Where is Jesus?

So as my mom is showing me her Christmas decorations, she walks over to a beautiful nativity scene that is laid out on it's own table by the window. But as she looks at it, she looks up at me with a sad face and eyes.. I'm wondering what is wrong? She looks down at the nativity scene and at the manager - and looks up at me and says... "Jesus is missing - he's not in the manger.I can't find baby Jesus!? Baby Jesus is missing!"

My first reaction was to laugh - and i did -mostly at the irony of it all and my mom's face. And mostly because Jesus is the main event - the reason why the nativity scene is even a nativity scene - why the shepherds are there, mary and joseph are looking at an empty manger -it's all about Jesus and He is missing?! It struck me as funny and serious at the same time.

Then I thought... I need to blog about this. Because unfortunately this nativity picture in my parent's living room without Jesus in the manger... is very true of our present reality and our present world. With all of our preparations for Christmas, the hustle and bustle of shopping and other preparations... have we forgotten, misplaced, or simply left Jesus out of the picture.

Today is the first day of Advent and our anticipation of Christ's coming... truly eschateological at the heart of it all. He has come already the first time as a baby who grew up to become our Saviour and who will return as our Victorious King. But if we don't take the time to first behold him in the manger -to see Him as the center of it all - of Christmas - that His first coming was prophesied about hundreds and hundreds of years before - how will we receive Him as Savior and how will we receive Him fully when He comes again?

So let us Behold Him - again - not keeping Him as the baby in the manger but remembering that Advent and Christmas is all about Him and why He came to earth... to take the time to see Him, to find Him, to seek after Him - and remove those things that can so easily distract our eyes and our hearts this time of year...

Mom - i hope you find baby Jesus so that the nativity can be complete!

Our All-Sufficient Portion

Lamentations 3:24

'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul.

It does not say, "The Lord is partly my portion," nor "The Lord is in my portion"; but He Himself makes up the sum total of my soul's inheritance. Within the circumference of that circle lies all that we possess or desire.

The Lord is my portion. Not His grace merely, nor His love, nor His covenant, but Jehovah Himself. He has chosen us for His portion, and we have chosen Him for ours.

It is true that the Lord must first choose our inheritance for us, or else we will never choose it for ourselves; but if we are really called according to the purpose of electing love, we can sing-

Loved of my God for Him again

With love intense I burn;

Chosen of Him before time began,

I choose Him in return.

The Lord is our all-sufficient portion. God fills Himself; and if God is all-sufficient in Himself, He must be all-sufficient for us. It is not easy to satisfy man's desires. When he dreams that he is satisfied, instantly he wakes to the perception that there is still something more, and his longings remain unfulfilled.

But for the believer all that we can wish for is to be found in our divine portion, so that we ask, "Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you." We can then delight ourselves in the Lord who allows us to drink of the river of His pleasures.

Our faith stretches her wings and soars like an eagle into the heaven of divine love, her proper dwelling-place. "The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance."2 Let us rejoice in the Lord always; let us show the world that we are a happy and a blessed people and cause them to exclaim, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."

Devotion: C.H. Spurgeon

1 Psalm 73:25 2 Psalm 16:6

A Call to Courage

Book: Women on the Front Lines (Michal Ann Goll)

Chapter: A Call to Courage – Joan of Ark

Joan’s Legacy:

What made the difference? Joan possessed the only qualification that mattered: She loved God with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength. She was completely sold out to Him. God chose her and used her because she made herself available to Him. Her executioner claimed that her heart would not burn. If this was so, perhaps it was because her heart had already been burned by her passion for God. She was so consumed by Him that nothing else could touch her. We can all take courage from the fact that the only thing God requires from us in order for Him to use us is that we know Him, Love Him, and make ourselves available to Him.

The standards Joan laid down for her army show us that the Lord has called His army (us) to a life of purity, holiness, and complete devotion to Him. If we are to be effective and fully usable, we must put away all filth and uncleanness, all sin and evil thinking, and be clean vessels before the Lord. God has raised His standard of righteousness for us to rally under and has told us, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (I Peter 1:16). The apostle Paul expressed it well when he wrote, “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of all the mercies of God to make a decisive dedication of your bodies (presenting all your members and faculties) as a living sacrifice, holy – (devoted, consecrated) – and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable – (rational, intelligent) – service and spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1)

We must be blameless in our behavior, wholesome in our speech, and consistent in our walk.

Regardless of what the world tries to do to us, we can walk blameless and undefiled before God. The purity and holiness that He places in us can come out as an extension of us, and we can then pass them on to other people. We don’t have to be tainted by the world. On the contrary, we can influence the world for Christ. It isn’t easy, and it costs everything, but with God’s help it can be done. And He receives the glory!

Joan’s example encourages us to dare to believe that we can do whatever God calls us to do. It assures us that He will back us up in our call and bring it to pass as we obey and follow Him. It is inconceivable that Joan could have done what she did without the hand of God on her life. One thing that the Lord told Joan again and again was, “Go On! Go on, Daughter of God! Go on; I will be with you and I will be your help.” He says the same thing to us today: “Go on to your destiny, into your calling, into your place before the Lord. Go on! Push through! Endure! Let Me show Myself strong on your behalf!”

God is looking for men and women who will be sold out to Him; He wants people who will let their hearts and minds be so consumed with Him that nothing else matters. All that mattered to Joan was reaching Rheims and seeing her king crowned according to God’s will. Doing so required pressing through the heart of the English army, moving through the hardest and greatest difficulties to reach the place of victory. It is the same for us. We need to go to the places that is the most difficult for us, where the enemy seems to have the greatest stronghold, and enthrone Jesus there. We need to raise His banner and make a way for Him to come and receive the honor due His name.

The cost to Joan for courage was her life, but her reward was the company and presence of God and the fulfillment of His purpose in and through her. To have courage will cost us everything as well; our whole lives given completely to the Lord in sacrifice and devotion. What is our reward? Life! We want to proclaim life, not death; blessing not cursing; and light, not darkness. However, it is only in losing our life that we find it. And what we find is His life, not ours.

Courage is not something we can drum up from within ourselves it comes from knowing God and trusting Him completely. As we learn to depend on Him rather than on ourselves, He releases His power in and through us – and that power can change our families, our friends, our communities, our nation, and even the whole world.

Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ

So I'm reading "Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ" by Jeanne Guyon and I'm being wrecked over and over by the Holy Spirit - waking me up again and again -it's like getting slapped in the face over and over again in a good and life giving way - and I'm also writing on a paper on it - which is making me interface with the truths in it even more. I've lived so much of this book already yet see God calling me to deeper depths with Him and so feel like there is soooo much more that He wants to bring me into. So much more of Jesus I want - so much more of me I want to give Him. To be one with Christ. what a thought!

It's like He's speaking afresh again and connecting the 'dots' in my life with Him. I HIGHLY recommend everyone and anyone who wants to know Jesus more fully and walk with Him more intimately to get this book, read it, digest it, experience God in it, and live it. I can only imagine one of the results being us looking more like Jesus, having more of His heart, nature and life flowing in us and through us. WOW! this is by far one of the best books I've "experienced' (and this book needs to be experienced and not just read by our 'natural' mind) and i read a lot.

Here's an excerpt:

Abandonment and A Holy Life

What is the result of walking continually before God in a state of abandonment? The ultimate result is godliness. Godliness is something that comes from God. The more you possess God & the more we are possessed by God - the more we are made like Him.

But it must be a godliness that has grown from within you. If godliness is not from deep within you, it is only a mask. The mere outward appearance of godliness is as changeable as a garment. But when godliness is produced in you from the Life that is deep within you – then that godliness is real, lasting, and the genuine essence of the Lord. “The King’s daughter is all glorious within.” (Psalm 45:13)

"Dear child of God, why do you not instantly cast yourself into the arms of Love? What possible risk do you take in depending solely upon God? What risk do you run by abandoning yourself completely to Him? The Lord will not deceive you (that is, unless it is to bestow on you more abundance than you ever imagined)."

Drink My daughter

These words from the Lord are from amazing, intimate & transforming encounters I had with Jesus while in Mozambique in 2008 - and today - He reminds me to drink deep again.

I was in the prayer hut in worship during a prayer, intercession and worship time for the Solemn Assembly we were preparing for the Mozambiquen pastors at the IRIS church at the end of the week - while I was sitting back in the prayer hut before the Lord in worship - He appeared to me as a gigantic pitcher over my head and as I looked again - I saw Jesus holding the pitcher over me and the pitcher was also Himself.

He said..."Drink My daughter. Drink My daughter. Open your mouth and drink. Let My living water fill you - those dry & thirsty places left from being in the dessert and wilderness these past years. Drink My daughter. I satisfy You - take it in. Let Me fill you. There is so much that I want to give you. So much more of myself I want to give you. I am pleased with you and your faithful & obedient heart. All the sacrifices you have made and the losses you've suffered while in the desert/wilderness, I am filling each loss with myself. I have purified you. I am taking you out of the desert/wilderness into abundance.

I am even filling the places of your heart that are thirst from those who you loved with My love and who you wanted to love you back - but you loved them selflessly pointing them to Me. Even those left you thirsty and I am filling you with Myself. Drink of Me.

Anytime you are thirsty - Come to Me and I will satisfy you. Drink My daughter. This is what it means not to strive and to let Me satisfy You. Resting in Me and in all that I am for you. Always."

Circumcise Our Hearts

Jeremiah 4:4

"Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done-burn with no one to quench it."

Peeling away and removing the dead skin - or any hindrance - covering on our hearts (i.e. pride, self-worship, sin, etc.) - so that we would be free and fully Yours.

Removing residue from sin, old habits, past hurts, etc. Remove like You are doing heart surgery in us. So that we can walk in forgiveness, humility, consecration, purity and passion for You.

Remove those things that hold us back from living for You, loving, trusting in You, and worshipping You with our whole lives in reckless abandon.

Breaking through the who You created us to be - Identity in You Jesus - Identity in Your Spirit - for the real us to come forth.

See Your scalpel - gentle and exacting - removing the dark layers of muscle of the heart - removing those dark dead areas that give access to the enemy - where he tries to attack our hearts and keep us "back" and hidden.

New life - a heart that is Yours - a heart that is ALIVE in You - dead to sin- and ALIVE in You.

New - restored and renewed - life flowing from You and our hearts beating with Your heart - with Your love, desires, passions, intentions, purpose, Your Kingdom reigning in us and through us - where You Jesus sit on the throne of our hearts as King and as Lord.

(a word, teaching, picture that I received from the Lord during my first visit to IRIS - Pemba -Mozambique, Africa in 2008)