After God's Own Heart

I am currently reading this book. Here are some statements I just have to pass on!

• The turbulent rivers of affection in God's personality flow strong, and yet we respond with the drip-drip of ritual or passionless worship. When Jesus said, in John 4:23, that God was seeking for worshipers, He was referring to the tremendous, fierce, fiery desire in His Father's heart. That love seeks out lovers to requite His passion, to understand His love, and to worship Him drenched in the desire He has for us. That's what it means to be a true worshiper.
• David prayed that he would be able to drink from the river of the pleasures of God's heart (PS.36:8). God's heart was depicted as a river, even a raging, crashing river of rushing desire for human beings. David understood that God's heart is like whitewater rapids, tossing and tumbling with fierce emotions so strong and determined that they even drove Him to the extreme of being incarnated and hung on a cross. In His love for us, He would simply not be denied relationship with us, and so He pursued us to the very end. That is the God we serve!
• You must intentionally pursue the revelation of God's heart and emotions to get the benefits. There is nothing passive about it. It's an aggressive hunt that requires as much energy and mental focus as any Olympic event.(Jonathan, you probably like that one! :?)
• God likes us and wants to enjoy with us the pleasure of spiritual encounter with Him. There is nothing more exhilarating for us than plunging into that river of pleasure...He has invited us to drink from the awesome spiritual pleasures of having a divine romance with Him. I don't know about you, but the best moments in my life are when God says to me, "I really enjoy you(Insert your name)."
• It is never a sacrifice to hang out in His presence, though many are bored during times of prayer and worship. ...When we look into His heart, He reveals to us what He looks like emotionally and what we look like to Him. The result turns our brains and hearts inside out. You can't get over it! It's like falling in love for the first time. He absolutely burns with love for you!
• Beloved, we don't have to wait to experience the deep pleasures! God has ordained for the human heart to experience them even in this life. I'll go further and state that it's not optional for us to go on as generations have, without a transforming revelation of God's heart. In light of the mounting pressures at the end of the age, we can't afford to not drink of the pleasures of His heart. Our lives must overflow with constant delighted cries of, "O God, this is too good to be true. It's too magnificent to really be happening! But it is true! Beyond what I could hope for!" We want these testimonies of worship and adoration to flow from our spirits now and not just in eternity. We desperately need hearts anchored and sustained by an outrageous love that comes from another world.
• Experiencing God is like riding a roller coaster that never ends but gets better with each curve. He smiles with delight and enjoyment when He gazes on each one of us. This strikes many people as strange. They are accustomed to relating to a God who is mostly mad or mostly sad when they come before Him. They imagine that He is either mad because they have rebelled, or sad and grieved all the time because His people are not dedicated enough.

Mike Bickle

OK, so there is more....guess you will just have to buy the book! :?)

Original Pic of Gary

Liz, This picture is for you! This is the first one I took of Gary and the sunset!
Yep, he has to be reminded to smile! :?)

Pacific Coast Hwy

Gary's job now has him in Los AngelesWe came up at sunset time
Gary and I both went crazy with our cameras
I am sure the people around thought we had never seen a sunset before! This is what it did when I zoomed in after it went behind the clouds!

Enjoying the Getaway

We went for a walk along some cliffs over the ocean yesterdayOf course Jonathan did his usual to try and scare Mom!
Sure have enjoyed our time with these two!
One of my favorite places to go to in San Diego is Balboa Park. We had coffee and dessert outside in the evening! That morning I was shoveling snow off the driveway at home!

As we were walking around we kept smelling perfumed air. Quite a ways away we discovered this angel trumpet tree! It smells wonderful!
Jonathan continues working hard at his task!

What Do You Think?

This is in response to Jonathan's question to an earlier post I had. There were several statements made in that meditation that I felt were the opposite way of how most of us approach prayer or life.

• If depression and oppression visit me, I am to blame; God is not, nor is anyone else. It is so easy to place the blame on anything but "me"
• Dejection springs from one of two sources-I have either satisfied a lust or I have not. Lust means I must have it at once. Ouch!
• Spiritual lust makes me demand an answer from God, instead of seeking God Who gives the answer Whenever the insistence is on the point that God answers prayer, we are off track. The meaning of prayer is that we get hold of God, not of the answer. I have been guilty of wanting answers!!!!
• We look for visions from heaven, for earthquakes and thunders of God's power, and we never dream that all the time God is in the commonplace things and people around us. This one might not be so hard for me. I do see Him in my daily encounters...but I had/have to work at it.
• If we will do the duty that lies nearest, we shall see Him.
• So, what do you think? :?)

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day means putting away the Christmas angels, the snowmen, and the red poinsetta decorations.
But with all this snow, it seems like they should stay out longer!

At least my Christmas Cactus that only had one bloom at Christmas time is giving me some color now!

And my papaya tree is actually growing papayas

And my new banana plant and avocado tree are growing.

And the Australian Fern is getting bigger in spite of my breaking a limb. And the yellow and blue poinsettas are looking good.

It does give me hope that Spring is coming!!!!

Having Fun

See my fun slideshow

What do you think?

http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php For February 7th

Painful Compromise

Song of Songs 2:16-17

My lover is mine and I am His; He browses among the lilies. Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, turn, my lover, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the rugged hills.

Now sincere love is expressed. The Bride declares that she belongs only to Jesus. She is proclaiming with confidence that she has not lost her place in the heart of God. She knows that Jesus is still hers, and that she belongs to Him. She is not just loved and cherished by Christ, but she belongs solely to Him and no other.

This is the reality that she is truly starting to accept. She is allowing herself to take her place as the Bride of Christ and profess that she is His. She is a lover of God, and God loves her even in her weaknesses. She is committed and sincere even if she is not yet fully victorious or mature.

However, despite her beginning to understand this truth, she still chooses not to follow Him over the mountains. She bids Him to go on without her. She is refusing to obey Him, not because she is rebellious or because she is a hopeless hypocrite, but because she is spiritually immature.

It is dark until the day breaks and brings new light. The time when day breaks is the time when light or maturity becomes present. She is telling Him that she wants His help to conquer these areas in her heart so she can go on to the mountains with Him. She doesn't want to go to the mountains until the light of day comes and shadows, or the gray areas, are gone.

She is telling Him that she still has unbelief in her heart, but she wants His light to come and take it away. She says, "God, unless there is more light and I am more mature, you are going to have to turn and go on without me. I cannot rise until the shadows have fled."

This happens to many Christians during their spiritual journey. They decline when Christ asks them to partner with Him, and because of this, they feel as if they are hopeless hypocrites. They doubt their sincerity towards Christ, and they wonder if they even love Him the way that they thought they did. Then they begin to run away from the things of God instead of toward the things of God.

This is what Satan wants the beloved to do. He wants her mistakes to conquer her instead of causing her to run to God for help. Mistakes do not disqualify your from being with Christ; they qualify you to run to Christ. This does not mean you should try to sin and make mistakes, but it does mean that even if you slip and fall in a time of weakness, you should get right back up and run back to the love of Christ.

Ask Christ to shine the light of His countenance down upon your life so the shadows of fear and doubt would flee and the gray areas of immaturity would become as light. Ask Him to give you grace that allows you to run to Him in times of struggle.

Prayer:

Sweet Jesus, I thank You that I belong wholly to You. Even in my times of difficulty, You accept me as I am. Come and shine the light of Your beauty down upon my life that all my sins would flee away. Give me the grace I need to follow You in times of struggle, for You are mine and I am Yours.

(from Forerunner Meditations Volume 1)

A follow up and a song can be found @ The Bridegroom's Manifest Presence is Withdrawn

New Pictures of Zion

Zion has a whole bunch of new pictures on his blog