Joy

I had to work early this morning, so right now it's not Coffee & Jesus, but Wine & Jesus. Which will totally offend any of you pharisees out there..LOL! Anyway..had a great day at work, Jesus healed a young man's back pain, and He did it in between orders at the Drive-Thru Window. It is amazing how much God can do in a short span of time if we give Him the chance.

Everytime I see the Lord heal someone, or speak to them it fills my heart with Joy. No matter what is going on, or how I feel that day, or what struggles I have. Seeing the Lord move and encounter people always cheers me up.

Psalm 21:1-6
1 O LORD, the king rejoices in your strength.
How great is his joy in the victories you give!
2 You have granted him the desire of his heart
and have not withheld the request of his lips.
Selah

3 You welcomed him with rich blessings
and placed a crown of pure gold on his head.

4 He asked you for life, and you gave it to him—
length of days, for ever and ever.

5 Through the victories you gave, his glory is great;
you have bestowed on him splendor and majesty.

6 Surely you have granted him eternal blessings
and made him glad with the joy of your presence

May we all be filled with the joy of His presence today and everyday for that matter. For He is always moving, always blessing, and always pouring out good things! LOVE TO ALL!!

Obedience Test

I listened to a message yeaterday by Larry Randolph, and he was speaking of obedience. It got me thinking that what fun it would be to ask the Lord to test my obedience to His voice. To work out my muscle of responding to His voice basically. In 1 Samuel 15:22, Samuel states to Saul that:
"Do you think all God wants are sacrifices—
empty rituals just for show?
He wants you to listen to him!
Plain listening is the thing,
not staging a lavish religious production.
Not doing what God tells you
is far worse than fooling around in the occult."(The Message)

We all have the tendency to fall into mindless religious rituals. We tithe, attend church, give to the poor, read our Bibles all because it's the "good Christian" thing to do. Yet are hearts are detached from these acts, and we have become numb to His voice and what He is specifically asking us to do today. We miss the little things He is asking of us everyday by always running around in religious acts of sacrifice. When what He wants is to be able to speak to us at random times and for us to respond.

So join me this week as I ask God to test my obedience to His voice. I am asking that He speaks to me at Random times in awkward situations to grow my faith in hearing His voice. To pray for people in public, or give away money to a complete stranger, and it might even be as simple as getting up at 6am just to sit with Him. Fasten your seatbelts though because it's going to be a radical trip in faith this week.

The Prodigal Father

I have been thinking lately that Religion has titled the Parable Jesus told in Luke 15 as " The Prodigal Son" because a spirit Religion focuses on sin, and taking steps back and fourth, But if the defintion of Prodigal is someone who lives recklessly, spends lavishly, and extravagantly, to me that decribes our Father in heaven,who gave all, and continues to give reckless extravagent grace to sinners.

If we focus on the mistakes we make as people we will forget about the good work Daddy is doing in us all. Also if we look down and judge others for their struggles, we miss out on the joy and inhertance we live have available to us now. Above all Jesus wants us to be like the Father to this world...not holding anger or bitterness towards those who hurt us, and to give Prodigally to all those in need, especially the ones who have stumbled and need grace. We get to live like Father God and give reckless extravagant grace and love to all we meet!

Jesus was telling us about our Father, and how we should live, not a screw up kid who got lucky Daddy was in a good mood..GRACE TO ALL!!