Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Wed 6.30 Cost

Wed 6.30 Cost I have not been able to get away from this idea that freedom in Christ IS "free" in that we do nothing to earn it. We need it and it has been provided free of charge. But my soul has been wrecked today by how much it cost Jesus to purchase our freedom! How much it must have cost the Father to plan the crucifixion and then watch it unfold WITHOUT INTERVENING TO STOP IT. From Adam to Judas to Me...to you,...God paid the price Himself for you to have the freedom to choose...or even reject Himself. Daily He bears the pain and disappointment of our broken promises and failures to live in this freedom so dearly purchased. So,.. freely, I choose to offer Him back my ALL. My will is that we would be like David in 2 Samuel 24:24, when God directed him to worship and make sacrifice, who could not do so without giving something back. I pray His words will be our words... "I will not offer to my God that which costs me nothing." My quiet time led me to the song "Here I Am To Worship." I was undone by the line "I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that Cross." Secretly I believe when we see face to face and know as we are known...that we WILL know how much it cost and our new hearts and bodies will overflow with love that they can finally contain IT! Don't you want that? Don't you want that for all the people you love? Don't you wish your enemies wanted that? This is why I am called to cross cultural missions. The French don't yet know that this is what they want but I know that SOME will choose Him given the opportunity. Anyone with me?

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Tues 6.29 BELONG

Tues 6.29 BELONG When something BELONGS the owner has complete control of it to send or use it how he pleases. We belong to the Lord, along with billions who have accepted His call over the millennia. Even while I'm sick I get so excited I can't be still to imagine the multitude John wrote about in Revelation that will all see their heart's desire enthroned for all the ages and praise Him with an eternal song! This song "To You Belong All The Nations" is often the portal to His presence in my devotions.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Mon 6.28 DEEPER

Mon 6.28 DEEPER Ps 42:7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. 8 By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life. Last nite and this mornin I was and am wrecked by a soul stirred up by Him for Him. And all I can pray is for Him to draw us further, DEEPER into His presence and Will!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Sun 6.27 Greater

God speaks... Habakkuk 1:5 “Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. We pray... 3:2 Lord, I have heard of Your fame; I stand in awe of Your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. God asks... Gen 18:14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? Let us keep our eyes on the One who has planned amazing things in every city! Jesus said that those who BELIEVE in Him would do tje things He did AND EVEN GREATER THINGS! May we give Him Carte Blanche to do with our lives as He wills.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Sat 6.26 CRY

Sat 6.26 CRY David Crowder Band verbalizes this Heart Cry of all of us. The entire Psalm is quoted below. Just meditate on it and then WAIT for Him to speak directly to say as it says! This is kind of my M.O. until France. Wait. Watch. And Pray. Until France. Psalm 130 A song of ascents. 1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; 2 O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3 If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. 5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. 7 O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Fri 6.25 POUR

Fri 6.25 POUR Joel 2:28 “And afterward, I will POUR out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. 30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 32 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved Rms 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, wehave peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has POURED out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Pouring immediately indicates that there is a source and a container, that the container can be filled, and that the container can overflow!? With Love and Power!!!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Thurs 6.24 Hosanna

Thurs 6.24 Hosanna Hosanna means Save Us. Jesus means He saves. A name given Him by His Father. On His way to the Cross, all of Jerusalem begged the Savior to save them from bondage to an oppressive government. Instead He saved them,us, all from our sins. This week I have been moved to pray for several friends scattered across France with young children. Because their parents don't know Jesus yet they aren't being raised in Christ. Many of my friends here are new parents who love the Lord and can teach their children. I want so badly for those French babies to have the same opportunity to meet and love Christ. But they could go their whole lives and never even MEET a believer in the Gospel Poverty that is modern France. Rom10:13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

Wed 6.23 Until

Wed 6.23 Until Lord let your sleeping giant rise... Until the whole world hears what we are crying out Lifting up your name for all to hear the sound. And as the day draws near We'll sing UNTIL the whole world hears! Rev11:7 Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial.10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth. 11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. Rev7:9After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. Everyone WILL hear and acknowledge the Gospel but how many were offered a chance to accept it or saw the gospel lived out depends a lot on the Holy Spirit and out obedience to Him!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Tues 6.22 Reign

Tues 6.22 Reign The Lyrics of this cover of Lord reign In Me say what I've ben praying for lately "Over every thought, over every word, May my life reflect the beauty of my Lord. Cuz You mean more to me than any earthly thing Oh won't You Reign in me! Lord reign in Me Reign In Your Power Over all My Dreams In My Darkest Hour You are the Lord Of all I am Reign in me again! 2Tim2: 8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Mon 6.21 Glorious

Mon 6.21 Glorious 2 Cor 3:18 And we,who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. These words from Wordsworth have been echoing in my head alongside this passage from 2 Cor 3. Our souls call out to the one who crafted them and recognize in Him their home. Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home: Heaven lies about us in our infancy. William Wordsworth

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Sun 6.20 Living

God promises to Father us and to carefully lead us into the plans He has for us, never leaving nor forsaking us. We are with Him. He says in Hebrews 4:12 that the Word that [He] speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart. Our Savior didn't just pass thru this life around 33AD! All of History hinges on the Risen Christ living and active in the heart, one united, of His church!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Sat 6.19Song+Word=OVERCOME

Sat 6.19 Song+Word=OVERCOME Rm12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 1John4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them(deceivers), because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. I needed this word today. Been havin some headaches and my mouth hurts. Fever. Started Monday. After a few days it starts to sap your spirits. It's amazing how I'm always healthy on the weeks I'm off but... Well I can still sing. I Got my shield up and am hiding behind the Cross.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Fri 6.18 Song+Word=Want

Fri 6.18 Song+Word=Want In Jer3:19 The Father Himself says "I thought to myself, `I would love to treat you as my own children!' I wanted nothing more than to give you this beautiful land--the finest inheritance in the world. I looked forward to your calling me `Father,' and I thought you would never turn away from me again. Does it thrill anyone else that God has emotions and that they are directed at us FOR us. Elsewhere He says He desires that none perish but that ALL would come to a savin knowledge of Him. Isn't it easy to Love back a God whose love goes to such extreme lengths to make us His children? He takes our punishment, forgives us then adopts is as heirs with the Son He sacrificed for us and then raises us as His own, daily as we walk with Him!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Thurs 6.17 Song+Word=Longing

Thurs 6.17 Song+Word=Longing Ps37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." This verse stands as a monument to the transformation that CAN occur when we listen for Guidance and then pray for what God has revealed is on HIS HEART. He doesn't give us the things we long for, the verse say He will give you DESIRES-sanctified, God-honoring ones. He will cause you to long for what He desires. He is wrecking me for France. I can only explain it by saying I am sure it is what He wants: to see them RETURN to Him.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Wed 6.16 Song+Word=Listen

Wed 6.16 Song+Word=Listen This song is completely dependent, as are we, on the truth that God not only cares but also speaks to us and...listens to our prayers? Even if they are so deep the holy spirit has to interpret them with unutterable groanings! So much becomes clear when we take time to just listen to what God has to say first. Ps85:7 Show us Your unfailing love, O Lord & grant us Your salvation. 8 I will listen to what God the Lord will say; He promises peace to His people, His saints— but let them not return to folly.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Tues 6.15 Song+Word=Impossible

Tues 6.15 Song+Word=Impossible This song by Shontelle has been haunting me for weeks with my fears that things I thought God planned for my life will never happen. But my hope has been centered on how long it took Abraham to see the promise begin to be fulfilled. Genesis 18:13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son." He can do that so surely France and a family someday is not too hard for Him!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Sun 6.13 Song+Word=Facedown

Sun 6.13 Song+Word=Facedown Matt Readmans album by the same name might be the most impactful album of its kind for me. If I could only take one album with me on an island this is a contender. I discovered and kept it on repeat on our Mission Trip to France in 2005. It is the soundtrack to my memories of that time. The title track sounds like what Isaiah would have written if he'd been a Psalmist after his encounter in chapter 6. I think there is a direct correlation between the awe-producing revelation of God's glory and Isaiah's response. Just a glimpse of His glory was enough for Him to offer all of Himself and to beg God to send him to increase His Kingdom. When worship does what is should, God is more glorified than He was and the worshipper is impacted by the clearer revelation of that glory enough to do something about it! I long to return to France to help lead my francophone brothers and sisters to Jesus so THAT HIS GLORY MAY ELICIT THE SAME RESPONSE IN THEM!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Sat 6.12 Wounds

Sat 6.12 Song+Word=Wounds
It's amazing to me that Jesus called us His friends because "friends" are those who can and have hurt me the most. Relationships with people are messy! For Jesus that doesn't matter!
John 15: My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command.15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.
Before He was born Jesus' wounding for and by his "friends" was prophesied in Isaiah 53
Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.
His wounding was the price for our healing SO THAT WE WOULD LOVE EACH OTHER AND BEAR FRUIT, THAT LASTS! These are the kinds of relationships I have built with a few friends in France but wish I could do more…

Friday, June 11, 2010

Fri 6.11 ADAM

Fri 6.11 Song+Word=ADAM
The movie Adam, featuring Joshua Radin's When U Find Me, reminds me how loving makes me who I'm supposed 2 B! Even if unrequited. Like the 1st Adam we have all messed up but we can find our way back to who we should be by SEEKING HIM.
"My son, get 2 know the God of your ancestors. Worship+Serve Him w/your whole heart+ w/a willing mind. The LORD sees every heart & knows every thought. If U seek Him, U WILL find Him. But if U forsake Him, He will reject U forever."
"U will seek ME and find ME when U seek ME with your wh

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Thurs 6.10 Song+Word=QUICKLY

Thurs 6.10 Song+Word=QUICKLY The song Redlight by Jonny Lang reminds us how quickly our path, our focus, can change if we just pay attention. Even just sitting at a Redlight! 1Th 5:13-16"When people are saying, 'All is well; everything is peaceful and secure,' then disaster will fall upon them as QUICKLY as a woman's birth pains begin when her child is about to be born. And there will be no escape. But you won't be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief. So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be sober."

Wed 6.9 Song+Word=TOUCH

Wed 6.9 Song+Word=TOUCH Lk6:19 Everyone was trying to TOUCH Him, because healing power went out from Him, and they were all cured. Jesus' TOUCH has wrecked me in a way that prevents me from being who I was. Now even if people think I'm crazy I have no choice but to live as His creature and to allow Him to TOUCH other lives thru mine! 99% of the population in France is waiting to be touched by the proclamation of the Gospel. They have NEVER heard it! Zephaniah 3;17 "The LORD your God is with YOU, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in YOU, He will quiet YOU with His love, He will rejoice over YOU with singing." Listen 2 the vid &hear His love 4 U.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Tues 6.8 Song+Word=Mercy

Tues 6.8 Song+Word=Mercy Avinu Malkeinu, Chaneinu V'aneinu, ki ein banu ma'asim. Ase imanu tzedakah vachesed, vehoshiyeinu. "Avinu Malkeinu Our Father Our King Be gracious to us and answer us, though we have no worthy deeds (with which to repay You for our large request), please grant us Righteousness and Mercy, and save us!" This is the final verse of a Traditional Hebrew prayer from the Day of Atonement. Can't get it off my mind. My heart is breaking for people who won't hear the Gospel if we don't go or send! France here we come.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Mon 6.7 Song+Word=CREATOR

Mon 6.7 Song+Word=Creator Our God is an engineer of matchless skill. And He is so Awesome that in Psalm 33 it says He breathes out stars. Even the shortest exploration of the cosmos will reveal stars so much bigger than the earth and our sun that the comparisons in size are beyond what we can understand. God spoke it all into existence perfectly from the fully formed plan in His triune mind. That God came to Earth and is still building a Kingdom of Souls. These He breathes on as well. Personally. Specifically. They are so close that I can almost taste His plans for Kingdom building in France outside Paris. What is He constructing in your life? Through your life?

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Sun 6.6 Song+Word=Zion

Sun 6.6 Song+Word=Zion Mount Zion. Site of the Holy City Jerusalem. Future home of billions of the redeemed in the new Heaven and Earth. A place for which we long even now. This song reminds me of how the Israelites praised Him through their circumstances because they loved and longed to be with Him in Zion. I long for Paris that way. It is my heart's home until we reach Zion.

Sat 6.5 Song+Word=Finished

Sat 6.5 Song+Word=Finished Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. When they had carried out all that was written about Him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead,& 4 many days He was seen by those who had traveled with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people. Indeed to ALL people. Pray that He would enable me to return to the French Soon. And in the meantime that I would finish every work to which He has set my hands and heart.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Fri 6:4 Song+Word=Great

Fri 6:4 Song+Word=Great Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You In the presence of the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord, for He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Thurs 6.3 Song+Word=Hands

Thurs 6.3 Song+Word=Hands Israel means wrestles with God. I think a modern translation might say "holds on to God with both HANDS and won't let go." In Isaiah He says He has inscribed Our names on His hands. The washing of HANDS used to symbolize the cleansing from sins. I believe His nail scarred HANDS represent eternal cleansing from sin and ARE the LAMB'S Book of Life. My name is written there! I will give my life to see the names of my French Brothers and Sisters written there! Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the high prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Wed 6.2:Song+Word=ALONE

Wed 6.2:Song+Word=ALONE "To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Do you not know? Have you not heard? He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Tues 6.1 Song+Word=SEE

Tues 6.1 Song+Word=SEE I want to SEE how Jesus SEES. I love the passages where he says LOOK or asks don't you SEE?Every time I stand on the steps of Sacre Coeur looking out over Paris feel His compassion the way He did before the crucifixion when He said “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not SEE me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’” I want to help Jesus gather the French before we all SEE Him again and it's too late.