Reality is not human goodness.........................

Success will only be measured by obedience to His call.......Have we developed our own definition of Christian success? Do we work for immediate gratification of earthly rewards rather than waiting for the greatest reward God is keeping for us in Heaven?????

What is my calling in life? What is your calling? Is it to go to church? To do good church activities? To teach a bible study? Are we simply content in being a good person?

 I am constantly reading and studying the bible to get my work done for school instead of spending time with God....yes I am back on my spiritual treadmill of going nowhere!  I am running in place content with being good instead of Godly........I am allowing Satan victory by filling my life with good things that I have designed for myself!!! Good things that give me satisfaction when other people seem pleased or impressed. It all makes sense to me now how I crave the stillness, the peace, and the quietness....never quiet finding it.....I am serving others instead of God!!!! We have to change our thinking , it is a mindset........We work for God not to please others....We need to be less concerned about our character and more concerned with Falling in Love with the Lord!!!   Paul did not say that "he," separated himself, but "WHEN IT PLEASED GOD, WHO SEPARATED ME......."  (Galatians 1:15).....Paul was not OVERLY INTERESTED in his own character!!!!!!!!!  Paul was not conscious of himself.......He was recklessly abandoned, totally surrendered, and separated by God for one purpose.......TO PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL OF GOD.......Romans 9:3,

 There is only one word that I keep hearing whispered to me through His word......HUMBLE........HUMBLE YOURSELF.....  Stand with the Father against the very things that tempt you to do what "OTHERS," see as "GOOD." Until we take our focus off us and our circumstances.....our souls will be empty.........

 Satan is tempting you and me to be good because he fears that we will become one with the Father.........

If we place our faith in human goodness we will sink when the testing comes.........and it will come.....

Why is it that we place our desire to be holy above our desire to know God?  I am so guilty of this, wanting to build my own character.....This statement rings truth in my ears:   "YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF WHEN YOU LOSE YOURSELF."  In other words; take your eyes off of your own circumstances...its time to stop playing the victim card.....it's time that we allow ourselves to fall.....We have to yield our minds and motives to God....then we can begin the fall......instead of relying on ourselves we  learn to rely on the Holy Spirit.....who is God in us...then we become one with the Father........oneness=relationship!!!!

Wanting so badly to surrender,

Robbie

RITUAL BATH..........................................

Steps leading down into the ritual bath.......

Joshua 7: 13;

“Get up! Command the people to purify themselves in preparation for tomorrow. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Hidden among you, O Israel, are things set apart for the Lord. You will never defeat your enemies until you remove these things from among you.

What things do I need to remove from my life?, heart? mind?......... What about you?

                                                                                                    Me heading down into my ritual bath....It is centuries old. It would have been full of water back then. There were lots of these type of baths throughout Israel.....All of them different in size etc....

Joshua 3:5

5 Then Joshua told the people, “Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do great wonders among you.”

How do I purify myself in this race we call life? I want so badly to immerse myself in His blood...to wash away all the dirty water of my heart.......and Jesus said it's DONE.......

 

Here I am coming up out of the purifying water.....

A cleansing agent was required: water, blood, or fire (Numbers 31:23). Water, the most common purifying agent, symbolized cleansing and was used in the rituals related to a waiting period. The person was to wash the clothes and bathe the body (Leviticus 15:7

Ritual Purity. To be ritually pure means to be free of some flaw or uncleanness which would bar one from contact with holy objects or places, especially from contact with the holy presence of God in worship. God is the ideal of purity, and those who are to come in contact with God's presence are also to be pure. Habakkuk 1:13 indicates that God's eyes are too pure to look upon evil.

 

 

Jesus Christ came to transform us into "His," image....to make us true sons and daughters out of us.......Jesus Christ gave "Himself," for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to PURIFY for Himself a people that are His very own........

We are to "PURIFY, ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God." (2 Cor 7:1)

God sent Jesus to do the final purification for us......So how do we now purify ourselves?  The bible tells us; (1 Pet 1:22), "by obeying the truth," by preparing our minds for action, and not conforming to this world and this world's belief system....and by(not allowing our flesh victory).

The removal of SHAME, CONDEMNATION, SELF-CONTEMPT and SELF-LOATHING, brought about by Christ taking those things on Himself is what PURIFIES us and enables us to walk in holiness, "eager to do what is good". (Titus 2:14)

No longer do we need a purity bath to be in God's presence. The veil was torn from top to bottom.....So why is it that I am in this race we call "life" blinded by pure pride????? God continues to work with me in my messy life not giving up on me when I continue to impose what I believe to be a higher standard for myself than even what God has provided? Who do I think I am? Satan is making a fool of me,,,, How about you? Are you wallowing in self-pity, casting yourself as a tragic victim? God is showing me that I am not allowing myself to FALL........It is a flat out refusal to allow myself to FALL or COMMIT myself in love with Jesus Christ.........Why is that? Do I love sin more than I love Jesus?  Is my refusal to allow myself to FALL because their is doubt that their is unconditional Grace?    I stated in an earlier post how I had cried more in the last few weeks than ever before.. I know now that I was basically throwing  temper tantrums!  I was too scared to be angry at God so I always chose people that are close to me...the ones who I love the most......

       God is the perfect love for us to enter into.    Satan is playing with our minds.....if he knows he can't get us to not believe that God is real, he will lead us into a deception and help us find salvation in a pseudo-faith where there is no commitment, one that is birthed through the mind rather than the HEART....

Don't let anything keep you from God.....not your past, present or future.....Don't compromise God's promise for us to be made HOLY......

Don't let Satan fool you....Be holy in all you do...just as He who called you is Holy......

Take the time.....get in His presence........fall in love with Him...He will PURIFY the one who hungers and thirsts for His righteousness......

There will not be sinners in heaven

Hebrews 10:26-31
"If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left. but only a fearful expectation of judgement and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
Hebrews 10:35
" So do not throw away your confidence, it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised."


As I read the above scriptures, I get kinda scared. I'm not a "big" sinner, but all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. Do you ever feel guilty when you are watching a movie or a TV show that you know you should not be watching? Or say something that you should not say? Do we get comfortable with sin in our lives? Almost knowing that we can just ask God for forgiveness when it is all said and done. Well I have thought that. I recently watched a movie on the demand channel. It is $3.99 per movie. There was a part in the movie where they were making fun of "Godly "people and going to church, etc. The Holy Spirit that lives in me immediately told me to turn it off and get on my knees. I justified watching the rest of the movie telling myself that I could not waste that money and I know what I believe in. You may not think that is a big sin, but little sins turn into big ones. And truthfully, a sin is a sin. We will all stand before God on the throne one day and that day will not be fun for a lot of people. Can you imagine hearing, " I can't find your name in the Lambs book of Life. SORRY I NEVER KNEW YOU". Just writing that makes me feel sick.
We should be heartbroken when we sin. Life is hard, but we have got to live minute by minute in the word and praying that God gives us the strength to make it. We cannot be deceived by the devil, he wants nothing more than us sin over and over again. He doesn't want to be all by himself in the Lake of Fire. He wants to bring everyone of us down with him. The unrighteous will NOT inherit the kingdom of heaven. I pray every morning that God creates in me a new heart and searches my soul for anything unholy. I just want to draw near to him.
Love in Christ,
Amy

Give me Jesus

Make sure your scroll down and turn our music off first!!!
     Some of this was taken from my devotion today: "My UTMOST for HIS HIGHEST," by: Oswald Chambers

The vision Paul had on the road to Damascus was not a passing emotional experience, but a vision that had very clear and emphatic directions for him... And Paul stated, "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision" (Acts 26:19). Our Lord said to Paul, in effect, "Your whole life is to be overpowered or subdued by Me; you are to: HAVE NO END, NO AIM, AND NO PURPOSE BUT MINE." And the Lord says to us, "YOU DID NOT CHOOSE ME, BUT I CHOSE YOU AND APPOINTED YOU THAT YOU SHOULD GO..."(John 15:16).
We must have the foundation of a personal relationship with Jesus. It is NOT enough to know that God has redeemed the world, nor even to know that the Holy Spirit can make all that Jesus did a reality in your life....
It is not our job to prove His existence. He did not die on the cross for you and I to argue with people that He is real...It is OUR JOB to "PROCLAIM," Him......
Paul was not given a message or a doctrine to proclaim, he was brought into a vivid, PERSONAL, OVERPOWERING, RELATIONSHIP with Jesus Christ......Acts 26:16; is tremendously compelling".........to make you a minister and a witness....." There would be NOTHING THERE without a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Jesus Christ.... Paul was DEVOTED to a PERSON (Jesus Christ), NOT to a CAUSE!!!!! He was absolutely Jesus Christ's. He saw NOTHING ELSE and he LIVED for NOTHING ELSE....
(1 Corinthians 2:2), "For I determined not to know anything among you except for JESUS CHRIST and HIM CRUCIFIED." Don't you want to know Him like that? Ask yourself today "Do I have a personal relationship with Jesus? Do I know who I belong too? What do I live for? What is my heart? Is it Jesus? Or is it things? Money? A bigger house? Nice clothes? Impressing other people? Your kids? Are you living through your children? If they are your only interest then that my friends is an IDOL.......Ask God today to reveal to you your idol's. Then have some prayer time with God... We have to place God first in our lives... Nothing else matters and I believe with all my heart that the road to heaven is narrower than we think....
Give me Jesus,
Robbie

Baptism at the Jordan River................

Please turn off our music first and listen to this song....truly amazing

The greatest "River," in Judeo-Cristian history.....

I have put this post off long enough.....Not sure why I am finding it so hard to share that I had an "encounter," with God.........It is so personal and I am unsure how to put it into words!!!

It hit me when we were on our way to the Baptism site;   that I had "NEVER," been baptised as a Christian..........yes I was baptised as a child without knowing who God was at all....

I started praying to God telling him that I wanted him to purify my heart and how unworthy I felt to be baptized in the Jordan River, the very river that He chose to be baptized in........wow  

Dec. 3 around 4:30 pm; I will never forget...... As I was praying and changing into my bathing suit and white robe I felt this heaviness come over me like never before... I could feel God's presence all over me.....It was so strong that it caused my legs to buckle...... I felt like I had no strength to even stand...... I just kept praying and praising Him and then I heard him speak for the first time in a still small voice in my heart...

Somehow I managed to open my door to my stall and try to walk out; (the beautiful lady with her arm around Amy), heard me crying and came over to me and before I could say anything her whole look changed on her face and she started praising God and she said to me: " I see the presence of God all over you," she then took my hand to help me stand and walk with her to the river....... she continued to praise God........................God will touch you to give you strength to stand in His presence............

Both men are pastors in the water with me.... the one on my Right was our amazing Leader "Scott", who is a believing Jewish Pastor..........He asked me to state my name and the reason I was being baptized....I wish you could hear me,  because I was crying so hard but on the inside I wanted to scream that I had come because my sin is the blackest form of dark with only God knowing my thoughts through the years, with only God knowing my words that I have said to my family, friends and even strangers through my life............Only God alone knew how much I desperately needed to be there..............I needed help to walk down to the river because I could only think of how much I needed to be forgiven for; as Renee was holding my hand and helping me enter into the cold dark murky water I wondered if the river could even hold all the ugly in my heart that had darkened my soul over the course of my life?

I need to be at the banks of forgiveness every single day of my life....Tears continue to fall as I look up understanding (tears of pure joy), that my life can NEVER be the same again....................................

Dark.........a river so murky that the water reflects the over grown foliage teetering over it like a black mirror.......It looks more like a swamp instead of  a river....

As I was going down in the water for some reason I opened my eyes and there was this amazing bright white light....As I was being pulled up through the water it felt like I was moving in slow motion through this amazing white fluffy stuff..... When I drew my first breath I felt so free, so weightless like I could have just floated away.....It was the most amazing day in my whole trip...the most spiritual moment in history for me. Words do not do it justice.......

To the side of me is my precious new friend, "Renee," that God sent to give me strength( and I found out later that she a pastor also)........ she is standing there praising God for what she had just witnessed..........................

Jesus talked in scripture about the people who live in darkness.....but will see a great light.......they live in a place covered with shadows of death, but a "LIGHT," will shine on them......Jesus continued to preach, saying "CHANGE YOUR HEARTS AND LIVES, BECAUSE THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS NEAR..............................................

Amy is going to blog about her experience as well....

THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL.................

Life by the Spirit:

What does life by the spirit mean to you? To me? God wants to purify our Soul..........I have  reached a point in my Spiritual Journey with God that feels like I am in the "DARK NIGHT OF MY SOUL."  The dark night of the soul is when a person loses some of the pleasure that was once experienced in one's devotional life.......But there is a reason for this, it is when God is doing his best work in us...... This can happen because God wants to purify and refine us by moving us on to greater things.....

Their comes a time in our life where God wants more! He will nudge us to grow deeper with him....What is it that is holding me back from this? Did you know that it is us who determines the level of intimacy that we have with God? Not God....In other words the only thing that prevents me from going deeper with God is ME.....My spiritual laziness... My desire to keep the house clean, and the laundry done. It is me who is always trying to shove one more load of laundry in. It is me who is putting God on the back burner because of this thing called "LIFE."  So now I have found myself to be one who is having "a dark soul of the night."

 Did you know that anything that keeps you or me from growing deeper with God is called IDOL WORSHIP?..........What is it that we are elevating to a higher importance than spending time with God?

We have to lay our idols down.....Instead of strolling through the house picking up the kids clothes off the floor,  making all the beds up in the mornings and wiping the crumbs off the counter and trying to squeeze in that one more load of laundry. We should be taking the time to just "BREATH," and enjoy God's prescence........ 

What is it that's keeping me from going deeper with God? What is it that's keeping me from praying with great urgency and perseverance? Where is my "JOY?"

He has removed some consolation from my soul. He is teaching me virtue and showing me where I have developed "PRIDE." God himself has placed His righteousness in us!! How am I thanking Him for His gift?

Have we become so content in our growth that we prefer to condemn others for not being as "SPIRITUAL," as us? This is huge:  (Do we BEG God to take away our imperfections, only because we want to find that inner peace? BUT NOT FOR GOD'S SAKE?  Am I walking in obedience to God, or am I only doing what I really want to do?Description of me these last few weeks:     I have cried more in the last few weeks than I have in a lifetime. I feel that I am in what's called the "dark night of the soul."  I have become angry with myself  thinking that my loss of joy is a result of something I have done to anger God or something that I have neglected to do for God.  God has shown me that I lack the patience that WAITS on God.......I am beginning to learn about Spiritual Meekness.....which will only come in the dark night of the soul......

                    This is the verse that God spoke to me directly through his word a few days ago:

Galatians 5:16-21;  16; So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17; For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18; But if you are lead by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19; The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery. 20; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21; and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.......

This is a warning! "I warn you as I did before, that those who LIVE LIKE THIS WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD!!!!!!!!!!!

But the beautiful thing about God is:

The invisible unfelt "GRACE," of God is much greater, and it is beyond our comprehension........True Spirituality comes from:  patience, perseverance and humility....The Lord will heal our souls through the darkness in our life......He will take the imperfections within  us and because of His Love for us will nudge us, to grow closer to him and in the process He will burn away our impurities.....He is not content to leave us in  our weakness thus why He allows the dark soul of the night to grow us...This is where He can and will wean us from our idols if we are open to the dry times.. This is when He will take away all the places where we have pride, selfishness, envy, greed........ He will create NEW VIRTUES; within us. Through the darkness pride will become humility, greed becomes simplicity, wrath becomes contentment, luxury becomes peace, gluttony becomes moderation, envy becomes joy, and sloth becomes strength.  We will never grow deeper with God unless God works passively in our soul by means of the dark night....

Taken from the book:   DEVOTIONAL CLASSICS

BY:    Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith

Read Psalm 42 when you have time and meditate on God's word.....

In my dark soul of the night,

Robbie

Pictures from a buffet dinner on the Sea of Galilee. They made fresh bread and Hummus at the stations above. You can see how big the bread is that she is holding up. I wanted to share one, but Robbie wanted us to each have one. If you can see Robbie above- her mouth is full like a chipmunk storing up for the winter. LOL. Every night we had salad, bread, and a lot of dessert. This buffet did have french fries. I was in heaven!! This was our first full day in Israel. Robbie's husband and mine had already text us and told us to catch the next flight back to Charlotte. We were kinda stressed from this, but our husbands did fine and we had the time or our lives.


I just wanted to share a quick scripture with you. Luke 22: 31- " Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you. Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." You can not be "Sifted" unless God gives Satan the OK to do so. Hard to believe, but what ever sifting we go through only strengthens us for our brothers. So take what you learn during the "sifting" and help someone in need.  God has a overall plan- and a plan for us. What we are going through now is preparing us for his kingdom. Jesus told Peter that he would pray for him. Just think, when we have trials and hear, "I am praying for you". Sometimes I think, I need more than prayer- throw me a rope!!! But remember that Jesus is at the right hand of God and that he is praying us through the situation. If you are calling Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour then Satan feels threatened by you. He will do everything in his power to destroy us. During the Sifting- we should pray more, read his word more, fast, etc. Draw near to God and he will draw near to us. I'll pray for you also,that God will strengthen you and keep you and your family safe. Be strong!!!
Saved by Grace,
Amy