I love to express what I feel called to say. Writing helps me to open up my heart and do that. I hope that what I write helps you in some way. I hope it makes you think, encourages you, or inspires you. If it challenges you or if you disagree, I hope you know that I respect your right to have a different point of view.
I blog because I’m happy and I want to share my joy and inner peace with everyone. I blog because I wake up every morning overflowing with thoughts and ideas that make my life better and I want to share them with as many people as I can.
Look beyond routine And the way things seem. Behold Christ unseen. Let His Spirit stream. Then your face will gleam With the light of God And your life will teem With love, joy, and peace.
Daily immerse Your heart and mind In the Bible Verse after verse. It’s not enough To analyze Or memorize The word of God. Go disperse God’s living words Throughout your life. Let them reverse The way you live Until Jesus Consumes your heart.
When I was a child and with a small group of other children in a classroom setting, we were asked who we would like to meet and talk with if we could meet any person who has ever lived. The kids each named someone that they would like to interview (mostly historical figures). When it came my turn, I said Jesus Christ.
As the teacher in that Sunday School class commented on each person’s choice, ignoring His resurrection she acted like Jesus was just like the other historical figures — dead and long gone. I assumed she was correct and although I believed in God I never thought much about Jesus. However, as a freshman in college I had a shocking experience. I heard some people passionately talking about Jesus like He is alive and present today. Suddenly something changed in me. I sensed that Jesus was present with and in me. I’ve been talking to Jesus and interviewing Him ever since then. His comments and answers to my requests always astonish me.
When I ask Jesus to speak amazing thoughts come into my mind — things that I wouldn’t come up with on my own. Almost every morning when I wake up Jesus greets me with a series of thoughts about things that I have wondered about. As I notice and savor those thoughts, they fill me with hope and encouragement. I write them down and post them on my blog and on social media.
I know this may sound strange to you, but the Bible says that Christ-followers “have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16) Jesus Himself said: “My sheep hear My voice.” (John 10:27) You too can interview the risen Jesus. It’s simple. Ask Him a question. Then notice what happens inside of you the next few days. Be patient. At some point a powerfully hopeful thought, feeling, impression, memory, insight, picture, or Bible verse will come to your awareness. When it does, notice it, ponder it, and cultivate it. As you do, other thoughts from Jesus will come to you.
As thoughts come to you, check them out with the Bible. You can use Google and search, “What does the Bible say about (a particular thought or idea).” If it isn’t confirmed by the Bible, then an inner counterfeiter is trying to imitate the voice of Jesus. Reject any counterfeit thoughts. Genuine words from Jesus will align with the Bible.
If you believe that Christ is in you, (Colossians 1:27) live like He is. Focus on Him, enjoy His presence, and do what He says. Begin to interview the living Jesus and you will never be the same.
I have to say I’m not the way I used to be. Jesus changed me And set me free.
I’m feeling great right now because I have been thinking and writing about the true encouragers in my life. Those people lift me up, inspire me, and motivate me. They keep me going even when I feel like giving up.
I often see Jesus. I see Him living in and through certain people. The way that they live shows me Christ at work in them. The things they say and do reveal His reality to me. Their lives exemplify and exhibit His existence. They radiate and demonstrate the risen Jesus. I see Christ in them.
Christ-revealers are my favorite people to be around. They are true encouragers. They don’t just explain Jesus. They present His presence. They soften hardened hearts. When you find Christ-revealers and welcome them into your daily life, you’ll begin to experience the body of Christ functioning in Spirit-led action and demonstrating the fruit and the gifts of God the Holy Spirit.
Who are the people who make you feel closer to Jesus? Make a list of them. Then begin to spend more time with them.
There are a lot of Christ-explainers but few Christ-revealers. Be one!
Throughout each day I see myself as if I am living and doing all that I say and do on a stage, but not just any stage. I see myself on God’s stage. Because I strive to stay aware that God is constantly watching me, that helps me think and behave better than I otherwise would.
Since Christ-followers are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1) we are not an audience of religious spectators. We are living today in this world on Heaven’s stage. Even the hairs on our head are all numbered by God. (Luke 12:7) Here on earth we are supposed to acknowledge Jesus in front of people (Luke 12:8-9) and to speak about what we have seen and heard Him say and do. (Acts 4:20)
Throw off everything that hinders you from proclaiming and demonstrating Jesus to the world. Cast off the chains of your sin. Then you can with perseverance continually follow the script that God the Holy Spirit is laying out inside of you, by always keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus. (Hebrews 12:2)
Let Christ in you (Colossians 1:27) be the ongoing author and perfecter of your faith. Keep your mind and heart constantly focused on and always considering Jesus so that you don’t get tired of obeying the Spirit’s inner script, lose heart, step off of Heaven’s stage, and become a passive religious spectator. (Hebrews 12:1-3)
Christ is here All the time, Always near To a heart That’s open To His love And will hear And adhere To what He Has to say. (Matthew 15:8)
Many people in the USA today seem to want a king. I too want a king, but I want a different kind of king. I want an invisible king who rules me from within. The last thing I searched for online were the Scriptures quoted in this post.
The kingdom of God is direct awareness of and intimate closeness to Christ the King. It is radical obedience to Jesus and to His will. Many hardships are required to bring a human being into the kingdom (inner government) of God — to full surrender to and alignment with King Jesus.
When your will, your opinions, and your desires are finally being broken down, the kingdom of God is beginning to break into your life. That’s why the Bible says: “The testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:3-4) That’s why Paul and Barnabas said: ” We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22)
There are too many words about Christ without closeness to Christ. It’s time to embrace the inner government of King Jesus and to truly let Him be the Absolute Lord and Master of our life. (James 1:22)
Christ awareness Is contagious. Have you caught the Fire of Jesus? Christ-carriers Can ignite you. Faith is more caught Than it is taught. No mere teaching Is able to Show you Jesus. Let Him reveal Himself to you. Seek and you will Find.
As I read an article about the Tennessee Titans, I began to cry from deep within me. This NFL team is doing what I have longed for 55 years to see Christians do. The Titan players are opening up to one another and connecting heart-to-heart.
They call their unique approach to team building the 4Hs — Heroes, Hardship, Highlights, and History. They have divided their team into small groups unrelated to their football position. As the group meets and progresses week after week each person is asked to share about his heroes, the hardships he has faced, the highlights of his life, and his personal background.
Star wide receiver Calvin Ridley said: “I close the door, and I ask my group, ‘Tell me your Hs,’ and I tell no one to hold back to let everyone know what you have going on. Maybe we can help.”
Rookie wide receiver Xavier Restrepo said this about the experience: “You have to know your guys on a personal level . . . that way when you are asking something from somebody, it is not out of disrespect. You know where they come from. You know their hopes and their heroes, and when in their life they have had a heartbreak.”
If it’s important for a football team to support and encourage one another with the comradery of honest, open-hearted community, it’s even more important for Christ-followers. I’ve searched for that kind of intimacy among Christians all my adult life and I’m sad to say that it is very hard to find. If you want a Spirit-led environment of open sharing, you usually have to create it yourself. Even then many people are threatened by it and do their best to stop it. That’s why the Titans article made me cry.
“The Sovereign Lord is my strength.” “Jesus is Lord!” You’ve noticed that I talk about Jesus a lot. Here’s why:
* I can’t stop talking about the things I have seen and heard Jesus do and speak. (Acts 4:20) * Jesus told His followers to go into all the world and talk about His Good News. (Mark 16:15) * God the Holy Spirit has come into me and given me power to witness and testify about Jesus. (Acts 1:8) * Christ has set me free from so much bondage. (John 8:32) * I am a new creature in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17) * I’ve been born again. (John 3:5-8) * Christ’s words burn in my heart. (Luke 24:32) * Out of my innermost being flow rivers of living water. (John 7:37-39) * Christ in me is the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) * Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) * I rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. (1 Peter 1:8) * Jesus has given me supernatural inner peace. (Philippians 4:7) * “If I say, ‘I will not mention His word or speak anymore in His name,’ His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” (Jeremiah 20:29)
My favorite time of day is when the morning star welcomes the sunrise to enlighten, not just the sky, but also my heart. (2 Corinthians 4:6) Jesus is “the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16) who welcomes me to experience and surrender to His presence because He is risen from the dead and living forever more.
Mornings are my favorite time of day because inspiring words flow as inner springs of hope and from joy deep within my heart. They wake me up to an ongoing awareness of Christ speaking and working within me. I love to listen to His voice and to post what I sense Him saying to me. These are words that came to me this morning:
Inner Springs of Hope
When things annoy They’re a decoy Distracting you Away from joy. Learn to deploy Hope in your heart So you can be God’s envoy And help people To enjoy Jesus’ presence.
Hard heartedness keeps people apart. It makes us suspicious of one another and causes self-protection and defensiveness to rise up inside of us. Hard heartedness keeps people in superficial relationships based on shallow triviality and away from the beautiful vitality of profound inner connection.
There is a simple recipe for moving beyond superficial relationships. Take the risk to humbly and honestly open your heart to people. Share your struggles, your pain, your hopes, your insights, your encouragement. Take off your masks and let people see inside of your heart. This is an incredible recipe although it is often frightening to implement it. To move beyond the fear, take a first step of opening your heart to God.
Get out of your head and into your heart. Daily notice and focus on what God is doing deep inside you.
Too much mental analysis of God produces the spiritual paralysis of merely scrutinizing the Bible without daily doing what it says to do. (James 1:22) God-lectures and God-experiences aren’t the same. Faith is more than hearing words. Let Jesus fill your life with God-experiences. Preaching that’s merely from the head without the heart burning with love for God, is dead. The proclamation of what God has said should never be dead, dull, or routine.
I have seen beyond religious routine. The scene I’ve seen is Jesus risen, alive, and working in and through ordinary people.
Worship is fire in the heart. It’s not merely a programmed religious gathering. “Fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you.” (2 Timothy 1:6 NIV)
I don’t want to hear a lecture about Jack-In-The-Box. I want to see Jack jump out. I don’t want to just listen to another lecture about God. I want to see God the Holy Spirit pop out of the religious box and freely manifest His presence, power, and love in, though, and among His people. I don’t want to hear a talk about ice cream. I want to taste and experience ice cream and enjoy it with other people.
I love to hear God the Holy Spirit speak through ordinary people — jars of clay — (2 Corinthians 4:7) and to watch them when they humbly radiate His eloquence. I love it when everyday Christ-followers take off their religious masks and let me see God in them. (For a biblical key to today’s recipe, look up 1 Corinthians 14:26.)
When the sunrise gets too bright for my physical eyes, I realize that I don’t need to analyze it. I need to let my heart look beyond such a glorious natural scene and behold its Creator.
Sign up for God’s Frequent Smiler Program. Watch your smiles grow! (1 Peter 1:8)
I woke up this morning with observations about astonishment dancing in my head. The more I paid attention to them, the more excited I became. After about an hour of lying in bed and listening to those incredible thoughts, I got up and wrote the following words. After posting them on Facebook and coming to WordPress, I saw today’s writer’s prompt. I am excited to share today’s amazement with my blog readers.
Learn To Be Flabbergasted! (Even By Little Things) Rediscover Your Lost Marvels
When we let explanations eliminate astonishment and we allow understanding to undermine amazement, we lose our sense of wonder and appreciation. That’s why illusionists don’t explain their tricks. They want their audience to walk away in awe, not to walk away from awe.
Explanations can tell us how the different aspects of the human body function, but they can’t make us treasure our existence. However, amazement and astoundment wake us up to significance, purpose, and calling. Marvelment matters. If you’ve lost your marvels search your heart until you rediscover the sensitivity of your childhood wonder years and it unleashes fountains of joy within you. Little by little cultivate the ability to receive, enjoy, and appreciate astonishment in the way that a little child does. (Luke 18:17)
Free Gas for Your Think Tank -- Short Reflections, Lasting Encouragement 