Day 3 | My Father IS Shalom (My Peace)

Someone (a pastor no less) once told me "God does not want you to be unhappy" that is a lie from the pit of hell... it is not that he wants us to walk around being unhappy all of the time, of course not! But being unhappy and going through difficult moments is part of life; it is what builds character, it is what draws us closer to God; it's what keeps us on our knees. We have to take the good with the bad. Just as we share in the glory of Jesus so too do we share in His suffering. It is what sets us apart.

Being in Christ is not a magical, wonderful experience where once you make the commitment, you live happily ever after. It doesn't work that way. Being in Christ means adopting His character and becoming Christ... how does God produce that character within us without taking us through the refiner's furnace?

Looking back at my life and all the decisions I have made in my life; had they been based on my happiness and the deception that God only wants me to be happy; where would I be? How selfish a mother and wife would I be? I cannot imagine that Jesus was very happy being nailed to a cross, as he was being brutally executed for my sins...

So we do not lose heart. Though it may seem like your outer self is wasting away, your inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary affliction is preparing for you an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Stop looking to the things that are seen but focus on that which is unseen. For the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

 Your mission in life is not happiness, it is godliness.

 

You are a SON / DAUGHTER OF THE KING who shouldn't be moved by your circumstances because your Father is with you and goes before you... His grace gives you strength & courage; there is no need to lose your peace because you belong to HIM.

My soul is in perfect peace and I can celebrate victory as the final outcome, no matter what trial or suffering I face because His peace that surpasses all understanding is what sustains me through the storms of life. His peace is my comfort. I know that no matter what happens, He has already gone before me to provide a way of escape that I may be able to endure it so why lose my peace? His got this. No matter what this is.

Happiness is a temporary state of satisfaction based on present contentment or pleasure but having REAL joy in the midst of the greatest challenges in your life is everlasting, it can never be taken away no matter what happens... maybe it's just me...

Day 2 | My Father IS Sovereign

I received the revelation of my Father's Sovereignty through a study called "The Power of Knowing God".

 

I have been a Christian my entire life and practically grew up in the church. My fondest childhood memories being suppertime when we sat together as a family, all 7 of us, bowed heads, praying together, reading God's Word and my earthly father reading bed time stories to us from his Bible. I attended youth meetings at church on a regular basis and Sunday school every week but never before in my life have I learned what God says, in His Word, about Himself. For the first time in my life I have discovered scripture after scripture about who my Father is, but more importantly, who He says He is and what He wants from me, His daughter. 

The scripture that speaks to me most, about the character of God, is from Psalm 33 "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host."

In Isaiah 46:11 God says "Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it."

 

He is Omniscient (all-knowing), Omnipotent (all-powerful), Omnipresent (there s no place where God is not present).

 

In reality, having all this knowledge of God is irrelevant until you have accepted His Sovereignty by saying yes to His Supreme reign & rule in your life and then having those supernatural experiences that follow...

 

I have been through so much in the last few years; more than most would be able to bear; but understanding and accepting God's Sovereignty - and submitting to it has for me, meant the difference between being a victim and being a victor through the battles I have encountered along the way.

 

This morning as I spoke to my Father I could sing praises and rejoice in my suffering because I now know that in His Sovereignty everything that has ever happened in my life, up until this very moment in time, no matter how horrendous, has happened because He allowed it and since I have been justified by faith, I have peace with God through my Lord Jesus Christ. And through Jesus I have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which I stand, and therefore I am able to rejoice, through my suffering, in hope of the glory of God. I rejoice in my sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. If God had not taken me through the deep waters, never could I testify to His Word being real. The very same "stories" that had been read to me as a little girl has now become the reality of my life and my relationship with my Father in heaven.

 

Understanding and accepting the Sovereignty of God is what enabled me to say "Lord, Your will be done." as I stood beside the almost dead body of my husband and as I held his lifeless hand, it enabled me to stand strong on the promises in His Word as I walked this long hard road of recovery with him.

 

Understanding and accepting the Sovereignty of God is what enables me to say "Lord, Your will be done." in the good times and the bad and being at peace no matter my circumstances, being able to say that I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.

 

 

The most wonderful thing about accepting God's Sovereignty in my existence is the fact that every need that I have or every will have is supplied by Him. As I walk in obedience and submission to His supreme reign & rule in my life, the responsibility of taking care of every aspect of my life, every need or desire that is in line with His perfect will has shifted off of me and onto Him.... my soul is in perfect peace...  

 

Day 1 | My Father IS Love

In honor of Father's day I would like to tell you about my dad. You may know Him, you may know of Him but for the next 30 days I would like to share with you how I have come to know Him in such an intimate and personal way that His presence and His participation in my life is so real; more so than ever before, as I have come to really KNOW WHO HE SAYS HE IS... not through the opinions of men or research but by getting to know Him in such a profound way through saying yes to His supreme reign & rule in my life....

My Father IS Love

1 John 4:7 - 10

I shall refrain from attempting to dissect the infamous John 3:16 "... for God so loved the world..." as I share with you the truths about my Father because I don't think it's possible to understand or comprehend the great and perfect love that God has for me and for you until you have experienced the manifestation thereof in a tangible way. The only way to experience this love is to pursue it; by pursuing Him. And then welcoming it, welcoming Him into your existence... I must warn you though; my Father is jealous; once you start your journey with Him, He wants all of you, not just some of you, or trying to fit Him into your life where and when it is convenient for you. He wants it all, your entire life, being, existence. Once you start your journey with Him, He wants to be part of every aspect of your life... it would make life so much easier to simply submit and surrender completely, allowing Him to have His way... It would take more than a few pages if I had to describe the ways in which God has demonstrated His love for me, in my life and the things He has done for me because of His great and perfect love for me so rather I will say that I have experienced this demonstration of His love for me in my life by pursuing Him. 

So as I leave you to contemplate the possibility of a Father who is love, I would like to pray for you as Paul prayed:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.