Marriage and a prayer experience...........complete.

A story about "What Christ in a marriage can do through real intimacy."
"And they shall become one flesh"..........
Yesterday Elise A. Cavasin and I finished up a particularly grueling stint on the retaining wall project and were both exhausted beyond words. As we looked for a way to relax a cold drink and pool side chair came to mind. Elise set up the chairs and I readied the beverages. Soon we were pool side cooling down and chatting about what we could do next. We fell upon the idea of pulling back the pool cover and taking a dip to assuage our tired bodies, maybe a few laps or just some float time. We chose both and soon we were chasing each end of the pool then floating in the sun talking about how blessed we have been and the many Divine interventions we have had in our lives especially the past few years. The hour and a half soon past and we needed some nourishment so dinner was next at hand.
Having prepared some salad and left overs we held hands and bowed to "pray a blessing on the fare."
That's when the beginning of this post became "a Divine Intervention."
We had just finished talking about all the blessings we have received and I started offering the blessing prayer for the food and "it happened."
I started out praising God and Thanking Him for His immeasurable blessings, Elise joined in and soon we were overcome by "His presence." As prayer was to be made "in the name of Jesus" I began to weep in my spirit "praying quietly to God in the Holy Ghost", words not being found to speak and express the gratitude we had in our hearts for all His goodness to us. As the verbal pause became longer Elise took over and started to pray and finished the prayer, "help meet" becomes comforter, man and woman become one in the flesh and in the spirit, prayer offered completed by both husband, wife and Holy Spirit, Gods perfect design blessed beyond measure, completed in prayer, "God in us the hope of Glory."
I truly believe that this was God's intentioned plan for man and woman in the union of marriage made complete in Him.
This "Divine intervention" was no less powerful than the most beautiful of all the miracles that we have seen to date.
Where God is there is Love, Joy and Peace in the Holy Spirit, whether at service, in your prayer closet, blessing a meal, or any time He meets you where you are.
Have a blessed day.
Love
J&E in Tn

New week how are we going to start?

To all those who are reading this here is something to think about:
You just made it through another week O'Life, and in your reflections back over that week you need to ask yourself "did I make a difference this week?"
This could be to others, could be in offering something that helped out materially, could be an attitude?
What ever you did or didn't do, willingly or not, is now set in the concrete of time and cannot be taken back or changed in its original format.
So?
Today starts another "week" anew.
Whats it going to be?
Positive? Negative? Loving? Rude? Self seeking? Seeking to help others by thought, word, or deed?
Now is a good time to make the resolution to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Your week starts here and "today is the day if you hear My voice harden not your hearts." If we listen to God daily we will have a "productive week" both physically and spiritually and "be a blessing to many." Your wife or husband will appreciate it, your children will run to see you, your co-workers will admire your attitude, and your boss will find you an invaluable asset to the work field.
Yes today is the day lets start this week anew full of faith that we can make a difference. Remember that the world changes one person at a time and you can only effect "those whom God has put around you". If you are not responsible in the little things who will entrust unto you greater things?
Responsibility resides in the moment but is shown effective over a lifetime.
"Love one another, for love covers a multitude of sins and never fails."
Today your feet are in the starting blocks to do good this week and "redeem the time for the days are evil".
The starting gun is in the air and the shot ready to go off.
My starting blocks are pointed toward starting this week with church serves's. That way I know that I am starting off on the right foot and in the right direction.
You?
Love in Christ
J&E in Tn

The Passion........

The Passion (mutilating and beating before the Crucifixing death of Christ) came before the Resurrection to set what was taking place:
The sinless became sin,
The One who in no guile was found, became cursed. Cursed is every man who dies on the cross.
The only one truly obedient to the Fathers will, was forsaken.
The spotless Lamb, became the ever cleansing blood.
That unrecognizable corps was laid to rest in a tomb of stone and sealed, then guarded by soldiers.
Death could not hold Him.
Hell could not overtake Him. "He descended below to lead captive captivity."
He rose again to the Glory of the Father and for the eternal life of all men.
He ascended on high and gave gift to men.
All that can be said is:
Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah..............
And so we rejoice in Christ our savior.
Love 
J&E in Tn

Resurrection Day.............One day or for life?

Well Easter/Resurrection Day has past, but is it really?

To me it was like a seed planted afresh, which will sprout up, and the beauty of its blooms will continually bless thru out the year.

This is a reminder that we belong to someone greater than our earthly forms, that both the physical and spiritual has hope "because He lives".

We are the "sheep of His pasture, He is the "Good Sheppard", we know His voice and we are known by Him".

He cares enough about us to "know the very hairs of our head" yet He "stands at the right hand of His Father in Heaven" and "makes intersession for us".

We are eternally blessed to be "His people and called by His name."

Every day that we live we can rejoice in "Christ our Savior" because "each day is a new day, a new day in the Lord."

I lay hold to the "mercy's that are new every morning", and "grace convenient for today" for "He is faithful to deliver, and will."

Life without Him is hopeless regardless of success or failures, but life "in Him" is full of hope that gives purpose and direction as "He leadeth me" and "directs my paths."

With every "Resurrection Day" that I experience in my life I know that I am drawing neigh to the "Eternal Resurrection" that awaits for all who are "called by His name."

For those who "look for His coming" the promise is secure, as are all the promises that are in Him. Promises that "follow" those who believe as signs and wonders, and those promises that "will be made manifest" on the other side when we arrive.

He fills the long life with blessing, and He redeems the short life with the sweetness of His presence early on.

"In Him" life is best, without Him life is difficult at best.

His presence in our lives brings with it bountiful riches regardless of our "state." Blessings and Love is our surety, and "newness of life" is what we experience daily as we "abide" in Him.

His Resurrection is proven in us every day that we "arise" with praise, and our hearts full of thanksgiving. As our feet hit the floor we "will go out with joy and are lead forth with peace."

When we enter into His rest at night our "sleep will be sweet", and "He will keep us".

I count that there is no greater joy in life than being "found in Him", and "growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ."

The Resurrection has not "just passed" but lives on in us daily as we abide in Him.

Love

In Christ

J&E in Tn

Short thoughts

The "expectations" of Christianity is no longer based on Scripture as a general rule, it's based on whats practiced by it's participants.

If your life (consisting of all your thoughts, words, and deeds) was the only witness of the Gospel someone was to receive, would they find it "necessary" or "inspiring", and want to believe?

Do you have "Divine" expectations from "your Father in Heaven" or are you "satisfied" with your own applications of faith, however powerless?

John 20:29
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
This is the proper "expectation", Scripture is True in every aspect whether or not you have seen or experienced it in your "faith" walk. You are not the standard of Scripture, Christ is! 

Blind Bartimaeus never experienced a miracle but that didn't stop him from crying out.

A true saying

Miracles are only as uncommon as they are unexpected!

We are made in His image and likeness.......Not the other way around

But because of the flesh we all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. Note to those who believe otherwise, sin is not an occurrence in God but us. We are in His image and likeness.....not the other way around. It is our nature to sin and fall short not His. I can't emphasis this truth enough, God is Divine, never changing, ever. He cannot change. We can and will. He cannot be tempted, we can. He cannot sin, we will.

Clear enough?
Then let me query this......why do we believe that He somehow has our personality traits and falls under the same comparisons?

The point:

God is love, right? But God is also holiness, righteousness, judgement, and truth. Right? So which is He more? Is His Love greater than His judgement? Holiness greater than His righteousness? Again the answer is He is not in our image and likeness we are in His. And we are to be conformed to His image and likeness as we follow Jesus, decreasing so He may increase, and dying to self so He can live through us. We are being conformed to His image and likeness. So we are lower (baser) than He but He is working a work in us to change us to His image and likeness to Glorify Himself in all the work.

So what character is greater? Love, Holiness, righteousness, or judgement? None of the above is greater. In His divinity they all have the same level of importance. His Love will never override His judgement, nothing will ever change with God, only our thinking sets up a "priority scale". The Love of God was shown through the coming of Christ (His promise), to show His absolute Holiness (sin can't stand before Him), to set the bar of His righteousness (we couldn't approach His throne), and to eliminate His judgement by the blood of Christ. God is Divine without fault and with no level of participation more important than the rest of the levels.

So what is the problem?
Us + sin!
We (man) has the odd ability to take perfect Divinity and drag it down to the level we ourselves are on. We are a needy people and our greatest need is not judgement, holiness, or righteousness, it's Love. All of the woes of man can be laid to rest by Love......especially Divine love. So Love becomes the blanket to cover all our blinding to the whole message of the Gospel. Now don't get me wrong, the Gospel is God's greatest show of Love to all mankind over all time but it is not the only thing that God has revealed of His character. We focus on this because it gives us leave to ignore the rest of His Word and the warnings therein. Jesus is Love incarnate, but even He talked and warned more about Hell than He did heaven. He preached the message of Gods Love and redemption but He also warned about damnation and eternal torment, "where their worms never die and their flames never go out." So here we have Love and Damnation with damnation on a greater scale coming from He who is Love.

What does Gods Love save us from and put us in relationship with? Judgement, righteousness, and Holiness. All at once just as He has all these applications at the same time. But because His judgement, righteousness, and Holiness scares us (though it is slow (on our part) to keep us from sinning, we have to focus on the only thing that we want God to hold us accountable to and that's His Love. Many use Love (Christ) to leverage God when we continue to sin. Is there forgiveness for continued sin? Yes. But sin is easier to continue in when we say Love is greater than judgement, righteousness and Holiness. Even though Christ has settled all these issues with His blood we focus on God's Love as the only proprietary condition. We can better understand God's Love toward us if we better understood what real judgement, righteousness, and Holiness is. What we really deserve and what Jesus's blood saved us from. How He leveled the playing field between Divinity for Humanity and gave us the right to stand before and supplicate a Divine God.

So then seeing this we can "as through a glass darkly" begin to see "face to face" and gain a full appreciation of who our Father in Heaven is and why His love is so unconditional and incomprehensible. We were created in His image and likeness but now we are being conformed to His image and likeness now.

He is in the heavens and we are on the earth. He is Divine and we are carnal. He is the Redeemer of all things and we are what needs to be redeemed. Christ brings us into His presence and the Holy Spirit works in our lives to conform us to His image and likeness the way we were before sin entered in so we can walk and talk with Him as in the beginning. He is the Master Potter we are the clay of His making. We have confidence in judgement because we have Christ and His sacrifice as our mediator. Christ is both our righteousness and Holiness.

This should change our thinking on how we perceive our God and give Him His rightful place in our hearts and minds.

He doesn't have our weaknesses, He doesn't have our failures, He doesn't have our needs, He is the answer to all these human afflictions.

Maybe this will help with our present dilemma of who God is and who we are so we can worship the King in love and truth.

Love
J&E in Tn