A Voice In The Valley

When there is an exhortation or a word of encouragement for the church it may sound as though it is a voice in the valley.

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Location: Arkansas

I enjoy blogging about many topics .I try to stay within the blog titles below. Blue Letter Bible is a resource I think you'll be glad you've found.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Why ?

Our boats are ready . We are on the water, our sails have been cared for and made ready for a long trip. (allegorical analogy , water : accepting Jesus as the Way . sails : minds filled with God's word.)" Go ye out and be fishers of men, " comes the cry. So out we want to go . Is our boat moving ? Well, slowly , I seem to be rowing instead of sailing. Could it be that my sails are not up ? Could it be that I by myself can not raise them high enough to fully catch the wind ?
When I am with others and I pray a wonderful thing happens . As one begins to pray and then another and another their words are coming up as mirrors to line up with the will of our Father. My turn will come, "what should I pray ?" I think of a prayer and decide when the time is right , I will say my prayer. A silence, I hesitate, someone else begins to pray. She is praying the prayer that was in my mind to pray. She is saying the things I had thought about to say. Oh, how wonderful and joyful is my soul. The Holy Spirit had given me a prayer that would line up with the will of our Father ! In my mind and heart I readily agree with her and in our spirits we are of one accord. There is "Joy in the Holy Ghost !" There is joy when we allow the freedom for the Holy Spirit to flow !
What if we never prayed together ? Of course it is not a must. You can row a boat even if it is made for sailing.
Another wind giving opportunity is when we share the bread of life with one another. I belong to an online Bible study but if the others in the group do not participate soon, I feel the life that could come by doing this study together will be lost. Because I do have a prayer partner in the group and one who participates by sharing there is life for me but it is the others who had said they would join that I am concerned. I really think we need a time to pray together . I will pray that each one who joins will find herself a prayer partner and also at least one person in the group she is willing to share with. I will have to not worry to much about other people's boats . I will just give words of encouragement when I feel led !

Friday, May 26, 2006

Cover Me

Who will cover me ? Who will spread out his cloak as Boaz did for Ruth and cover me ? Who will heal my rebellious heart ? Who will separate me from my oppressors ? Who will spare me and my household the wrath of God ? Who will take note of the scarlet rope placed in my window and know that as for me and my house, we serve the LORD ? Today I raise up a banner and declare, the battle belongs to the LORD !
We are not naked ! We have our covering from the LORD ! We are not desolate ! We have our refuge in the LORD ! The LORD my God is a shield for me , He is the glory and the lifter of my head ! He will not leave me nor forsake me ! He will cover me with His Spirit ! His steadfast Spirit will cover me ! For His righteousness endures forever ! His promise to pour out His Spirit upon us is kept ! Whom shall I fear ? None but the LORD . In awe and fear I bow down and let Him cover me . For He shall protect me from mine enemies ! He shall stand in the gap for me and send them on their way ! He will turn them back around that where they came from, they will now be , no closer to me than they were ! For my household belongs to the LORD ! Just as Noah's children and family were safe within the ark, so shall my household be with me ! Let us come now and serve the LORD with gladness ! Let us remember the goodness of the LORD our God ! Let us take comfort in His precepts ! Let us abide by all His laws ! Let us not worry about what we will eat or what we will drink ! He will take care of us, even as He cared for the children in the wilderness . Even as He gave them food and water . So shall He meet our needs. A cloud by day and a fire by night . He covered them !
Consider the words from Isaiah 30:1 Even though it is an admonishment as to what we do not want to do , we can see clearly what to do . If we are doing as He has said, then surely all that He has promised will be so.
Isaiah 30:1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
May the HOLY SPIRIT guide us as we hear these words . May the SPIRIT of the LORD be upon these words as they are driven into our hearts . May we rejoice together as we realize , we who have submitted to His voice, that we are covered by His Spirit ! With His SPIRIT upon us , may we go and sin no more ! May we walk in a path of righteousness , for His name's sake .






Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Knocking Idols Down

My walk with the LORD is a very visual one. However, I do not picture Jesus in my mind ,like some do. What I do picture is where I am, as a sheep being led by a shepherd. Only a person sheep . Every now and then when problems come I say to the shepherd, "where am I ?" This seems to be a good thing to do because when He answers, I have peace. Just as I have today. Some time back I was asked some questions that I went to the LORD with and prayed for His guidance. When I gave my answers , I did not feel that I had His anointing on me, but I answered anyway, thinking that the HOLY SPIRIT in me was guiding me to say what I said. These answers it would seem did not help ,but hinder the kingdom of God.
Now because of my answers, I find myself in a place that I would not be if I had answered differently. It is okay though. The other place that I should be now. The LORD has provided a way !
What is most delightful is that I know why I answered the way I did.
There are idols in my life , that even though I declare that I do not want them there and suppose they have been knocked down. Up they come, as if on some spring that catapults them up again, after I thought they had been destroyed. These idols seem to be able to influence my life choices and it isn't until after I travel a while in a direction that I realize, oh, they have managed to get me off the WAY again !
Oh sweet surrender ! How glad am I that my LORD does not stop loving or helping me because of my mistakes. There is nothing better than being able to surrender to HIM and HIS Will for my life. Soon we will be back on the Way and I will find my place again, in the sheepfold that He has called me to.
Those idols that seem to keep coming up after they have been knocked down. I do not know what to do about that. However, I do know this.
If a person has decided in their mind that Jesus is something that He is not, but refuses to accept new and revealing information about His Wonderfulness, they have made an idol. Wrong thing to do and very harmful to a growing relationship.
Jesus is Who He is and I can not make Him be anything different.
He accepts me like I am, and I better accept Him like He is, or I am going to find myself way off somewhere eating on grass that He did not lead me to. The good news is , that He will lead me back to my place , with such love and no condemnation.
As I ask Him to help me kick those idols down again, I hope He has shown me a way to resist letting them come up again. As I ask for His strength to do more and more, surely there will come a time when I can say, there are no idols on this land. They have been ground into powder and they are no more.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Do We Have To Have All The Answers ?

That compulsion to have all the answers all the time must come from PRIDE . Although I have asked it to leave many times, he seems to find a way to stick around. However, when I do not have the answers and I give it to Jesus, I think it really defeats PRIDE. I think he really knows his time is short and that he won't be able to hang around here much longer.
There is something different though between having the answers and "getting it." There are truths in God's word that are basic bottom line truths that if we do not "get it" a terrible calamity is bound to be fall us. These truths I find difficult to not want to give as answers to people who ask questions. When to these people ,it would better serve them to teach them how to "seek truth."To know how, to be a seeker of truth is such a blessing. Also knowing other believers who seek to know the truth adds to the blessing one hundred fold. Sometimes finding truth takes time. Sometimes there are stumbling blocks that have kept us from the truth that need to be taken away. Sometimes there is a fear of knowing the truth. Sometimes there is just a reluctance to know something new that might change our comfort zone. There have been times in my life that I have cried, "Oh, that the bones that Thou hast broken would rejoice."
Most importantly when seeking truth, one must be ready for what it will cost . Words like "much fine gold" and "sweeter than the honeycomb" do not adequately describe what I have found.
The most wonderful truths can not be explained but must be experienced.
If it has been a while since you were able to "taste and see, that the LORD is good." I exhort you this day to stop and "draw nigh unto Him, because He will draw nigh unto you." He is no respect of persons. That means He has not decided that you belong to some group that He won't come to . "Who soever will may come."

Monday, May 01, 2006

His Grace Is Sufficient For Me

I CAN NOT DO AS GOOD AS JESUS WOULD
BUT
I CAN RECEIVE HIS GRACE
THAT MEANS HE IS
WILLING TO TREAT ME AS THOUGH
I DID AS GOOD AS HE WOULD
The question is not:Can I be sure I will not sin today ?
The question is : Can I be sure He has forgiven me and given me His righteousness ? If I am sure, then I can know He will treat me , not as the sinner who still sins but the person who has received His righteousness.