The Bridegroom's Voice: Constant Conversation W/God 5-13 Wed

AWE- ALMIGHTY GOD!

Week Of May 13^th 2012

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Ecclesiastes: 11

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. (Amplified Bible)

Developing My AWE-GOD With An Attitude Of Gratitude!

I am so grateful for the Infinite that was planted in my heart, the desire to be more than the finite I was born to be. Jesus, you sacrificed for me in a way I have never sacrificed for YOU. You gave me ALL. Infinitely So. I am so grateful for the Infinite that far surpasses my finite ways. I am thankful for a path of life that puts eternity in my hope, that puts the Infinite in my steps. Thank You Jesus. Thank you for a timeless future set in a forever Kingdom. Thank you for YOUR Infinite Life, that has given me a heritage that is timeless, a citizenship of heaven that cannot be taken away or withdrawn by a finite technicality. I am grateful for forever. Jesus! Infinitely So!

victorious voyage With a Great God in seasonal time tours

This morning I got up and I laid before you, this finite being, so wanting to know the touch of Your Infinite life. My heart is full of wanting to know YOU, of hoping for more of YOU and less of me. YOU have also made an imprint on my soul this week as I fast and fully face YOU. I also had in my heart a longing this morning for less of this world and more of YOUR Kingdom. Let it be so in me. Time, may I think and perceive things with an eternal time clock, the seconds of my life being cashed in for miraculous moments that matter forever. Time may I be on eternal time, not according to a worldly clock, but according to Kingdom purpose. Jesus. Infinitely So! My time is in YOUR Hands because they were nailed to a finite tree, they have been scarred to give me a forever season, an eternity with You.

Holy Spirit Inspired…. He speaks, I listen and obey… Thank you for teaching Me!

Galatians 1:12 (NLT) I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.

Come Away My Beloved By Frances J. Roberts Page 31 Eternity and Time

(I paraphrased it in easier English for me to read)

Behold, a new day is dawning! Let not the sound of war and discord deafen your ears to My message; for I would speak to you a word of encouragement and would bring you tidings of hope. I say to You, My little children, I have not gone away never to return; but I will surely come , yes even at a time when you feel the least expectation and when many have become engrossed in the problems of the hour.

Lo, I say to you, My beloved ones, do not become centered in the problems of the world; but look up, for surely your deliverance is near.

My ageless purposes are set in Eternity. Time is as a little wheel set within the big wheel of Eternity.

The little wheel turns swiftly and one day will cease. The big wheel turns not, but goes straight forward. Time is your responsibility – Eternity is Mine! You shall move into the place of the big wheel when the little wheel is left behind. See now that you redeem the time, making use of it for the purposes of My eternal Kingdom, this investing it with something of the quality of the big wheel. As you do this, your days shall not be part of that which turns and dies, but of that which goes straight forward and becomes one with My great universe.

Fill your days with light, love and testimony. Glorify and honor My Name. Praise and delight yourself in the Lord. So will eternity inhabit your heart and you will deliver your soul from the bondages of time.

You will experience a liberation from the pressures of time and you will in your own heart slow down the little wheel. You will find a new kind of rest. You will have a foretaste of the Sabbbath rest, into which the whole earth will enter before long. When this times comes, I Myself will slow down the little wheel of time and there will be an adjustment and it will be as it was in the beginning.

The pressures of time has increased as sin has increased and all too often My children have been found living more in the little wheel than in the big. This happens whenever the flesh is in ascendency to the Spirit. When the opposite is true, you have always experienced a fleeting but glorious freedom from the racing little wheel. Is it not true? You have found the Spirit always unhurried and you have marveled to find how oblivious you have been to the passage of time, whenever you have truly been in the Spirit. You can live here as much as you choose. You can disengage from the earthly wheel as often as you desire. You will lose nothing and gain much. Try it as therapy for your physical body. Always it will be a source of energy and vitality for your spiritual life.

My Thoughts About This = Miraculous Musings! J

Oh Eternity, inhabit my heart, be the only desire of my soul. The knowledge, desire and hope of the Infinite will deliver my finite soul from the bondages of this world. It is my responsibility to use the time here for the purposes of the Kingdom, not the things of this world that are temporal. Investing my time here in quality eternity time, not just a quantity of time for no eternal purpose. Fill my time with Jesus, with His love, His Light, His Truth, His Hope, His Promise, His Testimony and my time will be redeemed, finite for Infinite. Eternity inhabit my heart, more of the Kingdom of God, less of the world. Jesus let it be so. Change me. Change my direction from turning and spinning worldly things to a straight Kingdom path. Sin does increase the pressure of time. The more we desire of this world, the more time we expend in a hurry to go nowhere. The Holy Spirit is on Infinite Time and therefore is not in a hurry, but is working in our lives according to Kingdom purpose. When we live subjected to our fleshly desires finite time rules us and the burdens of our lives bring a harried frenzy of torturous restlessness to our soul. Lord God flip flop the ascendency of my finite flesh, may Your Spirit be 1^st in me, Infinite time rule me, that I might live being found in YOU. May Your Infinite Time, Lead My Finite Flesh, Your Kingdom Time Table Ascend Over My Worldly Wants As I Lean Into Your Sovereign Sway In The All of My Everything! Jesus! Jesus, disengage me from the finite and cause me to be ALL In with Kingdom Time, Infinitely So!

Psalm 139 A David Psalm

1-6 God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I'm an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I'm never out of your sight. You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you're there, then up ahead and you're there, too— your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful— I can't take it all in! 7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you're there! If I go underground, you're there! If I flew on morning's wings to the far western horizon, You'd find me in a minute— you're already there waiting! Then I said to myself, "Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I'm immersed in the light!" It's a fact: darkness isn't dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they're all the same to you.

My Thoughts About This = Miraculous Musings! J

Finite time does not box You in Lord, but I do thinking of our relationship in those terms. I need to open my perspective and realize that YOU are not limited by finite time. Your Presence is everywhere and is not limited to this moment. You know all things and when I relate to You, I pray You would open my heart to this perspective, open my hope wider and deeper to the Infinite. Open my mind to believe Infinitely So! Believe In The Power Of Your Name

Lincoln Brewster/Darlene Zschech - The Power of Your Name

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg-5S3h1jFA

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Tg-5S3h1jFA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Jesus Let Your Kingdom Come! More Of You – Less Of Us! More Of Your Kingdom – Less Of Our World! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg-5S3h1jFA

Live today to carry God's compassion, loving a world that is broken. Go beyond religion, step out in God's Love- Power of His Name!

The Lost Were Not Made To Forget! Lord Break This Heart! May We Carry Your Compassion To The Lost!

******Ramah From God******

Ramah Word! Selah …pause, and calmly think of this :

Ecclesiastes 3 (Amplified Bible)

To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven: 2 A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted, 3 A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, 4 A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 6 A time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away, 7 A time to rend and a time to sew, a time to keep silence and a time to speak, 8 A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. 9 What profit remains for the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the painful labor and exertion and miserable business which God has given to the sons of men with which to exercise and busy themselves. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be glad and to get and do good as long as they live;

13 And also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God. 14 I know that whatever God does, it endures forever; nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it. And God does it so that men will [reverently] fear Him [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is]. 15 That which is now already has been, and that which is to be already has been; and God seeks that which has passed by [so that history repeats itself]. 16 Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice there was wickedness, and that in the place of righteousness wickedness was there also. 17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time [appointed] for every matter and purpose and for every work. 18 I said in my heart regarding the subject of the sons of men, God is trying (separating and sifting) them, that they may see that by themselves [under the sun, without God] they are but like beasts. 19 For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even [in the end] one thing befalls them both. As the one dies, so dies the other. Yes, they all have one breath and spirit, so that a [a]man has no preeminence over a beast; for all is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)! 20 All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 21 Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward to the earth? 22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his portion. For who shall bring him back to see what will happen after he is gone?

Footnotes:

Ecclesiastes 3:19 Does the Bible really teach that "a man has no preeminence over a beast"? No! The Bible only records that the book of Ecclesiastes says it. Then why is this book in the Bible? Can it possibly be called inspired by God when it makes such "under the sun" pronouncements, some only partially true, others entirely false? Here is the tested answer: "Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching ... reproof... correction, for instruction... in righteousness." (II Tim. 3:16 asv.) The divine purpose in including Ecclesiastes in the Bible is obvious. It gives a startling picture of how fatal it is for even the wisest of men to substitute man's "wisdom" for God's wisdom, and to attempt to live by it. Solomon's reign began with God, gold, and glory. It ended with bafflement, brass, and bewildered acceptance of man's having "no preeminence over a beast"!—man, who was made "in the image and likeness of God" (Gen. 1:27) and "but little lower than God [or heavenly beings]"! (Ps. 8:5.)

Worship Wisdom! Changing Me! Speaking God's Truth-Hope!

Turn, Turn, Turn Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB6jhbtDUZE

Joshua 1:8 ~ The Message Bible

Don't get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you're going. And don't for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you'll get where you're going; then you'll succeed. Haven't I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don't be timid; don't get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take."

There are seasons – God created for great Kingdom purpose. Lean into the Sovereign Sway of God today. He's God This! Kimberlymac

A Seasoned Servant Of God Has Encouraged Me Today

Notes From Message From Southbrook Church Pastor Rob Singleton

We need to know the season we are living in, so we can respond to it in the right way.

Not head knowledge but heart knowledge
There is a time for everything, there is nothing random in life. There is a season for every endeavor. The key to living an abundant life is responding to the season we are in, knowing the season we are in.
God gives us joy and the heart to worship and praise and God allows us to live in pain, live in the desert. Do both come from God? Does God just give the blessing, health and prosperity and nothing else? Where am I? What season of life am I in right now.
Be diligent to ask and know what season of life you are in.
There are negatives to living out of season. Living in the past is a negative way to live out of season with God.
There are things we do out of season that can lead others astray. There are large times of seasons we need to stop living in.

There is negatives for living out of season, for living in the past.

Regret – Unforgiveness of your past.
Pouting about the past paralyzes your present potential
Regret freezes you up, not frees you up, you can't do anything when you are wallowing in guilt
Guilt is a crushing weight. You were born in sin, it is in our spiritual DNA, we will do bad things. We are in Christ, we can be forgiven, we can be adopted by Christ, so we don't have to live in our past.
Paul had a bad past! He imprisoned Christians, killed them, separated familes all things He thought he was doing for God! He had a horrible past. But He was able to leave it behind.
Don't live in the guilt of your past sins…
Phil 3:13 Forgetting what is behind and straining for what is ahead…

The Reign of regret! Not what you did but what you did not do, missed opportunities. You freeze in regret and you are paralyzed in it.

Over exaggeration of your past is an oppression. The older I get, the better I was. Ever met that guy? Over exaggerate our potential and live in the past.
The future can be damaging if all we do is worry
Worry about the future will whittle away your worth today.
I can overcome this. Stop asking What if questions? Looking at the future and feeling like you are not good enough.
Worry, Regret, Guilt damages the season of life you are now in.
We over exaggerate the past and over estimate the future..

Matthew 16:2-3 You need to learn to read the seasons, learn to read spiritually where you are in life so you can bring the most glory to God

Solomon was the 1^st person to say this. It is a vital to living a joy filled abundant life John 10:10… Jesus came to bring life and abundant life. Overflowing, abundant and exiting bu t you have to know what season you are in.
In the wrong clothing for the season, you will not enjoy the season. Did you read the season wrong and are reacting to it wrong.
People who live in the past, want to live their life anywhere and anytime but where they are.
There is no one more obnoxious to be around than someone who thinks they were more than they were.
We underestimate the present. We don't take it seriously, underestimate its power and don't act accordingly. The most powerful life is in the now. Wherever you are be there. Be in the season at hand, be where you are at and act accordingly.

Get out of the past, not fearing the future and clarifying the present.

Time to be born and a time to die….

Who can argue with this? If you are speaking you have had that time.. There will be bookend seasons that are opposing, opposites and you must consider both ends of them.
Seasonal living… they kick off with birth and go until we die. He is covering broad categories that many seasons of life are in.
The frailty of life is seen in this verse…. We live in a culture that celebrates birth and should also celebrate death. The one person who is happy at a funeral is the person who is in heaven. There is nothing to fear in death. If we don't think about death, we are not thinking about The Kingdom of God.
When famous people die, the nation thinks about death.
Dick Clark was known for being eternally young, when he died, the nation thought hard about death.
It is foolish not to think about the reality of death, especially where the believer has nothing to fear.
Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes when he was backslidden, fallen away from God, he was a living experience for our sake.
There is challenges in every season, but God's purposes far outweigh them all.
Live in the season that you are in because it won't last.
Song Cinderella… talks about the seasons of life. Don't not live in the season you are in, enjoy it and get the most out of it.

A time to plant a time to pluck up….

Time to begin and end things… start a job, stop a job… start an endeavor, stop an endeavor. A Beginning and end. You must end it right to get something out of the season. You must react at the right time. Pick it at harvest time, plant it at planting time
A time to kill and a time to heal…
Dying to self, living to God. Murder? What is Solomon saying. Warfare, self defense, capital punishment? It was written in a backsliding time and he is writing what he is observing and God is using it to divinely show us things. Solomon thought he was saying life is sometimes a slaughter house or a hospital, a battle… a time of sickness and a time of recovery.
Solomon's bleak outlook on life was because he was living in self directed God exile and he did not see God in the good and the bad, only the bad.
God grows us and makes us more like HIM in both good and bad… give thanks in all things… Learn to see God's hand in the good and the bad. We only see God's hand and connect it to the good.
The church is most vibrant in persecuted countries… this is bad connected to God good.
God uses trials to further His Kingdom. God does not only move in fair weather and if you believe this, you become a fair weather Christian and when trails come, you quit because you did not read the season right…

Time to tear down and build up….

It is not functional in this season so you tear it down and put something in its place. Church universal you start a ministry and it has its season and you don't want to tear it down and build something else's.
You are reading the season changing wrong and looking at it as your kingdom not God's kingdom. It is not a ministry anymore but a sacred cow that you won't put to death.
Ministries that you can't stop because it is their sacred cow. It is elevated to a place higher than the Kingdom
There is a season or everything including ministries. The mission of God is always more important than our sacred cows.

Time to weep and laugh…

People believe that there is only a time to laugh, there is a time to weep, a time to grieve. People want to point to good, wealthy, healthy times and tether them, use them for their personal gain.
People like this teach that Christianity is only good if we are laughing and joyful, never down… it is not authentic and not real and a clear misunderstanding of real seasons and that the God who brings good brings painful times to grow you. T
The most important mission of God is to make you more like His Son.
This life is just a blimp on the radar screen and eternity is forever. This is a hurtful season misread. When people want you to "feel" happy and never experience grief. There is a right time and a right place for weeping and laughter. We put the wrong thing in the wrong season and it is hurtful. Learn to read the seasons.

Time to morn and..

A season of brokenness… allowing God to break you. Brokenness is a beautiful thing. When you are broken at the end of yourself, then you are in a place where God can fill you up.
If we don't understand the season rightly, we don't react correctly to it.
Chuck Swindoll: The longer I live the more I am convinced that life is about 10 perscent of what happens to me and 90 percent of how I react.
If you understand the season you are in rightly, then you will react properly

Cast away stones… gather stones…

Clear land for cultivation, use stones to build

Time to embrace, time to refrain from embracing…

Necessary endings by Henry Cloud There are some relationships in life that become necessary for us to end because they are not helping but hurting.
There are seasons to hug hello and seasons to hug goodbye. Nostalgia of the past can become an idol that hurts your current season of life.
Is this a good relationship for this season of your life or do you need a necessary ending
Never justify your sin by an unnecessary ending, there will be times for necessary endings and you will know it.

A time to seek, a time to lose

Time to look for something, a time to stop searching and find contentment

A time to seek and a time to cast away

Are you a hoarder? Do you have any article of clothing right now that does not fit you? Why are you keeping it if it does not fit you in this season of life?
Embrace the future and go with it, clear out your life of things you have kept for way to long

A Seasoned Servant Of God Has Encouraged Me Today

Written By Pastor Rob Singleton http://www.robsingleton.com/

Today is the day to stand firm for the institution of marriage in the state of North Carolina by voting FOR the marriage amendment that adds protection for this precious union into our state constitution. In today's post I want to make a final argument before we all head for the polls.

Consider how often great societies and cultures have broken down in the past. They seem to start out with unity, single-minded vision and even somewhat godly laws and governing principles. This is true of even secular societies. However, there is a mental and eventually physical laziness that creeps in that eventually leads to boredom and finally a moral breakdown followed by total collapse. This was certainly true of

Babel

Sodom and Gomorrah

Babylon

Assyria

Greece

Rome

Each and every powerful nation in Europe

And we're watching this pattern play out right before our eyes in the United States of America

It starts with boredom and ends with destruction. And perhaps the most difficult part to take is how easily predictable and preventable this all is—yet, at the same time—seemingly unavoidable.

Does the Bible talk about this breakdown anywhere?

Yes, several places—and one is right in the book we are studying as a church right now—Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes 3:11 it says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." Every person understands innately, intuitively that he is an eternal creature. While he may suppress that knowledge (Romans 1), instinctively he knows that eternity is part of his spiritual DNA and understanding—a perception that there is more to this life than meets the eye.

But it's the second half of that verse that causes problems for so many—the, "yet^[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."—part. We may know that we are eternal beings and that there is more to life then just the here and now, but for a lot of people, the fact that we cannot figure out much more than that without faith is just too narrow-minded of God. So we strike out on our own to find answers rather than accepting God's truth. And while we search anywhere and everywhere but God's Word, we also keep fighting to push down the obvious, inherent knowledge of God within us all. And the modern catalyst for this rebellion seems to be nothing more than boredom. We get tired of the predictability of life and set out to spice things up a bit and sadly, most feel that can best be done when God's not around (newsflash: He's always around).

Once we give into this, the breakdown has begun—a domino affect has started and it's very difficult to stop. Here's the whole process in scriptural nutshell,

Romans 1:18-32

"¹⁸The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

²¹For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²²Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

²⁴Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

²⁶Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

²⁸Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. ²⁹They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, ³⁰slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; ³¹they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. ³²Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."

Pay careful attention to these 2 verses,

"²⁶Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error."

This is talking about the breakdown of one of God's most cherished and holy institutions—marriage. Notice how there is first a rebellion against God. People started worshiping other gods. Next, it manifests itself in immorality—specifically, homosexuality.

In the end, even truth itself becomes a nebulous fog (today we call it relativism) and before you know it—anything goes. And friends, when 'anything goes,' it won't be long before 'everything goes.'

Satan's not all that creative. The tricks and patterns have been the same since the very first man and woman in the garden. Yes, he's not very creative, but he's amazingly consistent and determined and he'll keep executing the same game plan as long as the game plan keeps executing societies.

Today you can throw a wrench in his tried and true plan—at least as far as North Carolina is concerned. Go out today and vote FOR the amendment to the state constitution that protects marriage and let's see if we can't stem the tide at least a little bit longer.

Worship Wisdom! Changing Me! Speaking God's Truth-Hope!

It's All About You Jesus By Hillsong

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph2_21J698c

Life is all about YOU and the World You promised! All We are will praise You

We are All-IN! All About YOU- Your Kingdom. Nations! Hear The Sound Of Faith!

All I Need Is You By Hillsong:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV63_Vmf-74

I Fall To My Knees, I Lift My Hands To Pray! Fully Facing AWE-GOD! All I Need Is YOU!

Drawn To The Voice Of My Savior Jesus Christ! Simply Significantly- YOU And YOUR Kingdom are enough!

Jesus! All I Need Is You! More Of You, Less Of Me! More Of Your Kingdom – Less Of This World!

You Hold The Universe! Jesus! Infinitely So!

All To Us By Chris Tomlin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riWye9M0L4E&feature=related

We Believe! Infinitely So! We are waiting on You Jesus, You are ALL to us!

Jesus let The Glory Of Your Name Impassion Your Bride- Your Church Today!

Saving Love Of Jesus Christ – Be The Measure Of Our Lives Today

You Are Everything – You're The Promise Of The All Of Our Lives

Righteousness Of God Flame In Us Today! Kingdom Of God Be The ALL In Us Today!

Less Of This World – More Of The Kingdom!

Let All Things Kingdom Of God Be The Character-Hope-Passion Of Our Lives. Less Of This World, More Of Your Kingdom! All-IN! Jesus!

Forever We Will #TWorship #Jesus You Are All To Us!

Chris Tomlin: Lord I Need You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=_rR_Rdb1CTE

My Righteousness! Oh God! How I Need You!

Sin Runs Deep – Yet The Grace Of God Is Deeper! Oh How You Need Jesus! Give Him Your Life Today!

Our Defense – Our Righteousness! Jesus! We Need You! Our Hope – Our Stay! Kingdom Of God Come In Us! Less Of The World- More Of The Kingdom!

"The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing."" Zephaniah 3:17 NIV

Graced Again! leadership wisdom from Ron edmondston

http://www.ronedmondson.com/2012/05/the-5-shadows-of-leadership.html

This is a guest post by Tyler Braun. Tyler is a 27-year-old INTJ living in Portland, Oregon with his wife Rose. He works full time as a worship leader, while also finding time to study at Multnomah Biblical Seminary in pursuit of a masters degree. Tyler's first book releases in August of this year through Moody Publishers and is available for pre-order now. You can find Tyler on Twitter, Facebook, or his blog.

Here is the post:

The 5 Shadows of Leadership

Life is often the summation of darkness and light. One job of a leader is to bring more light into the world of those around them. This can obviously be done in a variety of ways, but it isn't as easy as it sounds. Leaders must to learn how to deal with their own internal shadows in order to bring light out of their own lives.

In his book, Let Your Life Speak, Parker Palmer evaluates 5 shadows (chapter 5 of the book) that must be explored in order for internal transformation to take place. In life and in leadership, the shadows can often overtake us to the point where we get lost in the darkness of our own lives and begin to reflect the darkness onto those around us. This is our opportunity to dive into the depths of our own inner lives in order for God to more greatly work in us, and in turn, those we have influence with.

Insecurity About Identity and Worth

Few things are more powerful than what gives us our identities. Our online persona, our pastoral influence behind the pulpit, the number of people who want to spend time with us—all this can slowly create an identity bound up with what we do, not who we are. Before we are leaders with a position and a title, we are first children of God. We are loved and valued as beings created by God. When this fact roots us, what happens at home, at work, at school—all of it is put in its rightful place in life.

Seeing Life as a Battleground

I'm an extremely competitive person. The games I play that have a clear winner and loser, I play to the death. Subsequently I can tend to view life and ministry similarly. What can often keep me motivated is a fear of losing. The problem with an internal belief of life as a battleground is that it builds walls between us the and the people we should be extending bridges to.

In leadership there are times when hard decisions need to be made and stark lines must be drawn in the sand, but often getting over our need to win will allow us to bring harmony to our relationships.

Functional Atheism

Craig Groeschel did a wonderful job of describing all the ways we believe in God but live as if He didn't exist. Functional atheism within leadership is a deep-seated understanding that all of life is dependent on us and our abilities. We often convince ourselves that if things must happen, we will be the ones to do it. And the result of this mindset is burnout, depression, and poor relationships. Overcoming this shadow allows us to rely on others, which empowers them and liberates us from our own atheistic world.

Fear of Chaos

I know many leaders, including myself, who speak of messiness as a reality of the spiritual life, but operate in their leadership as if messy was the cardinal sin. The lesson often learned in exploring this shadow is that chaos is the beginning of creativity and, in turn, creation.

Palmer says that the "when a leader fears chaos so deeply as to try to eliminate it, the shadow of death will fall across everything that leader approaches."

Denial of Death

We all know them: the pastors who won't let a ministry die. More than likely we've each held onto our hopes for a failing ministry longer than we should have. Our intentions are correct, but by denying death we put unnecessary demands on others to continue breathing life for the sake of accommodating our own insecurity. Here's the truth we often miss in covering up our insecurity: Death always creates conditions in which new life can be birthed.

In our heads we know death does not have the final victory, but in our hearts we remain concerned that death reflects poorly on our leadership. And this connects back to the beginning: Where is our identity and value found?

What shadows of leadership have you explored?

My Thoughts About This = Miraculous Musings! J

AWE-GOD! Great post! Thank you! "Fix It Myself Shadow" Everything must succeed in the way "I" planned for it to go. If it doesn't, I will fix it until it does. EXHAUSTING! God's ways, very nearly never go the way we plan and with great purpose for many people that is INFINITELY SO! When the "fix it" mentality shadows the Sovereignty of God's purposes in play, the end result is stagnant leadership void of growth, leadership growing inward-downward instead of outward-upward. The question is: Am I pressing into the "ministry task" at hand or am I pressing into God, fully facing God? Have I compartmentalized God to "do" His work and I will "do" mine? Or am I ALL-IN with "being" His and knowing, He's Got This no matter what way my administrative planning works out, His fine-tuned purposeful adjustment is better. Go with His flow, step into His Kingdom purposes and stop living life out of the "finite details" instead of the "Infinite Purposes" of God. I hope huge, I have left this shadow behind me forever!! More of YOU Jesus, Less of me – More of YOUR Kingdom Jesus, less of this world! More Infinite – Less Finite!

Outside influences can affect the superficial aspects of our faith, but real deep worship, passion and commitment to righteousness comes from deep in your soul. Pastor Elliott Osowitt

Constant-Consistent-Completely are three of my reaction words as God loves me and I love God each day! Kimberlymac

A Seasoned Servant Of God Has Encouraged Me Today

Anne Graham Lotz - The Pearly Gates

Revelation 21:21, NIV

The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl.

Pearls are formed when a small grain of sand becomes embedded in an oyster, irritating it. To soften the irritation, the oyster coats the grain of sand with a smooth layer of what is called mother of pearl. As long as the oyster can feel the irritation, it continues to coat the sand with layers of pearl. What kind of irritation would have been necessary to form the pearls that make up the gates to our heavenly city when they are so large they can fit into a wall that is two hundred feet thick?! It must have been more than just irritation. It must have been horrendous, severe suffering!

I wonder . . . are the pearls a reminder, every time you and I enter My Father's House, that we enter only because of the intense suffering and death of God's Son? Do those pearly gates reflect the Cross of Jesus Christ? Blessings, Anne Graham Lotz

Leaders are learners but when they stop learning they lose wisdom's edge. Boyd Bailey

The Holy Bible is your defense and armor against the assault of unwise thinking. Boyd Bailey

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose." Philippians 2:1-2

The church is an organism, not an organization; a movement, not a monument. -- Chuck Colson

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