Today as we visited a park, and I was alone at the swings, I was overcome by a strong love and longing for my Lord Jesus. And in that experience, I learned what the Word means by the Lord being our first love.
If your greatest love is your family, or your friends, or your sports...your boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, children or anything else other than Jesus...then you are missing what love really is. It's not people, or things, or pastimes, or any other thing that might be out there: Love is God. God is Love. And He is the most satisfying, fulfilling, loving, caring, listening God ever to breath across the universe. Oh and on topof that, He's the only true God! there is none like Him! What other gods do you hear of that gave their own life to save ours, and that came back to life again, promising us eternal life as well? What other Lord would care enough about our welfare that He gave us guidelines and promises that He always keeps? What other god, would come back to us after what we did to His Son? Only YHVH. And I am so in love with Him. No really....I mean it. I don't mean love like somebody would love a puppy, or love a friend, or a spouse, but love in it's purest, strongest, most beautiful form.
Time and time again I've had casual conversations with the LORD in His throne room. I stand there(sometimes kneel or fall flat on my face there) in His presense, seeing only the bright golden light of His radience,the throne, and His gentle face: and He carries on conversation with me as He would with a friend. And then I ask Him almost every time, 'why do you let me talk to You like this?' and every time, never fails, He bends down, love lighting up His eyes and boring into my own, cups my face in His nail-scarred hands and whispers "Because I love you."
You may not believe me...but I am not lying. I am telling you the truth. Have you ever done that with Him? He desires that relationship with everybody, and He will talk wth you if you really want to hear what He has to say. He is always available. And I can tell you beforetime, that when you do come into that throne-room, that the Lord Jesus will stand from His throne, and run to greet you and call you His child.....because He loves you.
If youhave such a conversation with the LORD Jesus, please let me know! I would love to hear about it! If you have unbelief about what I've told you, feel free to say so. I don't mind sharing what I know, or what I don't know.
My point of this blog entry tonight is.....
Do you REALLY love HIM?
Do YOU really LOVE Him?
DO you REALLY LOVE Him?
He may very well ask you. What will be your answer?
DO you love Him.....with shoes on?
-'Emily'
"I've fallen in love
I"ve fallen inlove
I've fallen in love
With the King of Kings.
"I've fallen in love....
I've fallen in love...
I've fallen in love...
With the Prince of Peace.
"I'll never know fear,
For Jesus is near,
I'll never worry or doubt.
For when He is near,
There's nothing to fear,
Not even fear itself!
"I've fallen in love.
I've fallen in love
I've fallen in love
With the Great Redeemer
"I've fallen in love
I've fallen in love
I've fallen in love
With the Great I AM
"I'll never complain,
And never disdain,
for He's provided all I need.
I'll give thanks every day,
In all that I say,
For He deserves every praise!
"I've fallen in love
I've fallen in love
I've fallen in love
With the Great Physician
"I've fallen in love
I've fallen in love
I've fallen in love,
With JehovahYahweh
"He takes care of the lilly,
Grass of the feild,
And He watches the sparrow in flight
I know that He'll guide me,
Provide every need,
And guard me through the night,
"But why?
"I've fallen in love
I've fallen in love
I've fallen in love
Because He first loved me.
"Because He first loved me.
April 2012, JWS
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Real, selfless love
Chairein: the joy of the Lord to you:
These past few days have been really tumultuous spiritually. Attack after attack through my precious loved ones as well as in the spirit. I am so sorrowful and broken that some of my family members are so blinded to truth!
How long O Lord God must I suffer at the hand of my family? How long must I endure judgmental people that judge others by their own perverted viewpoint? how long must others call the 'red balloon' black, purple, or green? Oh YHVH please deliver me from this pain and torture please? I struggle daily against the enemy, and every time the wicked one uses my loved ones against me it is a hard blow to my heart. I am not angry, or bitter. I am so very very very hurt and wounded at their being used as a tool of the accuser. Will I have to leave Arkansas permanently to escape this, or will it be the same wherever I go? must I wear a mask to be liked by people? please dear LORD, surround me with people that really love You and that will really love others as You love.
Real love, pure, Christlike love, does not judge others. It does not gossip, it does not believe bad reports. It loves despite failures, mistakes, screw-ups and faults. It looks beyond the outer rim and framework and into the heart. If it hears others berating or cursing somebody they stop them. if it hears gossip it asks the person it's about if it's true or not. Love does not abandon when people are most in need of help. It makes itself available to help anyone in need, regardless of who they are or what they've done. Love sacrifices self to serve the LORD because a person cannot serve the LORD when they serve themselves.
"My times are in thy hand; deliver me from the hands of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me." -Psalms 31:15
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also." Matthew 5:38-40
" Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."-Matthew 5:10-16
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
Matthew 5:43-48
If you don't like the truth....if you don't LOVE the Truth...sorry. But it's still true, regardless of what you want to believe.
To my readers I would appreciate any and all prayers that you can pray for me and my loved ones please? thank you. Also any other scripture or thoughts you may have are welcome. If you have anything private you wish to say, you may email me.
Shalom,
-JJ
wilsonbookworm@gmail.com
These past few days have been really tumultuous spiritually. Attack after attack through my precious loved ones as well as in the spirit. I am so sorrowful and broken that some of my family members are so blinded to truth!
How long O Lord God must I suffer at the hand of my family? How long must I endure judgmental people that judge others by their own perverted viewpoint? how long must others call the 'red balloon' black, purple, or green? Oh YHVH please deliver me from this pain and torture please? I struggle daily against the enemy, and every time the wicked one uses my loved ones against me it is a hard blow to my heart. I am not angry, or bitter. I am so very very very hurt and wounded at their being used as a tool of the accuser. Will I have to leave Arkansas permanently to escape this, or will it be the same wherever I go? must I wear a mask to be liked by people? please dear LORD, surround me with people that really love You and that will really love others as You love.
Real love, pure, Christlike love, does not judge others. It does not gossip, it does not believe bad reports. It loves despite failures, mistakes, screw-ups and faults. It looks beyond the outer rim and framework and into the heart. If it hears others berating or cursing somebody they stop them. if it hears gossip it asks the person it's about if it's true or not. Love does not abandon when people are most in need of help. It makes itself available to help anyone in need, regardless of who they are or what they've done. Love sacrifices self to serve the LORD because a person cannot serve the LORD when they serve themselves.
"My times are in thy hand; deliver me from the hands of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me." -Psalms 31:15
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also." Matthew 5:38-40
" Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."-Matthew 5:10-16
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
Matthew 5:43-48
If you don't like the truth....if you don't LOVE the Truth...sorry. But it's still true, regardless of what you want to believe.
To my readers I would appreciate any and all prayers that you can pray for me and my loved ones please? thank you. Also any other scripture or thoughts you may have are welcome. If you have anything private you wish to say, you may email me.
Shalom,
-JJ
wilsonbookworm@gmail.com
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
blessings and cursings
I learned something that I didn't know in a recent word study. Of course...that is the entire purpose of a study in the first place, right?
Anyway, I looked up every verse about curse, cursing, curses, and cursed that is in the Word and wrote them all out by hand. The reason is a totally different story. But as I wrote them out, I noticed that the words for curse didn't all have the same meaning, so I looked them up.
To curse is not so much saying a word in anger, like so many of our four-letter words as I've always understood it to be. In that regard we can take ANY word and use it as a cursing; even words like 'whiskers' or 'stuffing' when spoken in anger become curse words.
But cursing somebody is to:
"Bring into contempt, to despise, to curse, with holes, to strike, to whip, to wound, to tear, to spear, to stab with words, to cut, ect." Cursing was and is not limited to words either. According to the Word, you can curse somebody in your heart or in your mind and not utter a word. Yikes!
That took me aback. Just talking or even thinking badly about somebody was cursing them? wow! I've done that all of my 19 years of living! How do I stop? that's an easy answer..... You just do. Even if tempted to just tell somebody else to get a load off my chest, or to council, or to pray about, if it brings that other person into contempt, or makes others dislike them or despise them, then it's a cursing. And the Word of the LORD says we can't have both blessings and curses coming from the same mouth because it's a contradiction to our testimony which is Jesus, the son of the Living God YHWH.
We are ambassadors for the Living God of the Everlasting Kingdom to the darkened world. Would we misrepresent our King, Master and Lord by cursing and blessing with the same mouth? Yes. So how dare we? it is hard, to resist cutting others down with our negative thoughts and words, but circumcision of the heart is always hard and usually painful. But the blessing that follows is greater than this present suffering, as Paul writes, and justifiably so. For at the Judgment Seat, when we are judged according to EVERY IDLE THOUGHT AND WORD and according to EVERY DEED, if we have done well, resisting evil and following the Word and Will of the LORD, then we will hear the words "Well done" from the King of all Kings. If that's not worth this present suffering, I don't know what would be!
I hope you are encouraged, and if you would, I would recommend that you search out these words as well, and perhaps even search into the meaning of blessing, blessings, blessed, and bless. If you do, feel free to share here! comments are welcome as well as your own spiritual insight.
The LORD bless you, and thank you for reading.
Shalom
Anyway, I looked up every verse about curse, cursing, curses, and cursed that is in the Word and wrote them all out by hand. The reason is a totally different story. But as I wrote them out, I noticed that the words for curse didn't all have the same meaning, so I looked them up.
To curse is not so much saying a word in anger, like so many of our four-letter words as I've always understood it to be. In that regard we can take ANY word and use it as a cursing; even words like 'whiskers' or 'stuffing' when spoken in anger become curse words.
But cursing somebody is to:
"Bring into contempt, to despise, to curse, with holes, to strike, to whip, to wound, to tear, to spear, to stab with words, to cut, ect." Cursing was and is not limited to words either. According to the Word, you can curse somebody in your heart or in your mind and not utter a word. Yikes!
That took me aback. Just talking or even thinking badly about somebody was cursing them? wow! I've done that all of my 19 years of living! How do I stop? that's an easy answer..... You just do. Even if tempted to just tell somebody else to get a load off my chest, or to council, or to pray about, if it brings that other person into contempt, or makes others dislike them or despise them, then it's a cursing. And the Word of the LORD says we can't have both blessings and curses coming from the same mouth because it's a contradiction to our testimony which is Jesus, the son of the Living God YHWH.
We are ambassadors for the Living God of the Everlasting Kingdom to the darkened world. Would we misrepresent our King, Master and Lord by cursing and blessing with the same mouth? Yes. So how dare we? it is hard, to resist cutting others down with our negative thoughts and words, but circumcision of the heart is always hard and usually painful. But the blessing that follows is greater than this present suffering, as Paul writes, and justifiably so. For at the Judgment Seat, when we are judged according to EVERY IDLE THOUGHT AND WORD and according to EVERY DEED, if we have done well, resisting evil and following the Word and Will of the LORD, then we will hear the words "Well done" from the King of all Kings. If that's not worth this present suffering, I don't know what would be!
I hope you are encouraged, and if you would, I would recommend that you search out these words as well, and perhaps even search into the meaning of blessing, blessings, blessed, and bless. If you do, feel free to share here! comments are welcome as well as your own spiritual insight.
The LORD bless you, and thank you for reading.
Shalom
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Worth the Wait
I have recently come back from a mission trip to Missouri. Which was great and I enjoyed my time there with fellow believers and the wonderful peace that envelopes Patton (despite the fact that it is the poorest county in the whole state, possibly the whole nation, and despite the drugs that are so prevalent there. It's almost like an oasis in the wilderness....but that's a different story). The Lord used that time to draw me closer to Him, and to greatly increase my faith. But that's not what I want to share right now. I want to talk about before I left.
I'd been setting up a yard sale around our area for a while, every Friday for that matter, to help clear out the clutter from my house and to help pay the bills. But I'd hardly made anything at the corner of 9 and 10. Nobody wanted to stop because it was hard to pull in, and there wasn't much traffic anyway. When there was, people were in a hurry to get home. So I was sitting out in the wind, watching everything blow over every ten minutes or so like clockwork. And like clockwork, or rather a working clock, every ten minutes I got up and set everything back up. And on top of that, I wasn't making much at all. I wasn't having much of a good day. My faith was not what it sould be, but I prayed anyway.
"Lord You know all this stuff belongs to You, and I know like You do that I can't do anything on my own, and everything I have I have because of You. Please Lord, do with this stuff whatever you will. in Jesus' name, amen."
Later on in the afternoon, I still hadn't sold much. I was about ready to pack up when a car pulled up into the lot. Inside was a woman and her daughter. The woman got out and approached me, and handed me a twenty dollar bill. "I was driving by and the Lord laid it on my heart to give you this." She said with tears in her eyes. "I don't know why, but I do know that it was the Lord, and I want to obey Him. I haven't always, and I know that I should. I hope the Lord blesses you." Then with me in shock still, she went back into her car, and began to drive away. I woke from my stupor and grabbed a picture from the front seat of my moma's Lincoln and ran after her waving my arms and yelling. Once I had caught up to her, she rolled down the window and I gave her the picture of a girl praying that I had drawn a long time ago. It was messy looking, and smudged where I erased lines, but I gave it to her. I had loved that picture more than any of my others. The girl in the picture looked so peaceful with her head bowed in prayer. I thanked the woman for her gift and gave her the picture. "I feel led to give you this as my way of saying thank you for listening to the Lord. May He bless you abundantly. Any time I think of you, I will pray for you." The woman looked like she would cry, said thank you, and we parted ways. With tears in my eyes I packed up my things and went home. That woman was why I had been there that day. It was worth the wait.
When the Lord laid it on my heart to go to MO, I hesitated. I'd be alone, with no way of getting home for one whole month, and with people I didn't know if I could trust. So I laid it before the Lord and told Him that if He really wanted me to go, He'd sell everything I had in the Lincoln so I could leave it cleaned out and neat for my moma while I was gone. I didn't h ave much faith, but that was alright. God did.
I was set up at a gas station, and again hadn't made much at all. But it was better than the last time. Again I'd prayed and given everything I had to the Lord, and asked Him to sell it for me because obviously I was doing a lousy job.
At two pm, the time that I usually have the least business, a man stopped by the 'booth' in his noisey diesel truck. Looking around, he asked me what I was selling these things for. I answered him, saying that I didn't really have much of a reason except to clean up and to make some extra cash. He shook his head and looked at me. "I don't know why the Lord had my stop here today, but He's got a reason. Would you take a hundred dollars for everything you have here?"
I was shocked. "For everything except the wedding dress, poster and shelves." I said in surprise.
I still couldn't believe it had happened while we loaded up everything into his truck, but it had happened. We talked about the Lord, and he explained that he was planning to donate everything to his church, which had a clothes closet and a closet for everything else a family would need. "And anything that we can't put away, we'll sell to make money to help those in need." Greatly encouraged that the stuff was going to bless somebody, I continued to help him load his truck.
He couldn't get everything into his truck. Scratching his head he asked me in amazement, "Surely you didn't get all this into that lincoln did you?"
I nodded and laughed at his expression. "Yes I did." I was slightly embarrased then and told him, "I come from a long line of packrats. If it can be packed, we can do it." It wasn't a really good testimony I realized, but it was the truth, and was sort of funny. In the end, I ended up with $120 dollars that day. The Lord had truely blessed me.
I cleaned my moma's lincoln up, vacumed it out, and washed it at the car wash next door. The money that remained went mostly to different ministries, as I realized that I wanted to bless others because I had been blessed. I've always been a tightwad, but I knew then that the Lord would provide my every need, whether great or small if I had enough faith. While I was in MO this happened again and again, and my faith has greatly grown. The Lord answered prayers concerning weather, transportation, freedom, and openness.
Now I am yard saling again, trying to make enough to help pay the bills, but I know that the Lord is in charge of everything, great and small, and nothing will happen that wasn't in His plan first. God truely is in control. And His blessings are ALWAYS worth the wait.
Thankyou for reading today.
God bless you, shalom.
I'd been setting up a yard sale around our area for a while, every Friday for that matter, to help clear out the clutter from my house and to help pay the bills. But I'd hardly made anything at the corner of 9 and 10. Nobody wanted to stop because it was hard to pull in, and there wasn't much traffic anyway. When there was, people were in a hurry to get home. So I was sitting out in the wind, watching everything blow over every ten minutes or so like clockwork. And like clockwork, or rather a working clock, every ten minutes I got up and set everything back up. And on top of that, I wasn't making much at all. I wasn't having much of a good day. My faith was not what it sould be, but I prayed anyway.
"Lord You know all this stuff belongs to You, and I know like You do that I can't do anything on my own, and everything I have I have because of You. Please Lord, do with this stuff whatever you will. in Jesus' name, amen."
Later on in the afternoon, I still hadn't sold much. I was about ready to pack up when a car pulled up into the lot. Inside was a woman and her daughter. The woman got out and approached me, and handed me a twenty dollar bill. "I was driving by and the Lord laid it on my heart to give you this." She said with tears in her eyes. "I don't know why, but I do know that it was the Lord, and I want to obey Him. I haven't always, and I know that I should. I hope the Lord blesses you." Then with me in shock still, she went back into her car, and began to drive away. I woke from my stupor and grabbed a picture from the front seat of my moma's Lincoln and ran after her waving my arms and yelling. Once I had caught up to her, she rolled down the window and I gave her the picture of a girl praying that I had drawn a long time ago. It was messy looking, and smudged where I erased lines, but I gave it to her. I had loved that picture more than any of my others. The girl in the picture looked so peaceful with her head bowed in prayer. I thanked the woman for her gift and gave her the picture. "I feel led to give you this as my way of saying thank you for listening to the Lord. May He bless you abundantly. Any time I think of you, I will pray for you." The woman looked like she would cry, said thank you, and we parted ways. With tears in my eyes I packed up my things and went home. That woman was why I had been there that day. It was worth the wait.
When the Lord laid it on my heart to go to MO, I hesitated. I'd be alone, with no way of getting home for one whole month, and with people I didn't know if I could trust. So I laid it before the Lord and told Him that if He really wanted me to go, He'd sell everything I had in the Lincoln so I could leave it cleaned out and neat for my moma while I was gone. I didn't h ave much faith, but that was alright. God did.
I was set up at a gas station, and again hadn't made much at all. But it was better than the last time. Again I'd prayed and given everything I had to the Lord, and asked Him to sell it for me because obviously I was doing a lousy job.
At two pm, the time that I usually have the least business, a man stopped by the 'booth' in his noisey diesel truck. Looking around, he asked me what I was selling these things for. I answered him, saying that I didn't really have much of a reason except to clean up and to make some extra cash. He shook his head and looked at me. "I don't know why the Lord had my stop here today, but He's got a reason. Would you take a hundred dollars for everything you have here?"
I was shocked. "For everything except the wedding dress, poster and shelves." I said in surprise.
I still couldn't believe it had happened while we loaded up everything into his truck, but it had happened. We talked about the Lord, and he explained that he was planning to donate everything to his church, which had a clothes closet and a closet for everything else a family would need. "And anything that we can't put away, we'll sell to make money to help those in need." Greatly encouraged that the stuff was going to bless somebody, I continued to help him load his truck.
He couldn't get everything into his truck. Scratching his head he asked me in amazement, "Surely you didn't get all this into that lincoln did you?"
I nodded and laughed at his expression. "Yes I did." I was slightly embarrased then and told him, "I come from a long line of packrats. If it can be packed, we can do it." It wasn't a really good testimony I realized, but it was the truth, and was sort of funny. In the end, I ended up with $120 dollars that day. The Lord had truely blessed me.
I cleaned my moma's lincoln up, vacumed it out, and washed it at the car wash next door. The money that remained went mostly to different ministries, as I realized that I wanted to bless others because I had been blessed. I've always been a tightwad, but I knew then that the Lord would provide my every need, whether great or small if I had enough faith. While I was in MO this happened again and again, and my faith has greatly grown. The Lord answered prayers concerning weather, transportation, freedom, and openness.
Now I am yard saling again, trying to make enough to help pay the bills, but I know that the Lord is in charge of everything, great and small, and nothing will happen that wasn't in His plan first. God truely is in control. And His blessings are ALWAYS worth the wait.
Thankyou for reading today.
God bless you, shalom.
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