Happy Givingthanks!

Thanksgiving......Thanks. Giving. The word has become reference to a national holiday. It just rolls off the tongue with no particular thought. "what are you doing for Thanksgiving?" it has become different things to different people, and although many of us give much thought to what we are thankful for IN this life, I never quite give enough thanks FOR this life.....for ETERNAL life. Perhaps we should rename the day "GIVINGTHANKS" instead? Then people wouldn't even have to say,"what are you doing for Thanksgiving" because the answer would already be obvious, "Giving Thanks"!

I can make a list a mile long of all of the THINGS that I am thankful for, but the root of my gratitude is just one thing.....GRACE through Jesus Christ's sacrificial death so that I may be saved from eternal death.....His forgiveness of my filth, so that I may be made clean in His sight. His pure and Holy Grace.

His pure and Holy Grace comes unconditionally to those who believe. The Living Water of His Spirit washes away what is scrubbed clean by Grace and mercy. And for this, I Give Thanks, because without this, there is nothing on earth that can save from eternal darkness.

So WHY is it so hard to accept this? I struggle with grasping His grace myself. It's like trying to remove filth without soap or water. It doesnt work. Eventually the stench becomes unbearable to oneself and to all those around, that it drives people away, and no amount of man made fragrance can cover the persistant odor of unforgiven sin.

We all struggle with sin, even those in Christ, but instead of the accumulation of grime, we can receive the undeserved gift of Grace, which lathers up in pure joy, so we can be rinsed clean by the Water of the Spirit of God. "For it is by Grace you have been saved through Faith, it is not of yourselves, it is a Gift of God" Eph. 2:8

So take that Beautiful, Amazing, and Pure Grace into your upturned hands and be washed of all that keeps you from shining clean and holy skin of Christ's righteousness, and let the fragrance of forgiveness go out into the world where there are so many hurting souls. Take handfuls of His Grace and offer them freely to those who know no way to rid themselves of the
pain of sorrow and guilt. Hold them close so they can smell the fragrance of forgiveness and feel the warmth of love. And out of the Thanks-filled Heart, tell them of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and His power to cleanse and transform.

May your Thanksgiving Day become a blessed Givingthanks day!

"Grace and Gratitude go together like Heaven and Earth.....the Grace preceeds the Gratitude like Lightning preceeds Thunder" ~Barth

Language of Love

The Universal Language is Love

Have you ever met someone and sensed something different about them that draws you to want to know them? Or have you ever felt a unique connection with someone and wondered what it could be that makes that connection so different from others? It's a blessed feeling isn't it? It's one that is nearly impossible to describe with human language. I consider these types of connections gifts from God, and I am humbled by how many of these gifts He has blessed me with.

Just what is this "language" that is spoken in these amazingly unique relationships? Well, I have pondered this over and over as I have encountered each special connection in my life, and I am sure of one thing: it is the language of Love.

So......what is Love? Is it a human emotion? Is it our human emotion of love that connects us with certain people? I know that the emotion of love is a factor, but what about those people that we don't even know, yet are drawn to? It has to be something more than human emotion that connects us. It is something that we see or sense within them. Love is, in this case, a part of them. It is In them.

I believe Love is the actual Spirit of God that moves in these beautiful connections that we encounter.

In Genesis 11, we learn that the people of God at one time spoke one language and common speech, but it wasnt necessarily the language of love. They communicated in human language with human thoughts and desires. They decided to build a city in the form of a tower that reached to the heavens so that they could "make a name for themselves and not be scattered all over the earth". They made the tower of bricks, rather than stone. Man made bricks verses stone from the earth. Man made desires verses the plan of God, which was for them to reach out to the world with His love. The consequences? God confused their language so they could not understand each other, and then He scattered them throughout the earth. The only common language from the beginning of time was and is Love.

Now, fast forward to Pentocost. This is when after Jesus' death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit was first sent to indwell those who belong to Christ. In Acts 2:4 it says that as the the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. As the people gathered around, from all walks of life (so to speak), heard, they were astonished to actualy be able to understand what the apostles were saying because they were speaking in languages native to each group of people----not just the Jews, but also the Gentiles. Do you see what was happening? God was using language to bring mankind back together. He was using the language of His Spirit to connect those who had been separated from Him by man-made walls of judgement and favoritism, because Jesus died for sinners from all walks of life. Those who receive His gift of salvation, receive His indwelling Spirit. His Holy Spirit draws man to Him through the common language of Love, and connects us with an unspeakable understanding of Him and one another.

I wonder how many times I have turned people away from wanting to know God because of my inability to share that universal language of Love? If only we could just see others through the eyes of God.....we would reach out to them with the Spirit of love instead of the spirit of judgement or condemnation. After all, we all share one common factor......as mankind, we all share the same flaw.....we are human and we have been tainted by the nature of sin since the beginning of time. Not one of us is free of it. So.....who are we to look down upon one another fom our so-called towers of "godliness"? The truth is, the only way that we can truly be one with others is to be one in the Spirit of God, sharing the one common language.....the language of love. And for those who do not yet know the Spirit of God yet? Well, one thing is for sure, they will surely understand His love through us, because Love is the universal language. Oh how I pray that I can speak with a tongue that only forms words of love and goodness. And when my tongue is silent, let my actions speak louder than words, in the beautiful dialect of the Spirit Himself, connecting me to others of His choosing. Because when we are connected by the Spirit of the Lord, we are gifted with the most precious blessings of all......Eternal understanding, and Eternal relationship with Him and others.

It's all I know how to do~~God does the rest

There's an ache deep down in the pit of my gut.

A broken-hearted son's tears still dampen my shoulder, like bloodshed from a deep wound, poured out in a mother's open arms.  His pain somehow penetrates my own heart, stabbing and throbbing as I hold him close.
 It's all I know how to do.

Another election~~~another uncertain future. Emotion surges in community, like caged animals, we cry out in fear as we envision loss of freedom and darkness looming over the Christian beliefs this country was founded upon.  I turn from the chatter on the TV and the comments on facebook and shut my eyes in weak surrender to God.
 It's all I know how to do.

A comment shared by one of my friends in Bible study today, twists my heart tight until the tears spring forth. What she said was, I believe, from the heart of God, spoken straight in my direction.  It caught me off guard totally and I lost control of all composure.  It was in reference to how we treat those who struggle with alcoholism.  And I know that I broke when she said it....and I cried in places nobody could see.
 It's all I know how to do.

Sometimes all I know how to do seems like it's not enough.  But it's simply all I have, and all I know.

I know how to hold the broken-hearted close.
I know how to close my eyes in weak surrender to God.
I know how to cry out in my brokenness.
                      That's all~~~~

But if that's all I ever know~~~I guess it's enough, because God does the rest.

Maybe it's just that simple?  Returning to that fragile, yet open state of being allows God to step in and be The Healer, The Ruler, and the Forgiver.

He heals broken hearts.  He rules over all creation. And He forgives our sorry souls.

NOTHING is too big for God's Love to overcome.  He is faithful and He is good in all things.

Listen to these songs.....beautiful
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHL5IQRF_qk Come to Me by Kari Jobe
Find You on My Knees~Kari Jobe
Healer by Kari Jobe

Peace to you
Kara

Continued....

Ok now.....yes, you see a picture of a big truck.  And soon you will see another one.  It's not the Ark, or even a big boat, but it has alot to do with what I shared with you in yesterday's blog.  I know that this is odd, but right after praying for God to show Himself to me in the little things in life, so that I can know His presence and grace and be more thankful, He answered in the strangest ways!

As I was saying.....I was driving home from seeing my daughter yesterday, and I had 7 hours just to think.  I shared with you some of my thoughts from the story of Noah and the Ark.  I was still making connections in my mind,  when all of a sudden I was passed on the interstate by a truck like the one in the photo above.  Look what it says on the side.....it says "Paraclete".  "So What?" you might be saying.  So I will tell you what!  I knew that word had some kind of significance.  I had heard it somewhere~~~hmmmm~~~where was that?  Well, I just couldn't get it out of my head, so I contacted my daughter and asked her to look it up in the dictionary for me.  This is what she said it means:  "an advocate or intercessor.  The Holy Spirit".  NO WAY!  REALLY?

OK then.....how does this fit in with my previous thoughts about my lesson on Noah and the Ark?  Do you remember in the story where it talks about the dove that Noah sent out of the Ark to look for signs of land?  Nooooooo, it wasn't a Parakeet!  It was a Paraclete!  The dove served as an intercessor, if you will, to bring hope back to the Ark that there was indeed land nearby.  The dove brought back an olive branch as a sign that God's promise to save Noah and His family was true.

  There are several references in the gospels of the dove that descended upon Jesus as He was baptized, referring to the dove as being like the Holy Spirit.  John 1:32 said, " I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove".  Could it be, that God used the dove as a messenger of hope for Noah and his family?  He does it for us: "It is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." 1 Cor. 5:5

God gave a promise of HOPE through His Holy Spirit then, and He does it now.  His Spirit is in us as we reside in Him.  His Spirit is His comfort, His wisdom, His guide, and His gift of hope.  After Jesus rose and ascended into heaven, He sent His Spirit to indwell those who believe in Him and have repented of their sin, so that we may have the hope of eternal life.

 Do you see what God was doing here?  He was expanding my understanding of His Word by giving me Word Pictures, even from unlikely sources, to show me His presence, and grace, just as I had prayed! Crazy?  Well, I don't think so!  I think it is CRAZY LOVE!

So.....I'm driving along, just tickled pink that God heard my request and was answering in such a witty way, when , YOU GUESSED IT, another truck passed beside me.  I glanced over at the drivers door as he passed and immediately saw the word, "COVENANT" Yep, I sure did!  I am not even kidding!  Now this time I just smiled big and said, "OOOOOOOHHH  I get it!  I may be blonde, but I GET THIS!"

Piece by piece, God was taking me through that Bible lesson and showing me the highlights, the things that were most important.  And really, this covenant part is most important of all because it encompasses the entire message.  It's the message that God created all things and has complete sovereignty, but He gave us free will.  In mankind's freedom, the choice to disobey God (sin), resulted in increasing wickedness and violence.  That disobedience separated mankind from God.  The consequences came in the form of a deadly flood which wiped out everyone on earth except a small remnant of people that were faithful to God.  God kept them safe, encapsulated, until the waters receded.  God established a covenant with Noah, which led to his salvation.  What keeps God from wiping out the entire earth again?  GOD'S NEW COVENANT. The covenant He established through Jesus Christ.  God promises to save lost sinners through Jesus' death on the Cross.  Instead of wiping out mankind, He sent His Son to take the punishment upon Himself so that we could be saved.  Although we will still suffer physical death, those who are "encapsulated" in Christ's salvation will live eternally with Him.  In the meantime, we have His Spirit~Paraclete~ in us to give us hope and help us live lives pleasing to God.

What an awesome way to learn truth....on a long stretch of highway in a minivan!  Who woulda thunk it?  God can reach us in significant and personal ways when we are walking close to Him and keeping our eyes fixed on Him.....and when we dare to ask Him to show Himself in the little things in life, He answers!  Praise be to His Holy Name!

that's all!
Kara