Pray for Isis

After hearing the news that Isis was about to kill another group of Christians my initial feeling was sadness for those who were about to be executed. But then I realized: there is no need to be sorry for them. They know where they are going. They are confident in their future in eternity with the Lord. And it was then that I believe the Lord put in me an overwhelming sense of pain and compassion for their executioners. The ones who will be dying a worse death than their own hands could ever bring. They will die someday and face the Lord, only to then be separated from Him forever. This should not be! Maybe I sound crazy for saying this, but they deserve a chance to be with the Lord and worship Him forever too.
So I began praying right then...for their hearts, for their souls. In the hope that the Gospel of Jesus would somehow reach them and that their hearts would be changed. That they would trust in Jesus and turn away from their sin. And with the Lord's help I will continue this prayer, and I hope someone joins me. But if not I know that God hears my prayers and He will not let them sit idle. I will continue this prayer until it is fulfilled.
And if it is His will that I somehow am a part of that mission, I pray for the strength and the courage to do it.
Please pray with me. May God's infinite power change the tide. May the people a part of Isis be saved out of their shame and sin by the power of Christ Jesus' blood.

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." - Matthew 5:43-45

"I Am your strength."

Do you ever have those amazing moments when God shows you exactly what you need? And then you forget because you're a dumb human. But in His grace He reminds you all over again. That just happened to me. I've been struggling so much lately and God just gently whispered a reminder to me something He showed me again last week: "I Am your strength." (2 Cor. 12:9)
He IS our strength. No matter what it is, we will never get through it without Him. And we're just fooling ourselves if we think otherwise. "I Am your strength." I needed to hear that. And He reminded me.

I don't usually do this, but I feel I should share this. I write poetry sometimes, mostly as a way to understand my own thoughts and feelings. But today I'm going to put them here too, in case someone may find them encouraging.
It's not great, or much, but they are my words. Enjoy.

Sometimes I feel  like it never really goes away
This burden of mine, this pain
Lurking in the shadows
Waiting for me to fall weak
Attacking me with doubt and fear and worry and pain
Bleeding me dry of all hope
And when I am screaming to God because I have none left
And I'm crying tears of confusion
I just pray one single drop of heaven remains within me
Peace
The Prince of Peace
He brings the dawn of hope each time, anew
And casts the darkness back before it can overtake me
His strong hand pulls me to the light and reminds me who I am
A child of the God of second chances
Forgiven and given and richly blessed
And though the shadows linger
Though they will come again
The hope inside me grows stronger
The seed of victory it is

Sharing My Honesty

Lately I've been avoiding God's word. Not God, just the Bible. See, things have been rough in my life lately as I have been struggling with anger and hurt in my relationship over something relatively small. (But isn't that the way it seems to go?) And as I took steps away from the beautiful gift God has given me the only thing I could do was reach out to Him in prayer and ask him to show me the right way to handle things. Two days too late later God forced my opportunity to confront the situation and work it out. Which I am so thankful for...the weight i had carried on my heart was almost too much to bear. And I had cause it to be there! Anyway, looking back over the past few days I realized there were several time when I felt God calling me to His word but I ignored it, ran away from it even. And I think the reason was this: I knew that His word would expose the wrong thinking and the hurt in my life and I just didn't want to face it and heal yet. I wasn't ready to give up my pain in exchange for forgiveness of myself and my other. Seeing it now I see how stupid that was and wonder what in the world I thought I would accomplish by dragging it out any longer. But at the time, it seemed like the right thing to do. Isn't it strange how we can view a situation so wrongly when we don't allow ourselves to view it through the clarifying lens of God's perfect Word?
God, may I never again run away from Your Truth and exchange it for my petty, blind thinking.

The Trials We Face....

"8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you." - 2 Corinthians 4:8-12

All trials come so that we may be sanctified; but even more so that our struggle may be used to further the Kingdom and give the hope of an eternal life with Christ to another.  May we never forget, in the midst of our struggles, the true meaning and purpose of our lives here on earth.

Clarity in His Word

I just want to honestly share with you for a moment. Lately I've been avoiding God's word. Not God, just the Bible. See, things have been rough in my life lately as I have been struggling with anger and hurt in my life over something relatively small. (But isn't that the way it seems to go?) And as I took steps away from the beautiful gifts God has given me the only thing I could do was reach out to Him in prayer and ask him to show me the right way to handle things. Two days too late later God forced my opportunity to confront the situation and work it out. Which I am so thankful for...the weight I had carried on my heart was almost too much to bear. And I had caused it to be there!
Anyway, looking back over the past few days I realized there were several times when I felt God calling me to His word but I ignored it; ran away from it even. And I think the reason was this: I knew that His word would expose the wrong thinking and the hurt in my life and I just didn't want to face it and heal yet. I wasn't ready to give up my pain in exchange for forgiveness of myself and my other. Seeing it now I realize how stupid that was and wonder what in the world I thought I would accomplish by dragging it out any longer. But at the time, it seemed like the right thing to do. Isn't it strange how we can so wrongly view a situation when we don't allow ourselves to view it through the clarifying lens of God's perfect Word?
God, may I never again run away from Your Truth and exchange it for my petty, blind thinking. Amen.