He wakes me up

My God awakens me in the early hours of the morning. Sleep alludes me and I know that He is beckoning me to rise and get still before Him. 

My heart is so hungry for a Word from His Holy lips. I seek and I desire a revelation deep in my spirit. Open my eyes, LORD. I'm ready to listen. I'm ready to hear.

You are Jehovah! You are the mighty God! I look unto you, Oh LORD, for my strength. I depend upon you for my every breath. You are my sustenance. You are my everything.

My heart begins to grieve over the rebellion in my spirit. God, circumcise it from my heart. Help me to deny 'self' and desire only to walk in your ways. I want to please you! I want to submit to you and your will for my life. I desire to surrender all!

Lead me into the ways of holiness. Stir up my spirit to walk in godliness at all times. Empower me to push aside those fleshly desires and wants that threaten to seek victory in my life.

Teach me your ways. Help me walk in truth. Make the desires of my heart match the desires of your heart. I want a heart like yours, Oh God!

Hear my cry in the night. Anoint those in need. Bestow healing and restoration to my loved ones in body and spirit.

Obedience. Trust. A heart of Faith. Grant me these things from your Holy Hill. Help me to keep my eyes on you. Help me to see that it's all about you, God. I worship. I exalt your name above all others. Oh, how I love You! You fill me with joy unspeakable. Peace unfathomable settles in and praise flows from my lips to Your Throne.

Thank you for sweet mercy and grace. Thank you for the gift of eternal life that cost You the life of Your Son at  Calvary.

May I never trample on that grace but may I be ever mindful of the saving faith I possess because of the price Christ paid to redeem me from the pits of hell.

I'm overwhelmed. I'm overjoyed. I awaken to spend time at the feet of my Savior and now He gives me rest.

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"...He wakes me up in the morning. Wakes me up, opens my ears to listen as one ready to take orders. The Master, GOD, opened my ears..."

(Isaiah 50:4b) The Message

just things...

As I sat down today to write a post, all I could gather in my head was bits and pieces of what God has shown me over the last few months. Nothing profound. Nothing astounding. Just things that He has placed in my heart and spirit that have ministered to me and I pray that someone needs to read and 'hear' part or all of what He is leading me to share.

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*Give voice to your struggles so God can begin to do a work. So many times we keep things bottled up inside and truly God wants us to cry out so He can respond to our needs.

* Acknowledge your weaknesses and admit your shortcomings. He knows them anyway so just let it loose with Him!

* Take those broken pieces of your life and lay them at the Foot of the Cross so He can bestow healing and restoration to your soul.

* Once we lay everything down, resist the urge to pick those things back up. Resist the urge to look back. The past has been covered by His Grace and that is enough! Move forward with God!

*Grieve over the past and then JOY in the future! Do not let 'what you were' keep you from becoming what God is forming and growing you to be!

* "Count the cost as a Christ follower by being a radical doer of the Word"

* It doesn't matter what we think we can bring to the 'game' - what matters is that we have a heart that believes God can use us.

*When we search for satisfaction apart from God, we essentially turn away from the huge sea of God's love and grace and instead we wallow in the little pond that we have built for ourselves.

* If we live in gospel debt, we will be fruitless...

and lastly.... hard words to hear but so important to our spiritual growth...

* Do we expect of others what we aren't willing to do or give our own selves?  Why do we hold back forgiveness but desire to be forgiven? Why do we keep grace in check when needed to dispense to others, but truly seek and desire grace from others? Do we hold other people to a higher standard than we hold ourselves?

Let's not allow pride to rule in our hearts, but let's allow the Holy Spirit to reign within and reveal the depravity of our own spirits and hearts so He can begin a new and good work in us!

We need to be developing a hungry heart for God's Word! Do we want to hear? Do we want to change? We must have a knowledge of the written Word so we can have a relationship with the Living Word! Let's develop a desirous discipline of knowing God and His Word!

"Then Jesus said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear" (Mark 4:9)

don't reduce Jesus to a convenience...

Why do we get so complacent about the Lord? Why do we fail to see who He really is in our lives? Why do we reduce Him to a 'convenience' that we turn to only when we need help?

I have been convicted of this very thing only to go right back to that same mindset time after time. When the truth of it is that our spirits need to be tuned to the workings of God at all times.  We need to be ever mindful of His power and of His presence. 

We go about our daily lives doing what we want to do and we get so busy doing what our flesh desires that we neglect to factor God into our life's equation. Instead of beginning our day with the worship of our Creator, we begin our day worshiping His creation - ourselves. 

Our day needs to start in the presence of God. Before our feet hit the floor in the morning, our first thoughts need to be centered on Him. Our eyes should open in such grateful thanksgiving for another day. Another day to serve our King. Another day to live our lives worthy of our calling. Another day to share the gospel of Christ with those in need. But instead, we rise with the thought, "what do I want to do today?" 

We mistakenly think that our main purpose in life is to please ourselves. But in reality, our purpose in life is to please God. Every thought we have should be based on what He desires out of us. Every thought should be focused on pleasing Him and Him only. Truthfully, when we please our Lord and Savior, we should derive much pleasure out of that! What greater joy is there than to live a life that pleases God? 

God isn't just there for us to call upon when we are in a crisis. Surely, He intends for us to call upon His Name when we are at the end of our ropes. Surely, He intends for us to depend upon Him for strength and guidance in our lives. But He also intends for us to call upon His Name for the sheer delight of who He is!

Jesus Christ is LORD! He is our Savior. Our Redeemer. Our Rock. Our Sure Foundation. He is everything to us! We need to live daily with the Truth of Him being the I AM in our lives. He isn't there just to relieve us of our problems, but to walk with us through them. We take our eyes off of Him too quickly in times of desperation and that's when we falter and fall and then we have to cry out for Him to rescue us. If we kept our eyes on Him through the bad times as well as the good times, we wouldn't fall so quickly but instead we would reach up for Him to take our hands to steady us through those trials.

Let's begin to focus on Him in all situations and all circumstances. Let's begin to wake up in the morning with praises on our lips! Let's begin to praise Him at all times and in all things. Then we will begin to develop a God-awareness in our hearts and lives that will revitalize our spirits and rejuvenate that joy that only comes from Him. We will begin to be desirous of obedience to Him at any cost. We will begin to see His Faithfulness in all things. And that will unleash His power in our lives to make us mighty women and men of God as He can use us for His Kingdom and His glory.

Let's rush into the Presence of God with one thing one our minds. His Almighty Holiness.  What a difference that will make in our lives as we focus on who He is and what we can do for Him instead of the other way around. Let's live lives of denying ourselves and taking up our crosses and following Him, wherever that may be. He is worthy.