with thanksgiving....

With thanksgiving
With praise
We magnify Your Name O Lord with all of our heart...
May we intentionally dwell upon Your lovingkindness and purposefully, with whole heartedness, give thanks as we approach this coming week's Thanksgiving celebration...

Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name. 
1 Chronicles 29:13 

Enter His gates with thanksgiving 

And His courts with praise. 

Give thanks to Him, bless His name. 

For the Lord is good; 

His lovingkindness is everlasting 

And His faithfulness to all generations.

Psalms 100:4-5

a life of faith...

...the life which I now live in the flesh
I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me...      

Galatians 2:20

Do we live by faith or do we live by the world?
The life of faith is our calling as believers in Christ Jesus.
A faith that believes all things just as He has said,
a faith that overcomes the world,
a faith that lives in the righteousness of Christ,
a faith that dwells in His presence,
a faith that is grounded in His grace and truth by the power of the Holy Spirit,
a faith that shines the Light of hope,
a faith that lives a life of love as He loves us.
A miraculous life of faith in a miraculous Lord...

To know Him and to testify...

...we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen...   John 3:11 

To know Him and to testify - 
of His amazing grace and truth...
of His marvelous redemptive sacrifice...
of His miraculous power...
of His awesome glory...
of His wonderful kingdom...
of His never ending love...
This is what we are to be about as the Spirit fully indwells in us and through us...

be it unto me...

Be it unto me
According to Your Word oh Lord... 

How I struggle, how I fall, how I miss the mark...
Yet, Your mercies are new every morning...Your grace is exceedingly abundant...Your lovingkindness never fails...great is Your faithfulness...
You are faithful even when my struggles leave me flat...even when my fall hinders the way...
Lord, You are my redeemer, my restorer, my life, the lover of my soul...
Be it unto me according to Your word oh Lord...

...be it unto me according to thy word.
Luke 1:38

somebody...

I wanted to be a somebody to this world but I have found that to the world I am nobody. 
Yet, even though I am nobody to this world, I am somebody to the One who created and saved me. 
And nobody should reject the One who created and saved me to be somebody to this world.

Yes, I will wait for the Lord...

Wait for the Lord; 
Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord...
Psalms 27:14 

Waiting is not a thing we like to do in our day...when microwaves are not fast enough...when same day deliver is now a must...when it is troublesome that we must wait for our cell phones to charge...
How fast is fast enough? 
Yet waiting is part of the fabric of life. And our measurement of time is quite different than God's. 
I know, I have been in His holding (waiting) pattern for some time now and even though this verse gives me hope and encouragement it is still difficult to wait...
But with the help of the Holy Spirit we can wait upon the Lord...wait for His answer, wait for His direction, wait for His rescue.
Yes, I will wait for the Lord...

pump us up....

How can we get excited for our mission to this world? And yes we all have a mission and a calling!

What pumps us up to be radical about fulfilling our mission?
How can we be ready, willing and able to share the grace and truth of Jesus through our spiritual gifts with all those that we come into contact?
Holy Spirit get us excited, pump us up...may we be always ready and willing...available for Your service Lord to minister today to this world that is so lost, confused, angry, hopeless, selfish, and even wicked to fulfill our mission that You have called us to - sharing Your love for us through Your grace and truth. 

That brightly shining light set on a hill that cannot be ignored.