Delightful Journey

The other night I watched the movie Michael, with John Travolta. I had never seen it and was curious. Of course it's offbeat, not meant to be a biblical expose' on angels...just a for fun movie. There was something that caught me by surprise and made me think and ponder. It was when "Michael" would spread his arms and close his eyes and twirl around, soaking in the sounds and smells of the earth. Once when he did this he said, "Listen to the earth...I'm going to miss it so much." Another time in the movie this conversation went on, Michael: "I'm doomed to live in one place and crave the pleasures of another...But don't you feel sorry for me." Others: "Why would we?" Michael: "Because this is my last blast. . .That's all we get....Only so many visits allowed. I'm going to miss everything so much." ANYWAY...the way they caught John Travolta's joy, wonder and appreciation for earth...that's what really caught my imagination and got me to thinking how little we appreciate and enjoy the earth God has made for us. Also, we hardly, if ever, think of how He made US for IT. All of that goofy, fiction conversation in the movie aside...He truly DID make earth for us and us for the earth. We sit here so many times craving Heaven and not appreciating earth. God made us from the dust of the ground...hummus...we are dirt bodies with a spirit living inside us. He breathed into us the breath of life and when we invite Him, His Holy Spirit comes to live inside us...Christ in us, the hope of glory! He put us here so that He could extend the Kingdom of God to the earth. Heaven is God's domain...it's Daddy's place...earth is where we are to be bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to..."on earth as it is in Heaven, Lord." I don't want to get into all of the different beliefs on the subject of the future of the earth here...but I take great comfort in knowing that He makes nothing for naught, that I have eternity with Him, and He makes all things new, whether you think He has to burn this up to do that or not (which I don't)...He speaks of a new Heaven and a new earth...and to quote Dr. Myles Munroe, "Unpack your bags." We need to be about the Father's work, furthering the Kingdom of God in the earth. Heaven is surely amazing...and we can have glorious glimpses of it now...it's His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom and to unfold His mysteries to us. We are not lacking anything...we are just sure that we are supposed to be "waiting" for something glorious and out of this world to happen. I'm telling you it's already happening...awaken...seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness...it's all ready and waiting to be added unto you! Continuing on...as I said before, the particular scene in the movie, Michael, really touched me and I have gone back a few times over the last days to think of the wonder they captured of his appreciation and love for things on earth. Yesterday I had a great day and really felt the urge to be creative, decorate, finish putting up pictures and art on my walls and I wanted to create something new just for fun. I watched the slideshow of the photography by Lincoln Harrison of star trails and was amazed and had a short bit of conversation on FB about it and about using tree silhouettes in art and photography. It really seems to be the thing right now and I really like trees...so in my childlike way, I created a piece of tree art...which I may share in a bit. Well, as is my usual...I wanted to write something inspiring on it and I even thought about it in my sleep and woke up wondering what I would write. I thought about the scriptures we have used so much about hope deferred and desire fulfilled being a tree of life, and so on...so I had the idea to get out my Kindle and search "tree" in one of the Bibles I have loaded on it. I have to say that 2.5 hours later and 88 Kindle pages, over 300 references gone through...I feel like I have had a "jet-tour" through the Word. I'm blown away by all of the references to trees, beginning in Genesis when God made trees with their fruit-bearing seed of their kind inside them (seeing the similarity that man is also made this way)...all of the way to Revelation 22 about taking away any share in the tree of life. Along my journey I was reminded of everything from the fall of man, trees exhaulted and thus hewn down, trees rejoicing, singing and clapping their hands, birds finding shelter in trees, trees planted by living waters and nourished, a wholesome tongue being a tree of life, our sins being so graciously and mercifully borne on a tree, the tree of life by the crystal sea....aaahhhh what an amazing and marvelous journey I have been on! I have more to go, as I took notes and have many places I want to revisit from my journey! I challenge you to take your own journey in His Word, meditating on Him and soaking in His wonder! Lord, I take such delight in You...in Your ways...in Your gifts, Your grace, Your mercy, Your purpose and Your plans for my life! I breathe You in and shed Your love abroad...Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven! Amen! Teresa Dalton 8/11/2013

Hide and Seek with Daddy!!!

Our God loves us SO much! He made us for relationship. He tells us that our job is to "believe" and to "seek". Seek first the Kingdom of God...and it is His good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. The Bible, in Proverbs 25:2, also tells us "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search it out." As concerning spiritual gifts such as tongues, words of knowledge and wisdom, prophecy, etc. and as concerning miracles, healing, dreams, visions and so on...you have to know that God's nature is to delight in revealing all of His secrets, mysteries and revelations to us, but only as we participate...believe, seek, inquire...and then testify of His awesomeness so that others are edified and encouraged in their own seeking and finding. It's like a giant Easter egg hunt! He hides all of the eggs...we find them...and JOY explodes in the finding for Him and for us! You see they were not hidden "from us", but "for us"! If you have trouble with believing...tell Him! He is a good Daddy and He'll show you! This magical, mystical, wonderful thing never ends! There are secrets and revelations enough for eternity, because that's how BIG our God is! Taste and see that the Lord is GOOD! Participate in LIFE! BELIEVE, SEEK, FIND, SHOUT IT TO THE WORLD and EN-JOY! He LOVES it when we do!! Don't be the little kid pouting in the corner saying, "That's just dumb, that looks stupid, and I don't want to play!" Daddy beckons you...COME!

Joy ABUNDANT and blessings forever,
Teresa

More than a dream...a vision...

I close my eyes, I see Your face,
I run into Your warm embrace!
You spin me around and hold me close,
I melt into Your love. We frolic and dance,
as You romance me...I'm so alive in You!

More than a dream, not just my imagination,
You're really here and you'll never leave.
I understand how the contemplatives of old
Could just live to exist in Your presence.
Worlds are created from just one word...
Birthed from this amazing love.

Colors beyond my wildest dreams,
these feelings so real that You make me feel.
Ecstasy beyond words...there are no words.
Experiencing Your glory...SWEET bliss, pure JOY!

Your abode...Your Gulum...July 1, 2011

Change is in the air....sharing my morning!

Nothing I Hold Onto

I lean not on my own understanding,
My life is in the hands of the maker of Heaven.
I give it all to You God trusting that you'll make
something beautiful out of me.
And I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open.
There's nothing I hold onto.

Will Reagan & United Pursuit Band
Live from the Banks' House

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up this a.m. hearing, all kinds of things about
God always being new and hearing that song in my head.
The significance of the song will make more sense
by the end of this blog. It's very important that we get this.

We've heard it in different ways lately. Jesus
Culture sings, Where You Go I Go, What You Pray
I Pray...Bill Johnson says, "Don't let what you know
keep you from what you need to know."...Larry
Randolph says we are moving from Revival (resurrecting
dead things from the tomb and trying to breath new life
into them), to Renaissance (a brand new thing straight
from the womb). This was shown to us in many ways
by the Renaissance men of the old Testament like
King David and by the very fact that the King of Glory,
Jesus, was sent through the womb of a virgin
girl named Mary. John the Baptist was the END of
the old mindset and Jesus was/is the NEW.

We honor our past Fathers and their history as our
foundation...a foundation to step up on to go up
higher.

John 5:19 says, Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless
it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father
does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
You don't have to have gone very far in English class to
understand that what was said there is in the present tense...
happening RIGHT THEN...and it has never stopped.
Just before that verse, in John 5:17, Jesus had stated that
His Father is always working and so is He. Verse 20 is also
amazing: “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all
things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show
Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel."
Isaiah 43:19 says this: "Behold, I will do something new,
now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?
God is always working, always fresh and new. Our movement
must always be forward and new, from glory to glory.
This can only happen out of a real and true relationship with
God. Moment by moment walking and talking with Him, ready
to hear Him...and LETTING GO of what WAS for what
IS and WILL BE.

Larry Randolph said in His teaching Super Shift that Lot's wife
was transition challenged...she couldn't let go and move forward,
so she became a monument to the past. WOW, what a picture!

If you go through life holding tightly, gripping things, people,
places, just trying to HOLD ON...you need to LET GO...open
your hands. We have the Holy Spirit of God living in us, but
we restrict His flow when we HANG ON. Open your hands,
release your grip, trust God. Things will come into your hands
and will flow out of your hands as new things flow in. Don't
block the flow, loosen your grip, open your hands and your
heart/mind. Let His thoughts be your thoughts. If you don't know
how to hear Him, tell Him so and seek Him with all your heart.
Experience is essential, relationship is essential, because otherwise
how do you know what He is doing right now. What He is
doing right now is what He wants us doing. If we miss this
we will be like Lot's wife...a monument to something old and
dead and you will miss out on amazing destiny.
Get your house in order...not necessarily the one YOU live in...
but the one HE LIVES IN! Get ready for the shift that is coming.
The culture, the structure and the expression of the church as
you know it is changing as the new flows in, displacing the old.
The change that you already feel happening is finally moving us
out of religion and into the Kingdom of God. Let go and FLOW!

Blessings and JOY!
Teresa

A Different Kind of Thanksgiving Message...

As I was studying this morning, I came across the following verse and it really

intrigued me, especially in light of the teaching I had just heard yesterday on

Living a Lifestyle of Joy.





2 Cor 7:10 (AMP) For godly grief and the pain God is permitted to direct, produce

a repentance that leads and contributes to salvation and deliverance from evil,

and it never brings regret; but worldly grief (the hopeless sorrow that is

characteristic of the pagan world) is deadly [breeding and ending in death].



The line that catches my eye here is "for godly grief and the pain that God is

permitted to direct". It makes us change our way of thinking and contributes to

the Shalom of God, the wholeness and restoration of all things in us to the original

intent of God for our lives, and it delivers us from anything that the enemy is

intent on for our lives! WOW!




1 Peter 4:13 (NASB) says, "...but to the degree that you share the sufferings of

Christ, keep on REJOICING, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may

REJOICE WITH EXULTATION.



Longsuffering with joy is a paradox...a statement or proposition that seems

self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. The

Word of God is full of these truths held intension. When you are going through

the very hardest thing life has ever thrown at you...yet joy just keeps on coming.

That is something that only our amazing God can bring about as we allow Him to

direct our pain...give it to Him as a sacrifice and watch Him bring you JOY out

of it all!




Graham Cooke said so many amazing things in Living a Lifestyle of Joy,

but this one really stood out to me:


I think it's important that we start and finish every day with celebration. No

matter what we're going through that we find just that place of quietness

with God where we just give thanks...where we just celebrate...God is with

us, Christ is for us, Christ is in us, the Holy Spirit is our tutor in life...

we have NO REASON not to celebrate Who God is, and even for me the highest

form of worship is lamentation. Lamentation has a "though and a yet". It says,

"though there are no sheep, though the oxen are dying, though the crops are

failing, YET I WILL REJOICE in the Lord! Thanksgiving is not about stepping

out of your pain and trying to find the place yourself of rejoicing. Lamentation

is about stepping into your pain and making it an offering to God and saying

"I still worship You!" Lamentation is about stepping into a place of rejoicing

and thanksgiving and saying, "even if You kill me, though You slay me,

yet I will exult in You! God doesn't want you to deny the existence of pain

and grief and put it on one side, He is just saying, "No...make it an offering.

Stand in that place and give that to me and you REJOICE, because it's the

chapter, it's not the book and though it feels hard and harsh and painful right

now, it's not your whole journey." All negative emotions at some point must

cease and all of the permanent ones of Heaven, which are always available,

have different strengths at different times. "We're learning that stuff, eh?"

(excerpt from Living a Lifestyle of Joy by Graham Cooke)


Happiness, peace, joy and LOVE,

Teresa

My Halloween Gift to You...or

The Sanctified
Imagination/Taking Back What's Yours!

by Teresa Dalton

10/30/2010



Before I start, I have to explain a few things. I do not by any means

want to glorify the enemy, but we must understand his cunning.

He is not one to waste time or action. Everything he does has a

purpose behind it and that purpose is to make you believe lies

that keep you from a life of simplicity in Christ, full of happiness,

joy, peace, understanding, knowledge, health and wholeness.

He wants you to believe that the things you have already been

freely given are things that are only attained through hard work

and religious ritual. He knows he is defeated, but he, the word says,

was left alive and he is tormented by your destiny because he

can't have it!

I have a question for you and don't lie when you answer it! How

many times have you enjoyed a scary movie, a pornographic

movie, or you may even just be hooked on Disney movies! Do

you know why? They take you to a place that you enjoy. They take

you away from maybe an otherwise mundane life and give you

adventures you wouldn't have otherwise. The enemy understands

how you are made and how your mind works to bring things alive

in your spirit. That is why he so elaborately counterfeits the use

of your imagination.

Jesus taught in parables, not only so that the unbelieving would

not get it, but so that your mind would have a picture that would

bring understanding you otherwise could not grasp, or maybe

it would just take you longer to grasp it.

Jesus is the maker of your imagination. He created sex...AAHHH...

did I say that? Yes, everything that is good, He made it for His

creation to use and enjoy! You yourself were His dream from

His imagination! After becoming a believer, there are many religious

teachings out there that want you to believe that there are things in

this world that are taboo to you now, because they are bad. Do you

understand that the devil's creativity is no more? He can only imitate

and corrupt what is good and he is very good at that. He can even

make things that look good to us as believers continue to look good

to us to keep us in the error of our ways! An example of that would

be a lot of the religious things we stay stuck doing for so long in the

name of Jesus...like judging people and deciding certain people are

not worth your prayers, much less your time or attention because

of sins you see in their lives. You received your salvation by grace,

but you want everyone else to work for theirs! Thank you Lord that

greater are YOU in me, than he who is in the world!

Back to my point...at salvation you were not made over again or

fixed, you were made NEW. You, at that time, received the mind of

Christ, also. He now lives in you and will NEVER leave you or forsake

you! Do you really believe that? I think many are afraid to believe it

because you can't believe it and stay the same...in that comfortable

place where you'll never venture out of for fear of being embarrassed

or made fun of, or maybe even rejected by those who don't understand

what they see you doing.

Many, many believers have the Holy Spirit enslaved inside of them.

They keep Him as a hidden treasure...they keep Him in one little room

in the temple of their body and never talk to Him, never acknowledge

Him, never do anything but maybe once in awhile tell Him they love Him

and sing Him a song, but He is kept as a love slave, safely tucked away

where they don't have to pay attention to Him...but they take comfort in

the fact that He is there. Oh, and if they need something, they will

occasionally go ask Him for it.

I want to now turn this from the negative to the positive...to the glorious!

You are a NEW creation, you have GOD living inside you FOREVER, you

have the MIND OF CHRIST, you are seated in the heavenlies with Him

already according to the Bible, and you have all things that pertain to life

and godliness. I want you to KNOW that God wants to LIVE with/in YOU...

He has amazing things to SHOW you, right NOW! I am just beginning to

understand this myself, so bear with me as I share what I now see.

In my ministry school the other night we listened to Bill Johnson's

secretary, Judy Franklin, teach on encountering God's love. She is so

easy to listen to...so real and honest...you can't help but be drawn into

all that she is saying and hang on every word. She mentioned that it had

been spoken over her that she would have 3rd Heaven experiences.

She explained that when she had her first one, she realized she had

been having this all along...she was in a familiar place and she told God,

"I've been here before!" He said, "I know." When I heard that I got SO

excited, because I understood that I, too, have been there before!

I'll try to explain that now.

Many of you have had dreams and some even have had visions. Where

did they take place? In your sleep...in your mind, your thoughts...your

imagination! Imagination is the act or power of forming a mental image

of something not present to the senses, or never before wholly perceived

in reality. It also means creative ability. Do you remember when you first

heard a parable of Jesus? You understood it because of the picture He had

just painted in your mind. Those movies you may have been hooked on,,,

Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia...some maybe good,

some possibly very bad. You were drawn to them because of the places

they took you...the thrill, the adventure!

　

I want you to know that the God who created EVERYTHING by His WORDS,

and holds it all together by the same, wants you to let Him out of the closet!

He wants you to come away with Him on an adventure meant only personally

for you! He wants you to SEE what "being seated in heavenly places in Christ

Jesus" means! He wants to love on you in such a real way that you feel His

hugs, his kisses, and you dance with Him!

　

I have written, in my journaling, of a time many years ago when my husband

and I had had a fight before bedtime. I fell asleep in tears, feeling so alone and

so lost. Sometime in the night I found myself on a beach, I was held in the arms

of the most amazing man. I could feel His love permeate my entire being! He was

SO gentle and He truly KNEW who I was (Remember, "I SEE YOU" from the Avatar
movie? That was it!). I felt so at home in His arms and the FEELING...the
feeling was better than ANY romantic time you've ever had with your spouse...(sorry
if that thought offends anyone...just being real). We danced and twirled and the
waves of the sea danced with us. I remember the waves swirling around us...it was
all blue and white and frothy...and not scary at all...just natural it seemed, creation
dancing with us. We were both dressed in white flowing clothes that moved with our
dance. I remember waking up and the FEELING was still there! I went back to sleep
and for the first time ever I actually went right back into the dream. He was still there!
I have revisited that place in my mind many times over the years and it always
comforts me.

I am going to offend some people now. I now realize that He came and got me

and took me to a place where He could show me how much He loved me no matter

what was happening here in the world. I believe that place is as real as what I

can see and touch here. I believe that as important as it is for me to remember

and be comforted by His written Word, that my experiences with His living Word,

His Son, are just as important. I believe that we don't have to wait to experience

Him or Heaven. I believe that when I live from there, everything else is under my

feet and I cannot fail or fall, no matter what it looks like here. I believe that what

happens in Heaven and around me that I can't see with my eyes, is more real

than what I see here and is forever, for eternity!

　

If you have ever heard my testimony of my speaking in tongues experience, you

know that God gave me a word in Turkish on a scroll in a dream/vision. It was

"goo loom". On the treasure hunt that He took me on, I found that it

was the Turkish word Gulum...with two dots over each "u" that I'm not sure how

to type out in this Wordpad program. It is pronounced as if the "u's" are long as

in the word "united". I found someone who spoke Turkish and asked what it meant. It is a

term of endearment as when you call someone "sweetie, honey, or my flower/rose".

God loves me so much that He calls me that. He gave me that in a time of turmoil,

because He is fun and He is love, and He wants so much for me to KNOW it.

　

I tell you that YOU, my friend, are as special to God as anyone else is. There

is love that He has for YOU that He has for no one else, because He is THAT BIG!

If you don't believe it, you have made the enemy of your soul bigger than God and

you need to STOP IT!

　

When Judy Franklin said what I mentioned before about finding that she had already

been to the 3rd Heaven with Jesus, all of my past dreams came alive for me again,

and as much as I believed they were Him before, something was cut off of me that

made them even more precious to me! Not only that, but I know that I can go there

whenever I want and He is right there waiting for me! I know that He will also come

and get me to take me on adventures!

　

RECLAIM what the enemy has taken from you! You have a sanctified

imagination. You have a special way of seeing/hearing that you have shut off out

of fear. You know how strong a force it is in the hands of the enemy...TAKE IT BACK!!

　

I have to tell you that after hearing Judy speak that night and going through the

exercise she walks you through, I just wanted to stay there...so I did...and I was

speaking words of love to Him and He was twirling me around (I am most always a

little girl there....come as a little child.) I could feel his clothes against my cheek as

he hugged me! I was so enamored in His love and all of a sudden He looked at me

and said, "lighten up"! You see I was weeping for joy, but He wanted to laugh with me!

That I did...the most healing, freeing laughter...amazing! He is SO LOVE and SO FUN!

Don't miss out...the invitation is there for you, too, to go and let Him love on you! He

wants your "movie", your "destiny" with Him to start NOW. Don't believe the liar

or the Pharisees who would rob you of this! Remember, "there is no fear in love,

perfect love casts out fear" and His is PERFECT LOVE!

　

If you want some really good teaching on this, go here:

http://www.ibethel.org/store/p2457/HeavenCan2339tWait/product_info.html.

The MP3 download (2 are included and both are important), is worth a million

bucks to me...just sayin'...LOL.

　

Love, Joy and Peace!

Teresa

I Repent, Lord....

Lord, I repent! Thank you for sight! Thank you that I finally see rightly!

Since 2005 I have had a fire in my heart to be able to pray for people to be
Healed and to see it happen. The following is a little bit of how that came
About.

I was very new in a local church that is Charismatic. (I was from a Baptist background
…all of whom I still love very much!) One day the pastor told
us all to hold hands and pray for the person next to us for healing, or whatever
they needed. The woman next to me showed me her finger and asked me
to pray for the pain to stop and that she be healed. My first thought was,
“Oh Lord, You don’t want ME to pray for HER! Her finger might fall off!”
Obviously at that point, I knew nothing of God’s love and His will that all be
healed!

Then one evening that church had a lady come and speak in the evening service.
She taught us that “God Wants You Healed”. She talked about, “You’ve
Already Got It.” She spoke representing the ministry of Andrew Wommack.
I was overcome. I was changed and I couldn’t walk away and believe the
Same as I had. I soon went to an Andrew Wommack conference. I got to
Meet Andrew and he was so nice. I had been reading his books and
Listening to his teaching online. I could never go back to my old way of
Thinking.

In the mean time, I had joined the prayer team at my church. I was so
Nervous! I got several opportunities to pray for people for healing and
Several actually said they were healed. I was amazed. I would ask God
for a word for someone and MOST OF THE TIME He said “I just want
you to tell them that I love them with an everlasting love.” I was obedient,
but I was not feeling that I was doing enough. Over and over I went
forward and gave that word to so many…still feeling like it wasn’t enough.
I want more, Lord.

You see, I had LOTS of knowledge, LOTS of teaching which included an
almost 2 year long Bible Study with the woman who taught from A.W.'s
ministry...what I needed was a revelation! A revelation of God's amazing
LOVE for ALL MANKIND! I knew Jesus loves us, but I didn't REALLY understand
all that that meant! I knew of His GRACE, but then thought there was some
special THING that if I just KNEW WHAT IT WAS, there would be success!

What I repent of is, “not feeling like telling them God loves them with
An everlasting love was enough.” That is everything! It’s never ME doing
Anything…it’s ALWAYS His LOVE and that is ALWAYS enough!

There is no magic formula, there is only God’s love flowing through us.
The results are not my responsibility, but being a willing, open vessel for Him
to flow through is. It is His grace and His love and His power that comes
forth and does the work of healing. I will also not be offended or take up
the burden for healing that does not manifest. I will continue to go and
to pray and to rejoice in His work!

Lord, thank You for forgiveness, for mercy and grace, for all that You are
And do! Thank you for freedom from striving on our part and that it is ALL
YOU, Lord! We love You, because You first loved us, and You are my
All in all! I will pray for the sick to receive their healing and watch You do it,
Lord! I love You!

I agree with Chris Gore when he says, “We must redefine success. You are
a success when You step out and give away what God has given to you! We
serve a good God, Who is in a good mood, and His will is to heal every person!”

Thank You Lord! More Lord, more!
Teresa

The Church by A.W.Tozer

"Without doubt the most important body on earth is the Church of God which He purchased with His own Blood.Unfortunately the word "church" has taken on meanings which it did not originally have and has suffered untold injury in the house both of its enemies and of its friends.The meaning of the word for the true Christian was fixed by our Lord and His apostles. What they meant by it is what we must mean by it; and no man nor angel has authority to change it.The simple etymological meaning is easy to discover, but its larger significance must be learned from the New Testament Scriptures. All that is meant by that wondrous word cannot be stated in one sentence, nor in one paragraph, nor scarcely in one book.The universal Church is the body of Christ, the bride of the Lamb, the habitation of God through the Spirit, the pillar and ground of the truth.The local church is a community of ransomed men, a minority group, a colony of heavenly souls dwelling apart on the earth, a division of soldiers on a foreign soil, a band of reapers, working under the direction of the Lord of the harvest, a flock of sheep following the Good Shepherd, a brotherhood of like-minded men, a visible representative of the Invisible God....A true church is something supernatural and divine, and is in direct lineal descent from that first church at Jerusalem. Insofar as it's a church it's spiritual; its social aspect is secondary and may be imitated by any group regardless of its religious qualities or lack of them. The spiritual essence of a true church cannot be reproduced anywhere but in a company of renewed and inwardly united believers.The Christian life begins with the individual; a soul has a saving encounter with God and the new life is born...Once the "great transaction's done" the communion of believers will be found to be the best environment for the new life. Men are made for each other, and this is never more apparent than in the Church.All else being equal, the individual Christian will find in the communion of a local church the most perfect atmosphere for the fullest development of his spiritual life. There also he'll find the best arena for the largest exercise of those gifts and powers which God may have endowed him.The religious solitary may gain on a few points, and he may escape some of the irritations of the crowd, but he is half-man, nevertheless, and worse, he is a half-Christian. Every solitary experience, if we would realize its beneficial effects, should be followed immediately by a return to our own company. There will be found the faith of Christ in its most perfect present manifestation.But one thing must be kept in mind; these things are true only where the local church is a church indeed, where the communion of saints is more than a phrase from the Creed but is realized and practiced in faith and love. Those religio-social institutions, with which we are all too familiar, where worship is a form, the sermon an essay and the prayer an embarrassed address to someone who isn't there, certainly do not qualify as churches under any scriptural terms with which we are acquainted.The elements of a true church are few and easy to possess. They are a company of believers, the Lord, the Holy Spirit and the Word of the living God. Let the Lord be worshiped, the Spirit be obeyed, the Word be expounded and followed as the only rule for faith and conduct, and the power of God will begin to show itself...The church will produce a spiritual culture all its own, wholly unlike anything created by the mind of man and superior to any culture known on earth, ancient or modern. God is getting His people ready for another world, and He uses the local church as a workshop in which to carry on His blessed work.That Christian is a happy one who has found a company of true believers in whose fellowship he can live and love and labor. And nothing else on earth should be as dear to him nor command from him such a degree of loyalty and devotion."

This Romance

Today I was praying and I told God, "Thank You for loving me when I was unlovely." He corrected me saying, "You have NEVER been unlovely to me!



As I meditate on this, I wonder, do we even understand this ROMANCE we are in? Do you understand that there is a truth held in tension that says, "When you seek Me you will find Me.", but the greater truth is that "He finds us, He pursues us!"



Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all he days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."



Surely: When you see this word it means for you to pay special attention to the following truth. It is an affirmation of the truth, the certainty of the words to follow.



Follow/Pursue: The word follow here means to "pursue", to eagerly track down, to hunt someone with relentless abandon, to chase, to run after. It is intense and passionate. It is not done half-heartedly, but with boundless energy and compassion.



What is pursuing us like this? God's GOODNESS AND UNFAILING LOVE!



Even on your worst day He was hunting you down to show you His great love and care for you! Even on your best day, when your heart strays from Him...He is chasing you down with MORE LOVE, MORE KINDNESS!



Do you know that in Hebrew the word SHALOM is roughly translated as ROMANCE? Shalom is the wholeness of God, it is His EVERYTHING, His completeness...there is nothing more to be had and He has given it all to US because of His amazing love!



You are His bride! He says, "Come away with me! Come into my presence...let me love on you! He SO LOVED YOU...He GAVE the ultimate for you. Even when you were unlovely, you were lovely to Him!



Love and Joy,

Teresa

Decisions that Define Us by Graham Cooke

We have decided that teaching the Gospel

without demonstrating the Gospel is not enough.

Good preaching, good doctrine, being good people, is not enough.

We've decided that having a good church club is not enough.

Good fellowship is not enough, and just being a member of that club

is not enough.

We've decided that having good Bible studies is good, but not good enough...

that just making it to Heaven is not our goal, and that knowing about God

without truly knowing and experiencing God is meaningless.

We've decided that having good programs is not enough...

that change without transformation is intolerable and that staying the same is not an option.

We've decided that gifting without character is futile.

We've decided that singing songs without worshipping is hollow and

having meetings without God showing up is pointless.

We've decided that having faith without works is not enough and

having works without love is not acceptable, that our function comes out of our relationship,

first with the Father and second with each other.

We have decided that reading the book of Acts without living the book of Acts in unthinkable.

We've decided that confident faith is good, bold faith is better.

We've decided that hearing about the Holy Spirit without experiencing Him is silly...

that believing in His presence without seeing it manifested in signs and wonders is hypocrisy...

that believing in healing without seeing people healed is absurd and

that believing in deliverance without people being delivered is absolutely ridiculous.

We've decided to be Holy Spirit filled, Holy Spirit led and Holy Spirit empowered...

anything less doesn't work for us.

We have decided to be the ones telling the stories of God's power,

not the ones hearing about them.

We have decided that living saved, but not supernatural is living below our priviledge

and short of what Christ died for.

We have decided that we're a battleship not a cruise ship, an army not an audience,

special forces not spectators, missionaries not club members.

We have decided to value both pioneers and settlers...pioneers to expand our territory

and settlers to build on those territories, but we are not squatters...people who take up

space others have fought for without improving it.

We have decided to be infectious instead of innocuous, contagious instead of

quarantined, deadly instead of benign.

We have decided to be radical lovers and outrageous givers.

We have decided that we are a mission station not a museum.

Therefore we honor the past, but we don't live in it.

We live in the present with our eyes on the future.

We see past events, successes and failures as stepping stones, not stop signs.

We pursue learning in order to be transformed, not learning in order to know.

We are people of engagement, not observation.

We focus on what could be, not on what is or has been.

We are not limited to the four walls of this building.

Our influence is not restricted by location...

Not even the nations are out of bounds.

We are more concerned about how many we send out into the world

than how many we convince to come into the building.

This building is meant to be filled and it will be,

but it will not be the measure of who we are or the measure of our effectiveness.

We raise up world changers not tour guides.

We train commandos not committees.

We are a people of our destiny not our history.

We have decided that it is better to fail while reaching for the impossible that God has planned for us

than succeed in settling for less.

We have decided that nothing short of His Kingdom come and His will be done in our world as it is in Heaven

will satisfy.

We have decided that we will not be satisfied until our world freaks out and cries out...

those who have turned the world upside down have come here too.

These are some of the decisions that define who we are as a community and how we live our lives.

These decisions are not destinations, but rather journeys.

Journeys along an ancient path.

We've not found some new way, but rather rediscovered the path as old as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob...

the same path followed by Moses, Joshua and Caleb, Paul, John and Peter...

the path followed by the first century church...a church that revolutionized the culture

of the first century and beyond.

It's a path that will impact the world we live in today.

It's a path of bold faith, believing that what God says is really true and acting on it.

It is a path of outrageous generosity, giving our life away in order to demonstrate His Kingdom.

It's a path of radical love...loving God with everything in us and our neighbor as ourselves...

It's a path of liberty, freedom and healing.

On this path you will find significance, purpose and destiny.

It's a path less traveled, however.

It's not a path only available to a select few, but to whosoever will may come.

It's for people of every nation, tribe and tongue, for those in any occupation or vocation.

No matter where you are in your life journey there is room on this path for you.

Why Turkish?

As I grow in the Lord, and understand more and more of His character and
what He thinks of me, I can no longer just simply accept what He gives me
and put it in a treasure box to keep as only mine. I now find that more
often than not what He gives me is prophetic and speaks far into the future,
not only for me, but for any He puts in my path as I go. Because of this,
I have in the past couple of weeks been wondering why He would speak to me in Turkish...teach me a special Turkish word and call me that. If you do not
know what I'm talking about...or should I say if you have not been blessed
by my babblings of things God has done for me, given me or shown me...several
years ago in a time of great questioning about my faith, my marriage, and so
on, I told God that I wanted to know Him more and that I wanted all He has
for me and want to do all that He wants to do through me. I went to sleep
and He gave me a dream/vision of a scroll with "goo loom" written on it. After prayer and some research...you know I had to Google it...I found that He
had given me the pronunciation of the word Gulum. Back then Google was not
nearly as good at translating and though I got hundreds of hits on Google, I could not find the meaning of the word.

I finally found a record album by Yildiz Tilbe and she is Turkish. I
knew that there are Turkish restaraunts and bakeries in the U.S., so I
found one in Chesapeake, VA and called them. They giggled when I asked
about the word and then told me it is a term of endearment and that some
even name their children this. It means sweetheart, honey, rose...and
now I learn from my new friend who is originally from Iran and now living in Australia, that in Farsi it also means my flower...gul = flower and gulum = my flower.


That was a major turning point for me in truly understanding how my
heavenly Father thinks of me. I was in awe (from the floor of course!).
LOL!



I wanted to know more about Turkey and I have never been an avid reader of
history, geography or any of that...but that seems to be changing as I find it fascinating with my new found "word". Below is something I found on the www this a.m. about Turkey. Many of you Bible scholars probably already knew this,
but humor me! LOL!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Turkey

In the Bible and History

Turkey holds a place in Christian history right along side of
Israel/Palestine. Not only did events in the Bible take place here,
but it is the site of the early church centered on the Byzantine Empire.
Anatolia is mentioned in the Bible through the Hittites, a formidable
militant culture. The area was part of the Roman Empire at the time
Jesus was born.

Many cities in this area were represented at Pentecost (Acts 2),
which means the Hebrew religion had spread at least this far and
Paul's journeys took him through what is now Turkey several times.
The seven churches of Revelation are located in this area. When
Constantine split the Eastern and Western parts of his Empire, the
Eastern capitol was placed in Byzantium and called Constantinople
(It is known today as Istanbul).



Look at a map and note the familiar Biblical names of Harran where
Abraham lived; Mt. Ararat where Noah's boat landed; Antioch where
the believers were first called Christians; Ephesus where a significant
church was founded and where Paul's presence caused a riot; Tarsus where
Paul was born; Cappadocia where early Christian fled when persecuted;
and Myra where St. Nicholas was born. The early Ecumenical Councils
took place in this area and are known by the cities in which they were
convened. We hear of the Council of Ephesus, Council of Nicaea (Iznik)
the Council of Constantinople and the 451 Council of Chalcedon that
caused the great scism in the church. Even after Islam came to the area,
Christians remained in large numbers for centuries and it was from Turkey
that the Russians were converted to Orthodox Christianity.

Christianity Today

Today's Turkey is a secular state with clear limitations on religion
and religious institutions. Churches are allowed to sponsor lower
schools but not college or graduate education. Members of all
religious groups are prohibited from wearing religious garb in
public but Bibles are published and sold without restriction.

Istanbul is still the home of the Ecumenical Patriarch of the
Orthodox Church and an Armenian Patriarch. The Christian community
is less than 1% of the total population and includes Armenian
Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox, as well as the predominant Greek
Orthodox, all greatly reduced in number from the 19th century.
There are also a few Catholic and Protestant parishes.


In the southeastern parts of Turkey the remains of very old
Syriac churches are still present along with Syriac villages but
it is considered too dangerous to go there because of Kurdish
resistence groups. Mardin's Mar Gabriel Monastery is the most
famous and is still active today.



Special Sites to Visit

Ephesus (Ephes)This is an unusually well preserved Roman city
that was the site of an early Christian church. It was here
that Paul challenged the craftsmen who produced images of the
goddess Artemis,by preaching Christianity. The amphitheater
where this happened is still in good condition along with the
library and temples. Cappadocia (Goreme)Cappadocia is a region
where early Christians took refuge from Roman persecution. It
is dotted with natural volcanic rock formations that were carved
into homes, chapels and huts for hermits. Religious cave
paintings are still visible inside some of the cones known as fairy
chimneys.


Istanbul (formerly Constantinople and Byzantium)This city is simply
full of religious monuments and history and ought to be explored
primarily on foot.

Hagia Sophia Museum was built by Constantine the Great as a church,
and reconstructed by Justinian in the 6th century. For 1000 years
it was the largest church in the Christian world and is still is
overwhelming today. In 1453 when the Turks conquered Istanbul the
basilica was turned into a mosque, minarets were built and the mosaics
were covered over. In the 1930s Ataturk converted it to a museum as
a part of his secularization of the country.

Fascinating cities full of ruins are found all over the country but
even those with familiar names from the Bible have only a few notable
sites within them.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, so this morning, Sid Roth has this guy on his show talking
about the middle east and end-time prophecy. I get ready to
change the channel, because I truly do not like to hear about all
of that at this point. I'm not denying it all...I'm just in a
different place with it all than I ever used to be and refuse to
be freaked out by some of the things taught in "other than victorious"
eschatological teaching. But then he starts to talk about Turkey.
I listened and found it interesting, but if you want to hear that,
you'll have to tune in sometime this week to It's Supernatural.


THEN, Martha Stewart is showing video of her recent trip to Turkey
and her hot air balloon ride over Cappadocia and I'm sitting on the
couch crying like a baby! What's that about? It was like I SO wanted to
GO THERE and was possibly even homesick for a place I've never been.
How weird is that?



I have always been amazed that the "cradle of civilization" is in
Iraq, and have often thought about and prayed for the middle east as a whole, especially for the peace of Jerusalem....then God speaks to me in Turkish.

I can't wait to know more and to SEE where God is going with this!
All I know is I LOVE HIM and that's all I need to know. I can trust
whatever He is doing and rest in the joy of the knowing and experiencing
His overwhelming love for me AND YOU! More Lord!



Peace,
Teresa

Which Jesus are you living like?

John 7:37-39 says this: On the last and greatest day of
the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone
is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes
in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water
will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom
those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that
time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet
been glorified.

These scriptures are amazing. First of all they tell us
that if we are thirsty and we come to Him and believe, we
will receive the Holy Spirit...His Spirit IN US..."streams
of LIVING water will flow within him". At this point though
Jesus had not yet been crucified, died, risen or ascended
to the Father, all of which were a part of His complete
assignment...the assignment that would be the payment for our sins,
past, present and future. Only after His work was complete
would He be "glorified". The disciples could not receive the
Holy Spirit yet, because of this. He is speaking to them of
a time to soon come.

There is an amazing truth in this: If they had been able
to receive the Holy Spirit at that point, before the completed
work of Christ, (as much as that may have been better for them in
some circumstances...LOL), the disciples would have become like
THAT Jesus...the One Who was still working, still teaching
them, still headed for the cross to suffer and die for us.
The Father's intention was always for us to become like the
GLORIFIED Christ, not the suffering, dying Christ! Jesus worked
as a man and if we could have done the work of redemption,He would
not have needed to die. The relationship that Adam had with the
Father was one of fellowship,giving Him joy and pleasure, expanding
what was in Heaven on the domain of earth...not the "sweat of his
brow" Adam, after the fall.

You may read that and say, "Well, duh!"...but I was struck with
an awesome revelation when I heard that. Many of us, individuals,
as well as whole churches, are living as though they received the
Christ Who still needed to suffer and die, who still needed to
"GET IT DONE"!

We need to understand that His work was completed, He lives in
us glorified. We are to be an open conduit for the glorified
Christ to flow through in the form of His Holy Spirit, doing His
renewing, transforming, amazing work through our hands, reconciling
the world to Himself through us...full restoration of fellowship with
Him. Resting in His completion, His glorification is essential,
because otherwise you are hindered by time and space, having
anxiety about timing, being impressed with yourself, looking inward,
instead of keeping your eyes on the One Who gave you life and Who
sustains it, and Whom you have become and are daily becoming like.

What you behold, you become. Behold the glorified Christ and your
work will come from His rest.

1 John 4:17 says, "...as He is, so also are we in this world."
Did you get that? As He IS, not as He WAS. You may think, well
being like Jesus would be good any way you look at it, from any
viewpoint in His life. NO. He did it all already. He said,
"It is finished." He sat down at the right hand of the Father
and He IS intercession for us! God looks over and seeing Jesus says,
"Oh, there's Suzy, there's Billy, there's (insert your name here).
There is not one thing that you can add by busyness and anxiety...
it's already done!

We are told in the Bible that the letter of the law without
the Spirit kills...it is dead words. You NEED the Holy Spirit
of the glorified Christ dwelling in you and on you and then you
will be able to stop struggling with "knowing enough" and rest
in the One Who is "more than enough"!

When you came to Christ, the old you died, buried in the waters
of Baptism and being raised/resurrected to NEW life...your OLD
MAN was not FIXED, he was KILLED...and you have already been
seated in the heavenlies with Christ. His Spirit came into
your dead body and made it alive. Don't hang out by your grave
mourning that old man. Walk away and passionately pursue Christ.

He said in His Word that your work is to believe in Him. He said,
"Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these
things will be added to you."

You are the image and glory of God according to the Bible.
You can do nothing apart from His glory...you are one with Him...
His body. Learn to live in these truths, in His glory and as you go,
the sick will be healed, the hungry fed, the blind will see, demons
will flee, the lost will be found, the Kingdom will advance.
You will SEE His glory cover the earth! Jesus will receive His
FULL REWARD...a bride whose body is proportionate to her head,
blameless, spotless. That is the bride He is returning for! Relationship
fully restored!

Peace, righteousness and joy,
Teresa

A gift for you...giving away what God gave to me!

After our amazing weekend, I have been quite restless in my spirit....excited, but restless. I experienced more powerfully some things that I had only barely tasted of before. Impartation of the glory of God. I have experienced God in other ways (tongues, dreams, visions, but I did not understand (and still don't fully) the baptism with fire, the glory and the importance of impartation. Well, I was left after the few experiences I have had since my arrival to Shiloh in May, with the thought, WOW...this is AMAZING...WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS? It's like somebody just gave you a million bucks, do I stick it in my pocket and just go home or what? Well, today, I was praying and then I started to read in When Heaven Invades Earth...my daily quota of pages to make the goal you know. I am finishing chapter 9...ooohhh...about 1/2 done! Well, I go back to read some of the things I had underlined in previous chapters and they seemed foreign to me, like I had never read them before. Then I read, "Because my focus was still on me, there was little victory I actually could trace back to my prayers." Hmmmm. Then I flipped the page and read, "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit AND FIRE." Well, I know I had been baptized in the Holy Spirit, but until recently I had never experienced the FIRE part...the burning. It was freely available, but I was not giving it place in my life due to lack of UNDER STANDING. The next page says, "He'll give us His baptism of fire if we'll give Him something worth burning." When I read that, it was like seeing it for the very first time in spite of all the highlighter marks on the page! The Holy Spirit filled me UP AND SLAMMED me with His presence! I got so drunk all I could do is cry, do something I can only describe as posturing (kind of a weird contracting and releasing of the muscles in my whole body, but especially the shoulders and midsection), pray mixed with laughing and BURN (hands and chest). I was wrecked and it was amazing! Thank You Holy Spirit! I know I am just beginning in this, but the step of faith for impartation has been taken. God will not give us what we don't want or what we won't give away once we have it. Now I have whole new sight once again...so it's back to page ONE of the book! My encouragement to you is to not let studying become just something you do to get it done, but invite the Holy Spirit, our resident truth teacher to shine on every word and get it into your spirit! Peace and joy! Teresa

School, the Retreat, the Prayer Furnace and church - Sunday Aug 29 2010

The Retreat, the Prayer Furnace and church (They all seemed to flow together to make an amazing week! This may seem like a conglomeration of stuff...but to me they were all interconnected making up my personal experience.) August 27, 28 and 29, 2010.

Friday evening, right off, I got a folder that had 3 amazing prophecies
for my life in it! What a way to start a retreat!

One of the first activities that we did on Saturday was an ice breaker
type thing where you tossed a cube to someone else in the circle and
called out a number. Then the person catching it had to read what
was written on that number on the cube. They were funny, like acting
out your fav Bible verse, make up a rap about 3 things you are thankful
for and perform it...then when it got to me it said, "Tell a lie that the
devil has spoken to you and acknowledge it as such and then laugh at
the devil and the lie!" I said that the lie the enemy had tried to convince
me of in the past month is that I have no friends. Let me tell you...it felt
so good to share that and to laugh and laugh with my "new friends" about
what a lie that is!! (Just let me also say here that my "new, as well as my old and precious friends" have been showing up all around to love on me and let me know they
care about me...they are amazing!)

Saturday Pastor Bill gave impartation of the glory that was flowing and there are no
words to describe it! Lifechanging is all I can say!

The Lord had given me this word during the showing of Furious Love
Saturday afternoon: "You so easily say that a lot of things tried to
keep you from coming to school here. It matters that you understand the
war and how far the enemy will go to keep the Kingdom from advancing!
He will attempt to destroy your life, your family, your reputation, and
your circle of support and comfort. Be assured that I have already
overcome and you are victorious in Me! I will restore whatever has been
stolen by the enemy! You have nothing to fear in the losses you think
you are suffering! It is a lie from the LIAR. In this battle know that
you are not alone and you are gaining EVERYTHING! The enemy is
defeated and is no threat to the Kingdom!"

Then on the way to church Sunday a.m. I was listening to amazing
music and praying and by the time I got to church and the prayer furnace
I was ready to hear from Daddy! The music in the prayer room was
quite a bit louder than usual and it was different. To me it was "happy"
and "adventurous".

I wrote "Lord, You have so filled me with Your peace and love today!
I feel free like a child. I feel like I could run and jump and chase butterflies!
I love You Lord! Thank You for the refreshing and refilling of Your Holy Spirit!
I am listening, Lord!"

I settled in and prayed for a bit, then started sensing pure joy and love,
happiness filling me up! I said, "I am still listening.", then I
sensed God say, "I'm playing!...come and play!" I finally got the message!
It was amazing...all I remember is sensing running and frolicking with my Daddy,
twirling and spinning along a garden path through the flowers!

As amazing as that was, it was equally amazing to hear once again
how He was getting a similar message to others in the prayer room!
Through the words of someone else there, I felt God showing me, "You have
come full circle...I am breaking off all the old junk and setting you free...
MOVE ON NOW!" He is SO GOOD ALWAYS!

Another amazement was how DANCING seemed to be where He was taking
us all, even in the church service this morning! The worship was awesome, the glory
THICK, and when Pastor Bill brought the message...HE CHOSE US FROM THE
BEGINNING AND ON PURPOSE, WE ARE SONS AND DAUGHTERS, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD...
he ended up doing "the happy dance" and standing on chairs...more Lord, more!

This was all once again affirmed with a fresh filling and impartation through Nancy
when Pastor Bill asked anyone who wanted prayer to come up after the service. She
said, "What do you want?" I said, "Whatever."...and God was faithful to deliver a LOT
of it! WOW! (And to think I spent such a huge part of my life not believing in such
manifestations of the power of God! That's okay, because God will restore to me
anything I missed in my stupid years! LOL!)

Thank You Lord for an amazing Retreat and church this weekend!

Thanks to all who worked hard to make it all that it was for us!
We need a dorm, cause this needs to be full time! Who wants to go home?
LOL! Not me!

Blessings and peace!
Teresa

The Banquet

On August 1, 2010 in the Prayer Furnace God had given me the following vision as I was praying for all the people concerned in a very hard time I had been going through.

He showed me all of us together at some future time. We were outside at a banquet in a vineyard on an absolutely beautiful day, but we were outlined in thick, dark black lines, like it might be on a coloring book page. All of a sudden all of those dark lines were lifted intact off of us as a group (like a cage) and everything was just brightness and light as the glory of God fully shone on us after every evil thought and intention had been lifted off of us. I feel like God was assuring me that that day is coming when all of the works of the devil are destroyed and we will clearly see the influence we let him have in our lives. Even the best of relationships are tainted here right now as we seemingly unintentionally agree with the accuser/deceiver of the brethren. Lord, thank You for this vision and I so look forward to that glorious day!

Now, fast forward to Sunday evening August 22, 2010. I was driving to Sunday evening service at Shiloh. The sun was as bright as I've ever seen it! When I turned onto Old Buckingham Rd. it started to rain. The sun shown so brightly toward me through the rain that each raindrop looked like a tiny round crystal...it was like a crystal curtain I was driving through. Then over the fields, around each corner, was just brightness and glitter as the sun and rain shown on each and every blade of grass, flower and tree. It was so surreal! God was showing off just for me! In my spirit He took me back to the vision of August 1st and said this is just a sample of the brightness of my glory on that day with my bride! I love you dear daughter and I too await that great and glorious day!

I was laughing and crying and full of joy...and oh so happy! Thank You Daddy!

The REAL reason for the season! (Transfer from myspace Dec 2006)

December 12, 2006 - Tuesday

Who is really the reason for the season?
YOU ARE!

John 3:16-17 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

My prayer for you this season is that you BELIEVE and RECEIVE all that God sent His Son for...JUST FOR YOU!

Merry Christmas!

God is LITERALLY COOL! (Myspace transfer from Dec 2006)

December 12, 2006 - Tuesday

COOL!

A friend shared this with me today...so I am going to pass it on to you!

In Psalm 55:22 it says, "Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall SUSTAIN you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

The word sustain there is "chul"...pronounced KOOL (Strong's #3557) or COOL. It means to MAINTAIN, NOURISH, PROVIDE FOOD, BEAR, HOLD UP, PROTECT, SUPPORT, DEFEND; TO SUPPLY THE MEANS NECESSARY FOR LIVING. Occurring nearly 40 times, CHUL primarily suggests "TO MEASURE OUT A PROVISION OF FOOD," that is, "TO PROVIDE."

GOD IS COOL! Literally! Isn't that COOL?!

Adoring Jesus,

Teresa

A New Commandment (Transfer from Myspace Oct 2006)

October 25, 2006 - Wednesday
A New Commandment...

John 13:34 says: So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."

Galatians 6:10 says, Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.

1 Cor. 13 says,
(1) If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
(2) If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing.
(3) If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing.
(4) Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud

(5) or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.

(6) It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.

(7) Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

(8) Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!

(9) Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!

(10) But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.

(11) When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.

(12) Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

(13) Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

In light of those Scriptures, I thought the following list was a good study of what our LOVE should look like according to the New Testament.

If you will notice, just as we are told to do good to all men, and yet the Scriptures say, "especially to those in the faith"...our brothers and sisters in Christ, some of the things in the list pertain to us concerning all men, and some things pertain mainly to the body of believers.

Enjoy and Be Blessed!

Teresa

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The One-Anothers of the New Testament



The Gospels

1. "…Be at peace with each other" (Mark 9:50)

2. "…Wash one another's feet" (John 13:14)

3. "…Love one another…" (John 13:34-35; John 15:12, 17)

Paul's Letters

Romans, I Corinthians, II Corinthians4. "Love one another"(Romans 13:8)

5. "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love…" (Romans 12:10)

6. "Honor one another above yourselves" (Romans 12:10)

7. "Live in harmony with one another…" (Romans 12:16)

8. "…Stop passing judgment on one another" (Romans 14:13)

9. "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you…" (Romans 15:7)

10. "…instruct one another" (Romans 15:4)

11. "Greet one another with a holy kiss…" (Romans 16:16; I Corinthians 16:20, II Corinthians

13:12; I Thessalonians 5:26)

12. "…When you come together for the Lord's supper, wait for each other" (I Corinthians 11:33)

13. "…Have equal concern for each other" (I Corinthians 12:25)

14. "…Serve one another in love" (II Corinthians 13:12)Galatians, Ephesians

15. "Carry each other's burdens…" (Galatians 6:2)

16. "If you keep on biting and devouring each other…you will be destroyed by each other" (Galatians 5:15)

17. "Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other" (Galatians 5:26)

18. "…Be patient, bearing with one another in love" (Ephesians 4:2)

19. "Be kind and compassionate to one another…" (Ephesians 4:32)

20. "…forgiving each other…" (Ephesians 4:32)

21. "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs" (Ephesians 5:19)

22. "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Ephesians 5:21)



Philippians, Colossians23. "…in humility consider others better than yourselves" (Philippians 2:3)

24. "Do not lie to each other…" (Colossians 3:9)

25. "Bear with each other…" (Colossians 3:13)

26. "…Forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another" (Colossians 3:13)

27. "Teach…[one another]" (Colossians 3:16)

28. "…admonish one another" (Colossians 3:16)I Thessalonians, Hebrews
29. "…make your love increase and overflow for each other" (I Thessalonians 3:12)

30. "Encourage one another" (I Thessalonians 4:18, 5:11; Hebrews 10:25)

31. "…Build each other up…" (I Thessalonians 5:11)

32. "Encourage one another daily…" (Hebrews 3:13)

33. "Spur one another on toward love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24)

Other Letters

James, I Peter, I John, II John34. "…Do not slander one another" (James 4:11)

35. "Don't grumble against each other" (James 5:9)

36. "Confess your sins to each other…" (James 5:16)

37. "…Pray for each other" (James 5:16)

38. "…Love one another deeply, from the heart" (I Peter 1:22, 4:8)
39. "…Live in harmony with one another…" (I Peter 3:8)

40. "Greet one another with a kiss of love" (I Peter 5:14)

41. "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling" (I Peter 4:9)

42. "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others…" (I Peter 4:10)

43. "…Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another…" (I Peter 5:15)

44. "Love one another" (I John 3:11, 23, 4:7,11,12; II John 5)

Who I am in Christ (Myspace transfer from Oct 2006)

October 16, 2006 - Monday

Who are you in Christ?

Who I Am In Christ
I am accepted...
John 1:12 I am God's child.
John 15:15 As a disciple, I am a friend of Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1 I have been justified.
1 Corinthians 6:17 I am united with the Lord, and I am one with Him in spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 I have been bought with a price and I belong to God.
1 Corinthians 12:27 I am a member of Christ's body.
Ephesians 1:3-8 I have been chosen by God and adopted as His child.
Colossians 1:13-14 I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins.
Colossians 2:9-10 I am complete in Christ.
Hebrews 4:14-16 I have direct access to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ.

I am secure...
Romans 8:1-2 I am free from condemnation.
Romans 8:28 I am assured that God works for my good in all circumstances.
Romans 8:31-39 I am free from any condemnation brought against me and I cannot be separated from the love of God.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 I have been established, anointed and sealed by God.
Colossians 3:1-4 I am hidden with Christ in God.
Philippians 1:6 I am confident that God will complete the good work He started in me.
Philippians 3:20 I am a citizen of heaven.
2 Timothy 1:7 I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.
1 John 5:18 I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me.

I am significant...
John 15:5 I am a branch of Jesus Christ, the true vine, and a channel of His life.
John 15:16 I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit.
1 Corinthians 3:16 I am God's temple.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 I am a minister of reconciliation for God.
Ephesians 2:6 I am seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly realm.
Ephesians 2:10 I am God's workmanship.
Ephesians 3:12 I may approach God with freedom and confidence.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

"The more you reaffirm who you are in Christ, the more your behavior will begin to reflect your true identity!"
(From Victory Over the Darkness , by Dr. Neil Anderson)

Lord, I'm Amazed by You, How You Love Me! (Myspace transfer from Oct 2006)

October 9, 2006 - Monday
Dreaming dreams...

Current mood: jubilant

One day quite a few years ago I had had a very bad evening. My husband and I were arguing and I went to sleep in tears, hurting inside. In the middle of the night I woke up "surrounded by LOVE". I wondered what is this feeling? It was an actual FEELING of peace, warmth, being loved, protected...and I suddenly remembered that I had been dreaming. I was on a beach, dressed in white flowing clothing...I was dancing in the arms of a man whose face I could not see, but He was dressed in the same type of clothes. I wasn't just in His arms, but He was all around me, saturating my very being...we were dancing on the sand with the waves coming in and going out and the wind blowing...not crashing waves or harsh winds, but it was like they were dancing with us. He whispered that He would always love me...I woke up, but I was still surrounded by the feelings in the dream, (feelings that nothing can compare with on this earth except the very intimate love feelings between a husband and wife...but only millions of times better). It took my mind a while to understand all that had happened. I actually went back to sleep and back into the dream...it was awesome! Though it was a long time ago, I still remember what it felt like and that it was God comforting me and letting me know of His great, eternal, intimate love and care for me.

Many years later, when I heard these words in a song...You dance over me, when I am an unaware, You sing all around, but I never hear the sound...it reminded me of my dream. I went to the Word and found Zephaniah 3:17...He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. (NKJV)

Thank You Father God for your mercy, grace and love that are mine forevermore! Lord I'm Amazed by You...how You love me!

abiding1 (Teresa)