That this would even reach one is my prayer today. The great commission is more than preaching the Gospel. It's not changing a person to make them like you, spreading your agenda, pointing out someone's sin. It's LOVE. True love. That a man came to take on our brokenness so we could be set free. He brought a love and realitythat really does not fail. Real love takes death and renders it null and void. Do you believe? Jesus departed and went to the Father so you could have power to take death and render it null and void. The replacement for death is real LOVE. Real LOVE releases you from condemnation. It releases you from judgement. It's beyond just the "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature," (Mark 16:15). Jesus continued. He promised that when this truth is shared by those who believe in Him, we bring down and unite the Heavens with the creation of earth just as he intended in Eden. We can heal the sick, we can cast out the demons, the brokenness, the hurt and the shame! We can heal! Then the true LOVE overflows. (Mark 16:15-20)
Ask for wisdom, guidance, discernment from Holy Spirit each morning to guide you, to speak LOVE and the truth to the hurting world so that the hearts would be changed.
This brought me into worship this morning.
This will bring you into a softer place to break the chains off.
And this will wrap you into encourage you to a place for the fine life He wants with you!
A word for revival in 2015 as Light gets brighter and more pure, the darkness of our day gets darker, deeper and becomes a bigger chasm to be lost in. Take back the time, the years you haven't utilized, now!
Each of us has been given a ministry of reconciliation. We are ministers to help bring our brothers and sisters to Love. Not the love preached by our culture of the day, void of Jesus. Because love void of Jesus is an impure love with a mixture of judgement, transgression, darkness and emptiness.
You see, this Gospel of Love being preached with Jesus is the only one in history where God becomes human to take on everything you and I have ever thought about doing or done that contradicted pure Love.
In 2 Corinthians 5:17, the Bible asserts that I am a new creation, because I have faith that Jesus was a man who lived perfectly born of a young virgin, Mary. He came to live and take on my mistakes, so that I could live a life yoked to the man called Love. This reconciliation makes me a bridge builder so that others can access a life of freedom and fulfillment open to all who believe in Him.
Can you accept a charge for 2015 that we should live a life as ambassadors or bridge builders to a life of wholehearted, true Love from the Savior so that our friends and family could know the life afforded them by being a new creation in the birth of the Christ?
2 Corinthians5:17-21 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,that
is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not
imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of
reconciliation.Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
Get out of your comfort zone. And in the words of Rita Springer:
"We prophecy, You'll come to this nation
We prophecy, You'll touch this generation
Awaken the watchmen Lord
Awaken the watchmen God" Watch and listen:
That first time... What was it like for you, mom of an adopted child? I tend to be a bit out of the loop. If you know me, you know we don't have cable, we rarely watch network television. Our family has opted for the Hulu and Netflix subscriptions for entertainment. So when the classic "Annie" popped up as a family movie selection, I opted to show it on our last family movie night. My seven-year-old son did not hesitate to grumble a bit and beg for something more manly or boyish.
As Annie's lungs belted out the beautiful song, "Maybe," I realized that I had yet to share this childhood favorite musical with my two favorite kiddos. The context of every word spoken or sung changed meaning for me. Not only because I was now viewing one of my favorite musicals through my lenses as an adoptive parent, but also because we lost Karen this July. She is the beautiful woman, who despite her "Hard Knock Life", was able to give birth to the two beautiful children I am blessed to raise and call family.
As I watch that red head on the screen dream and sing about meeting her parents we all know died in a fire, and then I look at my seven-year-old red head and then to my eight-year-old brown eyed spit-fire princess, I think about the sorrow they will have to face one day about the mother they will not meet who died too soon.
So we pray. We thank God for the woman who sacrificed, who may not have understood everything that happened and why she couldn't keep her children. And in the spirit of the adoption..."I don't need anything but you."
So to my post-adoption readers-Mama and Daddy, Aunties, Uncles and Grandmas and Grandpas-does watching a show like Annie now change for you? I would love to hear your comments. What was watching it with your kids like? Did it open dialogue or bring up questions?
