Peace by Peace

I get past the noise to hear you say

They don’t know your heart

They can’t plan your steps

I loose track of time to feel your timing

I loose my way to see you guiding

I loose my sense to feel yours 

Pushing me to forget my past

Pushing me to live in the present

Pushing me to see the future in light of what you've done so far

I’ve never known this side before

This side of you that let's me be human

Never asked to understand 

Yet somehow you’ve been showing me it’s all part of the plan

Still don't know myself and what I really want

Still don't know my dreams and where inside they hide

But I know all I need is what you've got 

All I need is to exist in your sweet thoughts

Nowhere in time yet everywhere in between

Holding together every part of me that still can't see

Holding in your hand everything I'll need

Waiting to give it to me peace by peace

Dare to Confess...

I have a confession...

I’m insecure, I’m not sure of anything, I’m sometimes even embarrassed of how I think, how I feel, afraid that it might be wrong. Who am I to control the experiences that make me feel and think about life and God the way I do? I can't that's why I have to cling to Truth, cling to the promise that if He loves me then in Him I am beautiful. How I think, how I feel is beautiful, because it's unique. I can’t attain freedom from my mindsets by thinking I’m secure in all I know, just because I am in Him. Because the truth is I’m not sure of what I believe to be true (what am I really supposed to be doing with my life, what is God really speaking to me). But I am sure of this...Those who seek out Truth never stay the same, they are constantly changing. They are changing in the way they think, the way they act, the way they exist. By changing we learn to be free, we learn that one way of doing something isn’t necessarily the right way or only way, we learn that others might actually be right. By changing we recognize that others are beautiful and unique. To be constantly changing is to be in constant recognition of the beauty of His children, that others are more important than ourselves. To love God is to love others, but how will we love others if we don’t recognize them as being more important than ourselves. To recognize them as we ought to we must deny that we KNOW what truth is, instead cling to seeking it out. 

This way we are constantly changing into the people God really wants us to become. Changing as we transform our thinking into the likeness of Christ. Jesus said that the Counselor will lead us into ALL truth. Are we allowing the Spirit of Truth to guide us, or are we simply thinking we know what is true and have peace about it just because we think it's right. Jesus said that many will be deceivers of themselves....how do we deceive ourselves? I believe it is by assuming we know truth instead of having allowed the Spirit to lead us to that truth. In Jeremiah God speaks to the people who allowed prophets not comissioned by Him to guide them, instead of allowing Him to lead them. He compares trusting others for guidance to Baal worship. That is because the people forget that He is the ONLY way of direction for their life. Im not saying people appointed by God can't help direct where God is leading us, but God specifically wants ALL TRUST to be put in Him. Over and over he talks about not sending the prophets that led his people astray. This shows us that it was too often that people took peoples opinions as truth instead of seeking it out on their own.

If God says my sheep hear my voice, then how come we are so quick to listen to others who say they hear his voice instead of trying to hear it for ourselves? I believe it is because it is much easier to listen to others and wait for the feeling of peace as a sense of confirmation. But what about getting that sense of peace because the persons opinion was what you wanted to hear? Then that would be a false sense of confirmation and not the Holy Spirit bearing witness. The Holy Spirit bears witness even if God is calling us to sacrifice something. The Holy Spirit bears witness in times of suffering and tribulation. The Holy Spirit is not a respecter of a persons will. He will allow things to bear witness to our spirit even if it was the last thing we would have ever thought of as being the direction for our lives. That is why we must rely soley on the word of God and what it says about Truth. For Jesus said that He leaves us a Counselor, the Spirit of Truth, and he “will teach you ALL things, and REMIND you of everything I have said to you.” “He will guide you into ALL truth.” “He will not speak of his own, he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”

Has the Holy Spirit been reminding you of what Jesus spoke? Has he been reminding you about loving others, being a servant, walking in humility? Has he been giving you direction that might have cost a price, required the sacrifice of your own will? The life of Jesus and the life of His followers show one thing that is certain...that they lived by “Let your will be done.” Jesus calls each one of us to be a disciple. There is no such thing as a high calling on one persons life and not another’s. Everyone has a high calling...that high calling doesn't happen when you are recognized by this world as some famous evangelist, preacher, singer...etc. Stepping into our high calling means we have OBEYED the voice of God and have allowed His will to go forth in our lives, allowing Him to make of us what HE wants, not what we desire. 

The lives of the disciples paint a perfect picture of what a high calling looks like. They were saved and commissioned by God, but they didn’t jump into full time ministry just because they had already been commissioned. Instead there were years of spiritual growth and instruction that followed. God tested their faithfulness and hearts by seeing how well they served. As they followed Jesus and served Him their testimonies of Him grew stronger. When the time came and they preached repentance and the words of Jesus, people were saved. Because of the faith the disciples had attained from their years of instruction, service, and even tribulation, their words were not only preached with power, but with conviction by the Holy Spirit. Their passion for God did not cause them to preach “ blessings if you believe in Jesus.” Instead they spoke of turning from evil and from sin and accepting TRUTH. Many believed when they spoke, but many did not accept the Truth and allow Him to transform them into carriers of the Truth. Have you allowed the Spirit of Truth to lead you to and remind you of who Jesus and the Father are? Or are you living a life built on what others told you?

(Jan 2009)

One Space

Help me exist in this moment, where I'm in love with mankind

Let compassion burn through me, leave me refined

Let this understanding stain my life

That there are no dreams broken in your time

Let my substance be your touch

Let my countenance be your reach

Drench me in colors that can't fade

At any moment come and invade

This soul that exists as a black hole

That seeks out life to be made whole

Let my rotation be not in vain

Let my gravitation pull in your rain 

For I exist for your pleasure alone

I don't want to make life my own

Only for your purpose, only in your embrace

Help me stand complete in this one space

Abide In Me...

At times I forget what it means to simply abide in Christ. Somehow simply abiding has been cast down to 'passive' living. I get so caught up in needing some kind of greater intimacy, revelation, or knowledge, that I become blinded to the love that grows when I am just resting in him. His love being enough without my longings to tell me otherwise is not a disenchantment of the yearning passion I should have. Instead it is the development of what alone brings peace and real passion into existence. Abiding in him is not only purely passionate but sustains me unto righteousness. How else can he sustain his righteous ones as he has promised to do, unless I give up striving for that righteousness and intimacy with him and exist in the reflection of the cross. That reflection is the abiding. It is the ability to realize that he is not looking at me for righteousness, he is looking at me for faith. When his son becomes my covering for righteousness I understand the beauty of not only grace, but the beauty of simply abiding.

Let them come...

Let the little ones come  -  Emma Mikityuk (Team Member)

Jesus said, "Let the little ones come unto me", and it is to no suprise why He would say that when you experience the reality of being surrounded by pure innocence and joy. Jesus' words about the kingdom of heaven belonging to such little ones take on real meaning when you watch the little ones here worship their loving Father.

 

The truth of what they know, what they experience, and of what God seeks from each one of us is evident here. Jesus said He is looking for those who worship in spirit and in truth and if He was to look upon the earth in the moment these children worship, all of His attention would be on them.

  

The pure love they express with their voices and their bodies as they lift up their hands or touch their hearts, moves you to tears. And as the Spirit of God moves among them you hear Him whisper "this is how you are to worship".

But the worship doesn't end when the singing is over. The little ones here worship God with the way they line up for their food and wait patiently, the way they eat silently and thankfully, and the way they make sure not to leave leftovers. They know the meaning of being thankful for each meal. Many times we come and think we can teach these little minds something about God, when God has other plans and allows the little ones to teach our hearts how to better love Him.

As our hearts are forever changed from such an experience, the knowledge of God grows as well, and we are the ones leaving with minds renewed. The real teachers are left here in the care of their loving Father, worshiping in spirit and in truth, living out the meaning of living life to the fullest.

If everyone was given a chance to look at the worship of these children, they would understand the abundance of Him, of life. 

Full link: http://www.heart4children.org/en/what-others-did/groups/2010-CA-USA-Roseville.htm

Fashioned by Love...

God wants to dress us in garments of righteousness. He longs for us to trade in our rags, our altered appearances with their “burden of striving” price tags. How tiring and mundane life becomes when we don’t take time to look into our own closets, and instead search after garments the world puts such a high price on. We only come to find that our searching, effort, and time has left us with an unsatisfied state of mind, weary from trying on everybody else’s thoughts. Why all the striving to be different or new when the priceless garments waiting to be discovered in our very own closets are unique? They are of the highest value, fashioned by love. The beauty of their vivid colors expresses our worth, our worth to their Maker. How joyous the look on His face when we delight in what He has to offer. He didn’t have to make them so wonderful, so perfect, but He did just to show us how perfectly He knows us; how He knows exactly what our hearts desire. Every detail says, “ I know YOU best,” and He cant wait to see how we look in them. As we stand before Him clothed in these precious garments we cant help but exclaim, “This fits perfectly, this makes me feel as if my value outweighs the universe, this makes me feel like a true child of the Most High King!” He cant wait to dress us in garments that can so well make us feel exactly how he intended us to feel. But will we take the time to let him take our measurements, allow him to know us more intimately as he strips off our worldly rags? That we may open our closet to find garments fashioned precisely to express who we were made to be, to express who it is we belong to.

ReWired

He cuts deep to rewire 

The only way to restore

The pain is to bring your brighter days ahead

Brighter in love, joy, and peace

Brighter in knowing forgivness

Brighter in knowing sacrifice

To understand why it is you have been called

To understand who it is that calls you by name

No purpose lost but the one to waist this life

No vision unforseen but the one to be blinded by your own

Given over to a life not yours

Makes this world make sense

The travels are many when the vessels empty

The destination changing but never far

To be beside the Captain

No greater satisfaction can you find in this life

 Once I was in the water with the hungry men

Restoration has brought me back to the place

 Where eternity needed me most

Beside my Captain, heading home

No matter what I will remain...

I’ve found that spiritual principles most often transform into simple reality. Understanding those simple realities and living in them become the hardest part of our lives. Drink my blood? Eat my flesh? That sounds so odd and strange and hard to grasp. I recently had a dream where I was a little girl and the devil was a hand reaching out of the ceiling of my child hood home. When it went to grab me it hissed while the fingers moved. But no matter how hard it tried, I didn’t get caught in its grasp. There were others who the hand did touch and I wondered why I wasn’t being grabbed. All of a sudden I realized that one day I had drank the blood. I was so happy drinking Jesus had worked, it was the only reason I wasn’t being grabbed. Even now (in my dream) when I had forgotten about Him, the act that one time alone was good for today. This gave me faith even when I woke. Faith that it really is an eternal act...believing in the blood that redeemed me. Salvation becomes a simple reality that can’t be understood by seeing with our natural eyes. It needs to be embraced as a proclamation of the heart that says, “no matter what happens to me, because of his blood I will remain”. Knowing the intimacy of salvation makes me want to pass it out like bread to the starving. There really is nothing more precious we can give any person, no matter the state of physical hunger they’re in, than the Bread of Life. It’s no ones job to convince people that Jesus is real, that God exists, or that there even exists salvation. Instead we are to live out salvation as we embrace Him as our bread of life, and continue to do good to all those God puts in our path. 

Light of My Life

She closed the door on her heart, used bars and locks

Through what window will a breeze remind her she's mine

No invitations, no recommendations 

A stillness left to question the direction she can't find

It's safer now, though much lonlier still

It's like home, but the one she thought she'd left

I saw the stale curtains that once danced to the wind

That felt like summer nights with the grass beneath her skin

The clock stood still for me as eternity seemed her waiting

I decided it was time for her to see the glow of eyes that once replaced her moon

With all windows locked, I became bold and without doubt

Knocked on the door and waited for the sound 

It was opened wide for once and for all 

For with excitement she knew it was I

Who could never break windows, but always broke time 

To come to the rescue of the one 

Who made my night sky disappear 

 As her eyes met mine, still I would say 

"The light of my life you will remain"

It's all I want to be

I struggle because I'm human

I cry because I know I am

I'm changing to fit into the scheme of things

Just not the scheme anyone wrote

There's music in my heart I sing along to

No one can sing these songs with me

I want to share my soul with those I love 

I want to scatter my notes across the world

Somedays I'm not sure of anything but the breath I have

Other times I have no doubt I know what life is really about

I'm getting lost in time 

And finding it's better that way

I'd rather not question my mistakes

My today's they make so much brighter

These days my clouds are the color they should be

Perfectly pink and smiling

These days I'm finding I'm hungry for thought

But not about life or where I'm heading

These days I'm looking for nothing

But constantly finding Im human

And that's all I want to be