"There is no heaven that has a little corner of hell in it." (oz chambers)

on the same theme as yesterday. about holiness & sanctification. it encourages me to know that God is determined to bring me out pure, spotless, undefiled and won't let me, as oz put it, "escape the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit". God is at work in me and wants me to keep bringing everything into his light.

but for that he also needs me to recognise the kind of nature i am exhibiting. and there has to be a moment when i am willing to let God change my nature, and then he will change me, he will "recreate" me and make me more like the daughter i was always meant to be... not perfect as to earn my own salvation, only Jesus achieved that for me, but he will help me take the right road and keep his ways, which are good and true.
"You will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny" (Jesus, matt5:26). this is what chambers calls God's glorious ministry of love.

praise Him for his renewed kindness and mercies every day.

"All those who do evil hate the light , and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But those who live by the truth come into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God." (John 3:20-21)

interesting how often we stop at 3:16 and think AHHH AWESOME... THANK YOU GOD, GREAT STUFF - WOOP. well, yeah, awesome, but john doesn't stop here. God loved the world and sent Jesus so that we can be saved through him (truly awesome indeed) but if we take a closer look at what follows we may feel a bit less comfortable. John talks about exposing ourselves to God's light. apparently one of the marks of true Christians is that they should not be afraid to do so...

got me thinking once again about the things that i keep hidden in darkness. things like shame, guilt, anger, name it, and ask myself the following questions:

is there shame in my life? is my conscience plagued by guilt? do i have anger in my heart towards a brother or sister? am i still hiding in the dark? or do i willingly confess all things to God knowing that he will forgive me because i have a righteous advocate who is pleading for me?

"settle matters quickly" says Jesus. (matt 5:25)

oswald says that "God is determined to have his children pure, clean, and white as driven snow, and as long as there is disobedience in any point of his teaching, he will allow his spirit to use whatever process it may take to bring us to obedience."

so, whatever it is that is keeping me from becoming purer and cleaner needs to be immediately brought into his purifying and healing light, that is now! and there is no need to be afraid.

praise God for his willingness to change us and readiness to forgive. :-D

"what about you? who do you say I am?" (Jesus, Matt. 16) 

lots of people were saying lots of things about Jesus. Peter knew in his heart, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God."(verse16) 
my answer would be the same as Peter's. i know who Jesus is. in his grace, he has done everything that i may even know him personally. :) 

but what about my life? is my life showing that Jesus is the Christ, God the Son? is my life declaring his life, death and ressurection and the hope of his future return? when people look at me, what do they see? a hopeless person? a proud & selfish "me"? or Jesus and a life lived under his grace?

i must become less. 
he must become greater.

i love how God clearly answers prayers. 

i may have mentioned this before but i once heard that we tend to play the wrong tapes in our heads on our way to church. we say things to ourselves like, "i hope they're going to sing my favourite hymn this morning", or "what is the sermon about again? i hope it's just what i need to hear", or again, "how much will i put in the money bag?" and so on and so forth.
i mean, these are "okay" questions. they just stop to be okay when they become distractions.

sometimes i wake up feeling like my head if full of "stuff". like this morning. i was walking to church hoping i'd have a nice prayer walk but couldn't focus very well. then i remembered the whole "right tapes" story. 
i prayed to God that he would help me not forget the "stuff" going on in my life but that i would trust him with those things and that he'd help me focus on others. (staying too focused on myself only makes things worse as i have a tendency to over-analyse everything).

i asked, "Lord, please lead me to someone in need this morning, someone who needs a word from you." 
and BANG! he did. the seat i first sat in was already taken so i gave it up and went to sit next to someone who seemed to be hiding behind her hair, alone in a corner. we said hello, sang a few songs, powerful sermon, and after the last worship song i saw what seeemd like tears in her eyes. i asked, "are you alright?". she burst into tears. she needed someone to listen. someone to pray for her.

funny how often we forget that we are all hurting inside. sunday comes and we put on our sunday morning faces, smile and sing and leave the building feeling quite content, unchanged, the same person as when we entered it. yet i don't believe this is what should happen in the church of God. we don't just go to church to listen to the Word being preached. there has to be community, fellowship... i'm not saying i'm always good at it but with God's help i want to play the right tapes in my head every sunday, and everytime i am about to meet with someone. "Lord, show me how I can show someone/this person the love of Jesus." and he will answer this prayer b/c God is love and he wants us to love one another, this is the ageless command. (1 John 2)


so maybe next sunday, watch for the person sitting next to you. ;-)

back to brother Oz morning hangouts.
here's today's devotional: http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php

needed reminded that i should "let circumstances tale me where they will but keep drawing on the grace of God in whatever condition i may find myself."

without grace there is no gospel. i will continue to fight for the gospel of grace, b/c without grace there is no gospel. Jesus died that we may have life, and it's all free. he forgives if you ask, if you let him have his way...i was reading a friend's blog the other day in which he wrote something like: if you are a child of God stop confessing the sins you have comitted 10years ago: you are forgiven!! FULLY forgiven.

this is God's grace. this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. and just like the apostle Paul, i won't have it any other way and will continue, with God's help, to fight hard for it.

Paul, talking to Christians, "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let that person be under God's curse!" (Galatians 1:6-8)

"We... plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.[...] I tell you, now is the time of God's favour, now is the day of salvation" (2 cor 6:1)

praise God for his grace that he abundantly lavishes on us every day! :D come draw from it now, don't wait. :D

"Why just like Issa was I not born under a lucky star?" (French rap song)

Issa is the arabic name for Jesus. i'm not sure whether or not the lucky star refers to christmas night (probably in some way). the song is about injustice and why some are born in a wealthy (read "happy") family and some aren't.

just as  Jesus didn't "get lucky" at christmas (he is the beginning and the end - he was planned from the beginning), certainly luck has nothing to do with people's amount of blessings and happiness or lack thereof.

what i know is that God loves justice and he longs to repair love and heal the hearts of those who call upon the name of his son Jesus for forgiveness, and he promises that justice will be made, that one day things will be set right.

so much hope in Jesus. :-)

"Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." gospel of Luke 15:8-10 (thanks to Bry for this)

i lost my ID y'day. i freaked out since i only realised id lost it about 9hours prior to my flight to france! . i looked everywhere,every paper stash, book, folder, pocket, bag, suitcase, the tumble drier, the garage, under and inside beds and sofas...i basically turned the house upside down!! i might even have opened the fridge once.

*gah*

didn't find it. after stirring up the whole neighbourhood incl. local shops, garda station and the postman, i rang the airport and... *drumrolls* BING! it was there!! prob fell out of my pocket or bag when i got back from españa.

i still missed my flight but felt sooO relieved to know where it was. funny how a little flat piece of plastic can cause so much trouble! it was great being able to tell everyone about it then! (you can say whatever you want, facebook rocks for that kinda thing)

now to think i am like that little coin... and that God is like that woman (not saying God is a woman, i dunno what he is, i just said "he" which suggests he is male... huh. he is GOD thats all i need to know).
just like i turned the gaff upside down to find what i had lost God turned the world upside down (the earth shook, the sky became dark, ppl were raised to life) the day Jesus died, that thru his death i would live nad be reunited with the Father!!
i was sought after by the God of the Universe, a God drunk with love for me and desperate to be reconciled with me, with all his might and strength - he sent his son, Jesus. Jesus found me and I found him. and that day there was rejoicing in heaven! :-D

rejoice rejoice child of God, for once you were lost and now you are found!

"nobody is outside the scope of God's grace." (anon)

where are the dirty, smelly and poor people on a sunday morning? why don't they come to church? why don't we invite them to church?

"I have loved you, says the LORD,But you ask, 'How have you loved us?'" (Malachi 1)

I just read that the 4 centuries that passed btw malachi and matthew are called the "silent years". they were "silent" in the sense that God didn't send new prophets to speak his inspired words. i don't know what it must've been like in those days, waiting for a word from God... a test of faith i suppose, were God's people trusting that he was still at work in the world and that history was continuing to unfold? leading to the coming of his chosen king who would die for the world to be saved through him?

i'm not a 430BC israelite so i don't know the answer. BUT there are times when i find myself associating silence from God with absence of God and struggle to believe he is still there. "hello? anybody here? you said you have loved me...how have you loved me? i can't hear/see you!"

well... the answer is history. Christ is History. :-D God was still at work during those 400years (the book of matthew proves it!) and still is today--moving in people's hearts and writing their names in his book of life until the Day of Christ's return. even when we can't see/hear him, history is continuing to unfold, it is written. and that day, "we will meet him in the air, and then we will be like Him, for we will see him, as he is.. oh yeah!!" ♪ 

salvation at a great cost for Him, and zero for us.

this is how he has loved us. :-D

"already you have all you want!" 1 cor 4:8

a couple days ago i was challenged to ask the Lord to please show me my sin and not only mean the prayer but expect an answer (God loves holiness so he loves answering those kinds of prayers). so i did and i've been waiting since.
i had a strange dream last nite, it was so vivid that immediately after i woke up i had to pray for my thoughts to be redirected towards Jesus. i wont share details otherwise we'd be here all day but i believe it was directly related to that prayer which i prayed.
grabbed my bible and opened it to 1 corithians 4. i thought, "think that's the bit where Paul talks about holy living. good stuff. let's read." Well, praise God for his grace and for using even my lack of knowledge!! the chapter is more about living as apostles of Christ and, amongst many other things, exhorts believers to be content in Christ b/c he has made them kings!!(rich = blessed)

then verse 8... *gulps*. i like it when Paul speaks straight to your face. i smiled, nearly laughed and thanked my Dad in heaven for knowing my heart and reminding me that i needn't worry b/c i am already blessed more than i can imagine. :-)

praise God who alone satisfies!!