Mood:  amorous

" Paying Forward 'Jesus-Love'"

S. Philippians 1:11 Live a lover's life, circumspect (examine carefully; scrutinize.) and exemplary (worthy of imitation.), a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

O. Our love for Jesus  and our love for others should be carefully examined and worthy of being imitated, so that Jesus would be seen in us. This kind of scrutinized and copied love, makes us attractive to others bringing a curiousity to them into 'what we have'.

The fruit that comes from our changed soul rises up.  A chain reaction comes from this fruit of 'Jesus-attractiveness' in us that includes a desire to know our God and praise/worship Him.

A. The fruit of someone in love with Jesus would be to have a life that oozes compassion, servitude, and thoughts of others always being first. All these in the complete sincerity TRUTH through LOVE!

I WANT that! And the only way I can truly HAVE that, is to know Jesus, intimately...each day and second of my life. A TRUE and SINCERE love for the OTHER FIRST!

P. Jesus, I thank You for the compassion and servitude You have given to me. You show me pure love. Now I pray that You would help me to BE that to others, too. Help me to pay Your love forward. Help me to be YOU, in truth and sincerity!

Mood:  a-ok

 "The Path Our Soul Longs For"

S.Psalm 119:57,58 (MSG) Because you have satisfied me, God, I promise to do everything you say. I beg you from the bottom of my heart: smile, be gracious to me just as you promised. When I took a long, careful look at your ways, I got my feet back on the trail you blazed. I was up at once, didn't drag my feet, was quick to follow your orders.

O. When we compare a life with God and a life without God, one is not living at all...the other is total life and fulfillment, clear down to the soul and spirit. Once we find the path to true life and deep down satisfaction, God's path, we desire with all our heart to follow it AND STAY THERE.

A. I have tried to find a satisfied life without God. I have tried to go back to the world's path. There is no true happiness there...no fullness of life. Life there is all on the surface...not deep down.

God's path satisfies because it fulfills my spirit and soul's longings, from the inside out.

When I had gotten off on the wrong way, I restarted my search for what I had on God's Way, but looking to the world/flesh for it. I knew I had found it before...but it wasn't in the world...wasn't in man.

 What my soul and spirit long for is only in God and on His path!

P. I love Your path, Father! It fills my spirit and soul with all that I long for! Keep me strong and steady there, Father. Keep my steps strong and my eyes on You. My soul and spirit can not live off Your path!

Mood:  bright

S.Romans 14:18 (msg)Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ. Do that and you'll kill two birds with one stone: pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you.

0. When our total desire is to serve Jesus...above anyone or anything...driven by our love for Him...then we not only please God, but we shine with the proof that Jesus is in us, showing our worthiness of being in the body of Christ.

A. To serve Christ 'single-mindedly' is, 'metaphorically to obey, submit to and, in a good sense, to yield obedience to Him'. (Thayer Greek Definitions) When I do this, full of the love of Jesus...obeying Him by loving the 'Jesus' in others...then Jesus shines out of me, showing that it is a TRUE and PURE and HEARTFELT compassion. How could that NOT be Jesus?

When the 'Jesus' in me touches the 'Jesus in others' I know it and they know it. THAT'S the SHINE that happens...like electricity! Two connections spark the Light. To shine/sparkle, takes two people or more. And Jesus can not be hidden inside of us...He RADIATES out of those who love Him. PROOF!

P Father, You know that I want Your compassion for Your people. You know I love Jesus! I pray that You would put those in front of me that want that compassion, too. That between all of us, Your electricity would spark the proof of Your love from within us! Connect Your love and compassion within us, Father, so we can be Your radiant Light...Your Son, Jesus!

Mood:  happy

'A PERFECT DAY'

S. Romans 12:1-2 (MSG) So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him...fix your attention on God.

O. When we give our 'everyday life' and our 'usual daily routine' to God,...trusting Him, listening to Him, obeying Him,...it is an 'offering' to God or 'something offered or presented in divine service, as an expression of gratitude or thanks, to procure some favor or benefit' (dictionary), He turns it into His perfect will...which is His BEST for us!

A. Everyday, each and every morning, I need to fix my ear to Holy Spirit's lips, turn my attention to what He has planned for my day, taking action on His plan FIRST...giving all my time to what He has planned. When I do this...my day will be in His perfect will...A PERFECT DAY!

P It shouldn't be a sacrifice to give You my day, Father...it should be MY routine! Take every one of my days, Father, all my time, energy, thoughts and actions...and make them YOURS...they are anyway! You gave them to me first...now I give them back to YOU!

Mood:  accident prone

 Man and Earth are GROANING with BIRTH PAINS!

S. Romans 8:19-23 (AMP)

19For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].

20For the creation (nature) was subjected to frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it--[yet] with the hope

21That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God’s children.

22We know that the whole creation [of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now.

23And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the firstfruits of the [Holy] Spirit [a foretaste of the blissful things to come] groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies [from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal] our adoption (our manifestation as God’s sons).

O. Even nature is groaning...in pain...and ready to give birth to the New Earth. We are in alignment with God's creation because we ARE His priority...Earth was created for us to live in. Our spirit is alive with what God is doing. We, like the place we have been placed in, groan with knowing the 'NEW THING' is coming. Our Earth, the physcial that precedes the spiritual, is revealing that it WANTS the NEW BIRTH...and that it is coming soon. The earthquakes, droughts, floods, weather changes...all point to the 'labor pains' of creation.

Man is showing these signs, too. Man is trying to go beyond the limits of what God has set as 'righteous' or 'right'. They are reaching beyond what God said man could do (i.e. gay marriage, technology, etc.) Man is trying, like the tower of Babel, to be equal to God. BIRTH PAINS! Man without God KNOWS there is more! We, who KNOW God, know that God wants us as Adam and Eve were in the beginning. The new man is coming.

These are parallels. The Earth groaning...man groaning...Both want to break out into the NEW that God has prepared for us. The Earth knows, and the inner man knows...WE ARE GETTING READY FOR THE NEW EARTH AND THE NEW MAN TO BE BIRTHED!

WE ARE GROANING!

A. Yes, I desire the NEW MAN inside of me! I can see it clearly in nature...God's Earth wants to be reborn, too. We are both going through labor pains. I know it's soon...it just keeps getting worse and worse...the natural things (weather, earthquakes, polar ice melting, etc.) and man (violance, greed, lust). It's COMING SOON!

P. Straighten out our spirit's Father! You are coming soon with Your new man and new Earth! We need to be prepared for You! Make me ready Father! Prepare me to be the Bride for Your Son! Make me ready! Make me sensitive to all You are doing. Place me right where You need me...and place Your desires and strength in my heart!

Mood:  a-ok

 "THE JUDGEMENT CIRCLE"

S.Romans 2::2 (msg)...Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn't so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you've done. 4You didn't think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard?

11 God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up his own mind.

O. First of all, our oppinion of ourselves or how others see us isn't what matters...it's how GOD sees us that matters. So if we judge others, we are actually giving away what we are see in ourselves...THAT is what needs to change. We see it so clearly in others because it's also in us. What we see to judge in others is what needs to change in us. This gives us the idea that those people also see that same thing in us...because we have it, too. This makes us think that they are judging us...and if they aren't free from the spirit of judgement, they are! Once God has healed us of this judgmental spirit, and we only care about what GOD thinks, we will be free from the concerns of what man thinks.

A. This is SO me! Why do I even care what other people think of me? It's because I JUDGE them...and what I see in them to judge, is what needs to be healed in myself. It makes me know that what they have, I have...and that they judge me too,...thus, passing judgement on me and bringing fear into my life. What do do? Let Jesus fix those judgements as He gives me vision of them in others...fixed IN ME! What I see in others is MY problem..and that's why I SEE them! It's a judgement circle used to open my vison to what needs to be healed in me. Fixed problem: no fear of man, no judgement in others.

P. Father, thank You for revealing this reason I have 'fear of man'. I give it to you! Help me NOT to judge others that I would be judged by THEM! Thank You for Your freedom from fear and judgement! Please continue to heal me till I am totally FREE!

Mood:  a-ok

S. 2 Thessalonians 1:11 With this in view (Believers reflecting Jesus when He returns) we constantly pray for you, that our God may deem and count you worthy of [your] calling and [His] every gracious purpose of goodness, and with power may complete in [your] every particular work of faith.

O. In remembering that I am to reflect Jesus in the purpose He has given me, I pray for worthiness of His calling.

A. I am a 'reflecter' of Jesus, especially in the 'purpose/job' He has called me to do. I need to keep myself repentful and humble in order to be worthy of Him...to reveal Him through this work...reflecting Him through this job. (writing the study guide for New Soapers).

P. Holy Spirit, keep me ever alert and awake to what You are doing...keeping watch over myself to keep me humble and repentful. Make me worthy of the purpose I have in this world...that I would reflect Jesus in it!

Mood:  a-ok

 "JESUS IN MY GALILEE"

S. Matthew 28:7 'He is risen from the dead. He is going on ahead of you to Galilee (A Circuit; a boundary line; a circle; revolution; TYPE OF AN EVERY DAY ROUTINE). You will see him there.'

20 I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."

 O. Jesus told His disciples to meet Him in Galilee (their 'every day lives'; everyday routines) and He would MEET THEM THERE...and be with them..."DAY AFTER DAY AFTER DAY...

A. I am to MEET Jesus EVERY DAY in my daily routine. He is there for me. But I must meet Him halfway. I have to make the effort to find Him in my day...seek Him in my everyday routine. He is always there...ALWAYS!

P. Thank You, Jesus, for meeting me halfway in my everyday routine. I pray that Holy Spirit would remind me of that...THEN my usual stuff will be full of YOUR purpose, direction and blessing.

Mood:  amorous

 The Alabaster Box

S. Matthew 26:7A woman came up to Him with an alabaster flask of very precious perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at table.

O. Accoring to "Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types":

The alabaster box: Some have thought that this alabaster box was the girl's hope chest of the olden days. It was filled with sweet perfume of various values and sealed shut. It is said that there were several grades, cheep china, medium and expensive china. When a girl approached the marriageable age, she obtained the box according to her ability to pay and her station in life. She saved it until she found the man to whom she was willing to give her life, and with whom she desired to live. When her lover requested her hand and heart in marriage, then the girl, if she desired to answer in the affirmative, obtained the box from its hiding place and broke it at his feet. This was her declaration that her quest for a lover was ended.

A. Everything I have obtained in my life, everything from cheap to expensive, both spiritual and physical...all that has been hidden away secretly inside of me...for the ONE who will take my love and give me His...ALL OF THESE, I NEED TO GIVE TO HIM!

P. Jesus, As I give You all of these that I've hidden deep within; those things that are broken and useless to me...You give them back to me fixed and whole and covered in Your love and compassion for me. THANK YOU! I want to give You EVERYTHING!

Mood:  not sure

 ...the Only Honor that Matters

S. Matthew 23:11,12

He who is greatest among you shall be your servant.

Whoever exalts himself [with haughtiness and empty pride] shall be humbled (brought low), and whoever humbles himself [whoever has a modest opinion of himself and behaves accordingly] shall be raised to honor.

O. In the Kingdom, the person who is humble and has a modest opinion of himself...living out that modest opinion of himself...he will be raised in honor. Those who are the attendants of others...seeing others needs and supplying those needs...have the greatest honor in the Kingdom.

A. The definition of 'humble' in the dictionary is: Marked by meekness or modesty in behavior, attitude, or spirit; not arrogant or prideful.

This is the person God will set honor on.

My attitude has to change. I need to be more humble from the inside out. But I can not do this by myself. It can only be a supernatural change. The honor I seek can not come from man, but God.

Why do I seek honor from man? It is only God that can satisfy this hunger for honor. This comes when my mind is changed to know that God is honoring me.

P. Father, I ask that You help me seek YOUR honor and not humans. I ask that You show me how to do this...that You would change my mind and heart, supernaturally. Help me to honor others without jealousy or asking 'what about me'...it's not about me, it's about YOU! Change my heart, Lord!