Love IS the Wonder

Posted on September 12, 2021 by PJ

Whoever said that a straightened hand was more dramatic than a healed heart anyway? – “Blessed Child” by Ted Dekker

Psalms 105:2 NIV
Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonders. (pala)

Psalm 106:7 KJV
Our fathers understood not thy wonders (pala) in Egypt; They remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; But provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.

What are His wonders?
– Checed (lovingkindness no matter what!)
– Mercy
– Grace
– Salvation
– Sonship

We are:
– Reconciled
– Seated
– Righteous
– Sanctified
– Redeemed
– Complete
– Light
– Glorified

Our sins are:
– Forgotten
– Judged by the Blood
– Payed for by Christ taking our place.

This is the simplicity of the Cross and the power in it!

There is no other message I preach.

Well Played, Dog

Posted on February 2, 2021 by PJ

Beauregard loves to play Frisbee, he enjoys chasing after and catching it in his mouth. But there’s one problem, while he does retrieve it, it is hard for him to let go of it even though he’s having fun catching it. So I finally got him to drop the frisbee, but the problem has been he won’t leave it. As soon as I reach for it he grabs it back. When I turn my back to stop playing he finally gives up and lets me have it. He absolutely enjoys chasing after it and catching it, so I’m confused as to why he won’t drop it and leave it.

After an early play session, where he repeated the same pattern over and over, I returned to my morning devotion time.
During prayer I felt the Lord saying, “Cast all your cares on Me, My yoke is easy, My burden is light. Can you let go, so I can do what is necessary? Can you let go? Often you “drop” but don’t “leave it.” If you “leave it” then we can enjoy doing life together.

Oh the things I learn by having a dog.

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭5:7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Choose Life

Posted on January 18, 2021 by PJ

Pro-life and pro-choice camps, they seem mutually exclusive, except if you listen carefully they can be pro-life and pro-choice at the same time.

Pro-life means ‘for life.’ Pro-choice means ‘for choice.’
I know pro-choice people that would rather call pro-life people anti-abortionists, and pro-lifers would say the opposition are pro-death.

Oh what’s in a name? Everything.

I am pro-life; most of my friends are pro-life. I am thankful my mother made a split second decision not to abort me. If only I knew that before I made my own decision. And many of my friends have chosen to adopt and foster those children that could have been aborted. Those same people also feed the poor, accept refugees and believe in education for all. I see that as pro-life.

But if “pro” life means “for” life, why are some pro-lifers out there complaining about wearing masks and closing businesses during COVID season? What I hear is “It steps on my rights.” What they mean is “My choice – my body.” Why are they ok with using violence (whether physically or rhetorically) to install a supposed Pro-Life candidate? See 1Jn 3:15, Mt 5:21-22; 43-45, James 3:9 .

The pro-choice camp it’s famous for saying “My choice – My body.” Yet most of my pro-choice friends are sacrificing their own comfort by wearing masks to help protect those around them as well as themselves. (Yes, I have many pro-choice friends who are Believers.)

As Christians we are called to Life. That should mean womb to tomb. Your rights and comfort don’t matter when you’re trying to save a life. I am thankful Jesus gave up His rights for me. See Phil 2:1-8

Instead of complaining that particular communities are fatherless. Be a father to the fatherless, feed the poor, clothe the naked, free the captives, welcome the stranger, help them on their way, wear a mask/follow COVID guidelines. Who cares what it costs you? This is a trust in ‘God’s Love’ issue. See Deu 10:18 & 27:19, Is 58:6-9, Ja 1:27.

If “Choose Life” were our guiding principle, all lives would be treated as precious, babies in the womb to the elderly, to every race and religious affiliation, to male or female or ?, to the foreigner who wishes to take part of our economy. Why are we still fighting flesh and blood? Remember who the real enemy is.

LOVE conquers a multitude…

You represent his Name for the sake of others, that they would see their Father in heaven loves them to Life. And THEN your Light will shine. See Is 58:9b-10.

Proverbs 3:11-12
My son, do not despise the Lord ’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭17:8. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings
‬ ‭

You Gotta Know When to Hold ‘Em…

Posted on December 15, 2019 by PJ

If you’ve ever played poker, there may have been times you’ve had a bad hand and had to fold. I’ll be honest, I’ve felt like folding lately.

If you play often you might know some people who bluff really well. I’m not one of them. They say everyone has a ‘tell.’ A physical sign that they may be bluffing about a good or bad hand. It could be a twitch, a giggle, nervous hands, but whatever it is, if you can find the pattern you will know when they are lying.

Well these weeks have sort of been like playing poker with the Devil. He’s bluffing about his hand, trying to convince me to fold. But he doesn’t have the winning hand.

How do I know that I have the winning hand? Well there’s the Words of Promise from the Lord, but honestly, I’m not sure which to apply here. Which to discard, which to pick up. Are the promises I’m standing on the right ones? Does my opponent have a hand I can’t beat?

Well, it turns out I figured out his ‘tell.’ Yes, when he has a losing hand he pushes extreme hopelessness. If I watch him, that’s what I’ll see. But that’s a sure sign he’s trying to get me to quit because he knows I’ve got the upper hand.

If I stay focused on my hand, I’m going to see a Royal Flush: Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Me and the Faith card. I’ve got all the Hope cards, he’s got none. So I stay in the game and do what I was called to do before the onslaught.
If I continue in the Faith then I win, raise the stake called the cross and he has to fold.

So if you’re feeling an extreme case of hopelessness it’s a sign that you are on the edge of breakthrough. Don’t fold, keep playing knowing Christ is the hand you’ve been dealt. And He IS the overcoming Right Hand.

But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure. So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.
Romans 8:25‭-‬26 AMP

For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),
2 Corinthians 10:3‭-‬5 AMP

I Am Yours

Posted on March 28, 2018 by PJ

Artwork and video editing by Me,

Poem and reading by Tara Lancaster

Week 27

Posted on July 3, 2017 by PJ

Week 27 Like a Child
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them.

And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” Matthew 18:1-5

He says what He means and He means what He says
“Be like a child full of wonder and praise.”
Skipping or tripping we grab hold as we stand
With Him looking round for the Kingdom’s at hand.

Crayola takes me back… Anyone that knows me knows this might have been a hard project for me. I love to draw, I’ve been doing it for a long time, so to let go and draw imperfectly like a child was a struggle. It was also an object lesson on childlikeness. I have habits, patterns, muscle memory, and generally all adult expectations that need to be laid aside. To actually be childlike I have to let go of all of that and trust that the crayon will produce my mental image.

Week 20

Posted on May 21, 2017 by PJ

Week 20 What Defies Earthly Eyes

Mt 13:13; Is 6:1-10 & Psalm 46

Matthew 13:11-17
Jesus replied, “Because the knowledge of the SECRETS of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:
Though SEEING, they do not see; though HEARING, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah (6:1-10)

‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

But blessed are your eyes because they SEE, and your ears because they HEAR.

What am I supposed to hear? What am I supposed to see? Hear and perceive that the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven is in our midst.

I cannot focus on the Kingdom and it’s Truth and focus on the things of this world. The things I place my identity in reveal the kingdom I hold dearest.

Through our re-birth, we, the once-blind, have been given the ability to perceive with the eyes of our hearts. The once-deaf hear and comprehend.

Though circumstances look bleak, as I become still and focus on the Lord, I will not be anxious or afraid of what my eyes see. There is another reality full of safety, peace and rest, the reality in which God is with me even now.

Psalm 46
God is my refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Though the earth should change and though the mountains be shaken and slip into the heart of the seas, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its roaring, there is no need to worry. I will instead be still and SEE with understanding that He is God. He will be exalted among the nations! He will be exalted in the earth. The LORD of hosts is with me now; The God of Jacob is our stronghold [our refuge, our high tower]. Selah.

Week 19

Posted on May 9, 2017 by PJ

Week 19 The Tale of Two Kingdoms
What if I said eternal life is a dimension, not a destination in time or space. Would that be upsetting?

For so long I believed it was a destination, but now that I have studied the Scriptures concerning eternal life, I realize it is actually living outside of time, as my Father does.

Jesus prayed with the understanding that eternal life is simply to have a relationship with God and Himself. If that is so, eternity began for me at the moment I came to know Jesus. And the Kingdom is actually within me as Jesus Himself claimed. His Kingdom comes now on earth as in heaven.

Yet this Kingdom of eternal life cannot be seen with my eyes, but with my spirit. I need new sight. As the psalmist says, where can you get away from His Spirit and Presence? Is there any corner that God isn’t present? Colossians says that Jesus is before all things, and holds everything together.

So I need vision correction, to see with spiritual eyes. Then instead of chaos, I can see His order; storms – peace; death – life, kingdoms of this world – kingdom of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which is in my midst.

If you wear those cheap 3D glasses and gaze into the words on the page long enough, the Kingdom of Heaven will float out of the page. Just see.

Luke 17:20-21
Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you (within you.)”

Declaration 3. “Your journey now is to see who you truly are, for you are the light of the world, the son or the daughter of your Father, a new creature flowing with more beauty and power than you have dared imagine possible. “

Week 18

Posted on May 1, 2017 by PJ

Week 18 The Tale of Two Kingdoms

I have always loved going to the beach and building sand castles. Every time I made one, I would make it more elaborate than the one before. Thankfully my identity was not in what I built, nor the sand from which it came. Because I knew sooner or later the wave would come, and the castle would be gone.
It was perfectly acceptable for me to be proud of that castle and enjoy its beauty. But it would not be acceptable for me to have a temper tantrum every time a structure was destroyed.
If I look past the kingdom of the world and see myself in God’s kingdom, the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of the eternal. My earthly judgment of situations, good or bad, suddenly have no weight, for I see only the intent of a good, good, Father.
When I choose to see His kingdom on earth, I will always be standing safely on the rock when storms come.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is SEEN IS TEMPORARY, but what is UNSEEN IS ETERNAL.

What kingdom exists inside of you and around you at this very moment? One that is unseen with earthly eyes.

There are two kingdoms:
One flows with peace and power and love, and one is darkened by condemnation and judgment.
One is eternal but not seen with our eyes, and one is temporal and passes away, yet visible to our earthly eyes.
One aligns with God, and one aligns with our fleshly desires.

Similarly, there are two selves for you to contend with:
The new self knows the father and abides in His realm even now, while the old self clings to this world of flesh and bone through relationships with everything else that is temporal.

Two kingdoms and two identities. In each case, Jesus’ teaching is clear: the flesh must be surrendered to see and experience the spirit. You cannot serve two masters. We look not at things that are seen, but at the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Nothing But A Mist

Musings about life for life

Tag Archives: jesus

Love IS the Wonder

I Am Yours