Yesterday the Holy Spirit gave me “Barnacle Faith” as the title to my newspaper article.  Here is the first part.

Deuteronomy 30:20 says, “That you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for Hie is your life and length of days…”  Like a barnacle, we must cling to the Rock.  It is our key to persevering faith.

Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”  We cling to Him through His word with refusal to let go.

I just wrote something in my journal that I want to share with you.  Last night I meditated on “Your words were found and I did eat them” from Jeremiah 15:16.  What we eat, we chew and digest.  The nutrients from our food feeds our cells and nourishes them.  The same thing happens when we mediate on His word.  It feeds and nourishes our spirit, soul, and body.

Psalm 16:7 says, “I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; my heart also instructs me in the night seasons.”  Night seasons: the dark times in our lives, the hard trials, the waiting in the unknown.  The things we have meditated on in the light will be illuminated in the dark.  Our meditation becomes the reservoir we draw from in troubled times.

Last night I was meditating on “of His fullness” from John 1 :16.

I have to share this with you from the Amplified.  It says, “For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received (all had a share and we were all supplied with) one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift (heaped) upon gift.”

Let us rejoice in His wondrous supply of grace and spiritual blessings and favor and gifts, continually stacked upon one another.

Here is a new song He gave me yesterday:

Gazing

I gaze into Your eyes of grace, pooled with love for me

I marvel and I wonder of the love You have for me

You loved me first, before I even knew

You died to set me free from sin to give me life anew

If I would but believe and trust You with my heart

Then Your love, that wondrous love, would flood into my life

My life is consecrated Lord to You and You alone

You continue to enfold me and renew my love for You

I serve You Lord, and worship at Your feet

Your word is my sustainer, and director of my thoughts

Again, again I marvel and wonder at Your pure love for me

                                                     September 1, 2015

Waiting on the Lord.  John 15:5 says, “I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

I looked up this verse in Andrew Murray’s little book on John 15.  “As Son, He did not receive His life from the Father once and for all, but moment by moment.  His life was a continual waiting on the Father for all He was to do.  Abiding in Me is indispensable, for, of yourselves, you can do nothing to maintain or act out the heavenly life.  Lord!  I am nothing, ever waiting on Your fullness.”

Isaiah 64 4 – Who acts for those who wait for Him.

Here is a new song the Holy Spirit just gave me.  It is three stanzas (five lines to each)

Remembering The Cross

Remembering Your cross

When You willingly died for me

To cleanse me from sin

Offering forgiveness within

You set me free through the truth of Your love

O the wonder of such love

You enfold me in Your heart

You calm my fears

You remove my tears

You sustain and uphold

I abide in You

The marvel of Your words

They’re deeply embedded in my heart

We are united as one

All that I have is from You

Enraptured through whispered words

                                   August 18, 2015

Last night I meditated on be courteous.  1 Peter 3:8 says, “Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous.”  My margin  uses humble for courteous.

Yesterday I was in a situation that was between a rock and a hard place.  I could feel my flesh wanting to rise, yet at the same time fully aware I’m a representative of Him.

There is no room for our flesh in the word courteous.  At all times and in every situation we are to walk in humility.  Humility ushers in the grace we need in the moment.  Our flesh thwarts grace.  Romans 13:14 says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh.”  We block our flesh when we choose to humble ourselves.

Last night I meditated on “Look to the rock from which you were hewn…”  Isaiah 51:1 says, “Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.”  Think of the myriad ways the Lord has rescued you from things in your past that had kept you imprisoned.  He came to set the captives free!

The only way that we remain captive to something from our past is through our thoughts.  When we look back, we should only see the hole made when He rescued us.  The hole is the reminder of our redemption.  He redeems all things.  Remembering the hole should put a song in our heart. Such as:  I will sing of my Redeemer, and His wondrous love to me; on the cruel cross He suffered, from the curse to set me free.  Sing, oh sing, of my Redeemer, with His blood He purchased me.  On the cross, He sealed my pardon, paid the debt, and made me free.

Last night I was meditating on “thorough work” from James 1:4 in the Amplified.  It says, “But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work…”  Thorough means: complete with regard to every detail; not superficial or partial; all-embracing, all inclusive.

Each time we become impatient, we are interrupting His thorough work.  Impatience starts with our thoughts.  Luke 21:19 says, “By your patience possess your souls.”  Our soul is our mind, will, and emotions.  However our mind leads off, our will and emotions follow.

We can always be grateful the Lord Jesus did a thorough work on the cross.  Yesterday I wrote Hebrews 10:10 in my journal. It says, “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

Lord I ask You to help us remember that the next time we feel impatient we will stop and course correct.  Then embrace the thorough work You are doing to cleanse us from our fleshly reactions.