Saturday, April 16, 2011

Happy Saturday!

Today I finished my paper which is due Tuesday evening. I emailed it to Bruce in Amarillo but not sure if he will have time to look at it before he returns tomorrow.

Prayer: “Father I know from Your Word that the battles awaiting me today are not against flesh and blood but against spiritual rulers and wickedness. Strengthen me to walk in Your Spirit. Protect me from the wiles of the devil and receive glory from my life. In the mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen”

Matthew 12: 31, 32 “ I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”

I remember as a teenager, and very young in the faith, someone mentioning the “unpardonable sin.” I could not imagine any sin that God could not forgive. Then I read about this “unpardonable sin.” I then could not imagine myself or anyone I knew committing this sin. But according to scripture this is the one sin that so devastatingly crosses the line that it cannot be forgiven in this temporary life on earth or in the eternal life after death.

Scripture tells us that we can grieve the Spirit in Ephesians, resist the Spirit in Acts and quench the Spirit in 1Thessalonians and still be forgiven. But blaspheming the Holy Spirit is the one sin from which no one can recover. It was a bit hard for me to wrap my head around this type of sin. I think this sin would mean to speak against the Holy Spirit. When we enter into relationship with Christ the indwelling of the Holy Spirit dwells within each of us and the more we come to know Christ the greater the power of the Holy Spirit becomes in each of our lives. As Christians, speaking against the spirit is not a sin we can commit because of the dwelling of the spirit within each of us. Ephesians 1: 13 says, “by the Spirit, our God is worthy of reverence.” We give thanks and rely on the presence of the Holy Spirit.
We act and speak with the knowledge that the Holy Spirit, God’s very presence is with us leading and guiding us in all we do and say. Let us each speak and act with honor in the knowledge that the Holy Spirit is alive and well and living in each of us today and each day!

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. When you pray, please lift each other up. Remember that each of us is fighting some type of battle. See you in worship. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.

This weekend in Amarillo, there have been more than 30 people who are training to lead Kairos weekends in California, Idaho, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas over the next year. May God bless their ministry and bless the many inmates who will have their lives changed as they encounter Christ. Please pray travel mercy on Bruce and other members of the Kairos leadership training as they travel to their various homes from Amarillo. Thank you. Peace, gc

Friday, April 15, 2011

Happy Friday!

Well tonight as Travis said, “Is the trifecta of movie nights.” We had pizza, popcorn and Harry Potter. It was a great evening even though I caught the kids snoring at times during the movie! Bruce arrived in Amarillo safely. Thank you all for your prayers.

Prayer: Most Holy God, I confess that You are greater than all, so I commit myself to You. I depend on Your strong hand to hold me, knowing that nothing can pluck me from it. Amen”

Psalm 139: 7-10 “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence. If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there, Your hand shall lead me, and your right hand and Your right hand shall hold me.”

In my congregational Leadership class I have learned many things. One thing our professor has taught is that “Nothing or no one is out of the reach of God’s love and care.” This psalm personifies this wonderful statement by Dr. Feille. God is everywhere. It is hard for us to think of God as being so vast that there is not a creature hidden from Him. There is no sin we can commit that He has not seen or act of loving service that goes unnoticed. There is no place we can go that He is not there with us. When we get into trouble or life brings us into seemingly impossible situations His strong hand is there to lift us up. Because of these truths we have nothing to fear for we are children of God. All we have to do is take His hand and let Him lead us. Have a great weekend!

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. When you lift your prayers for each other tonight let us remember those who have been victims of the recent wildfires and remember that each of us is fighting some type of battle. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.
Happy Thursday!

This morning in my daily message from Carme came these words, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” These are the same words carved on the headstone for her baby daughter Catherine. Carme and Dave lost Catherine when she had just turned two. She and Geni were the same age. I texted (safely) back to her, “Now both of our babies see God every day.” We shared a moment of loss and tears we both gave a word of thanksgiving that our children were living in the eternal presence of God. This message came exactly two and one-half years to the day after losing Casey.

Patio construction update: due to tree roots the site for the patio had to be adjusted. And today the intrepid building duo of Bruce and Travis dug, flattened, leveled, edged and poured about a ton of sand into the 10 x 10 space. The “tamping” has been done and they are down to the paver’s sand and the bricks!. I am so excited. I am not sure if it will be complete before Bruce leaves for Amarillo tomorrow. But when it is finished it is going to be so pretty. I have purchased a hanging plant stand and a fuchsia colored bougainvillea plant to be the finishing touch. I am sure Bruce will put pictures on the journal page when it is finished.

Prayer: “Good morning Holy Spirit. What a beautiful day it is to be alive! It is beautiful because it was made by You and for You. Thank you for the privilege of life and of serving You. Thank You for allowing me to experience Your incredible story today. I pray this in the name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.”

Proverbs 28: 25, 26 “He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the Lord will be prospered. He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered.”

We have been talking about trust and learning to rely on God. Continuing on with the subject of trust…I think this is the hardest part of trust. Trust is submitting to God’s authority. None of us wish to be under anyone’s authority. But to be under God’s authority means to be obedient when God tells us what He wants us to do. If I choose to defy the authority of the Almighty then my heart is filled with pride. This kind of pride is not the pride that we find in the accomplishments of our children (I call them mother moments), but taking the credit for the good works God has done in our lives or believing that we must be the savior for our families and believing that we must fix everything. The last time I checked I realized two things - there is a God and I am not Him.

Jesus was the perfect model for submission to His Father’s authority while He was here on earth and He is our example to follow. When we submit to the authority then the times may not always be easy, but our hearts can be in peace knowing who is truly in charge and in Whose authority we place our trust.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. When you lift each other up in prayer remember that we are all fighting some type of battle (and for some of us it is pride!) Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.

Prayer alert: Please lift Bruce in travel mercy as he travels to Amarillo for leadership training for the Kairos Prison Ministry. He is preparing to take on the daunting task of leading a Kairos weekend in a year. God is equipping him for this extraordinary service. Thanks. gc

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Happy Wednesday!

Here is a First Grade funny…we are currently studying about ranching. I taught the children that when ranch hands herd cattle there are 4 positions- a point leading the herd, swing riders riding along side helping keep the herd in line and a drag that follows the herd and keeps the strays from getting too far away. I took my class outside and we did a little role play of this concept of driving cattle to grassier pasture. So I wandered away from the herd just to see if the leaders will notice. And sure enough the drag rider yells to me, “Mrs. Chrystie, are you playing?” I told him yes and the next thing I know this little boy very quietly and gently comes up behind me and gently places his hands on my waist , turns me back toward the other children, calmly and simply says, “Just get back with the herd Mrs. Chrystie.” It was perhaps one of the funniest moments of my teaching career.

Prayer: Father, thank You for life today. My heart is open to You, and I want You to change me. I want to learn how to lean on You and trust You with everything You’ve given me. It is in Jesus’ precious name I pray. Amen.”

Proverbs 16: 20, 21 “He who heeds the Word wisely will find good and whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he. The wise in heart will be called prudent, and sweetness of the lips increases learning.”

Last night I wrote about learning to trust and rely on God by learning about His character and remembering that God is steadfast and always trustworthy. Tonight I would like to continue this train of thought.

In order to trust and rely on God is to lean on Him and rest in Him. When your world seems out of control is the time to rest in God’s strong and loving arms. Here are some reasons why…

1. Lean on God’s character. My meditations tonight suggest to research the name of God and remember that each name is a character description of God. I automatically think of the words of the Messiah; Wonderful, counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

2. Lean on what He has done in the past. We are alive right now because God has taken care of us. God brought goodness into our lives out of His love for us.

3. Lean on what God has said, for God’s promises are in His Word. Then claim them for yourself. Read what God has said and remember it as Truth and unwavering totally trustworthy promises.

“…when there is nothing else to do but just depend on You and the power of Your name.” (the Name of the Lord sung by Sandi Patti) When we rely on our own strength and seek only our ambitions or try to be a savior to others we only become more restless and do not rest. We need to live in the truth of the Word and rest in the One who gave us life, promised love for all eternity.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. Lift each other up in prayer remembering that each of us is fighting some sort of battle. Love you all so much, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.
Happy Tuesday!

The stomach bug finally caught me yesterday morning on the way to school. I lasted for about an hour and asked the office to call in a substitute. Thankfully there was an extra substitute teacher in the building and could help out right away. I am much better tonight although I am keeping the chicken broth, crackers and green tea close by and in my lunch for tomorrow!

Prayer: “God, I am grateful to be in Your presence and to have the privilege of prayer. Help me to live this new day in a way that pleases You. Lord, I completely surrender myself to You. Make me more like Jesus. Show me the areas of my life where I’m holding on too tight and not trusting You. I love You, and I need You today. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen”

Isaiah 50: 10 “Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light” Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God.”

How do we really get to know God? The basics are to pray, read the Word, worship and be in fellowship with others who know God. But we really come to know God when we rely on Him. Think about a good friend or your spouse. We know them because we spend time with them and begin to know their character as someone who is trustworthy. Someone who is trustworthy is someone on whom we can rely. But as we are all humans and as scripture tells us we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God, sometimes we are not always reliable. But God is steadfast. He has kept all of His promises to all of His people since long before we were born. His character is not dependent upon our feeling, emotions or circumstances. God is steadfast. And we cannot begin to fully rely on God as long as we think we can solve our own issues.

So I guess that brings us to tonight’s question. Are we trusting God’s character or our own character and abilities? My meditation tonight uses the word “saturate” to describe what we need to do with our faith. We need to step out on our faith saturating ourselves with the knowledge of God’s character from His Word and dwell on the One who is trustworthy and then trust Him!

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. When you pray, lift each other up. Remember that each of us is fighting some sort of battle. Love you all so very much, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Blessed Sunday to you all!

Today I heard one of the finest sermons I think I will ever hear. Our associate pastor, Pastor Marc spoke on the story in Ezekiel of the vision of Ezekiel and the dry bones.

Ezekiel 37: 4 “Dry bones listen to the Word of the Lord! This the Sovereign Lord says, “Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again!”

The pre-story is that the nation of Israel had once again broken their relationship with God—and if you know any of the history of Israel and their relationship with God this was not new! But the most amazing thing is that God always in His power and compassionate grace forgave this stubborn nation and restored them again.

In the story of Ezekiel and the dry bones God re-knits these bones together into new creatures made fit to serve Him. God re-forms these dry dead bones in the power of forgiveness, raises them by His grace and sets them to His purpose. But here is the thing…If you read the story you will read that in the vision, God re-joins the bones and then lays on the tendons, muscle and skin. But these new creations are still dead bodies until He breathes His very breath into them.

How much like the nation of Israel are we? How often have we broken our relationship with God through our own sin? And how often have we been in need of forgiveness? How many times have we needed God to re-connect our dry bones with His love, grace and forgives and once again breathe His healing Holy Spirit to regenerate our deadness into new life.

God loves us so much that he breathes His very breath of new life into each of us and He becomes a part of each breath that we take. It is through that breath that we are renewed, re-knitted and once again made whole. In that breath we are granted the gift of forgiveness and healing grace. We are raised up and set to his purpose. Our purpose is to help others to know God. We are called to be models of forgiveness for others. When others see that we have been forgiven then we have been given the power of forgiveness and must forgive others. When God forgives us it is turned into action. The action now is our responsibility to be the model of forgiveness for others.

So here is the question…Do we just talk the talk or do we talk and walk the path God has laid before us through the life of Jesus? Do we ask for forgiveness and offer forgiveness to others or do we allow the unforgiveness to control us and not allow God to re-fit us, raise us up and use us for His purpose?

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. When you pray remember to lift each other up in prayer. Remember that each of us is fighting some sort of battle. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.