LOVE CAME KNOCKING

The following is a poem the Lord give me in 1999, when I will dealing with a spirit of fear.  It was blocking me from receiving God's love. I knew His Word said, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out all fear...whoever fears has not YET been perfected in love." God's love was not YET in my heart. (1 John 5:18) (1John 4:) God is love.

I am so grateful that the Lord never gave up with me.  He came knocking and didn't stop until the I opened the door. The Lord came in and He has never left. 

Love Came Knocking
       1999

Love came knocking
My heart was stone,
Fearful, afraid,
Left all alone.

Love come knocking, 
Again to say, 
"Let me love you, 
My much afraid"

Love came knocking, 
Against the tide,
confronting my fear,
Deep inside.

Love came knocking,
Persistent one,
To my corner,
Where fear had won.

Love came knocking
The battle fierce,
Penetrating, warm,
Arrows pierced.

Love came knocking,
Could I believe?
Relentless love,
Just you and me?

Love came knocking,
Gentle embrace,
My fear had faced,
Amazing grace.

Love came.....

FREEDOM IS OUR NEW NATURE

 

Freedom is simple, yet we tend to complicate it by continuing to deal with our sin nature.  

When God looks at us, He cannot see anything wrong, only what is missing. He is in the business of strategic life exchanges: new for old, and He never requires us to look a  the old.  He wants us to lay it aside, put it in the grave and never dig it up again.

He is not dealing with our sin any more because Jesus dealt with that at Calvary.  He who never experienced sin, was made sinful on our behalf, so that we could become the righteousness of God in Him.  This is absolutely brilliant!

He is only teaching our new man how to live in His righteousness by only focusing on our righteousness in Christ.  That's what He's dealing with!

He has made Jesus our wisdom, righteousness, and lifestyle of practical holiness.  He is our full atonement and freedom.

He does not deal with our fear, He comes as perfect love and overwhelms fear.  In our anxiety, He offers a new place of rest and renewal instead.  In our worry, He focuses only on our fresh revelation of peace.

God does not help us work on our anger because it is dead; instead He empowers us to become gentle.  He displaces irritation with patience, bitterness with gratitude, and turns sorrow into joy.

The OLD HAS PASSED AWAY, AND HE IS ONLY WORKING ON

THE NEW, REAL AND TRUE US IN JESUS.

Since freedom is His nature; it's also ours.

By Graham Cooke.

THE GIFT OF FORGIVENESS

I would like to share a revelation from reading Mathew 9:2-7.  I love it when the Lord opens up the Word to understand more about Him.

This is the story about the paralytic who was lowered through the roof to Jesus's feet.  Jesus saw the friends faith, and said to the the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you."  The scribes got all hyperventilated  and cried out, "this man blasphemes!" Jesus knowing their thoughts replies, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?  For which is easier, to say, ' Your sins are forgiven' , or to say, 'Arise and walk?' But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" He turned to the paralytic and said, "Arise , take up your bed and go to your house."  And he arose and departed to his house.  Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

When Jesus said, "Which is easier for Me to say, your sins are forgiven or arise and walk ,"  This spoke to me..  I felt like Jesus said to me, "Dorothy, when you are sick or ill , check the areas of unforgiveness in your heart, because you are forgiven and by my stripes your are healed. Unforgivenss is a huge hinderance to healing. My most loving act in your life is My forgiveness and must be given to all men. Sin, sickness, and disease is the consequence of Adam's sin in this fallen world. But be of good cheer, "I have overcome the world."  

I know there is so much more to be revealed in this scripture. I would love to hear any thing the Lord has revealed to you about this story too.

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE

Most of us are familiar with the story of the 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt who held fast to their faith and were beheaded by ISIS in February, 2015.

But did you know that only 20 of them were actually Copts from Egypt?  Did you know that one of the martyrs was from Chad, and he had not been a Christian prior to the day of his beheading?

Although this story was previously reported, I had not heard it before this week.

But at this week's World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians hosted by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, a Coptic leader shared the account.

It is a remarkable story.  All 21 men had been working in Libya when they were kidnapped by ISIS.

The Coptic Christians were given a choice to deny Jesus or die.  They refused to deny Him, knowing it would cost them their heads.

When the terrorists ordered the man from Chad to deny Jesus or die he answered, "their God is my God," thereby sealing his fate.

That is how moved he was by the faith of these Christians.  Their refusal to deny their Savior, even at the point of death-literally at the point of a knife to their throats- moved him to make a profession of faith. One that would cost him his head as well. 

The man had not been a believer.  All he had to say was, "I don't believe in Jesus" or,  "Jesus is not the Son of God," and he could walk away a free man. He would be with his family again.  He would not die a brutal death.  He would live to see another day.

Instead this man chose to proclaim "Go ahead and behead me,"  Your god is not my God  Their God is my God."

That is the power of the gospel, and that is how we overcome Satan, by not loving our lives to the point of death.  (Revelation12:11) May our Lord strengthen His people with these words.