I cried to the Lord

I cried to the Lord, I fell on the ground. I wanted to tear my clothes that felt so filthy, but they wouldn’t tear. I closed my eyes and covered my face with the hands I hated. I cried to You Lord, but You didn’t come. I wanted to stand up with You, but I couldn’t see You. When I tried to stand up, the strength I thought I had crumbled like sand. I screamed for help. But where were You?
I can’t hear Your voice! I can’t see Your face! I can’t feel Your hands!
While the words were still in my mouth the ground began to shake and the sound of rumbling thunder swept over me. The thing I heard next was completely different than what I thought would come…It was a still small voice….

“Oh foolish, beloved, child of Mine, You’re so afraid that I have forgotten you, but what you do not know is that it is you who has forgotten Me.
I was there when you cried, I saw your pain, but your eyes were shut tight so you didn’t see Me. I saw you child, trying to tear your beautiful righteous robe that I gave and wrapped around you. You have forgotten that you are wearing My robe. You think you still have your ugly rags on, which I took away at the Cross.
You have forgotten the wonders I have done for you
When you called I was already there.
When you wanted to stand, My arm was there stretched out before you to help you up. But you didn’t take My hand. You didn’t realize that the very thing you wanted you were pushing away.
My strength was enough for you, but you wouldn’t lean on Me.
You didn’t know that when you screamed for My help, that I was holding you in My hands, and all the help you needed was there.
Don’t forget who I AM! Don’t forget who you are!
Now, My dear child, remember this…
When you cry out for help, grab My hand that is held out to you.
Don’t try to lean on your strength that fails, lean on Me and I will support you.
When your heart is restless, and you can’t see the grace I pour, open your eyes and look at Me, I’m all you need! Look at Me and see My scarred hands that took away your filthy sins. I grabbed the cup of wrath that was for you to drink, and I drank it for you. It is finished! There’s no more condemnation for you, I took it all! You are forever Mine! It was My joy to save you! I loved you first little child! Do not be afraid!

God's Own Fool

(This is a song that Michel Card wrote) one of my favorites!



Seems I've imagined Him all of my life
As the wisest of all of mankind
But if God's Holy wisdom is foolish to men
He must have seemed out of His mind

For even His family said He was mad
And the priests said a demon's to blame
But God in the form of this angry young man
Could not have seemed perfectly sane


When we in our foolishness thought we were wise
He played the fool and He opened our eyes
When we in our weakness believed we were strong
He became helpless to show we were wrong
And so we follow God's own fool
For only the foolish can tell-
Believe the unbelievable
And come be a fool as well

So come lose your life for a carpenter's son
For a madman who died for a dream
And you'll have the faith His first followers had
And you'll feel the weight of the beam
So surrender the hunger to say you must know
Have the courage to say I believe
For the power of paradox opens your eyes
And blinds those who say they can see



So we follow God's own Fool
For only the foolish can tell
Believe the unbelievable,
And come be a fool as well

God's Power In Our Weakness

We all have GIANTS in our lives. Whether they are fears, trials, sin struggles, or whatever it is we have them...I think we as children of God, many times look at the giants in our lives and get overwhelmed and become very afraid. Because we're looking at how big they are. That's when we forget to look at God, and see how big and mighty He is. I forget that God is WAY bigger than the giants and that God is on my side...So, we must not be afraid like the Israelites were, when their enemy, the giant Goliath, was defying the armies of the Living God. They were looking at what they could see, and it crippled them. They forgot how great their God was. I try to remind myself that if I cripple myself and do nothing, then God is going to use someone else to do His work. Let us act and be like David, who was not looking at the size of the giant and was not afraid of how powerful this enemy was. His eyes were on God, knowing that God was way more powerful than this enemy. He was concerned with God's glory more than his own safety. He trusted God, but he also took action and God used him in a mighty way. David went up against him with a piece of leather and a rock, But it was not these things that David was trusting in. He came against Goliath in the name of the Lord! The giant came up against David with a sword, a spear, and a javelin. Goliath trusted these things and his own might & strength, and he was the one who lost. David killed the giant that day, with the help of God.
God use a simple rock, a slingshot and a shepherd boy to do something bigger than themselves. If we trusted God this way and faced every giant this way, how do you think the outcome would be? Trust God! Trust Him and believe that God can use someone like you...and someone like me...Don't let fear paralyze you from facing the giants in your life. How far will you and I trust our great God???

We are behind enemy lines!

Do we as believers in Christ Jesus realize that we are behind enemy lines?

Do we take this fact seriously?

Are we even aware that we are in a war zone, being pursued by our enemy?

(1Peter 5:8, Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your ADVERSARY, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.)

Children of God, we are being attacked! Satan and his schemes are trying to make us fall, sin jumps out at us, trying to entangle us. We are behind enemy lines! We MUST act as if we are! Take seriously the warning God gives us in 1Pt 5:8.

Be careful, oh, be very careful not to be comfortable in our enemy’s territory. Don’t make this world your home.

If you were in a battle with your enemy trying to kill you… Danger all around you… I don’t think the first thing you would do is get comfortable, relax and act like you were at home. What would you do???

Be alert, be watching every moment for your enemy’s attack. Go into each day attacking, charging the sin in our lives with vigor, with the strength of the Lord. Go into each battle expecting the fight to be hard.

But don’t grow weary in doing good.

At times things do seem overwhelming… we fail to be watchful, we run away from Christ rather than run to Him, we don’t fight our sin as we should…I am reminded of and so glad that God gives us verse 7, in 1Pt 5,

“Casting all your anxiety on Him,(God)for He cares for you.”

We must remember our great Savior, for He too was sent on a mission behind enemy lines. Look how He fought, how He did not quit, how He bled, how He was crushed by His Father for us, how He forgave us. He won the war, He defeated death and sin. Don’t forget who you are in Christ now. We must remember who we(believers) belong to.

We are still not home, right now it is time for war. But, let this spur us on to keep fighting the good fight, always looking at Jesus. Have a yearning for our true home, have a yearning to be with our Savior!

Until then, we are still behind enemy lines.