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Preparing for a two week trip, with all of the seemingly endless details that needed wrapped up, I awoke to our new puppy, who had gone on a midnight chewing spree around the house in which he had chewed not only the back door rug, the flowers in the pot by the back door but also the screen on the large back window.. which now has a large hole in it....(in his defense...he is the cutest little thing in need of serious training in which none of us have had the time to give him)...I had started packing and realized I needed to get to the bank before it closed...Heading to town, feeling the weight of incessant responsibilities and trying to keep my focus on everything that needed done, I switched on the radio. My daughter had left her Leeland cd in my car and these words came belting out of the stereo... "He's coming for a pure bride, He's coming for a pure bride, See Him riding in the skies, See the fire inside His eyes, Through the darkness His light will shine, In His glory He's lifted high, He's coming for a pure bride, The Lord is coming for His bride, Make way for the Lord, He's clothing all His children in white, Make way for the Lord.." Needless to say...it caught my attention. My focus immediately shifted as the realization of the truth in this song hit me afresh. He is coming and He is coming for a pure bride. His eyes are ever watching and His Spirit is always searching for this pure bride. In my daily reading in Psalms I came across this verse and it struck me with such significance for the times in which we live today. "Then the earth trembled, and quaked, the foundations also of the mountains moved and shook, because He was angry. Smoke went out at his nostrils, and a consuming fire out of His mouth: coals were kindled thereat. He bowed the heavens also and came down, and darkness was under His feet. And He rode upon Cherub, and did fly, and He came flying upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness His secret place, and His pavilion round about Him, even darkness of waters, and clouds of the air. At the brightness of His presence clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire. The Lord also thundered in the heaven, and the Highest gave His voice, hailstones and coals of fire." Psalm 18:7-13 As the Lord descends He is preceded with "darkness under His feet." In darkness light is made clearly visible and all that is not in the light is blended into the darkness which surrounds it. All eyes can not help but turn to the light which now seems to stand alone. Do we stand out in the darkness which surrounds us or do we blend in? This darkness is found in the hearts of man and in the minds of man. We either have the mind of Christ and He sits on the throne of our hearts or we sit in darkness with the world around us...blending in. As we go about our daily business we give glory to God and walk with Him choosing to follow His commands and His voice or we heed the commands and voices of this world..losing the light which we should be giving out and the pure light that He is looking for. Every person in history to this day has had to make that choice in the time period in which they lived or live. Where do you stand? What choices do you make? Civilization will fall under the power and reign of Almighty God. However all those in this world choose to break the commands of God and live according to the wickedness of their own hearts... God will come again to judge this earth and all who live on it according to His judgements. I do not mean to sound cynical...but... "He's coming for a pure bride..." We can so easily lose sight of that. I will close with this verse in Revelation 19:6-8 "And I heard like a voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of strong thunderings, saying, Hallelujah: for the Lord that God that Almighty one hath reigned. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted, that she should be arrayed with pure fine linen and shining, for the fine linen is the righteousness of Saints." Have we made ourself ready for His appearing? As Women Finding Grace ~ Let us prepare our own hearts and shine as a living example of God's grace and glory in the darkness that surrounds us.
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"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:14 Focus {verb} ~ to adjust something in order to see more clearly. (T) I focused the binoculars on the bird on a branch of the tree. Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary The Lord has most recently directed my attentions to a devotion written by Anne Graham Lotz , the new Chairwoman of the National Day of Prayer. The devotion is entitled, Adjusting Your Focus, and is taken from Psalm 18:1-19. This message of where to keep our focus has been such an inspiration as I have "readjusted" my own thoughts "back" to where they should be. The thing that caught my attention was a short video clip I ran across of Anne speaking on Fox news on prayer and her new book, The Daniel Prayer. After seeing this short clip (this can be viewed on Anne's Facebook page}, I was so encouraged in the Lord and reminded that our hope does not lie in any man but in God. The powerful way in which Anne presented this hope sparked my faith and my "focus." Only two days after running across this video I received Anne's newsletter with this devotion in it and immediately immersed my attentions in this short study. I cannot emphasize fully the dire need of our inner contemplation being fully aware and centered on the Lord and not on the chaos which surrounds us. I have always, in this journey with the Lord, made it a point to search out godly examples in the faith in which I can look to and take wisdom from so I can know myself how to walk, both past and present. I am so thankful for women like Anne for her life-long example of godly wisdom, never diverting from the truth of God's Word, and message of hope in a very fallen world. This message of ~ focusing on the Lord and hoping in the Lord ~ has proven to be one which requires an intentional redirecting of our thoughts and attentions. In Philippians 3:14 Paul shows us this very direct message. When Paul wrote of "pressing" he used a very determined word meaning, "aggressively chase, like a hunter pursuing a catch." This "pressing" is toward "the mark" which means "a mark {on which to fix the eye}, {the root of the English term, "scope," like the zoom-scope on a rifle to hit a target}, the "end-marker" of a foot race." This leads us to have to be reminded of our own intentions. Do all of our "goals" in this life lead to glorifying God? Do we honor, trust, and obey the directives given in God's Word or have we let slip the "focus" of pursuing God fully with a determined ~ "pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus?" Where is your focus? Is it to bring glory and honor to the truths of God's Word? Is it to trust HIm with all your heart and allow Him to reshape your character, thoughts, and governings of your life? Where have we let slip ~ "our focus?" Our nation, our communities, our homes, our own hearts, cry out for the need of "focus" on the Lord and His Word. This excerpt is from a very cherished book I have loved for many years. It was written in 1882 by the Rev. J.R. Miller. "Homes are the springs among the hills, whose many streamlets, uniting, form like great rivers society, the community, the nation, the Church. If the springs run low the rivers waste; if they pour out bounteous currents the rivers are full. If the springs are pure the rivers are clear like crystal; if they are foul the rivers are defiled. A curse upon homes sends a poisoning blight everywhere; a blessing sends healing and new life into every channel." The need for repentance and "focus" begins in our own homes and lives. I pray, not only for the Lord to search my own heart, but that also as a community, a nation, that we could all go before the Lord and seek His face and pray down a "spiritual renewal" in this world and in the lives of all who have lost their "focus." For Mother's Day in our small country church we gave out prayer books for Moms. This little book begins with prayer for the Mom first and then for others. How important is this!? The focus has to be inward first and when our own hearts are in right standing then the prayers can go outward for others. We are in need of people of prayer ~ Our leaders need prayer, our churches need prayer, our homes need prayer, and our own hearts need prayer. "If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." II Chronicles 7:13-14 As Women Finding Grace ~ Let us become women of prayer ~ intercessors for our homes, our communities, and our nation.
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