I have decided that some prayers are dangerous! For example, when you tell God, "Whatever it takes," that's a dangerous prayer. Yet, even when I understand that God really does hear me and He really does know my heart, I still find that dangerous prayer to be on my lips.
Recently, I came across a prayer by Sir Francis Drake. Even though it was written many years ago during the Elizabethan period, it is still so powerful for today.
I dare you to pray this and mean it!!!
"Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes; and to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love."
Focus on Him!
Ann
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
My husband and I have a habit of drinking our morning coffee and watching the birds in our backyard sanctuary. Last night, we had read the story of creation in Genesis, and had talked about vs. 21 - 22 in which He made every living thing, and the 'winged creatures.' Vs. 22 says "And God blessed them..." This is the first blessing recorded. How interesting.
Anyway, as I was watching and listening and remembering our conversation, I noticed certain birds calling out, then listening; calling, then listening. They would repeat the call, then listen until they heard the same call back. Then a beautiful conversation would fill the air: the bird in our back yard carrying on a conversation with the bird in the distance until that bird returned home. It knew the way because it focused on one voice calling.
The bird didn't respond to all the other birds calling. It knew it's own kind, and the bird in the distance recognized it's call, responded and let the sound lead it.
These blessed winged creatures reminded me of Zephaniah 3:17: "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."
I have always marveled at the thought that God was singing over me. But this morning it took a new twist.
Could it be that as God is rejoicing over us with singing, He is also waiting for us to respond? We will hear His song when we sing the duet with Him?
Like the winged creatures He created, He calls and listens intently for our answer. As He calls and we answer, He leads us. As we tune our ears to His voice alone, we are quieted with His love and led in His ways. He listens for our voice since we are made in His image and our hearts are His...we are His own 'kind.' He longs for our conversation, desires our song back to Him.
The Lord takes great delight in you and I. He quiets us with His love, and He rejoices over us with singing. What an amazing God we serve. Oh, how He loves us!
Tune your ears to His voice alone, focus your eyes on Him. And keep the conversation going as He leads you.
Focused On Him,
Ann
Anyway, as I was watching and listening and remembering our conversation, I noticed certain birds calling out, then listening; calling, then listening. They would repeat the call, then listen until they heard the same call back. Then a beautiful conversation would fill the air: the bird in our back yard carrying on a conversation with the bird in the distance until that bird returned home. It knew the way because it focused on one voice calling.
The bird didn't respond to all the other birds calling. It knew it's own kind, and the bird in the distance recognized it's call, responded and let the sound lead it.
These blessed winged creatures reminded me of Zephaniah 3:17: "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."
I have always marveled at the thought that God was singing over me. But this morning it took a new twist.
Could it be that as God is rejoicing over us with singing, He is also waiting for us to respond? We will hear His song when we sing the duet with Him?
Like the winged creatures He created, He calls and listens intently for our answer. As He calls and we answer, He leads us. As we tune our ears to His voice alone, we are quieted with His love and led in His ways. He listens for our voice since we are made in His image and our hearts are His...we are His own 'kind.' He longs for our conversation, desires our song back to Him.
The Lord takes great delight in you and I. He quiets us with His love, and He rejoices over us with singing. What an amazing God we serve. Oh, how He loves us!
Tune your ears to His voice alone, focus your eyes on Him. And keep the conversation going as He leads you.
Focused On Him,
Ann
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
The Call
God has always had a Remnant...those people who were willing to lay down their individual doctrines and their personal tastes, preferences, and agendas (read this as selfish egos) and seek out what God wants. Only God. They are willing to join together regardless of the opinions of other people and actively, passionately pursue God. They live life on purpose and not by accident. They are not tossed about by fads or manipulation, but are focused on the Word of God and led by His Holy Spirit .
This remnant have their eyes open to see the hand of God in every event: personal, local, city-wide, and in their nation.
Some may call them the "fringe". The Bible calls them the "Sons of Issachar". (1 Chronicles 12:32)These are "men...meaning people, not gender...that had an understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do."
Strong's defines "understanding" as to separate mentally, to distinguish, deal wisely, be prudent, and be cunning.
"Times" means an event, occurrence, incident, happenings, circumstances.
"Know" means to ascertain by seeing. The Hebrew word in this verse is yada which is a word that means God gives the personal understanding and revelation. In other words, this knowing comes from relationship with God, and not from reading a book.
Now, more than ever, we must determine to be in close relationship with God, listen to His Holy Spirit, and focus our eyes like a dove on our Jesus. There can be no compromise, no blending of idols or other "gods". Only Jesus. Only the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The world is rapidly changing. Our nation is on very shaky ground. Who are you listening to? Where are you looking for help? Who or what formulates your beliefs?
God is raising up His remnant. "Let us be as the sons of Issachar".
Get Focused! Stay Focused!
Focus on Him!
Ann
This remnant have their eyes open to see the hand of God in every event: personal, local, city-wide, and in their nation.
Some may call them the "fringe". The Bible calls them the "Sons of Issachar". (1 Chronicles 12:32)These are "men...meaning people, not gender...that had an understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do."
Strong's defines "understanding" as to separate mentally, to distinguish, deal wisely, be prudent, and be cunning.
"Times" means an event, occurrence, incident, happenings, circumstances.
"Know" means to ascertain by seeing. The Hebrew word in this verse is yada which is a word that means God gives the personal understanding and revelation. In other words, this knowing comes from relationship with God, and not from reading a book.
Now, more than ever, we must determine to be in close relationship with God, listen to His Holy Spirit, and focus our eyes like a dove on our Jesus. There can be no compromise, no blending of idols or other "gods". Only Jesus. Only the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The world is rapidly changing. Our nation is on very shaky ground. Who are you listening to? Where are you looking for help? Who or what formulates your beliefs?
God is raising up His remnant. "Let us be as the sons of Issachar".
Get Focused! Stay Focused!
Focus on Him!
Ann
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Ray and I have spent a great deal of time praising God for His protection and marveling at His grace. To intercede for us and keep our home from burning is such a move of His Mighty Hand and His Unfailing Love.
The morning after we found the unburned skillet of grease sitting on the red hot burner, God asked Ray a question: "Are you surprised that I protected you?" Ray, in his honest way, said "Well, yes." God then said, "You shouldn't be! That's Who I Am!"
How many times do we take His love and protection for granted? I am convinced that there are many opportunities for destruction that He intercepts as the Holy Spirit is interceding for us.
Our 6th Definition of the Holy Spirit deals with just this truth:
#6. He is our Intercessor. This is probably one of the greatest miracles of grace. The Spirit who lives inside of us "intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words" (Rom. 8:26). Even when we don't know how to pray, the Spirit prays the perfect will of God. No matter what kind of dark difficulty we face, the Spirit travails for us until we emerge on the other side. (Lee Grady)
The Holy Spirit intercedes for us! How amazing, how awesome, how loving! No matter what you are facing, stay focused on Him. Let Him pray through you and intercede for you. God knows the plans He has for you, and they are the best! (Jer. 29:11) Only He is worthy of all our attention and praise!
Focused On Him,
Ann
The morning after we found the unburned skillet of grease sitting on the red hot burner, God asked Ray a question: "Are you surprised that I protected you?" Ray, in his honest way, said "Well, yes." God then said, "You shouldn't be! That's Who I Am!"
How many times do we take His love and protection for granted? I am convinced that there are many opportunities for destruction that He intercepts as the Holy Spirit is interceding for us.
Our 6th Definition of the Holy Spirit deals with just this truth:
#6. He is our Intercessor. This is probably one of the greatest miracles of grace. The Spirit who lives inside of us "intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words" (Rom. 8:26). Even when we don't know how to pray, the Spirit prays the perfect will of God. No matter what kind of dark difficulty we face, the Spirit travails for us until we emerge on the other side. (Lee Grady)
The Holy Spirit intercedes for us! How amazing, how awesome, how loving! No matter what you are facing, stay focused on Him. Let Him pray through you and intercede for you. God knows the plans He has for you, and they are the best! (Jer. 29:11) Only He is worthy of all our attention and praise!
Focused On Him,
Ann
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Friday Night Miracle
I must share what God did for us last night! I'll get back to my Holy Spirit Definitions later, but this is just too awesome to keep quiet!
Yesterday evening, Ray and I had a couple over for TexMex, and then we drove the 45 minutes to the RockBox Theater to enjoy the good music and fun. I had fixed the spicey meat in my cast-iron skillet, served it in a bowl, cleaned up the kitchen, and off we went. By the time we got home, it was 10:45pm and we went straight to bed. I awoke at 4:30am and went to the kitchen to get a drink of water. To my surprise, I found the ceramic, electric stove top burner on high, red hot and with the skillet of grease on it, still sitting where I had left it. What a shock!
Then it hit me! That skillet sat on the hot burner from 5:30pm to 4:30am. With the grease and meat remains, it should have erupted into flames...at least heavy smoke. Everyone knows a grease fire is the worst! But wait! There was no evidence of smoke or flames! The skillet wasn't even damaged! How did this happen? Was the stove working properly? Absolutely! The stove and skillet were extremely hot, but there was no damage!
Now, we could walk away and say, "Whew, we were sure lucky!" But I KNOW without a doubt, our ever-present God protected us! We should have come home last night to a house engulfed in flames, BUT GOD! Our Most High, Loving God who is Emmanuel...God WITH us...delivered us from destruction as surely as I'm sitting here typing! We have been thanking Him all morning and never want to forget His amazing love,mercy, and protection.
To HIM who is WORTHY, be all GLORY, HONOR, AND PRAISE! We thank YOU, Jesus!
Wow. What an awesome, REAL God we serve!
Focused On Him,
Ann
Yesterday evening, Ray and I had a couple over for TexMex, and then we drove the 45 minutes to the RockBox Theater to enjoy the good music and fun. I had fixed the spicey meat in my cast-iron skillet, served it in a bowl, cleaned up the kitchen, and off we went. By the time we got home, it was 10:45pm and we went straight to bed. I awoke at 4:30am and went to the kitchen to get a drink of water. To my surprise, I found the ceramic, electric stove top burner on high, red hot and with the skillet of grease on it, still sitting where I had left it. What a shock!
Then it hit me! That skillet sat on the hot burner from 5:30pm to 4:30am. With the grease and meat remains, it should have erupted into flames...at least heavy smoke. Everyone knows a grease fire is the worst! But wait! There was no evidence of smoke or flames! The skillet wasn't even damaged! How did this happen? Was the stove working properly? Absolutely! The stove and skillet were extremely hot, but there was no damage!
Now, we could walk away and say, "Whew, we were sure lucky!" But I KNOW without a doubt, our ever-present God protected us! We should have come home last night to a house engulfed in flames, BUT GOD! Our Most High, Loving God who is Emmanuel...God WITH us...delivered us from destruction as surely as I'm sitting here typing! We have been thanking Him all morning and never want to forget His amazing love,mercy, and protection.
To HIM who is WORTHY, be all GLORY, HONOR, AND PRAISE! We thank YOU, Jesus!
Wow. What an awesome, REAL God we serve!
Focused On Him,
Ann
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
The Holy Spirit Defined: #5
For the past couple of months I've had the great honor and pleasure of teaching the Bible to a group of 14 ladies enrolled in the Christian Women's Job Corp. What a joy! These are women ranging from age 20 to 50 something, from various ethnic and cultural situations who have decided to turn their lives around. The have recognized their decisions in the past failed them, and they are courageous enough to change their direction. I am so thankful that all 14 have accepted Jesus as Savior AND Lord. Seeing the Holy Spirit work in them, teach them, and transform them is truly evidence of His Deity. Only God can do these miracles in lives. The Holy Spirit is the counselor we can trust! Here is definition #5.
#5. He is our Counselor. This word is also translated "Advocate," "Comforter" or "Helper." The Greek word, parakletos, means "one called alongside to help." It implies that the Spirit comes to our legal defense when we are accused or troubled; it also means He is a close friend who offers encouragement, consolation and direction when we face any difficulty. He is truly a friend who "sticks closer than a brother" (Prov. 18:24). (Lee Grady)
I am so very thankful for the Truth of the Holy Spirit. His counsel, encouragement, direction, and friendship are not only life-giving, He is life changing! Focus on Him in all situations. Only He is God.
Focused on Him,
Ann
#5. He is our Counselor. This word is also translated "Advocate," "Comforter" or "Helper." The Greek word, parakletos, means "one called alongside to help." It implies that the Spirit comes to our legal defense when we are accused or troubled; it also means He is a close friend who offers encouragement, consolation and direction when we face any difficulty. He is truly a friend who "sticks closer than a brother" (Prov. 18:24). (Lee Grady)
I am so very thankful for the Truth of the Holy Spirit. His counsel, encouragement, direction, and friendship are not only life-giving, He is life changing! Focus on Him in all situations. Only He is God.
Focused on Him,
Ann
Monday, May 3, 2010
The Holy Spirit #4
Here is Day 4 of our definitions of the Holy Spirit and His functions, originally written by Lee Grady in Charisma magazine.
#4. He is the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit has access to all the wisdom and knowledge of God. When we abide in Him, He leads us continually into truth—causing us to grow and mature spiritually. He wants to fill us with the treasures of heavenly revelation. We can fully trust Him because He never does anything to violate the Word of God. As our teacher (1 John 2:27), He knows the difference between truth and error, and those who depend on Him will walk in discernment and avoid deception, pride and carnality.
I am so thankful to have the Truth of God as a guide in every day life. He promises it is knowing His Truth that will set us free. So many times we grab onto the lies of our old habits and hurts rather than walk in the freedom of His Truth. Somehow we think it's easier to maintain the status quo. Remember, surviving isn't our goal...thriving is! Grab hold of the Truth of God and let the Holy Spirit lead you!
Focus on Him and Thrive!
Ann
#4. He is the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit has access to all the wisdom and knowledge of God. When we abide in Him, He leads us continually into truth—causing us to grow and mature spiritually. He wants to fill us with the treasures of heavenly revelation. We can fully trust Him because He never does anything to violate the Word of God. As our teacher (1 John 2:27), He knows the difference between truth and error, and those who depend on Him will walk in discernment and avoid deception, pride and carnality.
I am so thankful to have the Truth of God as a guide in every day life. He promises it is knowing His Truth that will set us free. So many times we grab onto the lies of our old habits and hurts rather than walk in the freedom of His Truth. Somehow we think it's easier to maintain the status quo. Remember, surviving isn't our goal...thriving is! Grab hold of the Truth of God and let the Holy Spirit lead you!
Focus on Him and Thrive!
Ann
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