What Is SACRED in Your Life?

Romans 6:19b,22

... Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.... But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

1 Corinthians 1:30

It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

2 Corinthians 7:1

Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

Ephesians 4:22-24

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Hebrews 12:14

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

2 Timothy 2:19-21
Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness."
In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

As we step into "HOLY WEEK" may our focus be on JESUS CHRIST alone. His CROSS is in the forefront - not a place of death - but one that offers eternal life to those who repent and believe and cleanse themselves by turning away from sin and turning to receive that new life that Christ promises to all who come to Him.

This holy week is a place of sacred reflection - but it should not be one of making commitments that are never intended to be carried out.

It is a time to examine our hearts - to purposefully make the adjustments that God requires for holiness that can only come through obedience to His written Word, and a deep commitment to prayer and intercession with the Father - from this day forward!

What must be SACRED - as followers of Christ?

• Purposeful personal time in God's Word - Daily?


• A Prayer Life with Intersession & Fasting?


• Confession?


• Thanksgiving?


• Communion?


• Serving others from the overflow of a heart in gratitude to Christ?


• Solitude?


• Silence?

The list seems like a mountain to climb - but through Christ we can get that mountain under our feet.

What are we willing to strip away - to let go of - to overcome - allowing the light of God's Sacred Holiness to penetrate into our DAILY lives - so it can grow us toward Him for His kingdom purposes?

Will you join me in reflecting with a purpose to grow?

Choosing JOY, Stephanie

JESUS ONLY in 2010

Which WAY Are You LEANING?

Job 8:13-15 [NLT]
The same happens to all who forget God. The hopes of the godless evaporate. Their confidence hangs by a thread.

They are leaning on a spider’s web. They cling to their home for security, but it won’t last. They try to hold it tight, but it will not endure.

Psalm 62 [NIV]
For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.

1 My soul finds rest in God alone;

my salvation comes from Him.
2 He alone is my rock and my salvation;

He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
3 How long will you assault a man?

Would all of you throw him down—

this leaning wall, this tottering fence?
4 They fully intend to topple him

from his lofty place;

they take delight in lies.

With their mouths they bless,

but in their hearts they curse.

Selah
5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;

my hope comes from Him.

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Isaiah 1:7-9 [NLT]
7 Your country lies in ruins,

and your towns are burned.

Foreigners plunder your fields before your eyes

and destroy everything they see. 8 Beautiful Jerusalem stands abandoned

like a watchman’s shelter in a vineyard,

like a lean-to in a cucumber field after the harvest,

like a helpless city under siege. 9 If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies

had not spared a few of us, we would have been wiped out like Sodom,

destroyed like Gomorrah.

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Isaiah 10:20 [The Message]

And on that Day also, what's left of Israel, the ragtag survivors of Jacob, will no longer be fascinated by abusive, battering Assyria. They'll lean on God, The Holy—yes, truly. The ragtag remnant—what's left of Jacob—will come back to the Strong God. Your people Israel were once like the sand on the seashore, but only a scattered few will return. Destruction is ordered, brimming over with righteousness. For the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, will finish here what He started all over the globe.

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Proverbs 3:5-6 [KJV]

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.

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Choosing JOY, Stephanie

JESUS ONLY in 2010

The STAR Has Fallen

Isaiah 30

[selected passages]

Woe to the Obstinate Nation

1 "Woe to the obstinate children,"

declares the LORD,

"to those who carry out plans that are not Mine,

forming an alliance, but not by My Spirit,

heaping sin upon sin;
4 Though they have officials in Zoan

and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,
5 everyone will be put to shame

because of a people useless to them,

who bring neither help nor advantage,

but only shame and disgrace."
8 Go now, write it on a tablet for them,

inscribe it on a scroll,

that for the days to come

it may be an everlasting witness.
9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the LORD's instruction.
10 They say to the seers,

"See no more visions!"

and to the prophets,

"Give us no more visions of what is right!

Tell us pleasant things,

prophesy illusions.
11 Leave this way,

get off this path,

and stop confronting us

with the Holy One of Israel!"
12 Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

"Because you have rejected this message,

relied on oppression

and depended on deceit,
13 this sin will become for you

like a high wall, cracked and bulging,

that collapses suddenly, in an instant.

15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:

"In repentance and rest is your salvation,

in quietness and trust is your strength,

but you would have none of it.
16 You said, 'No, we will flee on horses.'

Therefore you will flee!

You said, 'We will ride off on swift horses.'

Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
17 A thousand will flee

at the threat of one;

at the threat of five you will all flee away,

till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,

like a banner on a hill."
18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;

He rises to show you compassion.

For the LORD is a God of justice.

Blessed are all who wait for Him!

21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left,

your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying,

"This is the way; walk in it."

22 Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver

and your images covered with gold; you will throw

them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them,

"Away with you!"

27 See, the Name of the LORD comes from afar,

with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke;

His lips are full of wrath,

and His tongue is a consuming fire.
28 His breath is like a rushing torrent,

rising up to the neck.

He shakes the nations

in the sieve of destruction;
He places in the jaws of the peoples

a bit that leads them astray.

33 Topheth has long been prepared;

it has been made ready for the king.

Its fire pit has been made deep and wide,

with an abundance of fire and wood;

the breath of the LORD,

like a stream of burning sulfur,

sets it ablaze.

[emphasis added]

_____________________________________

God is loving and compassionate.

But He will not be mocked.

Our God is also a consuming Fire!

Any nation that defiles His ways will be judged.

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I will win no awards for this post.

Good thing this is an award-free blog. ;-)

Most people will leave no comment here.

I pray you are not most people.

We close our ears to things like this.

We want to know only a loving God, not one who is angered by sin.

Some will label me a 'radical' or 'controversial ' for speaking the truth because it is harsh. Do they think I like writing this? These are not my words - they are God's Word! I believe the whole counsel of the Word of God. I can't pick and choose to throw out the parts that make me queasy!

His Word stands firm and true.

Jesus was a radical. Label me what you will. I follow Him.

His Name along brings controversy.

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May we come back to the Prayer of Daniel in Daniel 9:4-19 and pray this for all the nations of the earth who have closed their eyes and ears to the LORD's instructions. May we cling tightly to the God who loves us and Who alone can save us from our 'national' iniquities for WE have sinned greatly against a Holy God.

_________________________________

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Choosing JOY in the wake,

Stephanie

JESUS ONLY in 2010

LIFE with PURPOSE!

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD,

"plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope and a future.

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Psalm 71

17 Since my youth, O God, You have taught me,

and to this day I declare Your marvelous deeds.
18 Even when I am old and gray,

do not forsake me, O God,

till I declare your power to the next generation,

Your might to all who are to come.

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Psalm 78

3 what we have heard and known,

what our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children;

we will tell the next generation

the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,

His power, and the wonders He has done.
6 so the next generation would know them,

even the children yet to be born,

and they in turn would tell their children.

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Psalm 139

For You created my inmost being;

You knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You

when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me

were written in Your book

before one of them came to be.

[all emphasis added]

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With these Scripture passages in mind

please view the following video movie

and be prepared to know

who Your God made you to be!
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Butterfly Effect Movie

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Choosing JOY,

Stephanie

Are You PUSHING or Being PUSHED?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      Mama Sparrow looking on from the rooftop!

Deuteronomy 32:10-11

¹⁰ In a desert land He found him,
       in a barren and howling waste.
       He shielded him and cared for him;
       He guarded him as the apple of His eye,

¹¹ like an eagle that stirs up its nest
       and hovers over its young,
       that spreads its wings to catch them
       and carries them on its pinions [the tips of its wings].

_______________________

 

Some of us need a PUSH in order to take flight - and some are doing the pushing of others who need a little PUSH themselves!

Whether you are like an old mother sparrow, pushing, or a baby wren being pushed ....

 

 

The last baby Wren [above] leaving the nest.

 

Click on the Video below and get ready to FLY!

 

Choosing JOY,

Stephanie

The Beginnings of JOY!

God gave me a big surprise this past week when I was looking for something in an old cabinet filled with 'junk' - or so I thought! There to my JOY I found 4  journals from my past that I had written : one in 1994 / two  in 1996 / and this one in 1997.  I vaguely remembered writing them.  The day I found them I took one of them to the Prayer Room and began to read it - each day being  filled with SCRIPTURE! Wow! My heart burst open as I saw the very redemption of my life unfolding on its pages. I will share more later from the other journals but it was this one - that God saved for last.  With sunflowers on the cover the first page said this:

  [ I hope you can read the writing which says]:

     My "JOY" Book

               1997

     Stephanie Brower

A very plain and simple title yet this was written 3 years after I had come out of a very sinful time in my life. When I turned back to the Lord, He embraced me with His Word and began a miracle healing process in my life .  I didn't realize that  my 'JOY' went this far back until I found this journal the other day.  I thought that my "Choosing JOY" had only come around 2006 when I began writing it in the updates I was giving to those who were praying for my husband before his home going to heaven. But God... wanted me to see that He had given me  my 'JOY ' long before.  As I began re-reading this journal, God put it upon my heart to share it with you here. I pray that the entries and Scriptures will bless your heart as much as they did mine all over again.

 

1st Page Entry [I wrote these words]:

Tuesday, December 31, 1996

      It is the last day of 1996. As I sit and

ponder what the New Year will bring, I

am challenged to think about what one thing

would I change about myself to bring

more "JOY" to those around me.

     The one thing I want to change is to be

more compassionate. That involves many

aspects; being more tolerant of people; caring

even when it is inconvenient; being more

understanding by putting myself in the other

persons shoes trying to feel what they feel.

     I will make this my goal for 1997 ... first

toward my own family; second to friends; and

third  to strangers I meet every day.

 

Page 3 Entry

Wednesday, January 1, 1997

     Thy words were found, and I did eat

them; and Thy Word was unto me the

JOY and rejoicing of mine heart: for

I am called by Thy Name, O Lord,

God of Hosts.   - Jer. 15:16  KJV

 

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. - Abraham Lincoln

 

VALUES

So often folks have wondered why

God has placed on earth

The storms, the tears, the raging seas---

Destroyers of all worth.

But if it weren't for angry skies,

The torrents and dismay,

How could we realize the worth

Of a sunny, cloudless day?

-- Unknown author

Pages 6 & 7 Entry

Thursday, January 2, 1997

     Fill your mind with the truths of God's

Word and rely on the Holy Spirit's

moment-by-moment guidance and strength.

Then you'll experience the joy of God's

blessing rather  than temporary pleasures.

                                                                         -Unknown author

 

     With my whole heart have I sought Thee:

O let me not wander from Thy

commandments.

     Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that

I might not sin against Thee.

     Blessed art Thou, O Lord: teach me

Thy statutes.              -Psalm 119:10-12

 

Dear Father,

Help me to bridle my tongue,

so that on judgment day

I will not be found guilty

of assault with a deadly weapon. -Unknown Author

 

    The foundation of all joy for Christians is that we can live as though Christ died yesterday, rose today, and is coming tomorrow.                                          -Unknown author

 

                                   Pretend you're a star *

           and poke a hole in someone's darkness.       

_______________________________      

End 1997 Journal Entry

 

God chose my 'JOY' before I even knew it!

 

Choosing JOY [again],

Stephanie            

A NEW SEASON COMING!

^{Isaiah 43:15-19}

¹⁵ I am the LORD, your Holy One,
       Israel's Creator, your King."

¹⁶ This is what the LORD says—
       He who made a way through the sea,
       a path through the mighty waters,

¹⁷ who drew out the chariots and horses,
       the army and reinforcements together,
       and they lay there, never to rise again,
       extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

¹⁸ "Forget the former things;
       do not dwell on the past.

¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
       Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
       I am making a way in the desert
       and streams in the wasteland. [emphasis added]

 

Philippians 3:13-14

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. [emphasis added]

 These tiny white flowers [snow drops] appeared in my garden by the pond yesterday here at Shepherd's Walk. They reminded me of the 'newness of abundant life' that the Scriptures promise.

Are you perceiving the new season coming in your life? What does it hold for you? Where is God leading you after He has brought you out of a pit of despair or out of a great victory where He fought for you with His strength?

What is on your horizon?

Choosing JOY,  Stephanie

JESUS ONLY in 2010

Anointed-Transformed-Redeemed Girls!

2 Samuel 6:14-15

¹⁴ David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, ¹⁵ while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

2 Samuel 7:18-26

David's Prayer

¹⁸ Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said:
"Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that You have brought me this far? ¹⁹ And as if this were not enough in Your sight, O Sovereign LORD, You have also spoken about the future of the house of Your servant. Is this Your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign LORD ?

²⁰ "What more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Sovereign LORD. ²¹ For the sake of Your word and according to Your will, You have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.

²² "How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like You, and there is no God but You, as we have heard with our own ears. ²³ And who is like Your people Israel—the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for Himself, and to make a Name for Himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before Your people, whom You redeemed from Egypt?

²⁴ You have established Your people Israel as Your very own forever, and You, O LORD, have become their God.

²⁵ "And now, LORD God, keep forever the promise You have made concerning Your servant and his house. Do as You promised, ²⁶ so that Your Name will be great forever. Then men will say, 'The LORD Almighty is God over Israel!' And the house of Your servant David will be established before You.

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After six long snow-covered weeks of earnest digging 'Deeper Still' into God's Word our Monday night Bible Study Group ended with a Banquet Feast Celebration last night. The woman concluded one last page of writing to give account of all that God spoken, challenged, broken, forgiven, and healed in our time together. God amazed us with His Presence!

We take time in God's Word

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teaching God's Word is my PASSION...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Digging 'Deeper Still'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consecrated Unto the LORD!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Diligent Students of the Word!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful Daughters in the Eyes of God!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the past weeks together...

We miss you Becky -- on to HAITI with you and yours!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We missed your sweet face last night Leah!

Sorry you were sick!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JOYFULLY we sing praise to the Lord!