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)