All posts tagged: faith

The Wonder & Awe of God’s Love for Us

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“Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord; 2 Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications. 3 If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared.” ~PSALM 130:1-4 Some translations of Psalm 130:3-4 say, “If You keep account of sins, O LORD, Lord, who will survive? Yours is the power to forgive so that You may be held in awe.” Awe means to have a fealing of wonder and reverance even to the point of fear. When we consider all that Christ, our Savior, God and King did for us in His perfect love, how He has transformed us and loved us with an everlasting, unwavering, unfailing, unmerited love, one can do nothing short of be in awe. The Lord through the finished work of Christ has delivered us from the curse of the law but has also carried away our sins and remembers our lawless deeds no longer (HEBREWS …

Artful Aggression: How We Abuse Our Creative Work & Why We Shouldn’t

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Have you ever watched a movie, sat in horror or just sheer irritation as you witness one character (generally a parent or a lover) verbally abuse their child or partner? And as you are watching you begin to judge that character thinking, “Gosh, they are wrong. I would  never talk to my child like that.” The scene ends, the couple or family members come to some peaceful ground, and then the movie ends. “We cruelly victimize our art. Art’s greatest victimizer is often the one who created it.” The movie ends but the hypocrisy continues. In the Book of Matthew 7:5, Jesus says “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.“ You are probably wondering, what in the world does a scene from a movie and teaching from Jesus have to do with art. They have everything to do with art, even if indirectly. We as artist and writers  have a tendency to look at our creations the …

The Expectation of Suddenly!

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I have got to say that the Word of God is true! Our Beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ, does not lie and never has. When He makes a promise to you, no matter how long it takes BELIEVE! Believe Him! Right now I am in the ‘spring’ of my life! I am seeing the fruit from seeds planted YEARS ago growing and budding and I am beyond humbled and filled with an overflow of joy and thanksgiving! It is in these moments that ‘suddenly’ has joined me at the table. Suddenly the trees where naked and the ground wore its usually winter-green dress and suddenly, the scent of cherry blossoms perfumed the spring air and the ground beneath our feet became as decorated as an intricately woven Persian rug! Suddenly. The definition of the word is simply, “quickly and unexpectedly.” ** Our Savior has a beautiful way of ‘suddenly’ showing up in the midst of darkness and storms, walking upon the waters (MT. 14:22-33), suddenly walking among flames of fire that should have consumed you but …

Words…Use Them Wisely

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Life is more than words, but words do make up our lives. Have you ever considered how the simplest of words can change a person’s attitude either for the good or bad? Even the words spoken without verbalization have such great power. Consider a person who feels utterly alone, ignored and unseen. Let a stranger smile at them, genuinely smile at them, and that non-verbal interaction, those ‘words’ spelled out without sound, can push away the dark clouds in the recipient’s day. “Life is more than words, but words do make up our lives.”   God created the whole of creation with just His Words (Genesis 1). He spoke and it came to be. Our Lord Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1). He too spoke and things happened. He spoke to the fig tree and it died (Mark 11:12-25). He spoke to Lazarus and he was resurrected from the dead (John 11: 38-44). Being a person of faith I am compelled not to take language and words lightly even though I often stumble, …

Stumbling Blocks to Stepping Stones: The Beauty from Broken Roads

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“But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.” ~JOHN 12:23-26 Our lives and the path we take when directed by Christ are always for a purpose. What we at times see as broken moments marred by death and loss, are oftentimes climax moments that Christ calls seed and harvest. When our Savior came to His time to be brutally beaten and then die on the cross for the world, He knew that out of His agony and death would come a harvest of a great …

Dressed for the Appointment: Hope for the Promises to Come

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*Revised from December 26th, 2012 Several years ago I was led to write a short message reminding many of my friends on Facebook to keep holding on to the Word of Faith and promise that Christ Jesus had given unto them. Now, years later, I am urged to do it again. The Lord laid this question upon my heart that only you can answer for yourself, really, and here it is. “Are you dressed and are you ready for the open door?” It is easy to be given a dream and a prophetic vision for your future/destiny/purpose, but it is a whole other thing to not only hold on to it but to be prepared for it at all times. With many of the trails that we face within the monotony of life, it is easy to lose hope in the dream, allowing it to be transformed into the elusive ‘carrot on a stick’ dangling just out of your reach. “Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon; and …

Passover: The Power of Remembrance

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“Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, And He saved them out of their distresses. 20 He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions. 21 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! 22 Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, And declare His works with rejoicing.” ~PSALM 107:19-22 It was at the start of 2020 that I had begun to pray for a word to share for Passover. Actually, I began to petition the Lord for the message He would have me share around late December 2019. The reason being that Passover is my most beloved Holy Day/ Holiday. Now, just for clarification, Passover and Resurrection/Easter are NOT the same Holiday. Passover is when our Lord God Yeshua Jesus took our place and bore the wrath of God for all of our sins, past, present, and future. It is when He, being the sacrificial Lamb, shed His blood for our cleansing and …

Recline in His Goodness

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“Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.” ~JOHN 13:23 Recline in My Goodness. Tell My people this.” These were the words the Lord Jesus spoke to me during a moment of worship. The moment He spoke the words, the remembrance of the season came to mind. He graciously reminded me that we are speedily heading into the Passover and Resurrection season and that just like with the first Passover, when many plagues were striking the land, that He was covering His people. Specifically, during the night of the first Passover, when the spirit of death came for the firstborn of the land, the Lord gave a few simple instructions in EXODUS 12: Take the blood of a lamb and cover your lintel so that the angel of death will pass over your home and not touch you Be dressed and ready to go Eat Basically, they were called to wait on the Lord and rest while ready to move when the time came for them to do so …

Staying in Shalom by Briana Lassiter

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As you read this, may the shalom of God cover you, keep you and enlighten you as you move from glory to glory, from grace to grace. ~Briana Lassiter I remember the first time the Lord told me that Shalom was not a location I would arrive at or something to achieve, it was a state of being. As it usually happens when the Lord tells me something new like this, I didn’t get it. When Jesus teaches me something, I like to know, “How does this practically affect my life, Lord?” Over the next few months, He began to show me that Shalom begins with a series of choices. It is almost an equation, x + y =? When x happens to y (you) what is the result? I believe every situation we encounter is a mathematical equation. If you don’t understand the process of solving the equation, it doesn’t matter what you come up with, you’re not going to get the right answer. However, if you know the process to solve the equation, …

He is Known in Praise: Lifting Up the Name of Jesus

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“In Judah God is known; His name is great in Israel. 2 In Salem also is His tabernacle, And His dwelling place in Zion. 3 There He broke the arrows of the bow, The shield and sword of battle. Selah” ~PSALM 76:1-3 When I read Psalm 76:1-3 recently, the Lord immediately led me to look up what He was saying via the translations of each of the places mentioned in verses. What I discovered by doing the word study was that our God is revealed and known in praise! We already know that He makes our praise His dwelling place (PS. 22:3), and thusly in His presence is fullness of joy and pleasures evermore (PS. 16:11). All of this is obviously beautiful, but it only comes as a direct response of closeness and closeness comes by communication, communication is a fruit of praise. KNOWING HIM IN PRAISE Here is the breakdown of the verses using the meanings of each location’s name and outlining the significance of each. v.1a In Judah God is known: God has …