Here is a Thanksgiving bouquet to grace the table of your hearts.

 

Here is a verse to bring joy to your heart on this Thanksgiving Day.

Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you in His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Delight in His delight of you.

 

 

I posted this on facebook this morning.

Inner Truth~The Effective Messenger

WATERMARK: YIELDED TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

“Let us go to the house of the Potter, and see what he does with a lump.  How He carefully and skillfully shapes each vessel for His purpose above” (Holy Spirit song).  Jeremiah 18:3-4 says, “Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel.  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.”

Clay is dry and solid.  It has to have water worked into it in order for it to be shaped.  So it is with our lives.  Strongholds that the enemy has been able to set up in our hearts cause hardness of heart.  Hebrews 3:13 says, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

You can see from the picture that clay needs much water to be pliable in the potter’s hands.  It has to be malleable with no resistance.  Do you have areas in your life that resist change?  Maybe you have tried by the strength of your will to overcome a stronghold, but it stubbornly remains. God’s water of the word is the only way to permeate that hard surface.  Ephesians 5:26 says of the church, “That He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.”

Let’s take a stronghold of anger and see how working God’s word into this stronghold will bring change.  There is a great verse in Proverbs 29:11.  The Amplified says, “A (self-confident) fool utters all his anger, but a wise man holds it back and stills it.”  When we take other verses about anger and write them down, they become our “working” paper.  We speak these words out loud because faith comes by hearing the Word.  As we speak them, targeted truth begins to penetrate and weaken the stronghold.  Once it is weakened, it can be successfully torn down and destroyed.

Another stronghold may be fear.  2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”  We must recognize that fear is an enemy tactic.  This verse says that it is a spirit.  Fear is a fiery dart.  It is a convincing suggestion.  It only gains ground if we dialogue with it.  It has no power over us, unless we give it that power through our thoughts.  God is love.  1 John 4:18 says that perfect love casts out fear.  When we ingraft the strength words of His promises, fear has no ground to stand on.  His promises are backed by His faithfulness.  2 Timothy 2:13 says, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”  Titus 1:2 says that it is impossible for God to lie.  As you speak verses that fortify you against the lies of the enemy, the stronghold of fear will weaken, then be defeated.

2 Corinthians 10:4 says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.”  God gave Jeremiah the sequence.  First it must be rooted out, then the ground can be replanted.  Jeremiah 1:10 says, “See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.”  As we are tearing down the enemy’s stronghold, we are building a new stronghold of truth with the same verses.  His word is a double-edged sword.  His penetrated word renews our mind.

James 1:21 says, “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”  Here are two key watermarks of an authentic follower of Christ.  One is the spirit of meekness.  The other is a meditator of God’s word.  The two go together.  Pride will resist the discipline of the ingrafting.  Humility opens the way for the word to penetrate deeply through His grace.

It is all a work of grace.  He is able to do far above what we can even ask or think because of His power that is working in us, AS we work His word into our hearts.  His grace is the transforming power.  It is not our own strength.  Our flesh profits nothing.  As we continue to hide His word in our hearts, it will strengthen us to overcome and be more than conquerors.  He came to give us abundant life.  That life is found through our communion with Him, and as we minister it to others.  Freely we have received, so we can freely give.  May you overflow with His abundant grace.

  j marilyn adams ~ November 19, 2015

Inner Truth~The Effective Messenger

WATERMARK: A SEEKER

1 Peter 2:3 says that a new born babe desires the sincere milk of the word.  As we grew in our walk with the Lord, our desire for His word and intimacy with Him increases.  We follow hard after Him.  Psalm 63:8 Amplified says, “My whole being follows hard after You and clings closely to You; Your right hand upholds me.”  Our whole being is our spirit, soul, and body.  Our soul is our mind, will, and emotions. 

Psalm 73:25 says, “Whom have I in heaven but You?  And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.”  David was a seeker.  Psalm 27:4 says, “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I see; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.”  Verse 8 says, “When You said, Seek My face, my heart said to You, Your face I will seek.”

The word seek implies diligence, and diligence implies wholeheartedness.  Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  David’s heart is revealed in his seeking,  Psalm 63:1 says, “O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land.”  Seeking expresses a yearning for Him.  Psalm 42:1 says, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God.”

WATERMARK: A WORSHIPPER

John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”  True worship is so focused on the Lord, that all else is paled in the background.  He is the center of all our thoughts and words of expression.  His Presence is always with us.  As we worship, we are seeking a deeper place of communion through our adoration until we enveloped in awe.

Here are three expressive words that will take us beyond the surface of just singing a worship song to engaging our heart.  Marvelous, infinite, and matchless.  Marvelous means: causing great wonder; astounding, awesome, breathtaking.  Infinite means: limitless or endless in extent; impossible to measure or calculate.  Matchless means: unable to be equaled; incomparable.  When we focus on how He is in these words, He will reveal Himself through our heart expression.  Worship is intimacy. 

The things that are hidden in our unconscious block our desired intimacy.  Not only in our relationship with the Lord, but they carry over into our personal relationships with others.  Jesus came and died to set the captives free.  Luke 4:18 says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”  The Amplified describes the oppressed as: who are down trodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity.

The things in our past are passed.  2 Corinthians 5;17 says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”  The more we seek the Lord and His righteousness, the more He reveals Himself to us. 

Psalm 34:5 says, “They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.”  2 Corinthians 3:18 describes what happens as we seek His face, and gaze upon Him in adoration.  It says, “Be we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”  One of the attributes of a seeker is transparency.  They so desire the Lord, they walk before Him with openheartedness.  They have nothing to hide because they understand that He knows their heart and loves them unconditionally.  They gaze upon Him without shame, as He gazes upon them.  They behold Him as He beholds them.

A seeker-worshipper goes deeper in intimacy with the Lord as they release the things from their past.  Our past is only in our mind.  We only hold onto it through our thoughts.  A seeker-worshiper’s thought patterns change through their focus on the Lord.  He fills their thoughts and desires.  Psalm 107:9 says, “For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.”

Song of Solomon 2:14 are the words of a lover seeking her beloved.  I’ve capitalized it to depict a seeker expressing their love to the Lord.  It says, “O my Dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see Your face, let me hear Your voice; for Your voice is sweet, and Your face is lovely.”  That secret place is intimacy.  There is no greater place of security and desire fulfilled then through our intimate communion with Him.  In that intimacy we find contentment that is unequaled by anything on this earth.  A seeker-worshipper drinks deep of His abundant love and is satisfied.

  j marilyn adams ~ November 19, 2015

I posted this on facebook.

Proverbs 3:7-8 Amplified says, “Be not wise in your own eyes; reverently fear and worship the Lord and turn (entirely) away from evil. It shall be health to your nerves and sinews, and marrow and moistening to your bones.”

Our nerves, tendons, ligaments, and marrow (where new blood cells emerge to carry oxygen throughout our bodies) are negatively affected each time we do something independent of the Lord. However they are strengthened as we worship the One who created them.

Our bodies are created by the Lord.  He has made everything to work together in the most amazing synergetic way.  We disturb that flow EACH time we act independent of Him.  EACH negative thought disrupts that synchronization.

Caroline Leaf is a Christian neuroscientist.  Science is finally discovering what God says in His word.  She says that each thought affects our brain, positive or negative.  Think about that!  Our thoughts control our brain which controls our body.  This is why the Lord tells us to bring every thought captive.  This is why meditating on His word is so essential.

May your day be worship-filled.

I just posted this on my facebook.  It is amazing to think about.  The Lord has a plan to maintain our health.  What is the state of your blood?  Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood…”

Psalm 63:5-6 Amplified says, “My whole being shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips when I remember You upon my bed and meditate on You in the night watches.”  Our whole being includes our cells and organs.  The hidden parts that we never see, but are absolutely essential and vital to maintain health.  David is saying that every particle of his being is involved in worshipful meditation.

Our marrow is the very inner part of our bones where are blood cells are produced. If it is healthy, we are healthy. Interesting that this verse links health with meditating.

Here is an incredible verse signifying health. Job 21:24 Amplified says, “His pail are full of milk (his veins are filled with nourishment), and the marrow of his bones is fresh and moist.”

Last night I was meditating on Romans 13:14.  I posted this on facebook.  It was so clear in the night.  The difference when we hide His word in our heart, as opposed to hiding hurts and offenses.  His way is so much higher than our way.

Reaction vs. Response

Romans 13:14 says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”

The hurts and unresolved issues that we bury in our unconscious influence and feed our fleshly reactions.

Here is a picture Maurice sent me from Uganda.

These are the people he and his team will be preaching the gospel to.  They also take them clothing and other necessities.  Please ask the Lord to provide them with Bibles to give out.  Thank you.

This morning I woke up with this verse from Proverbs 17:22.  It says, “A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.”

Our greatest medicine-weapon against the enemy’s tactic is praise.  Read Psalm 149:5-9.

I am now on facebook as another means to post my notes for Inner Truth.  I’m using it to post a verse a day.  If you are on facebook I am under J Marilyn Adams.  I had just typed my post and got a message from someone I didn’t know, but they knew someone I did.  Maurice Alm is an evangelist in Kampala Uganda.

Here’s the praise: he is going to translate my six tracts into his language to take out to the rural areas where they don’t understand or speak English.  This is amazing to me.  Certainly something more to praise Him for!!

Psalm 63:8 Amplified says, “My whole being follows hard after You and clings closely to You; Your right hand upholds me.”  I was meditating on whole being.  Our soul, which is our mind, will, and emotions, spirit, and body integrated as one in our pursuit of God.

A. W. Tozer used to pray like this: I long to long for You.  I thirst to be thirsty more.  I want to want You.  Can you hear his words of reaching out with his whole being?  David understood this kind of longing.  Psalm 63:1 says, “O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.”