LOL: Fill My Cup Lord

 Memory/Meditation Verse: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. ~ Gal 5:22-23 (HCSB)

I had one of those disheartening, just slap me in the face kind of moments with one of my daughters a couple of days ago. I was walking out of the restaurant with our carry out. When I opened the door to the car where my daughter was waiting she stated "You look mad. What did they do?" I wasn't mad and told her so. She responded with "You always look mad."

My heart sunk. I wanted to scream "NO! No I don't!! You don't see a hard face, you see the glow of the Holy Spirit in my life! Why can't you see that?!?!?!?" So the whole ride home I soaked that statement in..."You always look mad". It was very hard not to have a burrowed brow and huge frown on my face at that point.

Is that what others see? Do I carry the stress of my life in my facial reflections? Is the pain and frustrations that have made me who I am today mirrored when I think no one else is looking?

My heart broke. My spirit was humbled. That's not what I want others to see. I want them to see Jesus. I want them to see how I could mess it up and He could clean it up. I want the errors I made to be seen in His redemptive control. I want the sins and rejections of my life seen for what they are, a growing of a grace-filled Jesus girl. 

The unforgiveness has been replaced with love. The rejection replaced with compassion. The ugliness replaced with humility. The loneliness replaced with dependence on the One with the bigger plan for my life.  If that is so, why does my face not radiate God's presence?

The next day my girls found an old photo album with my spring break pictures of when I was in nursing school. I wasn't only skinny in those pictures but I appeared relaxed and my smile was vibrant. That night I looked hard in the mirror and tried to capture that smile again...but I couldn't.

 God has brought me so far and I cherish each growing pain. I really do. I wouldn't want to be back in that spring break place. I didn't know Him then like I do now. I have found a better joy. But I am still taken back to the thought of what I reflect to others. I determined in my heart and mind that I need a facelift... a Galatians 2:22-23 kind of facelift.

 I need a facelift in the worse kind of way. One that will open up and allow my inner presence to come forth. One that doesn't allow the hardness of life to camouflage the joy He has given me. In this imperfect world with my imperfections, I plan to take a daily does of the fruits of the spirit this week. Here are the verses I plan to meditate on in an attempt to create a new presence of my being, a filling of my cup, my soul:

A Mark 12 kind of facelift....
Monday: "...'The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” ~ Mark 12:29-31 (HCSB)

A Colossians 3 kind of facelift...
Tuesday: "Therefore, God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, accepting one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive."~ Col. 3:12 (HCSB)

A 1 Timothy 6 kind of facelift...
Wednesday: "...pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight for the faith; take hold of eternal life that you were called to and have made a good confession about in the presence of many witnesses. ~ 1 Tim. 6:11-12 (HCSB) 

A Titus 1 kind of facelift...
Thursday: ^"Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it" ~ Titus 1:7-9 (NIV)

An Ephesians 5 kind of facelift...
Friday: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light— for the fruit of the light results in all goodness, righteousness, and truth— discerning what is pleasing to the Lord". ~ Eph 5:8-10 (HCSB)
 

 My holy and Sovereign God, I want to be a woman that reflects your Son. I desire to reflect Your grace and goodness as the gift that transforms and beautifies. Give me a heart that is affectionate for others, exuberance about displaying your truths. I pray the serenity I have discovered in you would be reflected in my living. Help me to develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. I want to radiate Your presence in my life, not my mistakes. Fill my cup with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Radiate through me Lord.

Striving to Live Out Loud~Pamela

LOL: A Hiding Place

Memory/Meditation Verse: You are a hiding place for me; You, Lord, preserve me from trouble, You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance. Selah. Ps 32:7 (Amplified)

Ever have one of those weeks gifted by a blessing but to be wrapped in chaos? The inner soul wants to scream out in defense, to run away, to cry, to be angry. It is amazing how healing prayer and scripture can be even in the chaos.

You are my hiding place and my shield;  I hope in Your word. Ps 119:114 (Amplified)

Living out Loud you choose to accept the chaos and not allow it to get between you and your God. It yields the whisper that says "This is all part of My greater plan" when another tattoo ends up on your 18 year old daughter. It is that same whisper "This is part of My greater plan" that calms your disappointment and heart break when all you have done as a wife, mother  and employee seems to have resulted in the opposite of what it should have.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen ~ Eph 4:20-21

Living out Loud embraces that inner voice and clings during the storms to the Rock.  Living out Loud finds in her Master a shelter and a safe place to rest. Though rejections continue to slap her from her past, she turns it back to scripture and she who she now is in Christ. Though difficulties and failures knock at her heart, she seek Gods grace passionately and in humility. Living out Loud knows the Healer...

 ... shall be like a hiding place from the wind and a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land [to those who turn to them]. Isa 32:2 (Amplified)

Living out Loud takes the truth of scripture and does not turn from it but relies on it. Its a submission of ideas, attitudes and habits of the day-to-day to the absolute authority of Gods Word. In order for God to be master of your life there has be a relationship between you and scripture. 

"The secret of the Lord is with those who have been broken by His cross and healed by His spirit." ~ P.T. Forsythe (a Scottish minister)

Paul in Galatians one speaks of Living out Loud as to be set apart (vs 3-5), one who seeks to please God and not man with every action, every thought, every word. To be set apart involves grace and glory sandwiched by the death of Christ for our sins and the freedom it gives us.  Living our Loud by His grace and His love at Calvary, demonstrated in a life that glorifies Him.

"If we as a people can make these truths and this vigor a part of our thinking and our willing, the bones of our faith will be strong and not brittle, and the emotional force of our lives in Christ will not be lukewarm but ardent and intense and undivided." ~John Piper

Living out Loud is not always easy, nor is it always fun. It required us to come into Christ's playing field and to be serious about Him and His truths. Calvary compels us to play hard and diligently and professionally. We are called to be professional Christians, to live His commission for our life in the good and in the bad.

 

Truly my soul finds rest in God;

my salvation comes from him.

Truly he is my rock and my salvation;

he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. ~ Ps 62: 1 -2, 5-6

Today I pray we are able to Live out Loud. I pray that we will separate ourselves from the world and the chaos. I pray we will rest in the Hiding Place of God's truth-His Word. Most of all, I pray our lives minister to other in such a way they are draw to our Comforter and Healer.

Entering Lent

Memory/Meditation Verse: “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God." ~ John 3:16-18


The lent season is upon us and for whatever reason, I feel it calling me, beckoning me to participate in its journey. I'm not catholic. Not that it matters. It seems that most religions seem to participate in the Lent season these days in some way or another. But its not about the religious practices for me. It a burning in my soul that compels me towards a journey.

"For Christ love compels us..." ~ 2 Cor. 5:14 (HCSB)

Have you ever been at a point in your spiritual walk that the whole concept of Calvary and what Christ had to go through for our justification, our freedom just seems to be too mind boggling? There are days I want to just say "Really God, this was the only way to get our attention?"

What about His choice? Doesn't it seems so cruel, so inhumane?

"For Christ love compels us..." ~ 2 Cor. 5:14 (HCSB)

Could this flesh and these bones really be that valuable to cause Him to make such a decision to send His Son to a cross in such a grotesques manner? How can such an imperfect mind wrap around this worth it has to its Creator?

"For Christ love compels us..." ~ 2 Cor. 5:14 (HCSB)

All because of love. A tender, precious love for people He knew would fail Him. A compassionate and loving grace for a sinners embrace. Life conquered by death to be conquered by life again. A miracle beyond the grasp of any scientific investigation.

"For Christ love compels us..." ~ 2 Cor. 5:14 (HCSB)

I am compelled to enter this season of Lent in love...His love compels me, convicts me. It is a conviction to grow more in love with Him and to demonstrate His love by loving others. I know...sounds simple but I am afraid its not for this child of God. It has become a nagging conviction to love as He loves. To love beyond the frustrations of another's actions. To love when I am exhausted. To love a hurting, lonely, or broken soul.

"For Christ love compels us..." ~ 2 Cor. 5:14 (HCSB)

God loved us so much He gave His Son as a sacrifice to prove our worth in His family lineage. For me, that's enough to compel me to love back. It will require a sacrificing of self, a struggle I have endure way to long. But I am compelled His love is worth the sacrifice.

Oh, my Holy and Sovereign God, be Lord of my life. I may struggle at times to gasp your majesty, your carefully laid plans and even the love that you carry for me, your daughter. Help me to love as you love. Help me to sacrifice myself, my wants, my desires, and my needs so I can love others as you love them. May you find favor with me during this season of Lent. ~ AMEN

Living Out Loud ~ Pamela

Scripture Memory/Meditation: I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. Romans 8:38-39 (The Message)

I have been on a journey to Live Out Loud and to Give Out Loud. The timing of this campaign for Babbie Mason's new book could not be more perfect!! A person who is embraced by God knows His love for them and lives in it daily. A person embraced by God is given His strength to Live Out Loud. A person embraced by God hears His voice. A person embraced by God puts His promptings into action.

Litfuse Publicity is celebrating the release of Babbie' s new book-check it out:

Have you ever wondered, "Does God really love me? Do I really matter to him?" HE LOVES YOU. As a matter of fact, God loves you just as much as he loves His own Son. In the pages of this heartwarming, thoughtful and life-affirming 21-day journey, award-winning gospel singer, songwriter, and teacher Babbie Mason reminds you, when you know you are loved by God and that you are in His eternal plan, you’ll never again wonder if your life matters. Click for more info.

Embraced by God is a 21-day encounter that shares the unconditional love of God. "If you watch what the media says as to where we should find our identity--" says Babbie, "--money, beauty, power and technology--you'll just be confused about who you are and what your purpose is. As a culture we are trying to buy or sell what can only be administered to the soul by Jesus."

Celebrate with Babbie by entering her Nook Tablet Giveaway!

One beloved winner will receive:

• A Brand new Nook Tablet with Wi-Fi
• Embraced by God by Babbie Mason
• Babbie's Embraced by God Music CD
• Babbie's Embraced by God Notecards

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends 3/5/12. Winner will be announced at Babbie's "Embraced" Facebook Party on 3/6. Babbie will be hosting an evening of chat, music, laughter, and encouragement - bring your friends! She'll also be giving away some GREAT prizes: gift certificates, books, Embraced by God music CDs and Notecards, and a book club prize pack! (Ten copies of the book for your small group or book club.)

So grab your copy of Embraced by God and join Babbie and friends on the evening of March 6th for an evening of fun.

My Review:

This book is a great retreat for anyone seeking a more intimate relationship with God. Each days journey includes the devotional piece, scripture meditation, a prayer for topic, and an action plan for living out that topic. The devotionals are not one pagers but more like a chapter. I personally could not do this 21 journey every morning before leaving to work as the reading time commitment would be too long. It is encouraged to set aside the same time each day for each days journey. I would agree this would only enhance the journey and like fasting, result in a better outcome. After digging into the first two days, I knew this would be a blessed journey for my spiritual walk. I encourage you to use this reading tool to find a deeper embrace from God, discovering what it means to be unconditionally loved, approved, accepted, forgiven, blessed, cherished, treasured, and favored by God.

Good Luck in this give-a-way!!! See you at the Facebook party!!!

Congrats Rebekah and Jennifer for winning the "Morning with Jesus 2012" books!

LOL: Scooping

Memory/Meditation Verse: As He was walking along the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, since they were fishermen. “Follow Me,” He told them, “and I will make you fish for people!” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him..." ~ Matt. 4:18-20 (HCSB)

Living Out Loud (LOL). We continue our journey into what this means...

Looking at our scripture above, what one key thing does Living Out Loud require? What action needs to be present to Live Out Loud? Notice I said action.

“Follow Me”

However, there's an action within an action required to follow Christ. It's a willed obedience, a choice, a denying of self. Its an action required every day. It's an action that will make you a witness for Christ.

“and I will make you fish for people!”

Living Out Loud. Drawing others to Jesus. Maybe not so easy within our human efforts but as we draw closer to Him have you noticed how much more you want to share Him with other? So how do we share Him...how do we bring other to Him? Is there a right way to do this or a wrong way?

I remember as a teenager growing up in a strict evangelical Baptist upbringing and going door to door passing out tracks and asking strangers:

"If you were to die today do you know where you would go?"

I remember how uncomfortable it would make me. It wasn't that I wasn't strong enough in my faith to share about my Jesus, it was the emptiness I would feel with this approach. I remember a few times these perfect strangers would pray the prayer but then we would never see them again, they never crossed the threshold of our church doors though we had invited them to.

Bringing others to Christ can be done this way. Many lives have been given to Christ meaningfully but it definitely took me out of my comfort zone. Salvation is clearly about a dying to self when one accepts Christ into their lives. They change. Their life changes. Yet the approach I had learned and the emptiness I experienced in doing this seemed to be tied to the unseen fruit of it.

Though I may have accepted Christ as a young child, I didn't really grasp the relationship part with Him until I was broken and all I could do was seek Him. That was a transformation that went far above anything else in my spiritual life. It has been with this transformational process that I now have something to share that is more convincing..more producible in the realm of eternity. Not to offend anyone but I find this manner of sharing Christ more believable. A faith that is delivered from a foundation of love and grace in action.

As I was examining the book Mornings with Jesus 2012, I read the following from the January 20th post:

"What if winning other to Christ involves casting a net-with the help of others? And that net-cast by a community gathers others into the community, where they experience life-changing love and grace? What if we thought not of "hooking" unbeliever, but of scooping them up into community where they are convinced not by arguments, but by seeing and experiencing the love of Jesus lived out?" Keri Wyatt Kent, Mornings with Jesus 2012

Keri's written words really struck a cord in my heart. Yes, like her, as a child I would sing the childs song "I will make you Fisher of Men" while animating the casting of a fishing rob. But look at the above passage again. There were no rods...just nets. Jesus gather people into His community to experience His redemptive love and grace.

As a teenager, I was taught to witness by what seems to me to be a hooking technique. And now, I practice a scooping technique. My net? His testimony in my life. Where am I scooping? In my community Bible study. At work. Though outreach programs at church. Prayerfully in my home and community. Am I doing this on my own? No. My church family, my Bible study girls, we are all in this together because we can't keep silent about His love, His grace, His healing.

"I want to store up so many treasures in heaven that heaven will feel familiar the moment I arrive." Stormie Omartian, Just enough Light for the Step I'm On

Scooping...it leaves me feeling spiritually gratified that I have added to kingdom work. Storing up treasures in heaven. Living Out Loud in a non-threatening way but by a life changing love and grace. Amazing.

Living Out Loud~ Pamela

LOL: Minutes That Count

Memory/Meditation Verse: "Be still and know that I am God I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” ~ Psalm 46:10 (NIV)

Would you like to win a devotional book today? Litfuse and I have one for you!! Read on...

Living Out Loud (LOL) is my goal for this year. Currently I am exploring this topic a little deeper in my blog post. I have to say, it is pulling me out of my comfort zone. In my last entries I wrote about being deeply rooted in Christ, the foundation of Living Out Loud and being compelled by the Holy Spirit, our fuel for Living Out Loud. So lets examine this fuel that drives those roots deeper just a bit more?

Dare I say its found in minutes? Yes...minutes. Minutes that count. Anyone who has a intimate relationship with their Creator will know what I am talking about...minutes that count are found in minutes with God. The more time we give Him, the more of Him we gain. Like exercise-the more you do it, the closer you get to your desired goal.

We tend to refer to it as our quiet time, minutes spent meditating on scripture, a song, or in a Bible study. Minutes that nurture the soul, the body, and the mind. Minutes dedicated to our spiritual well-being and our relationship with God.

My husband will often comment that he can tell when I haven't had my quiet time in the morning. For me, it shapes the rest of my day. Usually it is after everyone has left for the day in those 30-40 minutes before I too have to leave for work. In a corner of my bedroom, next to the window, I have my red paisley chair, the bedside table for my coffee and marking pens, a lamp, my lap blanket that my mom made me, my Bible, and at times a devotional book or bible study...a perfect and peaceful meeting place where I can be still and Know that He is God.

Maybe mornings were not meant for you. Trying to squeeze in some God time is just not conceivable with your current schedule or morning vitality, right? Night time devotions may be more your style. Awesome! But, I may have the perfect solution for you here in this devotional book Mornings with Jesus 2012 to help you incorporate God into the beginning of your day!!

Mornings with Jesus 2012 is a sweet nugget of inspiration mapped out in 366 one-page devotions. A piece of spiritual fuel to get your day started as you take those first sips of coffee or tea. A dose of encouragement to awaken your spirit and charge your day. Loaded with scripture and graced with a daily challenge, its seven authors help you to develop the discipline of starting your day off with God.

Minutes that count...minutes that become a life line...minutes that transform...minutes that renew...minutes that heal...minutes that lead to a life time commitment in a relationship that will carry on into eternity.

Leave me a comment today about what fuels your quiet times with God. Maybe your new and trying to establish a consistent habit of meeting with Him, maybe you have a special practice or place for such a time as this-tell us about it!! Don't forget to include your contact information and I will randomly pick a winner for this book.

Also, go to Tricia Goyer's blog here (one of the authors) for another contest! Go here to buy this book! And to learn more about participating in book reviews from Litfuse Publicity click on their icon at the top of this blog!

In my next post I am sharing a devotional topic from this book that really stirred my heart. Come back!

Be still and know that He is God!!

Living Out Loud ~ Pamela

LOL: COMPELLED

Memory/Meditation Verse: For Christ’s love compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If One died for all, then all died. ~ 2 Cor. 5:14 (HCSB)

LOL: Living Out Loud. This is where God has me. This is where my heart remains fixed. This is where our blog journey continues.

There remains an uncertainty in this "Living Out Loud". As much as I would like to be in the know of what I am specifically called to Live Out Loud for, like a mission, a project, a vision, the clarity of such a thing is not there. The clarity I do hold is that Living Out Loud right now is about the day-to-day walk of obedience of willingness.

In a church service this weekend our pastor spoke of our memory verse above and I was draw to one word...compel. What drives you to do what you do? What motivates you to complete a task or to give of yourself? What compels you in life?

Webster defines the word compel as "to drive or urge forcefully or irresistibly; to cause to do or occur by overwhelming pressure".

Do you know what it is to be so compelled that it overwhelms your thoughts, your heart, your living? When one knows they are called for something greater than their present, they are driven to seek that purpose. The Holy Spirit will show you God's plan and purpose when you walk closely with Him, seeking Him with a hunger and thirst that can not be quenched by one simple act such as attending church alone. You have to seek Him by communicating with Him continually, reading His Word, memorizing His Word, reaching out to others in His name, fasting, praying...the list goes on.

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. ~ Prov. 19:21

His purpose...the end result. For most of us, it is that end result, the completion that compels us. This is good. Yet the memory/meditation verse above is a reminder of what is to compel us in our every day living...Christ love. That alone should be enough to compel us to live with His purpose in mind, not our purpose, our wants or our desires...His purpose, His wants and His desire for our life and His kingdom.

Do you see God in your living? Is God honored by your living? Is God glorified by your giving? Is your success measured by God in the same way you measure it? Do you seek daily God's direction and control in your life? Are you positioned minute by minute to act on his promptings?

There is an old expression that states, "Don’t be so heavenly minded that you are of no earthly good." God compels us to move on something, to act on His behalf and sometimes we get so lost in the spiritual we miss the mark. Religion can be like that. So many rules and practices that one is not able to reach out "in His name" and minister to others, let alone reflect His presence in their life.

Living Out Loud for His purpose. That is what I desire. Like Paul in Acts 20:22 I am compelled to live out loud for God, to give out loud for His kingdom, not knowing what lies ahead for me.

"And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there..." (NIV)

Even so, I want to be able to live out loud spiritually on this earth for His good. Touchable. Believable. A living example of what God can do with a broken life compelled by His love and healing.

Living Out Loud ~ Pamela