His Manifest Presence!

The Omnipresence of God is the unlimited nature of God or His ability to be everywhere at all times.

The Manifest Presence of God is when our ‘unseen God’ moves into the ‘seen realm’ of our life.

When we:
See His footprints
Feel His touch
Experience His Glory

In Luke 18:35-43, we see the story of Bartimaeus. Now, Bartimaeus was a blind beggar of Jericho. And as he sat on the side of the road that day, he heard a multitude passing by and he asked those around him what it meant.

They replied, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by” In other words, the Manifest Presence of God is passing by! Wouldn’t that be awesome to hear those words today?

Bartimaeus immediately cried out, “Jesus have mercy on me!”

Do you notice here that Bartimaeus didn’t wait for a committee meeting to decide what to do. He didn’t even ask someone else to go get Jesus for him. He didn’t question this statement at all. He just immediately recognized his need and recognized that his solution was passing by. He felt the presence of God in a mighty way and he acted upon it the way that we should act. He cried out to the one who could help him.

He didn’t need a visual confirmation and he didn’t need a vocal confirmation. All he needed was the confirmation that he received from the Holy Spirit.

The scripture tells us that Jesus stood still and requested that he be brought near to Him. He asked Bartimaeus, “What do you want Me to do for you?”. Bartimaeus could have asked for many things, but he requested the one thing that he desired most and that was his sight.

Jesus said, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.”

Immediately he received his sight and followed Him and glorified God.

Oh friends, that is what we need to do today! We have got to recognize the Manifest Presence of our Savior. We have got to recognize our need for our sight. We have to ask for the healing, receive that healing, open our eyes and FOLLOW HIM! Then we have to give God the glory that is due Him.

His Manifest Presence is available to us and it is attainable to us. We just have learn to always be seeking, always be looking, always be aware of when Jesus is passing by. We don’t want to miss Him.

Oh, Lord, have mercy on me. I know that at times I am blinded to the truth and I pray that you will show yourself to me in a mighty way. May I open my eyes, seek Your Presence, cry out to You, receive what you have for me, and then may I follow You and give You all the glory.

Believing God through the Tough Times - Steps of Faith

Thank you Lisa for hosting this.
Sometimes life throws things at us that catch us off guard. Sometimes we see it coming and just haven’t taken the steps necessary to prepare. Sometimes things just happen. Sometimes life happens.

I see so many hurting families through my blogging endeavor. So many sick babies and children. So many women that are carrying babies with problems and defects. So many women that are dealing with infertility. So many women that have lost babies, children and loved ones. So many people facing hardship. So many people that need Jesus in a mighty way. I see things that people are dealing with that they shouldn’t have to deal with. I see people having to pick up the pieces of brokenness when they deserve wholeness. I see hurting hearts. I see wounded souls. I see emptiness that needs to be filled.

There is only one solution to being able to deal with any of these issues. There is only one answer to any of these problems.

God.

He is, He can, He will, He does, He heals, He restores, He rebuilds, He fills.

I am believing God that I will always remember who He is and what He has done for me and what He promises in His Word.

I desire to do nothing less than bring him glory and honor through my life.

I desire to be nothing less than what He has purposed for me to be.

I desire to give Him nothing less than what He deserves from me.

I desire to be…

An Instrument 4 His Glory.

THANKful Thursday

I always love thankful thursday's with Sonya - it causes me to stop and dwell on the good things that God does daily in my life.

1. I am thankful that as depicted in Nehemiah, God is the re-builder of the broken walls of our lives. He can take what is torn apart and put the pieces back together again. Thank you Lord, for doing a little construction work in my life time and time again.

2. I am thankful that as depicted in Psalms, God is our song. "Praise the Lord! Sing to the LORD a new song, and His praise in the assembly of saints." (Psalm 149:1) Thank you Lord, for the gift of music and the gift you gave me to play the flute. When I play, I play for you and for your glory.

3. I am thankful that as depicted in Genesis, God is the breath of life. "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." (Genesis 2:7) Thank you Lord for breathing the breath of life into me and being my Creator.

4. I am thankful that as depicted in Timothy, God is our King of Kings and Lord of Lords. "...which God will bring about in his own time - God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords" (1 Timothy 6:15) Thank you Lord for having dominion over all things and being the one True King of this world.

5. I am thankful that as depicted in James, God is our Healer. "And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven" (James 5:15) Thank you Lord for the healing that you bestowed upon me when I was 10 years old. You are Jehovah Rapha.

6. I am thankful that I heard from Melissa last night from Bolivia, South America. It was so good to hear her voice and know that she is OK. Thank you Lord for keeping my daughter safe and for planting the desire in her heart to do mission work for You.

Chosen by Him

"You did not choose Me, but I chose you" (John 15:16)

"There is such awesome power and amazing wonder packed in those words. The very concept of what that actually means is almost overwhelming and enough to just take my breath away!

We - you and I - were CHOSEN by God. We were hand-picked by Him to be His children forever and ever. Never rejected. Never abandoned. Never forsaken. But CHOSEN...

The definition of choose is 1. to pick 2. to single out

He chose us and called us specifically to fulfill His purpose in our lives. He has a plan to accomplish in our lives and we were singled out for that very purpose. Just think about that for a minute.

Hand selected by our precious Lord. He reached down and called us by name. The very thought of that deepens my affection and love for Him by leaps and bounds!

God loves us so much. He has a passion for those who call Him Father. Does our heart fully reflect that same passion for Him? Are we as fully commited to Him as He is to us? Are we loyal to our Savior?

The unconditional, unparalled love that Christ shows us should give us such joy that we want to shout it from the roof tops! We can never experience this magnitude of love anywhere else or from anyone else. Only God can love us like that.

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8)

"... because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14)

Oh, precious Lord, I am so thankful that you chose me and I accepted your gift of salvation when I was just a 9 year old little girl. I want to walk worthy of my calling. I want to have a passion for You and Your Word that just overwhelms me. Fill me with joy and love and hope and peace. Thank you for the way that You love me.

Abound More and More

“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11)

The Greek word for being filled is “pleroo” which means:
1. To make full
2. Cause to abound
3. Filled to the full
4. To be filled

Oh, how I long to be filled to the brim with the fruits of righteousness! How I long to bring glory and honor to my Lord through my daily life. I want to be ‘filled to the full’ and abound in the fruits of right living.

‘To be filled’ represents the present results of a past action. In other words, not only have we been filled with the fruits of righteousness but can continue to be filled with those fruits because of our relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ. We need to continue to always be in the growing process. If we are not growing, we are dying.

If we allow ourselves to be continually in the “filling process” with the righteousness of Christ, there will be no room for any other kind of fruit. Only HIS fruit.

We are able to produce this fruit through the power of the Holy Spirit. And we do it to bring GLORY and PRAISE and HONOR to God. That is our spiritual purpose. That is our Godly pursuit.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” (John 15:4)

We can only bear the fruit that has been planted in us. In order for us to bear the fruit of righteousness , the fruit of “right living”, we must have a relationship with God that allows Him to impute or transfer His Righteousness to us.

We can’t do it on our own. It is only because of Christ and only through Him that we can even partake in this fruit. If we want to bear the fruit of righteousness, we have to be sowing into ourselves the things that will cause that to grow in us. We have to expose ourselves to things that are right, pure, lovely and virtuous. We have to steep ourselves in the Word of God. We have to spend time in prayer and thanksgiving.

Let us stand together in one spirit, with one mind, striving for the spread of the gospel of Christ. May we be a sweet smelling aroma; an acceptable sacrifice; and be well-pleasing to God. May we walk worthy of our calling. May we be pleasing to Him. Fruitful in every good work and ever increasing in the knowledge of God. May the fruit that we bear, reflect our growing relationship with the Lord.

Thank you Edie for this great new header/banner you created for me! You are just the best and the sweetest person to work with.