Desires We know As LIFE

My thoughts…

I was thinking about us… humanity… God’s chosen creation… And how He created us in His own image (Genesis 1:27).  How that image is to reflect God… I then thought of what we all desire as humanity.

We all desire hope… joy… peace… grace… what is faithful… righteousness… morality… justice… love… acceptance… courage… humility… self-control… purpose… security… and eternal life in Heaven. 

And it is clear when we read God’s word… these desires have not only been put in us by God our Creator but can only be had, satisfied and answered and given by God our Creator.

But by denying God in our daily life, we deny and deprive ourselves of what we desire most (what we somehow know as “Life”).  And nowhere else to turn we turn to the substitutes of the world that fail, never satisfy and destroy our soul.

When we deny God we reflect the fallen and hungry world BUT when we take hold of God’s hand like a little child- LIFE comes…  For we were made by Jesus Christ.  

“He was with God in the beginning.  Through Him all things were made and without Him nothing was made that has been made.  In Him was life, and that life was the light of men…” John 1:3

(Take your hands and lock your fingers together.  One of your hands illustrates your soul and the other illustrates God who is Life.)  God created our soul to yoke “perfectly” with His Spirit just like our hands fit together perfectly. Note: Matthew 11:30

Several verses in the bible say, “Clothe yourself with Jesus Christ.” This would also illustrate how the Spirit of God perfectly fits our soul.   

Allowing our soul to be yoked, calibrated, receptive, obedient, abided in the Spirit of God manifests His good, perfect satisfying will in our life (Romans‬ ‭12:2‬)‬‬ and produce what is says below. 

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no Law.”  Galatians 5:22-23

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” John 3:5

The Spirit alone gives eternal life.  Human effort accomplishes nothing.  And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” John 6:63   Note: Galatians 3:3

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life... (John 14:6) It makes perfect sense then if He created us then He is the source of what we desire to fulfill and define as LIFE.  But in order to experience and have what our soul desires, we have to come to Jesus the source of LIFE.  We have to surrender our life to Him and make Him Lord and Savior over our soul. He is the only way we will ever experience LIFE and LIGHT for our soul on a daily basis. 

“For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, and the hungry soul He has filled it with what is good.” Psalm 107:9

Come and experience the way, the truth and the life in your soul!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus I know by the way I have been living I have not only failed to experience LIFE in you but have looked to other things to try to satisfy my soul and in doing so have sinned against you - for I have looked upon them as if they were gods.  Forgive me.

In my faulty human understanding I have also sinned against you and others as well.  In this I ask humbly for your forgiveness.  I have heard that you created me and my rightful place is with you.  You are the LIFE and LIGHT in which I have sought for so long.  Jesus I surrender my life to you.  Be my LORD and Savior and fill me with your glorious Spirit that I may not strive in the ways and understandings of men but in your perfect will for my life. 

Thank you Jesus for laying down your life for mine that I may have life and life more abundantly in you.   Help me to know you and grow in you according to your word.  Help me find a spirit filled bible believing church that I can grow and be part of.  Help me as I read your word to understand it and have it enrich my soul as you guide me in reading it.  Enrich the soil of my soul that the roots of my faith will grow deep in your love.  In the measure of faith you have given me- I pray this in your wonderful name- In Jesus name Amen.

*May the Spirit of God be poured out upon you according to your honest words of faith in Jesus Name, Amen.

What Do You Have in Your Hand?

Pastor Brian Houston's encouraging word from the Lord.

Hope this touches you in about your calling, purpose, gifts and talents....

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/my-hand-my-heart/id193231712?i=338979810&mt=2

Time 2

--> God In Time

 ^“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”  JOHN 3:16-17

“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.  And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.  All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” JOHN 3:18-21

How can a person already be judged? How is this possible? 

God knows all… He does not just know what is in a person’s heart but what "has" and "will" happen in our life.  He is El Olam- the Everlasting/Eternal God.  He sees past, present, and future all at once.  He knows the outcome of our lives.  He knows if we are going to come to Him or not in the time we are allowed here on earth.  So God, who knows all, can judge based on what he knows from beginning to end.  As Christians, God knew the time of our salvation in Jesus, before we were ever born.

Imagine Jesus who spoke everything into existence, in essence, wrote the book of time and then he inserted himself into the book of time.  The book of time is “figurative speak”- I don’t know if there is an “actual” book of time but there isn’t a better way I can come up with to convey this truth at the moment.
    

God sent Himself into time to save those he created in time.   Jesus, The Son Of God, subjected Himself to time when the Spirit of God impregnated Mary who was a virgin.  Jesus was born fully God and fully man. 
 

Think of it…. The author of life came to save his creation but almost all his creation did not even recognize Him.
 

John 1:10 says, “He came into the very world he created, but the world didn't recognize him.”

Jesus being God in time, he had wisdom beyond his years. LUKE 2:46-50.   Yet being God in time he did not perform any “public” miracles until after his water baptism by John the Baptist.  Why is this? I do not know. 

I do say “public” miracles because his mother Mary seemed to know he could do miracles as when she asked him to provide wine at the wedding in Cana.  (JOHN 2:1-12).   John writes in 2:11: “This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was Jesus’ first “display” of his glory.  And his disciples believed in him.”  Another version uses the word “manifest” instead of display, which is to “make known, realized, and/or exposed to view”.

It is obvious Jesus was concerned about the “timing” of revealing such power publically.  “How does this concern you and me?” Jesus replied.  “My time has not yet come.”  It is as if God and SON had “events” schedule to thread in the ribbon of time.  I might even say the “story” of time.

And Jesus doesn’t just refer to time once but several times and the apostle John was aware of this “timing” as well in his writings.   John wrote, “….”yet no one seized him because his hour had not yet come.” -JOHN 8:20 

And… “At this they tired to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.” JOHN 7:30.  Is this not an odd statement?  Odd but not so odd if God had a plan in place.
 

This idea of timing, points to events as being governed and predestined by God.   We see this not only in New Testament scriptures but Old Testament scriptures where prophecies were written about Christ.  These prophecies date back all the way to Adam and Eve.   Probably the most well known prophecies are the ones written 700 years before Jesus Christ’s birth.

“Who has believed our message?
    To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
² My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
    like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
    nothing to attract us to him.
³ He was despised and rejected—
    a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
    He was despised, and we did not care.

⁴ Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
    it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
    a punishment for his own sins!
⁵ But he was pierced for our rebellion,
    crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
    He was whipped so we could be healed.
⁶ All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
    We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
    the sins of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and treated harshly,
    yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
    And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
    he did not open his mouth.
⁸ Unjustly condemned,
    he was led away.
No one cared that he died without descendants,
    that his life was cut short in midstream.
But he was struck down
    for the rebellion of my people.
⁹ He had done no wrong
    and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
    he was put in a rich man’s grave.

¹⁰ But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him
    and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
    he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
    and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
¹¹ When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,
    he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
    my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
    for he will bear all their sins.
¹² I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,
    because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
    He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.”

ISAIAH 53:1-12

Literally the LORD’s good plan to save us was accomplished in his hands.  His act of pure sacrifice cleansed all those who believe in Him from Adam and Eve to when time as know it finally ends. 

 “For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us.  We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us.   God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times.  And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus.”  ROMANS 3:24-26

Time 1

--

“There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—“ Ecclesiastes 3:1

King Solomon, one of the wisest men who ever lived, wrote this verse.  He understood that God appoints time…. to everything.   

Our concept or understanding of time is not God’s understanding of time.   And we are often indoctrinated in God by God’s use of time.  However, we are often ignorant of time and it’s use.  We miss use time.   We are possessive and selfish of what we consider “our” time.  We are possessive of the people and things in time, which cannot be possessed.  We fail to realize (repeatedly) is what we hope for others and ourselves cannot be destined and/or governed by us.  And what we force on our own accord often brings negative consequences and un-satisfaction.    

Jesus teaching is disciples to pray said to pray like this to the Heavenly Father, “May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10

May God’s will be done on earth, as it is in heaven…. Not our will be done on earth. 

When things don’t happen the way we expect we become impatient and frustrated with others, ourselves and with God.   Sometimes God's  “appointed time” for a certain thing has not come or become realized yet. (Remember Abraham, Sarah,  and Hagar.)

Often in unexpected death of a loved one we become angry and resentful with God because we think God has wronged them and us of the short time we got to spend with them on this earth.   What we do not fully understand is that all souls created by God a- belong to God and we are just brief stewards of what God fully owns -for he is the one who created us and gave us what we have.

“For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”  Ephesians 2:10

We are to take care of young, old, family, friend, neighbor, and even foe as if they belong to God- even if they don’t have a relationship with the LORD. 

So they might see… as we live as ambassadors of Christ, and come to the LORD and be not only saved in the LORD but have a more satisfying life that the LORD gives to those who trust Him.   

I believe the more we understand God is responsible for our life and others people’s life -the more we see life is truly in Him.  (Read that again.)

When a person tries to control what they can’t control there is no peace.  When a child, striving for control, disobeys the rules of the house - what ensues? What ensues when we try or presume we have control over our life?  Foolishness takes over does it not?  

For those living in God have to daily/hourly relinquish in thought and prayer what they thought they might have control over so they may have what God promises of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (Note Galatians 5:22-23)

Philippians 4:6-7 says “Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

What is this saying to you about control, time, and your life? 

“Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a city and spend a year there and carry on our business and make money. Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? You are [really] but a wisp of vapor (a puff of smoke, a mist) that is visible for a little while and then disappears [into thin air]. You ought instead to say, ‘If the Lord is willing, we shall live and we shall do this or that [thing]’.  But as it is, you boast [falsely] in your presumption and your self-conceit. All such boasting is wrong. So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.” James 4:13-17

How do you think about life, time and who has control?

I want to tell you about an event I heard in church years ago while the Lord had us living in a little eastern Washington town.   A family was heading to church camp.  The mother and father were in one car leading the way as the grandmother and granddaughter followed in a car behind them.   During the trip the granddaughter spoke up excitedly from the backseat.  “Jesus said he is taking me to heaven.”

The grandmother replied with what I understood as a kind presumption.  Something like…. “Yes one day you will be with Jesus in heaven.”

The little girl smiled and said, “No I am going now Grandma.”

It was then the grandmother’s car was struck by another car and instantly the precious child was killed.

This event and loss must have been more difficult then words can express… I am sure her mother and father had hopes for their daughter and thoughts about her future - as all parents do or should.  I am sure she is still thought about often as they live out the rest of their appointed time on this earth.  But even though this was a great loss- I think they find great comfort in their little girl’s recited excited words that came from the backseat that day and how she was instantly taken to be with Jesus to heaven.     

We often “feel” restrained by time but God, who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow is not and someday at our appointed time we, who have put our trust in Jesus, will be with Him.      

 Things maybe beautiful for a time but without God everything becomes meaningless- not to mention disheartening.  May the love of God, hope in God and faith in God encourage us always- in Jesus name Amen!

GOD- THE LIFE CHANGER. Pt 3

THE GATEWAY TO LIFE

So knowing this about God’s thoughts and ways… we must also understand the way in which we enter heaven is not the same open ended views as man foolishly and dangerously assures himself in.

JESUS said, “I am the way, and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” JOHN 14:6

JESUS said, "But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it." MATTHEW 7:14

It is difficult because people want to make their own way into heaven but there is no other way to be saved except through JESUS CHRIST – the SON of GOD.   The blood of GOD was GIVEN for all humanity but not all humanity want to accept this FACT. 

JESUS speaking of Himself said: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life,”  JOHN 3:16

The corrupt understanding keeps people from knowing GOD like a loaded down camel trying to pass through a narrow gate.  The man must be relieved of his sinful understanding just as the camel must be unloaded of his baggage to pass through the gate.  GOD IS the ONLY one who can GIVE one NEW UNDERSTANDING.

I remember there were times I didn’t want to surrender to God afraid God would take something from me or turn me into something I didn’t want to be but what I wasn’t aware of was GOD HAD PLANS for me and had I realized GOD had plans for me I might had not wasted so much energy, time and money being something was not meant to be.  

It is just as JEREMIAH 29:11 says: "'For I know the plans for you,' says the the LORD.  'They are plans for good not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.'"

God made you and if HE made you then HE made you for a reason and purpose but in order to find the plans God has for us we must GIVE YOURSELF to YOUR rightful MAKER and trust HIM.

FAITH and TRUST

ISAIAH wrote:  "Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up.  These events will bring great honor to the Lord’s name; they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.”

Have you seen cypress trees?  Not far from my house is a park that has a river. Along the river's edge are these enormous cypress trees.   Where the water gets high at times, the water has exposed it's large roots and you can see them reaching deep into the water.  It is like JEREMIAH 17:7-8

"But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence.  They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water.  Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried about long months of drought.  Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit."  JEREMIAH 17:7-8

That is FAITH.  Sometimes we see a person’s faith, the “roots” of their faith when exposed by different situations and we see them reaching and trusting in GOD which gives them an anchoring peace in those trying and difficult times.  A person’s faith is like a canopy of shade on those hot dry days as they stick their roots in the cool refreshing waters of God’s love and faithfulness.   Is not a trusting faith a sign of God’s power and love?

REMEMBER IT IS GOD WHO DOES THE TRANSFORMING IN PEOPLE- IT IS NOT FOUND IN THE UNDERSTANDINGS OF MAN OR THE DEVICES OF MAN. 

Come to HIM.  Be SAVED.  Be TRANSFORMED.  Become and live the DESTINY GOD planned for you long ago as you EXPERIENCE and come to KNOW HIM.

MercyMe - Shake (Official Music Video)
  

Recipient of God's love

"To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."  Ephesians 3:19

Nothing edifies the soul more then accepting and being recipient of God's love.

A submitted soul living and growing in the knowledge of God's love builds a house on a solid foundation.  This love that not only builds but restores a house and repairs a house.

The real heartfelt knowledge of God’s love establishes one's soul in Christ.  Promotes growth in ways the soul will probably never fully understand.    God’s love gives a wisdom that renews the chambers and hallways and rooms of our heart.  It grows and promotes affection for others.  It gives the warmth of grace where once only hardness fossilized the attitudes of the heart.  It bestows virtue by means of understanding the Lord of one’s life.  It waters with a blessedness that rust and moth and even time itself cannot touch.  God’s love preserves the soul as the petals of the heart seek and face the light of His love.

In short God loves helps us do all these things....
“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13:7

The more we accept God's love, his Lordship and his authority as overseer of our life the more we can live in His love. 

His love emboldens an individual- not in himself/herself but in Christ Himself.

What is understood in the understandings of man as obligations of faith are carried out not in some kind of chore or rule but the freeing Spirit of God.  It as if the religious laws have disappeared because we accept God love that enables us to endure all things.       

God’s Spirit helps us live in the moment instead of our own thoughts of the moment.   Not by some human plan but God's plan.   Someone say that is crazy to relinquish control to God but I say if God knows what is best for me- then God's will be done.  Romans 8:28  says "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."  

Besides who are we fooling by thinking we have control.  Do you really in the scope of things have control?  And what happens when you try to control?

Spirit and Truth- It is not us but Him....

In high school a couple of my friends and I went on an overnight hike up in the mountains.  We camped next to this lake and when we awoke and emerged from our tent the lake was still and it perfectly mirrored the majesty of mountain standing over it.  

I find some of the most powerful times we can have with the Lord are times were we have just quietly submitted ourselves to the Lord.  Where the waters of our soul have become still like that lake in the mountains.  Where the waters of our thoughts mirror God’s loving majesty standing over us.

“As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.” Proverbs 27:19

We all have to ask ourselves everyday, where is our heart looking?

Example: I find when we have a powerful time of singing, worship and praise together... it is very organic. It is very genuine and very sincere.   It is often very spontaneous in how things are carried out, gifted and given -as souls are yielded to the Spirit of God.  And though things are spontaneous, they are somehow still orderly.  The time is not filled with disorder but harmony.   It reminds makes me of a tapestry or a patchwork quilt.  One might be singing with ordinary words, another words of angels, another utterances of praise, one words of prophecy, some dancing, some bowing, some with hands raised high, some hands spread out low as giving an offering and then you have the musicians and singers who are also playing and moving according to the Spirit.  All different yet we see each piece is sewed and threaded together in the Mastery of the Spirit of God.  Again this wasn't birthed out of some human plan but God's plan as we submitted ourselves to Him and mirror what we receive from His majesty.

When we strive for “some” affect.... because we had or someone else had previous success we resort to shallow “fleshly” thinking- where we are not submitted to God’s Spirit.

Success only comes when God works through the vessels and hearts of those vessels.

"And though they worshiped the LORD, they continued to follow the religious customs of the nations from which they came. And this is still going on among them today.  They follow their former practices instead of truly worshiping the LORD and obeying the laws, regulations, instructions and commands he gave the descendants of Jacob, whose name he changed to Israel." 2 Kings 17:33-34

How often do Christian denominations and churches follow "religious" practices they have passed down from generation to generation instead of truly worship the LORD?  They do it "this" way because that is the way they have always done it. 

"Religious" practices do nothing for the soul.  I do not mind people thinking about former days -especially if it stirs them up in the Lord but there are these days as well.  For the word of God mentions times when people no longer called on God and stirred themselves to take hold of Him. Note Isaiah 64:7 

Live in these days as well as you remember the faithfulness of the Lord, looking forward and anticipating what else He wants to do in our lives.  

"He" not us... (think about Psalm 23) 

How we forget and allow ourselves to be thought of less of by circumstances and actions of others when God has called us into his kingdom and for  “such a time as this.”

 As the body of Christ, the Apostle Paul says we shouldn't hold on to the past or live in the past.

I find no maturing and knew revelation of Christ can be built upon just living in the past and even more foolishly deciding that we have already apprehended all there is to know of God.  Paul says he's forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to those things that are ahead that he might walk deeper in the call that Jesus Christ apprehended him for.

You and I cannot walk deeper in the call/purpose/the love unless our revelation of Jesus Christ deepens in our heart not just our mind.   That we might know how wide, how long, how high, how deep his love really is....  For in Christ our Father has glorious unlimited resources for us to gain a greater confidence in him, to be encouraged, to grow and mature, and have a growing relationship with Him which is made possible by His Holy Spirit.

Remember what Paul wrote:  [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….” Philippians 3:10

It is not by might or power but by His Spirit! (Note Zechariah 4:6). Those lost in the world cannot receive from His Spirit because they aren't looking for Him and don't have Him living inside of them- for when we gave our lives to Christ He not only changed our heart but gave His Spirit to us as well so we might (by our choice) become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly. 

Jesus says, "I am the truth, the way and life, no one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6.   I have found this statement to be more then true.

No one can receive from God deeper building revelations of God unless they give their lives to God.

 1 Corinthians 2:9-12 says  "But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, more ear heard, nor have entered the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has reveal them to us through His Spirit.  For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.  For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?  Even  so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God." 

God wants us to have a deeper growing revelation of Himself so that we might live in the fullness of life and power that comes from God.  I am reminded of all .... Ephesians 3:14-20

To think that the Creator of all the universe wants to share this with us is amazing yet so many ignore this fact. 

I read this morning- there is no such thing as chance. "For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him. You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways." Note: Isaiah 64:4-5

It is important to wait for Him.  To thank Him, to do right,  and remember in thought and deed the ways of God.  All very difficult and even impossible without the assistance of God in one's life.  

How often does God do the same thing the same way every time… even during our personal devotional time with Him?   For He makes all things new does he not?

Our devotional time may start with us submitting to Him but from then on out it is Him that is guiding and directing.  And sometimes this can be frustrating because just about the time we think we know how God works it seems He changes it on us.

 I have found God doesn’t like when we try to fit Him in a box in our mind.  I think He doesn’t want us to put Him in a box because He doesn’t want us to live in a box.   After all we are to live/abide in Him and His Love.   We are to discover nothing is impossible with God but with a box you are limited to the possibilities and you are limiting God as well.

God wants us to know that He works in many ways- not just in the ways we think He works in.   

Have you ever seen the wind caught in a box?  Me either.      

     

So trust Him…. Let God work and He will reveal more of Himself to us and as we mature in His wonderful loving revelation of Himself -we will manifest Him in ways we didn't think possible because He was allowed to have control.  We come open handed, no agenda, no presumption, submitted and seeking Him with anticipation.  All eyes and hearts on Him, who is our hope, strength and all and all.    

How I ponder these things in my heart and am thankful for them.