When Tears Turn Into Joy

Psalm 126:5-6 "Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him."

When we pray for a lost friend, we break up the harden ground with the spiritual plow of prayer, watering it with our tears, and making it ripe to receive the seed of the Word.

May we pray for our lost friends until our tears water their harden hearts. When our hearts are so stirred that we weep over others... a powerful witness will seep out of us.

"I have tears for my own sins....but God dries them for me with His hand of forgiveness... but for the lost souls of others... it is a pain unspeakable." (Linda Fawkes)

"The power of the heart when stirred by the Spirit within... will move us with compassion, travail and tears." (Scott Harper)

Sow in tears - "There are tears which are themselves the seed that we must sow; tears of sorrow for sin, our own and others; tears of sympathy with the afflicted church; and tears of tenderness in prayer and under the word." (Matthew Henry)

Will reap - "God's word shall not fail. Nothing shall prevent the harvest of a laborer in the Father's vineyard."
(Humphrey Hardwick.)

Songs of joy - "The Spirit of God by His convictions comes into the soul with some terrors, but it closes with peace and joy. As we say of the month of March, it enters like a lion, but goes out like a lamb." (William Gumall)

PSALM 40:3 "And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD!"

"May His bright light shine out through us - May it shine far and wide - Showing others how their lives could be - With Jesus by their side." (Pauline Macpherson)

"In much the same way stained glass is made up of pieces of shattered and broken glass and when His marvelous light shines through it creates a spectacular spectrum of color that cannot be achieved from ordinary glass... the signs that it was once broken are still visible but it is seen through an entirely different perspective." (Mike Clark)

"With our brokenness, God will bring beauty and full restoration."
(Roma C-Pirri)

"Tears are the raindrops of the soul." (Tom Zart)

Living the Call Together - - - - - - - - - - All for the Glory of God

A Love That Overcomes

"Love covers a multitude of sins"
As we grow to love with our Father's love...
our "behaviors" will change.

Galatians 5:13 "For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."

WHEN WE LOVE... we will not steal - we will not curse - we will not covet - we will not judge - we will not keep score of offenses - we will forgive - we will seek the best interest of others - we will give - we will surrender all to the Father's ways. This in many ways is a picture of the ongoing process of sanctification in a believer's life.

"GOD IS LOVE" May we in Christ... allow our "behaviors" to be directed and motivated by "His love". Our "behaviors" should not be driven by the expectations of man. Trying to obey the laws of man's religious do's and donot's... will gain nothing before our Father.

Attempts to self discipline our flesh will always end in failure. Battling our flesh in our own strength is like trying to calm a hurricane with our bare hands. It is time, we stop beating ourselves up on this and start loving with "God's love". God's love never fails.

When God's love reigns in us we will be able to forgive others
and humbly be able to ask those we have offended for their forgiveness.

May we continue to be hid in Christ having His LOVE reigning in us.
Colossians 3:3 "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God"

The Knots Prayer - "Dear God - Please untie the knots that are in my mind, my heart and my life. - Remove the have nots, the cannots and the do nots that I have in my mind. - Erase the will nots, may nots and might nots that may find a home in my heart. - Release me from the could nots, would nots and should nots that obstruct my life. - Thank you Jesus." (Annelize Hayes)

"His love brings the Hope that unties all the knots in our minds and hearts." (Teresa Brady)

"Many tears I have cried in thinking I was letting people down and letting God down... wishing I could be healed and hating myself for being so weak... Until God in His mercy showed me not to worry about what others were thinking... not to listen to their criticism... but to just accept that God loved me as I was... HE LOVED ME... SO I COULD SHAKE THE HAND OF PEACE WITH MYSELF." (Linda Fawkes)

Living the Call Together - - - - - - - - - - All for the Glory of God

Being Refined for His Glory

God is in hot pursuit of us! God wants us to burn with the fire of His presence in every area of our lives. May we choose to forgive. May we choose to lay down all our disappointments. Choose to lay down all our discouragements. Choose to expect God's goodness and fiery presence to awaken us afresh.

He wants us to be totally free from everything that has hindered. May we choose today to align our will with His. Choose to live God's presence in JESUS CHRIST and receive fresh hope, fresh encouragement, fresh vision, fresh energy, and fresh oil for this season!

In refining silver, a silversmith holds a piece of silver over a hot fire and lets it heat up. The silver must be kept in the middle of the fire where the flames are the hottest inorder to burn away all the impurities.

The silversmith must sit in front of the fire the whole time of the refining, keeping a close watch on the silver as it is heated up. If the silver were to be left a moment too long in the heat, it would be destroyed.

One silversmith was asked how do you know the moment when the silver is fully refined.? He answered, 'Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'

When we feel the heat of the fire... may we remember that God has his eye on us and is watching over us.

Psalm 12:6 "The words of the LORD are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." May we trust in them, always.

Living the Call Together - - - - - - - - - - All for the Glory of God

The Battle Between Duty and Desire

Christ is the end of "duty" and the beginning of "desire".
Another way of saying this would be... Christ is the end of the "Law" and the beginning of "Grace".

God is love and His love is foreign to our flesh (old nature).
One of the things our flesh seeks is recognition and acceptance by man, which can lead to works.

Doing stuff out of duty and conformity... is a "religion".
We are called to serve our Lord out of love... not man's expectations.

When we do something because we "want" to do it... it is not a burden, but a joyful desire. How different it is when we feel we "ought" to do this or that out of a sense of duty or compliance.

"A perfect man would never act from sense of duty; he’d always want the right thing more than the wrong one. Duty is only a substitute for the love of God and of other people... like a crutch which is a substitute for a leg." (C.S. Lewis)

Our life in Christ should not be "duty", but an intimate personal relationship of devotion. This sometimes gets lost in the church framework of "stuff to do". The mere suspicion that acts of kindness done in the "church body" are being done out of "duty" instead of the love of Christ... poisons the waters... with wormwood.

"We do not wish either to be, or to live among, people who are clean or honest or kind as a matter of duty: we want to be, and associate with, people who like being clean and honest and kind. The mere suspicion that what seemed an act of spontaneous friendliness or generosity was really done as a duty subsequently poisons it." (William Tyndale)

In serving our Lord... we need to guard our hearts from becoming performance driven to please man or church institutions... instead of having a love driven relationship with Him.

There is a big different between having a relationship driven faith and a works driven one.

WE CANNOT FAKE or MANUFACTURE THE LOVE OF GOD... WE NEED TO LIVE IT. Death to "self" and alive in the love of Christ.

"Die to self before you die... there is no chance after wards."
(C.S. Lewis)

When we surrender "self" completely to Jesus... our tree will produce good fruit for His Kingdom and people will see the love of Him in us.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." - Matthew 16:24

Living the Call Together - All for the Glory of God