We Are God's Garden

(http://www.gardens-to-go.org.uk/nymans_wall_garden.htm)

Gardens are beautiful things. With flowers blooming everywhere, their colors bursting forth in pinks, reds and yellows; surrounded by the dark rich color of the dirt they sprout out of!

However gardens left unattended become unsightly and grow weeds. Weeds left unattended get stronger and harder to pull out. This is what happens to us.

Twisters, floods & hurricanes, oh my!

Abba woke me up these last couple mornings to read certain chapters in Isaiah (29, 30, 33, and 34). We have become like Egypt... a fallen, fallen nation.

"Woe to the rebellious children," declares the LORD,
"Who execute a plan, but not Mine,
And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin;..."
-Isaiah 30:1 (NASB)

Foolish ... to the World

When God told Isaiah to “Go, and remove your sackcloth from your body, and take your sandals off your feet,” (Isaiah 20:2) He did so.

Romans 8:35 asks us “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Shall nakedness?? No.

1 Corinthians 3 reminds us “… the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.”

When God asks us to do something seemingly foolish and stupid, are we going to deny Him? Isaiah could have said “No Lord! I don’t want to walk around naked (who does?)!” and God would not have forced him. Instead however, Isaiah realized that what the world may point and laugh at, God uses for a bigger purpose. Because Isaiah recognized the foolishness to be wisdom of God it is, Abba uses him to get a point across.

“And the LORD said, ‘Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and token against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush…”
-Isaiah 20:3-4

How willing are we to hear and then to act upon those orders without questioning ourselves into disobedience?

Romans 16:20

A word of encouragement:

And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet ... shortly.
-Romans 16:20

Don't give up in the last half hour!

God placed #1

In the midst of a load of confusion this morning, I was randomly flipping through the bible when I felt God nudge me to stop.. I stopped on Malachi 3 and found myself reading verses 16-18, but rereading 16:

Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another,
And the Lord listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the Lord
And who meditate on His name.
(NKJV)

I was expecting an answer of comfort for my confusion, He gave me an answer of what to do in the midst of my unknowing, and peace... When we are so overloaded in our own troubles and problems, God becomes some sort of wish bank, or fairy god-mother. We have to take our focus off "this&this&that" and say, "okay God.. let you be my focus right now, no matter what, I trust you with the outcome."

Psalm 37:4 (NASB)
Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Notice that God didn't say "I will give you the desires of your heart and then you shall delight yourself in Me." No no, we must first make Him our number one then He will give us what it is we crave.... and if it's Him [as our] first [desire], we get Him so abundantly! How awesome is that? Well I don't know about you but for me it's WAY awesome!