An Agent of His Grace

February 24, 2014 by 1 Comment

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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.

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Walk the Way of the Word

February 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment

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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

 

 


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Develop a Lasting Love in Your Marriage

February 13, 2014 by Leave a Comment

As we celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary this year

          we rejoice at God’s blessing and grace on our years together.

           1964 AGAPE, PHILEO AND EROS LOVE led us to 2014

                We are brother and sister in the Lord, we are best friends and we are lovers.

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In the Greek language AGAPE – PHILEO – EROS –  are all words for love, yet each displaying a different character of love.

AGAPE – Displays the character of God for God is love. It’s the love that cannot be earned, an unconditional love with acceptance and  forgiveness.

Agape love is displayed in a marital union of two good forgivers who learn to seek forgiveness and offer forgiveness, accepting the shortcomings in each other. As both spouses move towards God they are also moving closer to each other as His character is formed in them.

It is available to us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is the power of being like-spirited as we pray together, minister together and serve one and other.

PHILEO – Displays the character of friendship. Unlike agape love phileo love has to be earned as it involves trust. It is earned as we learn to trust one another through communicating from the depths of our hearts. Trusting our spouses with our deep wounds, our aspirations, passions and dreams. Never leave your heart unspoken for it displays your heart to your spouse.

Your spouse should be your most trusted and best friend. A relationship where you laugh together, cry together, play together and support  each other’ dreams.

It has been said that “It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.”. Friedrich Nietzsche

It is the power of being like-minded as you have fun together sharing and supporting each others’ hobbies, passions and dreams.

EROS –   Displays the character of romantic and sexual love. Eros love is like a phileo friendship love caught on fire. Keep the fire lit in your marriage and your life will be filled with warmth.

“A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.”  ~Mignon McLaughlin

The Eros love is the only love that makes your marriage different and unique than any other relationship, that is why it is so important to keep romance alive. Light the candles, turn on the music and keep that flame burning brightly.

It is the power of physical attraction and the consummation of body, soul and spirit.

“To keep the fire burning brightly there’s one easy rule:  Keep the two logs together, near enough to keep each other warm and far enough apart – about a finger’s breadth – for breathing room.  Good fire, good marriage, same rule.”  ~Marnie Reed Crowell

 A  successful marriage needs all three “loves” to hold it together. As we love God with our body, soul and spirit, likewise we need to love our spouses with our body, soul and spirit. Now we’re talking unity!  In fact the unity in our marriage is a witness to the world of the mystical union of Christ and His church according to Ephesians 5:23

 

CHALLENGE: “A marriage is not a noun. It isn’t something you are. It is a verb. It’s the way you love your partner everyday with AGAPE, PHILEO and EROS love.

 

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The Love That Will Set You Free

February 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment

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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!

 

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Conflicts are Lessons in the School Room of Life

January 28, 2014 by Leave a Comment

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Dear Child,

A deep relationship is not the result of a relationship without problems or offenses, but is a relationship which overcomes problems and offenses, and matures because your spiritual muscles are being exercised as you respond to one another.

The working out of problems causes the roots to grow deeper together and your history with the other person grows deeper and less shallow.

You exercise your spiritual muscles by obedience to the Word and the Spirit.

Work out those lessons I am giving you as an opportunity to learn as you fellowship with others.                                                    Thus saith Papa

Prov 27:17  Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

My daughter, Angela, has written a thought on this subject, which I think is very appropriate at this point. Angela writes, ‘ We have gotten to the point in our society where all relationships are disposable ( whether it be personal, work, family, or church ). Whenever a situation arises that we don’t like or doesn’t happen to meet our expectations we choose to “opt out” of the relationship. The consequences of this choice is devastating to our families, churches and communities. We have seemed to have lost the ability or desire to work through problems – confronting wrongs, admitting our own faults, covering each other in love; it appears to take too much energy. It is much easier to close the pages of one relationship and open the new and exciting pages of another one. The saddest result of this situation is the disappearing of depth in our society. When we choose to cut off relationships we also cut off the root of history we developed during the years of that relationship. We are left with shallow and superficial relationships that leave us yearning for a depth of intimacy we never seem able to attain.

Eph 4:32  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Col 3:13  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

Our relationships with each other, are living lessons, “where the rubber meets the road” opportunities to put our words into action. Situations where we may be conformed to His image, that we may not only talk like Jesus but also walk like Jesus.

CHALLENGE: How can we learn to forgive if we never have the opportunity to forgive?

                             How can we be conformed to His Image without learning to forgive?

Excerpt “Developing A Secret History with God” page 102

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

 

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