Calling

   I know that Jesus did not die on the cross so that i could just go to church on Sunday mornings. There is a very specific reason that the Father called me into knowledge of His Son. We know, because of so many references in the Scripture, that the reason we were created and why He saved us, was to bring Himself glory. ( a few being: Is 43:6-7, Jer 13:11, Psalm 106:8, Rom 3:23)
   But there is a very unique and specific calling for me. One that He had in mind before I was even born.  Paul and Barnabas were called out by His Holy Spirit for a specific mission.
Acts 13:2 "While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."

   In that passage it does not say what the specific calling was on the two. But He had obviously told them.  When Paul wrote some of the letters to the churches, he told what his calling was.  (Rom 1:1; 1 Cor. 1:1; Gal 1:15-16)

 Can you bring Him the most glory from your life without knowing a specific calling?  Could Paul have been as effective in spreading the gospel if he had not received a specific calling? 
     He knew he was called to preach the gospel to the gentiles. He had his target, so he could stay on mark.  That was how God wanted to glorify Himself in Paul.
  Think of how much time we waste when we do not know our calling. We stand around not knowing what to do.

 2 Peter 1:10b "Therefore, Brethren, be all the more certain His calling and choosing you;"

1 Thes. 5:24 "Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass."

Laryngitis

Day 4 with no voice.

Man, it is crazy how much I depend on it. It's such a natural thing. My job even depends on it. 2 weeks now not working. That's going to hurt.

Mother's day was interesting. All I could do was whisper. And with some not able to hear very well with my normal voice, it made for some very frustrating conversations. And since most cannot read lips, words were a completely useless form of communication. :D

But the hardest has not been the lack of conversations with others. It was the first day, on Sunday.
The team was leading us in worship and I opened my mouth to sing, and nothing came out. It broke my heart. I wanted so badly to sing! I felt like I couldn't worship as much without my voice. but then it hit me....

When you get so used to worshiping God in a certain way at a certain place, I think it becomes more of a habit. Why else would I feel that I couldn't worship as well in that setting? It's so routine I don't even recognize it.

I love that I can sing. And I love that the Lord has called me to sing. But I must not love singing for God more than I love God.

In My Utmost For His Highest, Oswald Chambers writes, "Your god may be your little Christian habit-the habit of prayer or Bible reading at certain times of your day. Watch how your Father will upset your schedule if you begin to worship your habit instead of what your habit symbolizes."

Pursuit

You know, when you pursue and chase after, you can tire quickly.

Sometimes it's nice to

BE

Pursued.

How bad do you want it?

"Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread. When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people. So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God. On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter's side and woke him up, saying, "Get up quickly " And his chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals." And he did so. And he said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. When Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting." Acts 12:1-11

I don't believe that I will ever truly comprehend the depth of prayer. But I have seen and heard what He does when His children are on their faces before Him.

We want so many things, good things. We want our families to be saved. We want healing. We want miracles in those impossible situations. We want to see a move of His Holy Spirit. We want, dare I say it, Revival in the land! We want our churches everywhere to be burning with passion for His Name! To carry out His vision. But do we really want those things? I submit that we do not! It's just talk! It sounds good to us, just like going on vacation sounds good.

There's only one thing that brings those to us, PRAYER.
And I'm not talking about the little prayers that you shoot God's way in the morning before you rush off to do YOUR business for the day. I'm not talking about the half hearted prayer you mutter because it's the thing to do. That's NOT Prayer!

I'm talking about anguish, fasting, keeping you up at night, labored prayer. If you've never seen God do a great work through your family, then you haven't labored for it. If you've never seen Him do a great work through your church, then you haven't labored for it! If you are facing an impossible situation, why would you do anything else but drop to your knees in prayer? It doesn't matter how long it takes for you to get an answer, you stick it out and fight in prayer to the end.
Where are the people who are on their faces before a Holy God with prayer and fasting?
If you are not praying, then you don't want it! It's that simple.

From reading Acts 12, this is what we know happens when people are praying:

Chains are broken
The enemy is blinded
Doors open by themselves &
People's lives are saved

That should be enough to keep us on our face.

Nat

Acts 12:5-10

O.k. It will be a while before I have pictures.....and I have no idea how long a while is.It's taking forever to finish because I can't make up my mind on the colors!

So I was reading in Acts today and this is what God showed me. In Acts 12, Herod put Peter in prison basically for a political reason. He didn't break any law, he had just ruffled some feathers of some of the non-believing Jews, and Herod saw that it would please them to have Peter killed. But the awesome thing is, the church was praying. It says in vs. 5 "So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him." The most important word to me in that sentence is the little word, BUT. "But the church was earnestly praying". And because the church was praying, his chains fell off, the gate opened, he was set free and his life was saved!

That's so amazing!! I could spend an hour on this......
Just in closing, remember this -

When the church prays, chains are Broken, Doors are Opened, and peoples lives WILL BE SAVED. Amen

~NaT~

Bondage or Freedom

Exodus 17
1Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. 2Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water that we may drink " And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?" 3But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, "Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" 4So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me." 5Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6"Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Wow! They had a need. That need was water. They had been freed from the bondage that the Egyptians had placed on them. But now it gets tough. Now they must trust their god with their entire lives. If they had no water, they died. As simple as that. But God provided, even though, as you just read, they grumbled and were even angry at Moses for daring to take them away from the "comforts" of Egypt.I say "comforts" because they were not TRUE comforts. Egypt was what they were used to. They had grown accustom to that lifestyle. Some had never known anything different. They pretty much new what to expect when they got up in the morning. But what they were used to was beatings, hard unmerciful labor, and just enough food to keep them alive to work. Comfort? I don't think so.But how often does our God invite us to freedom with a promise that He will come through for us, but we run back to our "comforts". God promises me that he will come through for me. That he will take care of that problem. But I run back to my anger because I can't control the situation. HE tells me that HE created my inmost being and knit me together in my mother's womb, but I cling to my jealousy, self-hatred and fear that something better will come and take my spot. I wallow in the filth of my selfishness. It's what I've known. To walk away from it leaves me venerable. I have to abandon everything that I have always believed to trust in someone else. In One that does not always tell me what He's doing. That's hard. But even with all their disbelief, God still provided what they needed.(Mercy) They lived. He gave them water to refresh them and invited them to trust Him again.His mercy calls to us. His grace invites us to try again. To understand that losing our life for Him is actually gaining life. And life more abundant.