Tag Archives: imitators

Humbled and Blessed

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Moments with My Father
 
It’s a summertime Saturday in Idaho and I am thankful this day for so much. I am especially grateful as I read in the Psalms today about how our Father does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities, even though He hates sin and desires for us to live holy as He is holy. As high up above the earth as the heavens are, that is how great His love is for those who fear Him or stand in awe of Him. It is pretty easy to stand in awe of Him just by looking up to the heavens. His creation alone cries out how great He is and worthy to fear. He is perfect in every way and the only One who is qualified to be a judge of any of us and He is capable of taking any of us out at any moment into non-existence anywhere. Yikes!! I could be scared, but because He is perfect love, His perfect love drives out ungodly and unhealthy fear. Because He is compassionate towards us as His children, He has proved His love to us in sending Jesus into the world to make the sacrifice needed to cover our sin so that we can be reconciled to Him, the Holy God He is, who has no association with sin. He did what it took to have a healthy relationship with you and me instead of just writing us off. I am so thankful for that! As imitators and models of Him, so we should put forth the effort to go the extra to have a healthy relationship with others. We all struggle in life with imperfections. It seems that in this day and age, people repay people by giving up on relationships far too quickly when someone doesn’t live up to their expectation(s) or desires all the while they are forgetting their own falling short. A whole new perspective comes to view when we reflect on how our Father treats us and His Word that tells us to love our neighbor as our self. While I do not take lightly His desire for me to be holy as He is, as my self, it makes me very thankful to know my Father loves me and accepts me as blameless through Jesus even though on my own I’m not perfect as He. If two people both look to the cross work done for each one personally, it greatly provides the humility and the comforting love needed to keep a relationship going. I stand humbled and blessed by the cross. “Thank you, Father.”
 
Psalm 103:8-22; 1 Jn 4:13-21; Jn 3:16; Col 1:21-23

Luv Suds

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Moments with My Father
 
Hi, there. I’m lovin’ doin’ Thursday with ya’s! In my world today, I am worshipping my Father for all He is. What this world needs is more of Him and His love. He IS love! As His kids, His Word encourages us to be imitators or models of Him. The power that we need to do that is from His presence (Holy Spirit) that lives in us as believers. To love in accordance with His will, we are called to love our Father first with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and then we are to love our neighbors, especially fellow believers, as our self. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians with the prayer that our Father would enable them to have “increased” love that would overflow to each other and to all people as well. He also let them know they were loved by himself and his team. It is God’s Spirit in us that enables us to love God, ourselves and others as we ought to, including giving us strength to not grieve His Spirit in us by giving in to willful sin. Walking in obedience to our Father’s ways that are His best for us, is our best way to be filled to overflowing with His Spirit’s loving power. Have you ever had the experience of putting soap in a bucket and seen how the soap suds can increase and bubble up and over the top? Well, this is how I see it with our Father’s Spirit producing the power in us to be love. We are the vessel (bucket) and with added soap (cleanliness of walking in obedience to His ways) and His living water (Holy Spirit) filling us up, we’ll have plentiful suds(power) to overflow with love. I have to say this just gets me all bubbly! I definitely wanna be a suds in the bucket kind of gal with His living water filling me to overflowing. May there be bubbles of Godly love oozing from each one of us so none of us are a luv suds dud. Much love to ya’s! If I say that, is that a bubble of love?
 
1 Th 3:12; Mt 22:34-40. Jn 14:15-31; Eph 1:13, 4:30, 5:1-2,15-18; Gal 6:10, Ac 2:1-4, 4:23-31, 1 Jn 1:8-10, 4:7-21, Ps 19:13, Is 41:10, 2 Ch 16:9

Counting Little Blessings by Sheila and Dad

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Here’s wishing you all a memorable Memorial Day Monday today! Please join with me in a prayer of thanksgiving for our military veterans today who have sacrificed to bring blessing to us all. If you know a vet, please thank him or her for their service to our Country today. Speaking of blessings today, Dad’s Word tells us the story of how people brought their children to Jesus for His touch or blessing upon them. What an example they set for us. I ask us, do we take our children before the Lord for His touch or blessing upon their lives? In seeing the people doing this, the Disciples rebuked the people perhaps thinking Jesus had bigger concerns for His time. This speaks to my heart that often times, people skip over children, thinking ideal ministry efforts are only for adults. God can call us to minister to a select people group and in doing so, we may find ourselves surrounded by children. In their midst, I have to ask myself, what is my tolerance of little children? Do I show favoritism to adults or do I discriminate against children? Upon seeing the Disciples doing so, Jesus was indignant at them. Yeppers – even the best at times get upset with the people the closest to them and the truth needs to be spoken in love. Jesus’ attitude reminds me of a little song that I will sing for you. It goes “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world!” Despite my singing, I hope that was nice music to your ears. Ok, so back to the story. Jesus said to the Disciples “Let the little children come to me. Do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to these.” Ok, here is some more application for us to ponder: Who are the children around us that we need to help to receive the blessings of Jesus? Is there some way we are a hindrance to children around us being able to see Jesus? The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to children and it can be seen within their little hearts. Tears well up in my eyes as I think of time spent with the dear children God has put into my life and how in stepping out to minister to them, they have ended up ministering to me. I end up being the one blessed! I thank my God for the children He has given me the privilege of having in my life. Jesus said “Anyone who does not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” As I have reflected upon “child-like faith”, I think of a little child that approaches their dad with an inquisitive heart asking “why” to him. The father gives an answer and the child asks “but why?” The dad in all his wisdom tries to explain to the child so he can understand in his limited knowledge only to be asked again, “but why, dad?” This continues on until finally the dad says “just ‘cuz, son, that’s just how it is.” The little child accepts his daddy’s wisdom and goes on about his life content, nothing changed in his relationship with his dad. He trusts and believes in his dad. As His kids, to believe in our Dad (Jesus) with this same kind of “child-like faith” that is simple, trusting and accepting is our entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. I ask myself, where in my life do I need to have “child-like faith?” I’m thinking I need to talk to my Dad about it. Next, we see Jesus taking the children into His arms, putting His hands upon them and blessing them. As imitators of Him, He desires the same for us. He says that whoever does unto the least of His, we do unto Him. I suggest to you that children are not to be considered the least, but great little blessings and in ministering to them, it blesses our Dad! Please consider who the children around you are that you can help to experience the love of Jesus. We were all children at one time and in fact, in our Daddy’s eyes, we still are His kids and He desires to take us each into His arms, put His hands upon us and bless us. Dear child of God, what is keeping you from being close to Him? I pray with you that any hindrances will be removed so that you can experience His great love for you and “child-like faith.” Oh, I just love it when my Daddy holds me and content in that, that’s all for now from this kid. Much love to ya!
Mk 10:13-16; 1 Jn 3:1-2, 10; 1 Sa 12:23; 1 Pe 5:7; Ac 16:30-31; Jn 3:16; Ja 2:1; Eph 4:15-16, 5:1; and Pr 11:25

Word of Encouragement

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>Word of Encouragement by Todd Pierce

Hi family, we are closing in on the end of this time set aside to seek our Father in prayer and fasting and I want to encourage you. Please allow me to share where I am personally. I have told many of you that part of my focus during this time is to contend for the supernatural. Many people have a hard time distinguishing magic tricks from the supernatural of God. Remember that the sorcerers and magicians did many of the things that Moses could do. Again, Jesus said that there would come a day when people would come before him declaring the supernatural things they had been doing and Jesus would tell them to depart from him because the things they did were unauthorized. Remember when the disciples came to Jesus with excitement and went on and on about how the demons are even subject to them? He told them not to get caught up in rejoicing over that but consider the miracle that your names are written in the book of life. I believe they and we have already experienced the greatest miracle and that is that we can become sons of God by faith. That we become the righteousness of Jesus as He became sin for us.

I am continually asking our Father to take me as I have emptied myself and use me for His purposes. I want to be a son who so closely resembles my Father that my very presence produces life in other people. Woe unto me to not preach the Gospel of the Kingdom. Jesus was the Word of God made flesh and he dwelt among men. He instructed us to be/do the same. The Word of God should so form who we are that we emanate who God is, in the flesh. Jesus was the one and only begotten, but we are to be his imitators. We have the honor, responsibility and the joy of showing people who He is by letting our bodies be vessels of honor. It is supernatural for natural men to desire these things. It is supernatural that a sinner such as I would have the ability to manifest the presence of a Holy God. It is supernatural for the power of God to open the eyes of the blind so they can see the truth of God’s love for them. It is supernatural for the prison doors to be opened and have people let out of bondage to lives of freedom. Although I would like to see the people I pray for immediately rise up healed and the discouragement I struggle with to be lifted, my hope is in the Lord. In all of it, we will confess His goodness.

Consider these words and begin to thank Him for the supernatural act that has already taken place in you and ignite the joy of your salvation. Return to your first love. In Ephesians 3:14-21 Paul offers this prayer and it is now my prayer for each of you. I love you. Todd

“For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in Heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.”