Spirit of the Eagle

The Spirit of the Lord has been upon me to cleanse of all my impurities. I need to get “back to the beginning, but better”. God is preparing me for this big work that is coming. I have so much to say but not the words with which to say them. It’s bursting from every seam, and I am just waiting for it all to come out. I am not called to preach so much as to teach. This gospel is like fire shut in my bones once again. I can feel the spirit moving throughout me. I wake up in the morning with songs of joy and praise in my heart.

God is calling you to purity, too. If you are reading this passage, this is God’s wake-up call. Get back to the beginning of your faith and love for Him, but make it better than before. Get back to the ways you praised Him and loved on Him. God is only waiting on you to take a step toward Him so He can run to you.

There is a burden on my heart for those who feel the call to change. I want you to read the story of Janet Boynes, who once was a lesbian but through God’s grace has found freedom in Him.

Saturday afternoon at my nephew’s birthday party, a woman who was once my nemesis came to me and practically apologized for all she has ever said and done to me that was in the wrong. She told me how she has now given her whole heart to God, testified of God’s faithfulness, and told me a story that only became fully clear to me yesterday.

She *we will call her Jaime*, says to me that she was driving down the street on her way home from work, looked up and saw the sky. It was all aglow in her favorite colors with vistas that no human could ever capture with their hands. She said “thank You for painting the sky for me today”. When she got home, Jaime told her mother what she saw. Jaime’s mother said “God paints the sky for everyone everyday”. Jaime persisted saying, “Yes, but I noticed. It was for me.”

God painted the sky for me last night when I was driving with my mother. I can’t explain what I saw, but God painted the sky for me yesterday.

Great Mystery, Grandfather, I know if I am tested today that I can count on You to give me the courage to get to the other side. On the other side of every test is the reward of strength. Make me strong.

God has really been speaking to me about my life of late. Saturday we ended up back where we started, getting confirmation for all the things that we were thinking God was saying, but needed to make sure. So many things have been going on, I can’t even recount them all. God has not forgotten us. He is faithful to finish and perfect the work that He has started. I have so much to say, but I am so full! AH! Stay tuned.

Perfect - a word that has haunted my very existence for as long as I can remember. Be perfect at singing. Be perfect in school. Be the perfect model citizen. Be the perfect wife. Be the perfect mother. Be PERFECT as your Father in Heaven is PERFECT (Matthew 5:48).

ACK! Shoot me now, because it will never happen!

At least, that’s what I thought. Man’s definition of perfect as opposed to what is meant by God are two totally different things. God is not asking for us to be impeccable in all we do. He is asking that we be whole, not lacking in anything spiritually or emotionally.

No one can really be perfect. We are all born with issues, we develop issues, we die with issues. The perfection we can attain is in being whole and worshiping God with our whole selves. This is the perfection to which I aspire, now that I know He didn’t mean without flaw.

See this explanation.

Oh Great Spirit, give me a vision for today. Let
me see truth. Let me walk in beauty. Let my heart guide me in truth.
The law says the truth shall set you free. Let me be free today.

If it were not for that one verse in that one book of the Bible, I don’t think there would be any issue as to whether or not women can be called to be pastors of the church.

Here you have one view where it states that women can be called ot be pastors: (Bible.com) and one that states women CANNOT be pastors mostly due to the one verse in the Bible (Carm.org).

I have personally been vexed by this question for longer than I care to admit. I know what God has called me to do, so I cannot speak for everyone else’s experience with the Lord. I would love to hear thoughts on this. There are convincing articles that go either way. The Holy Spirit has never impressed upon me that I should not speak or teach (ahem I did not say I was called to pastor FTR). I have always been called to open my big mouth and say what He would have me to say. As for pastors/elders and whatnot, I am still waiting for God to speak. In the mean time, what do YOU believe?

When it comes to things about my son, people tend to think that when I get a burden to pray for his safety or something like that, that I am just paranoid.

This morning, I happily dropped off my son at camp with a kiss and a prayer for his safety. It’s what I do every time he goes somewhere. Two days he has been in camp and I have done the same thing. Today… well today ended up being different. I did my usual kiss and a prayer thing, then went about my merry little way.

I decided to go do some shopping for me, so I headed off to the dollar store and Walmart without another thought. On my way back, I stopped off for gas. I have to drive past the Y to get home, but about 20 feet after I passed it I get this heaving burden to pray for SAFETY. All I can hear is the word repeated SAFETY and a picture of the bus *which I did NOT see this morning* in my head. I could barely drive home, the burden was so heavy. I had to get other people to pray with me for safety of the kids on the bus and the leaders, too. It wasn’t a specific OMG something about my kid prayer. It was about the bus full of people. The burden lasted a good half hour till whatever danger passed over them.

I have no doubt that they will return at 3:15 pm unscathed and happy, but you better believe that it’s due to the prayers of the righteous who stood in the gap and answered the call to pray this morning.

Elder’s Meditation of the Day - August 5

“It is a paradox in the contemporary world that in our desire for peace we must willingly give ourselves to struggle.”
–Linda Hogan, CHICKASAW

The Grandfathers have taught us about sacrifice. We have been taught to pray for the people in a pitiful way. Struggle and conflict is neither good nor bad, it just is. Everything that grows experiences conflict. When the deer is born it is through conflict. When the seed first grows, it is through conflict. Conflict precedes clarity. Everything has the seasons of growth. Recognize - acknowledge - forgive and change. All of these things are done through conflict.

Great Spirit, give me the courage today to see that struggle and conflict are here to teach me lessons that are a gift from you.

(Gino Bacchiocchi) Stand up for what you know to be God’s truth. The Lord will honor your commitment. Ultimately, what counts is not what people say about you, but what God thinks of you.

courtesy Bro.Leslie Turvey’s Short Stuff email

Exactly what I needed to read today. With the impending ministry, God knows this is an apt word.