift your hand, wave.
A flag caught in the wind.
There is noise.
Your bags have locks,
Release-
There are hangers, there are shelves,
Chairs robust and sofas textured.
Beds and dressers sitting bold.
Relax-
Clouds scatter and the sun shines.
The cold you felt will trickle away.
In the midnight there is a blanket.
You’re tucked in.
No more tickets sold.
My hands use to not rise above my shoulders. I would just hold them up casually and I would mumble out a word of praise. Kneeling down to pray felt unusual and I would say a few quick words and get up again. There were no signs of intimacy with God coming from me. I was afraid of His touch, His power, His voice, the whole connection. Afraid that if I lifted my hands in worship, and sent out a praise that was clear I would get a reply and have to change or get no reply and leave change to my imagination. I was afraid to release my deepest needs and thanks in prayer, because I could not see God’s ear and did not know if I would be heard. Looking back I wonder was this belief and unbelief warring or was I crippled by fear of the unknown and what could be.
Doubt and fear will work together effectively if they each are not recognized for what they are. Serving each individually with cancellation notices is where to begin. This can be done by replacing your normal response to worship and praise or prayer with a new response. That little bit of belief that has you lifting your arm halfway up can cause you to extend it fully. The same belief that is there to get you to mumble can cause you to speak clearly and directly to God in praise and prayer. If you have enough belief to get on your knees you are already expecting some time to pass and a connection to occur or else you would just stand and speak your request to God. Your ounce of belief has you working in small ways that will lead to a greater confidence in God. You just have to follow through and not change your mind during the response.
Concern and hesitation are not unexpected when you are getting to know and trust God, and the Bible lets us know we only need a very little amount of faith to initiate a response. The key is to keep moving in the direction that will hold and increase our faith by switching out our responses that inhabit fear and doubt for responses that trigger confidence and belief.
And Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Matthew 17.20 KJV
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29.13 KJV
Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Psalm 29.2 KJV
These feet feel a line that is not seen
I walk with order
My soul is guided, this is not a tour
This is how to go about my day
Supervision is what I needed
Vision beyond my natural eyes
When darkness cluttered my path
A sacred voice was as a scent
I followed
You took control and placed it in my care
Life seemed encrypted
Hacking, no specialty of mine
I found a shared key
My spiritual eyes now see
And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. Isaiah 30.21 KJV
Thou has turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; Psalm 30:11 KJV
To be glad, keep your sanity and your peace through overwhelming circumstances is evidence of having joy. Joy is for us to have, God supplies it, if you are without it you must request it, accept and hold on to it.
What can steal your joy: relationships with others that end badly, being hurt by others, losing a loved one, a home, your entire livelihood, and being lost without meaning to your life? All of these situations can cause you to feel sad, down, grieved, angry, or alone, basically leaving you without hope. Situations like these that occur in your life can bring you tears that you can’t seem to escape. You may feel as though you are drowning, and no amount of swimming will get you to the surface. You may soak your pillow, your bed, your couch, and even the shoulder of a dear friend only to see no change.
Being without joy during times like these can lead to grief. No one wants to hurt, be without joy, or never receive true deliverance. When you let go of joy and take a hold of thoughts that you know make you hurt, your mind can allow you to believe that you need to be miserable. Once this occurs you can become a tenant in the house of destruction and start to lose pieces of yourself as you deteriorate in that house. The longer you are in that state the more displaced you become, and the more comfortable you become in your grief. You do not have to stay there or think on the bad of your situation; instead, you can find the good and move on.
At times pain must visit, but it does not have to make its home in your heart. Each day you can gain and move forward. To move forward, daily deliverance must be sought after. It takes a strong prayer life, fasting, and reading the bible so that you can gain power, knowledge, and inspiration. You can also be a witness to yourself by recalling what God has already done for you. If you are still breathing you have that to be glad about.
God has joy for us, a perfect supply for each one in need. We must recognize when our joy is under attack and call on him for protection. It is so easy to ask and not receive because the enemy can slip through any opening no matter how small. He can cause us not to move and we can be passed over. When you need help God’s ears will hear your voice crying out. He will look on you and have mercy. God will lift you out of trouble and out of waters that you cannot swim in. When you see no way to the top God will send help and peace will follow. When peace comes from above we must grab hold of it and keep it so that we can stand. God will not force you to rise up, you must accept the deliverance that he offers.
God is the most high. He is the highlight of our lives and with him all walls can be cleared. He is a shield, a strong tower, and our glory. The joy God gives puts dancing in our life’s feet, and gives us power to lift our heads and be glad.
Scripture Inspiration; Psalm 30: 1-12 KJV
With the sun shining brightly above us, we would run around the yard, lie out in the grass, sit on the porch talking and giggling or share a snack. Jennifer and I became best friends overnight. She moved in next door to me and it was a though we knew each other already and were just reunited. We did not waste time getting to know each other we became comfortable with one another immediately. We would get up early in the morning and play together all day and there was nothing we could not talk about together.
One afternoon we were sitting in the grass of the backyard we shared, talking about the subject of God. Jennifer said to me that I could ask God anything as long as I prayed in Jesus’s name. She then asked me if I wanted to pray and I said yes. We kneeled together, side by side, right there in the grass and prayed to God. She guided me along the way until the end making sure I got the words correct. I did not know it at the time, but that is when my faith first began to develop. From that point on I knew how to pray to God and whenever I needed to I would kneel and pray to him is Jesus’s name.
I was about 8 at the time and I knew of God, but knowledge of prayer coming from my friend was different. We were sharing something real. Our religious back grounds were different, but we spoke to the same God in the same way, and heard back from him because of the way we prayed. I was not too young to pray or to begin a relationship with God. What Jennifer was brave enough to do for me allowed me to have the needed power to make it through my childhood, teen, and young adult years.
Learning how to pray allowed me to be resilient during the times life ran me over and left nothing, but tire marks and debris. I had plenty of tire marks and debris over the years, but prayer got me up each time, God removed the marks, and vacuumed the debris. I did not know why God was not preventing life from running me over then, but I still prayed. Without praying I would not have been resilient throughout my life. I would not be what I am today at this moment, without knowing that God could hear me and answer my request. I am grateful that I had a friend who knew what to share with me one sunny afternoon. It was more than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I got bread for life.
When friends share their life with you it is because they care about you and they want to celebrate life with you. They will help you when, and however they can. A real friend will give you the tools you need to live, grow, and succeed in your own way. They will not use you as someone to spread out over life’s puddles and walk on top of. Good friends can save your life without even knowing it. Look for and hold on to the very best friends that God places on your path not just a person with a BBF title.
Spiritual Pulse 