He is Still Lord over the Storms

Screen Shot 2014-03-03 at 10.21.58 AM

 

Dear Child,

Be My instrument of peace in a world  full of uncertainty and turmoil. In all you are doing and facing know My peace. Sow seeds of peace, My peace that the world doesn’t know.

If you are truly confident in My working in your life, you will rest in My peace. Know My peace not only in the stillness of the moment, know My peace also in the pressures and storms of life. I am not only Lord of the stilled  waves, I am also Lord of the storms. Ride the storms of life wrapped in My peace, confident in your relationship to Me and confident in Who I am.

                                                        Thus saith Papa

 

John 14:27  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Mark 4:39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Amidst the current uncertainty and turmoil of our world we must remember that our Savior is also the Lord over those storms. Even as He spoke in Mark 4:39, He  still speaks peace to our hearts in the midst of the storms that are brewing in the seas of our lives and our world.

As believers today, we MUST spend even more time with our heavenly Papa to grow in confidence of our relationship with Him that we may have seeds of peace to sow into the lives of others who are filled with anxiety and fear.

CHALLENGE: Be an instrument to take His  peace and assurance to those who are being swept under by the storms of life.

“Developing a Secret History with God” will inspire you to spend more time in prayer and deepen your relationship with your Heavenly Papa.

The Book and accompanying Study Guide will revolutionize your quiet time with God. Available now at Amazon/ Barnes & Noble/ Walmart/Kindle Nook / Ibooks/ Lulu/ Rhema Publications/ Cl France or a bookstore near you.

 

An Agent of His Grace

Screen Shot 2014-02-24 at 10.16.21 AM

Dear Father,

As I reflect this day on your great mercy and grace towards me, I ask that you will help me grow in grace and mercy towards others. Help me to be truly “charismatic” which means gracious, merciful and forgiving. Thank you for Your work in my heart today.

Dear Child,

To grow in grace means to grow to be merciful and have a forgiving spirit, even as I have a forgiving spirit.

To grow in My grace and be conformed to My Image, you must have a forgiving spirit.

An unforgiving spirit is of your old father of lies.

If you learn of Me you will be forgiving by putting on the mind of Christ who cried, “Forgive them for they know not what they do!”

When you are forgiving you are putting Me on!

When you refuse to let go, you are holding unto the old man.

                                                            Thus saith Papa

 

Mattthew 18:32  Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

2 Peter 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Often we grow in knowledge but lack growth in grace! We need grace to work out that knowledge in everyday life. If we lack the grace to forgive we need to humble ourselves before God for as the scripture says James 4:6  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Gain grace from God that you may be able to let others’ debts go!

Forgiveness is not denial but dealing with it as far as is within your power. It takes two to reconcile but that may not be within your control BUT remember it only takes one to forgive and that is a choice that is within your control.

 

CHALLENGE: Ask the Holy Spirit to search the hidden recesses of your heart today, for perhaps a neglected opportunity to grow in grace by forgiving a buried hurt or offense.

Walk the Way of the Word

Screen Shot 2014-02-21 at 10.14.58 AM

Dear Child,

Take heed and walk the words I feed you, only then will that manna remain fresh, or else it will become the stench of hypocrisy.

To stay fresh and stay alive you must digest it that it may become part of every cell of your being.

Just as Israel ate of the manna which I provided, only that which they ate did not deteriorate and begin to stink.

Hypocrisy is a stench! Words but no walk!

Only that which you walk will give life to others! The rest is dead works!

                                                         Thus saith Papa

Luke 12:1 Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

James 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

John 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

During Israel’s wandering in the wilderness God provided them manna everyday to feed upon. They had to pick it fresh every morning, early before the heat of the sun melted it. The manna deteriorated if not eaten that same day, IT COULD NOT BE STORED IF NOT ABSORBED. What a lesson that is to us! Similarly we must feed on the nutrients of the Word everyday but only that which we swallow and absorb can we store by hiding it in our hearts. Only while it is stored in our hearts will our manna stay fresh as it becomes part of our very being, the same way a piece of physical bread becomes part of us as we swallow it and it takes nutrients of life to every cell of our body. Our manna takes spiritual life to every fiber of our being that we may live by the Word. Only as we choose to obey does the Word become alive, otherwise it is only the cold letter of the Word.

 To ‘ABSORB’ means ‘ to take in and appropriate’ or ‘to make part of the existent whole’. 

Many today are suffering from spiritual anorexia where the heavenly manna gets no further than their minds or at most they only chew it over due to a lack of appetite. While others are weak because of spiritual bulimia where they may swallow the word but it is thrown up because they do not obey it and appropriate it to their lives.

CHALLENGE: Is there the stench of hypocrisy in our lives from “thrown up” words, which we do not walk?

Excerpt from “Developing a Secret History with God” page 130  This book will revolutionize your quiet time with God

Available Amazon/ Barnes & Noble/ Kindle Nook / Ibooks/ Lulu/ Rhema Publications/ Cl France

 

 


The Love That Will Set You Free

Screen Shot 2014-02-03 at 10.02.28 AM

Dear Child, 

I set your spirit free to worship Me, for where My Spirit is there is liberty!

Not by conformity to man or as people pleasers, but to please only Me.

For when you fully comprehend My love for you, you can do anything, for then you are free!

Why worry what people may think, when I am the only Judge?

I am the one who knows you the best yet loves you the most.

All  the  hurts I see, all the past I see, all the struggles I see, all the shortcomings I see but I have set you free! 

You are free to become who I created you to be, lay down the struggles and just be the you I had in mind when I formed you in your mother’s womb.                                                                  

My child, My love for you will never change!

                                                   Thus saith Papa

Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. 

John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free you shall be free indeed!

CHALLENGE: Delight in the vastness of His love and be free!

 

Invest in the Becoming and the Doing will Glorify God

Screen Shot 2014-01-23 at 1.08.31 PM

Dear Child,

Through everyday life I am teaching you!

Living, breathing, and responding to everyday life produces maturity that will bear fruit!

Through maturity you are BECOMING!

Through fruit bearing you are producing seed!

                          but 

Through gifting you are DOING!

You have to grow from everyday life to have the maturity to use the gifting.

 I need the balance of fruit and gifting.

I need the balance of BECOMING and DOING.

Without the tests of living, your gifting would lack the flame of passion and conviction, which only comes from character building as your life ripens to the fruit of the spirit.

The seeds you are sowing through your gifting are from the fruit and maturity of your life which is the BECOMING

The using of your gifts is the sowing of those seeds which is the DOING.

Do you see, child, the balance!

Both are needed. I do not want only the gifting, I want the gifting used through your living, the defeats, victories, joys, sorrows, up and downs, testings, questions of life, and the wisdom gained through your time spent with Me.

                                       Thus saith Papa

God commanded that the edge of the robe of the High Priest of Israel would be embroidered with pomegranates. In between the pomegranates were to be sown gold bells. This serves as a typology lesson for us:

The pomegranates speak of the fruit of the spirit which is the BECOMING.

The golden bells speak of the gifts of the spirits which is the DOING.

The placement speaks to us of balance between the fruit and the gifts.

Both were needed but not without balance. Each bell was separated by a pomegranate.  What a clanging noise the bells would have made if not separated by the pomegranates. Does not this remind us of Paul’s exhortation in : 1 Corinthians 13:1-2 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

In other words, because the gifts can be misused, abused or even faked, they are not a sign of spiritual maturity. Only the fruit of the spirit is evidence of maturity of character. That is why Jesus warns in Matthew 7:20-23  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Therefore gifts are not a sign of maturity! If we desire to grow up in the faith, our character must  ripen to the maturity of the fruit of the spirit. 

If we are to hear Matthew 25:21 Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord., we must be consistently growing in the character of righteousness, that we may faithfully use our gifting in authenticity and integrity for His Kingdom.

CHALLENGE: Is your spiritual life all outward show with no inner substance?

                             Is it all DOING and no BECOMING?

                             Invest in the BECOMING and the DOING will glorify God.

Excerpt from “Developing a Secret History with God” for further study see pages 35-36

Book and Study Guide available on Amazon/ Barnes&Noble/ Lulu/ itunes/ Kindle/ Nook/http wwwclfrance.com/ Rhema Publication or a bookstore near you.
Languages: English/ French