The Power of God's Grace

As I look at the moral, economic and physical condition of the world today, and as I look at the power of the Church or the lack thereof, I am concerned for us all, even more then ever before. I believe people are being overwhelmed by the forces of darkness and the Prince of evil himself and all of his little cohorts.

Many believe when things go wrong think it is only their own doing, or perhaps dumb luck or circumstances. Even people who profess to follow Jesus, sometimes think all the condemning and criticizing things inside their head are all their own idea. Or perhaps just an echo from a criticizing parent or authority figure. On the contrary, I firmly believe that these things that debilitate us and keep us locked in fear are the work of the demons... the result of one third of the Angels revolting thousands of years ago. I believe their biggest job is to cripple the Body of Christ... to make us unaware of and feel incapable of exercising the power that we have in the Name of Christ.

Demons can be powerful and often frightening, when we try to oppose them. But we must remember, there is nothing and no one stronger than the name of Jesus and the power of His Grace.

My husband says that Grace is the most powerful force in all the universe. For it is the only thing that is able, or strong enough to reunite a fallen man with his God. This grace has conquered all the powers of Hell and the devil, even death itself, to see that we can become one with our Father and our King and to dwell with Him in Heavenly places, seated beside the Majesty on High!

That is why it is said in the Book of Galatians, when the apostle cried out for relief from the thorn in his flesh...three times he besought the Lord...to which his merciful God replied, "My grace is sufficient for thee." At times we might read that and think God is saying, 'what you have is good enough, be content, quit complaining,' but in reality, that is not what He's saying at all. It took me a long time to learn this.

When He is really saying is, in the words of another author, (I wish I remembered his name,) "God's grace is sufficient for us, like the great ocean a sufficient for the fish to swim in; and like the big blue sky is sufficient for the bird to fly in." That is a little bit of a paraphrase, but I'm sure you get the message.

Is the ocean enough for the fish? Ridiculous right? Is the sky big enough for the bird? Absurd! Using that analogy, we can see just how much greater God is with his grace than anything we can ever need ask or imagine! It even says that in Ephesians"...who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above what we can ever ask or think."

Hold on to faith my brothers and sister. Hold onto the power of His grace! For His supply and His power is so much greater than whatever it is that you need. Rest in this calm assurance... your God is able to meet you right where you are and give you exactly what you need. His arm is not short, and nothing catches him by surprise.

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Have a Super Day! --Rebecca

To All Those Around 40... Give or Take A Few

Several places in the Bible, a generation is equal to 40 years. Now that causes me to ask a question: Does that mean I have lived exactly one generation? What happens to the next generation, when there are no children?

If you are around 40, you are probably starting to realize how fast time is going. And whether you have children or not, as I don't, you must know one or two from somewhere that are growing way too fast. I remember when my nieces and nephews were tiny. Now they are in their 20s. A couple are married, and one is considering marriage. This stuff is hard for me to get my head around. Just ask any parent, they will probably tell you the same thing.

With technology, busyness and all kinds of distractions, sometimes we just don't know where the days went and before we know it we find they're gone.

James 4:14 NAS says:
Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

A vapor. A mist... Maybe the spray of an aerosol can. Put up against or compared to the light of all Eternity, our small existence disappears about that quick. That is the time we have to make our lives count for the Kingdom of God.

Now that I have turned 40, and look back on my life, I can only trust in God to find something worthwhile to come out of this last generation... whether it be wasted or not. I'm not certain I could point to anything you might consider worthwhile, or noteworthy. I don't know for sure when I get "There," the last 40 years, whether they will be burnt up as wood, hay or stubble, or if they will be as gold, silver or precious jewels in the eyes of the King. I suppose the question I must ask is this: is the foundation of my life anything Christ could come along and build upon?

Now, of course as much as I would like to, I can't do anything about the past, but I can do something about the future. And somehow, reading this, if you look back over your last generation and wonder if there are any gold, silver or precious jewels, or maybe you're a little concerned that you might just have wood, hay, or stubble. Remember. You still have today.

You might wonder as I have, "But how? All I know is what I've done my whole life. The only example I have is my parents or my friends. What can I really do that counts for the Kingdom?"

My husband always hated questions that start with, "But how?"

Number One: Pray to the Lord Jesus, the Christ. Our Messiah, Redeemer, Deliver and our King. Ask Him to take over your life. Ask Him to fill you with his holy spirit and his love. Make him the Lord of your life. Translation: Creator, Ruler, Owner. Commit your way to the Lord and He will direct your path.

Number Two: Talk to the Holy Spirit. Ask him to fill you completely and show you the way that you should go. For as my pastor says, "How can you ever expect to export what you have never owned?" It's been said that we are unable to even praise or love God, the way that he desires, on our own... without the Holy Spirit, guiding us, telling us what the Father's heart desires. Jesus said apart from me, you can do nothing. And that includes everything you might call service to God, family, job, country, anything and everything! He likened us to a limb, cut off of a tree or a Vine. If we are cut off from the Source, we have no life in us.

Number Three: Understand that being filled with the Spirit is necessary for you to walk in the Spirit. The Scripture says that if you walk with the Spirit you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. Now, what the flesh desires may seem like more fun at first, but the consequences are not nearly as fun. The Scripture says sin is pleasurable, but only for a season. Then you will begin to harvest what you have sown. Some say you need to "sow your wild oats," while you are young. However, those who encourage that kind of behavior will not be around when it is your harvest time.

Galatians 6:7-10 says what ever you sow, that will you also reap.

You wouldn't go out for a battle without proper training. You wouldn't play in the Super Bowl without learning how to play football. And in either case you wouldn't be in either situation without first making a choice to join the Army or the football team, followed by showing up for practice. Day after day after day. Those training sessions, and those practices get you ready for when there's five seconds left in the game, or when the enemy is on all sides, and you don't have time to think. You just go with what you've learned!

In a way, it blows my mind that I'm even writing this. I used to be the first one to make excuses for my behavior. My tongue was so quick and so sharp, and then I would blame it on my nerves, medicine, or adverse circumstance. But over time, I began to learn that the name of Jesus is higher than any other name! That includes my health and medicine, pressures of life and all kinds of circumstances. There is absolutely Nothing, that can overwhelm the power of His Name, or a life that is submitted and trusting in His care.

Now, you may not like the word submit, or authority for that matter. To some people just hearing either one sends chills up their spine. But no matter what your experiences might have been, that kind of submission to the authority of the Lord Jesus and His Word has benefits that you could not even imagine. And until you are willing to submit to the Lordship and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, you will never know those benefits!

One seemingly simple example, from my life just yesterday. Now I'm not saying that I'm completely submitted in every area, but it is my desire to live the way Jesus wants me to and to seek and display His heart and to show others how much He loves them. Yesterday, He showed me again how much He loves me. And it's such a beautiful thing how, in the simplest ways, powerful words are spoken without spoken words.

I usually don't do well out in the heat. I have been known to get sick in the summertime. So I have to be careful how much time I spend in the sun, or humidity. My husband and I and our neighbor decided to go to the grocery store. It had been rather cool here recently, but I was not able to go out during that time. So now that it's back in the 80s, and that's when I go out to the grocery store. ;-)

As my husband was getting the car ready, I went out and immediately started to feel a little woozy. I went back into the shade and started to pray... for God's grace on our trip, and that He would order our steps and bless our journey for His Glory. I went out toward the Van and looked up in the sky. To my amazement, there was a cloud overhead, not much bigger than the sun. Brilliant sunrays were shooting out from all directions. Absolutely breathtaking! I turned to my husband and our neighbor and pointed to the sky. "Now there is a gift from God!" He gave me shade just in time for me to get in the van! And that is the way my beloved Jesus takes care of me. He always gives us what we need, if we trust Him.

That is all He desires...trust. And the choices we make are a reflection of how we trust Him or how we don't. Will we stay in agreement with His Word, or will we go our own way, thinking that we know better? Every day is a million choices to go His way or ours. This can be overwhelming except for one thing. If we commit our hearts to him and our way. He is faithful to direct our path. He loves you, he just wants you to know. And one day, maybe very soon, you might be the only reflection of Jesus and His beautiful heart someone else might ever see.

Selah... (Let's Pause and Think about That)

A Better Brand of Love

In the beginning, the world began with a whisper. "Let there be light."
But ever since then, the battle's raged, even past the end of the night.
The driving force to create, to design the perfect atmosphere.
For the finished product to thrive and, one day, to draw near


In the beginning, there was one goal, to make the perfect place.
Where the Creation could learn and grow and seek the Creator's face
So perfect, yet so helpless to fight their Enemy
Unwise to his advances, fell for his scheming trickery


The enemy drove Creation far from safety and from peace
Into the hostile land of night, of fear and all conceit.
Creator's broken heart cried out to somehow bring them home.
But they only seemed to slip away, barely surviving on their own.


Architects, builders, designers, manufacturers and the like.
Creators of any kind know what their creation is like.
In the beginning, only He knew, the Creator of the Deceived,
how to put them back together, how to get their pain relieved.


Good Creator had a plan, a plan to top all plans.
Unheard of in all Creation; God became a man.
To come down to their level, in looks, in build and size.
To let them hear His tender voice, to look into their eyes


And then did something no one dreamed Creator would ever do.
He gave His Holy, sinless life so that we could see the Truth
His blood bought us our freedom from the enemy.
The Deceiver's power was broken, if we would only see


This kind of Love is stronger than anything you've known
It's nothing like what you've seen, or could find out on your own.
Its power brought a Holy God to Earth, to die and rise again.
And even if you look hard enough, you won't find it within


It's not like love of mom and dad, of ice cream or favorite toy.
Not even like the butterflies that come between a girl and boy.
It's not love a sunset, a favorite food or flower.
It didn't come free, it cost Him His life! It contains All Creator's power!

It's not what you feel when you hold a child
Or whisper your sweetheart's name
It's a kind of Love with transforming power
When it touches you, you're never the same!


If you would know this kind of Love, that defeats Your Enemy.
The power to drive away all fear, and let you clearly see
The beauty of Creator's Heart and His Glorious Face
and that His treasured Creation is you...and the Human Race


Then cry out to your Creator, Jesus is His Name.
Trust your life into his hands. You'll never be the same.
Don't hold back your plans or dreams. He'll take good care of them.
He only wants to show you the way to get back Home.


He will take you by the hand, if you will put yours in His.
He will show you what you have missed and what Real Life is.
You may not lose all your problems, but you'll have help from Above.
Then you'll be able to give others, A Better Brand of Love.

-- Rebecca Thames August 9, 2008