I have not blogged much of late as I simply have not had much to say/write. . .which has typically never stopped me in the past, but God in His great mercy has kept my mouth/fingers shut lately. Usually, if I have little to say and do so anyway I spout off such ignorance that I later blush. Some of you may know what I'm talkin' bout!
Lately, ya'll God has been teaching Rob and I something so profound that I don't know whether to tie my hair back and stick my face toward the wind of the Spirit or hide under the covers in fear. Somehow, I forget from time to time that Jesus came preaching the kingdom of God. Now. Not when we die and go to heaven. How, as the church are we forgetting this? God is teaching us afresh that this kingdom is now and later. Eternal life begins now!! I am totally indebted to Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, Ravi Zacharias and oh my, Henry Blackaby! These men have poured into my life in ways (that of course) they will never know. Give me an amen if you love 'em as well. I so often need a succint way of understanding what that means--this kingdom life. The kingdom of God, is simply God's action---God's activity. . ."on earth, as it is in heaven". (Thank you Dallas Willard for the definition.) And folks God is doing such AMAZING things all around and in your sweet life that Satan is hell bent on keeping you unaware of. . .and a couple of his tools are shackles and distractions. These strongholds in our life are Satan's attempt to use what God meant to redeem as our mental weapon to assail the trustworthiness of our God. Listen, what Satan meant to ruin you--God meant for your redemption. . .otherwise He would never have let it happen (thank you for that wisdom, Beth Moore). God means to send you out with a word of freedom for your brothers and sisters. Jesus means for us to be free--so that we can allow Him to live out His life through us in God's kingdom on this earth!!
I simply have to share this and I don't do it lightly. Rob and I have sat through some doozies of pastors. . .so I am very cautious. We have heard the Bible be misquoted from the pulpit with the verses blazed (in error) across the big screens. . . then proceed to have a whole sermon "preached" from the misquote. Yikes! True, though. So when I recommend something I want to make sure that it is of God. Folks, if you want to be equipped to see God demolish the strongholds in your life go to www.knoxcalvary.com and listen to the last two weeks worth of sermons in the "Blueprint for Life" series. It has so blessed Rob and I that we sat in front of the computer to see church this morning. I do mean sat through forty-five Droid commercials to hear the message. Our little ones have a cold so in good conscious we couldn't go expose them to ten other 2-3 year olds. It was so worth it. . . that and I might buy the Droid (kidding)!
God delights in allowing us the joy of participating with Him as He sets us free--then, He alone prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemy. We can eat that meal in front of Satan. The Bread of Life. The stream of living water. And we can crush the head of the serpent because when those shackles hit the floor our feet are going to learn to walk again in freedom. . .and then we are going to run--run to the side of the hurting and the lost--those that Jesus said looked like sheep without a shepherd. . . and then friends those feet are gonna dance before the Lord. Can I get an Amen?
Skipping down the road,
Joy
P.S. Tomorrow I'll tell you how this message shaved almost two minutes off my 5K.
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