Tag Archives: new life

Coffees & Chats

I’d love nothing more than to sit face to face with you and have a chat over a coffee, but we will just have to pretend. So grab a coffee, pull up a chair, and let’s chat!

Do you know we can’t catch God off guard? We never stump Him, surprise Him, shock Him. We can’t knock Him off His throne bewildered or flabbergasted. God doesn’t get His “knickers in a twist” nor is He flustered. He isn’t taken aback, perplexed or rattled. These are not His attributes. They never were & they never will be. God isn’t sent reeling by anything. He doesn’t have knee-jerk reactions or roller-coaster emotions. He is God. He is steady. He is the Rock. Never changing. Faithful. Immovable. He knows all, sees all, hears all. He is prepared.

There isn’t anything that He doesn’t already comprehend, although He Himself is incomprehensible. He is not confounded by the wise, yet He confounds the wise. He is not shaken, yet He shakes the heavens & the earth. He is not stumped or left speechless, although He leaves us awe-struck and without words to describe His greatness & His goodness. He is mighty. He is ready. He is prepared.

He is prepared for everything we could throw at Him. Our thoughts, our questions, our expectations, our high & lofty ideas, our discouragement & disappointment. Our passion, our confusion, our temptation, our pride, our insecurities. Every emotion, every feeling. He’s not dazed or repulsed. He can’t be …. Because He is LOVE. His arms are always open. His eyes are always on us. His thoughts are always for us. He is prepared.

He is prepared for us. Waiting. Longing. Searching. Looking. Listening. Full of compassion, righteousness, justice. Pure. True. Merciful. He is prepared for all that lies ahead in life & in death. Today & tomorrow. He never changes. He is prepared.

And He PREPARES: for those who love Him.

•“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” 1 Corinthians 2:9

•He prepared good works for us to walk in. Ephesians 2:10

•He prepared a kingdom Matthew 25:34

•He prepared a city Hebrews 11:16

•He prepared a table for us, right before our enemies! Psalm 23

•“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent (this body), is destroyed, WE HAVE A BUILDING FROM GOD, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens … Now He who has PREPARED us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” 2 Corinthians 5:1 & 5

When we begin to understand that God is prepared, our trust, our hope, our faith will increase. It will not be misplaced, put in man, a system, or an organization, but rightly placed in the ONE who is awesome and excellent. The One Who is the great King over all the earth. Who reigns above the nations & sits on His holy throne. Our eyes, our perspective, our focus will begin to shift & We will exalt Him above the noise of this world, the media, the politics, the news, the reports, the statistics, all that is seen & all that is said. He is above it all. when we come into agreement with that truth, then our worry, fears, anxiety, confusion, the noise, will begin to fade into the background. we will stand in the inheritance, the position that He has already prepared for us right here on earth, right NOW ….. a position of faith, of steadiness, of strength, of hope, of courage. He Himself is prepared, He has prepared for us in the eternal & in the here & now. For those who love Him, it is a place of glorious, enriching inheritance. A place of peace. It’s already prepared!

His Crossed a Chasm For The Sake of The Cross

Jesus crossed a chasm for you and me.

He crossed the expanse between heaven and earth. God became flesh.

He overcame in the wilderness, He walked the dusty roads, and He crossed the stormy seas. He walked on them. He spoke to them and He calmed them.

He taught in the fields and fed thousands. He ate at the tables of sinners.

He shared and laughed with people in their homes, on the streets, by the well, on the shores.

From home to home. Town to town. City to city.

Each place bringing Him closer to the hill of Golgotha.

The CROSS.

The path was always leading Him to that hill, the hill where He would be crucified.

He knew what was coming, yet He stayed the course.

What lay ahead for Him did not deter Him from seeing those He would encounter on His way.

His eyes met with the eyes of those for whom He’d give His life. Some would love Him and follow Him. Some would betray Him and curse Him. Some would have ears to hear His Father’s heart and eyes to see His Father’s love. Some would close their hearts, their ears, their eyes and turn away with bitterness, hatred, and denial.

He still went to the cross for each of them.

All along His journey He healed, He taught, He delivered, He spoke, He forgave, He saved.

And as He approached the garden outside of where He knew He would be crucified, He prayed and He wept.

And then carried His cross up that hill, wounded for our sins, beaten for our burdens, whipped for our wrongs, crushed for our iniquities, stripped for our shame.

He bled. He cried out. He died. For the joy that was set before Him, you and me, He endured!

He went into the grave so WE could be brought out of our own.

His love didn’t stop there though.He crossed that chasm once again as he did His greatest work in secret.

Beyond the tomb when all was dark, when others thought all was lost and hope was gone, Jesus was still at work. It was in that place, between the crucifixion and the resurrection that Jesus conquered sin and death.

HE ROSE AGAIN!

HE LIVES!

He did it all for us.

He came. And He is coming again.

For me. For you. ❤️

Happy Easter Week

Finding Yourself, By Denying Yourself

In our search to understand who we are, we must walk in discernment & supernatural wisdom, as to not fall for finding our identity in a counterfeit formula or way.

If anything tells us that who we are is now static & unable to be anything different, then it is not truth. We are told biblically that we have the renewing of our minds, we are being transformed into the image of God, we can go from glory to glory, we are bearers of Christ’s image, becoming more like Him and new creations in Him. We are called to die to self, deny self, lay down self, just as Christ did for each of us. The danger is that we become lovers of self, self-absorbed, self-focused, instead of fixing our eyes on Christ.

If we begin to find our identity in any other book, belief, system or person other than the Word of God and in God Himself, we will never be fully satisfied or ever feel fully loved. We are not told to find ourselves, figure ourselves out, understand ourselves, know ourselves. We are called to find God, know God, seek God, trust God, confess God, believe God. We are also called to love others, bless others, give to others, heal others, forgive others. We are told to love ourselves, but that can only truly be done as we get to KNOW GOD and His love. Read the word. The more we discover God, the more we discover ourselves – not the other way around.

Food for thought:

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. II Corinthians 3:18

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Matthew 16:24

“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” Mark 8:35

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

The I AM Never Changes, But I Can

CHANGE:

Seasons change, people change, environments change, the world around us will change.
We can change our minds, change our thinking, change our moods, change our behavior, change our style, change our looks, change jobs, change places, change a diaper, change the channel, change a tire, change a vision, make change, be the change,
BUT WE CANNOT CHANGE GOD!
WHO GOD WAS, WHO GOD STILL IS, WHO GOD WILL BE – WILL NEVER CHANGE!

My good choices or bad choices do not change who God is. My belief or unbelief does not change who God is. My awareness or unawareness does not change who God is. My obedience or disobedience does not change who God is. My opinions, my thoughts, my emotions, my actions, do not change who God is. What I see and what I cannot see, what I have or what I lack, who I am or who I wish I was, everything I’ve done or should have done – NONE OF THESE CHANGES WHO GOD IS. HIS CHARACTER STAYS THE SAME. HIS POWER STAYS THE SAME. HIS FAITHFULNESS STAYS THE SAME. HIS LOVE STAYS THE SAME. HIS TRUTH STAYS THE SAME.

He is not a man. He does not break His promises. He cannot lie. He keeps His Word. Malachi 3:6 “For I am the Lord, I do not change …”

GOD WILL ALWAYS BE:
Sovereign ~ Faithful ~ Good ~ Omnipotent ~ Redeemer ~ Provider ~ Creator ~ Love ~ Righteous ~ Holy ~ Mighty ~ Judge ~ Restorer ~ Resurrection Life ~ Truth ~ Savior ~ Deliverer ~ Counselor ~ Refuge ~ Lord ~ King ~ All Sufficient ~ More than enough!

The only thing that needs to change is us and how we:
Know Him, seek Him, believe Him, love Him, align with Him, trust Him, spend time with Him, honor Him, worship Him, bless Him, acknowledge Him, commune with Him, receive from Him, surrender to Him, BECOME MORE LIKE HIM. He never changes, but I can. We can.

And as we do …. we allow Him to BE. TO BE ALL OF WHO HE ALWAYS WAS, ALWAYS IS, AND ALWAYS WILL BE

THE GREAT I AM!