I have added some new songs!!!

Nothing Is As It Appears

As I was riding in to work this morning and fellowshipping with the Lord I kept thinking about how nothing is as it appears. It reminds me of when I was a kid and I looked over to the corner of the room and the shadow that was very small would grow larger and larger by the minute until it appeared to be a monster. I would roll over and turn on my lamp only to find nothing. The monster that appeared to be in the corner of my room was only a shadow that appeared as something it was not as my fear grew stronger.

Today as I look at situations around me I can say "nothing is as it appears". Those problems that seem to be big as monsters are only trying to stop you from moving forward in God. That is their purpose, to appear stronger than they are. That is how they get strength, from your fear. They tell you how you can’t make it, how they will destroy and kill you if you make a move. They will speak curses over you and plant seeds of doubt in your heart. It's not as it appears!

Lord, open our eyes today and shine the light on everything around us. Lord, we will turn our eyes toward you today. Help us look into your eyes, help us look into your eyes of love. I ask for your help in renewing our minds so we are able to look at all of our situations through your eyes. I thank you today for giving us a new perspective on our futures and showing us that our futures are not as bad as they may appear. Lord, help us to move and operate in the authority that you have provided for us in the name of Jesus.

Amen

Zephaniah 3:16-17

“Cheer up, Zion! Don’t be afraid! For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

How many times have you tried to throw in the towel this week, much less this year? I want to encourage you to hang in there. Stop chasing those mirages that tend to lead you astray. Look for the new streams of life that the Lord is sending your way. Do you realize the Lord; your God, is living inside you?

Today we will sing of His mercies, grace, and love. We will say that He is a mighty God who is bigger than our desert places.

Today we will realize He laughs and giggles when He see’s our happiness. Our father in heaven wants good things for us.

Today we will speak to that FEAR that is trying to hold us back. We will move forward in the Lord with Love in our heart, soul, and mind.

Today we will listen for a new song. Why? Because the Lord is singing a new song over us today! Listen for the joyful song He is rejoicing over you today.

Selah

Think on This!

Matthew 22:37-39 (The Message)

37-40 Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."

To Love, to Be Loved

The Message 1 John 4:17-19

17-18God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and matures in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.

19We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.

Today we will not let fear run our lives. Fear is only false evidence appearing real. Fear tries to cripple you, deform you, and keep you from moving forward.

Today we will move forward in love, we will take up permanent residence in a life of love. We will not let us being fearful; keep us from pursuing our dreams. We can accomplish all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Today we will choose to look at each other after the spirit and not the flesh. We will choose to see the positive in all situations and not focus totally on the negative.

Today we will love and be loved.

In Christ

I Say to Myself

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”

Lamentations 3:22-24

When you read the scripture above it is hard to imagine the hell the author was referring to in the previous passages.

Lamentations 3:1-19

I am the one who has seen the afflictions that come from the rod of the Lord’s anger. He has led me into darkness, shutting out all light. He has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. He has made my skin and flesh grow old. He has broken my bones. He has besieged and surrounded me with anguish and distress. He has buried me in a dark place, like those long dead. He has walled me in, and I cannot escape. He has bound me in heavy chains. And though I cry and shout, he has shut out my prayers. He has blocked my way with a high stone wall; he has made my road crooked. He has hidden like a bear or a lion, waiting to attack me. He has dragged me off the path and torn me in pieces, leaving me helpless and devastated. He has drawn his bow and made me the target for his arrows. He shot his arrows deep into my heart. My own people laugh at me. All day long they sing their mocking songs. He has filled me with bitterness and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink. He has made me chew on gravel. He has rolled me in the dust. Peace has been stripped away, and I have forgotten what prosperity is. I cry out, “My splendor is gone! Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!” The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss.

Wow, have any of you ever went through anything like that? It reminds me of the desert life. He has given up, lost hope on everything. But then he makes a profound statement:

Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:

What is he remembering? He is remembering that God is faithful and the faithful love of the Lord never fails. He also is remembering that everyday is a new day with the Lord. This morning His mercies are new and fresh.

Now I want you to notice something. In verse 24 he speaks to himself: I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” In these desert times you must encourage yourself in the Lord, David would speak to his soul and ask why are you cast down, rejoice in the Lord.

I truly believe you should never quite, never give up. Start speaking life to your situations. The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. Lift your hearts and hands to God in heaven and say, I will trust in you Lord and You will deliver me from the snare of the fowler. I say today that you will send streams into my desert; You will cause my desert place to flourish and be prosperous.

I will continually bless your name.

In Christ

The Desert

One of the definitions for "Desert" is any area in which few forms of life can exist because of lack of water, permanent frost, or absence of soil. Over the last few weeks the Lord has kept bringing the fact that there seems to be allot of people living in this place called the desert. They are not living there in the natural but spiritually, they have seemed to make their place in the desert, and have found themselves chasing a mirage.

The interesting thing is in some instances the spirit leads us into the desert to prepare or train us for something He has called us to accomplish in the future. The other case is you have led yourself into the desert by choices you have made in life and now you have to walk those choices out. The bottom line is we are not to make the desert our final destination. We are to look for the Lord in these trying times.

Isaiah says the wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, Even with joy and singing.The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, The excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, The excellency of our God. Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the feeble knees. Isaiah 35:1-3

One thing you can do when you find yourself in the desert is to speak to the fear that tries to overtake you. Isaiah does just that in chapter 35

Tell fearful souls, "Courage! Take heart! God is here, right here, on his way to put things right and redress all wrongs. He's on his way! He'll save you!"
Blind eyes will be opened, deaf ears unstopped, Lame men and women will leap like deer, the voiceless break into song. Springs of water will burst out in the wilderness, streams flow in the desert. Hot sands will become a cool oasis, thirsty ground a splashing fountain. Even lowly jackals will have water to drink, and barren grasslands flourish richly…

I believe that those streams of water are about to start to flow into our deserts. The heat you are feeling is about to become a cool oasis, that dry cash flow is about to become a splashing fountain. We have been in the desert long enough, I see the streams flowing our way. It is going to get better.

Be Blessed