Pondering stuff today…God is the Author and Giver of gifts.  The Holy Spirit is the distributor of spiritual gifts, according to His plan.   HOLY SPIRIT anoints the gifts as we use them.  Conclusion?    Let the Spirit lead you and do what your heart is passionate to do.   The GIFTS AND CALLING OF GOD are irrevocable.   Rom. 11:29, 1Cor. 7:7, 1Tim. 4:14 2Tim. 1:6 James 1:17 1Peter 4:10 Rom. 12:6, 1Cor. 14:12

Genesis 1:1  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.   Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.  1:2  And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

A.W.Tozer’s words have impacted me today.   He wrote that God’s greatest works have been done in secret, in the darkness, unseen to the eye of man.  He created the heavens and the earth when darkness was upon the face of the deep.   When the Eternal Son became flesh, He was carried for a time in the darkness of a womb.  When He rose from the dead He was in the darkness of a tomb early in the morning.

We can trust God to work in the darkness.  Really?  What does God say about this?  “I form the light and create darkness.”  Is. 45:7

If God’s greatest works were done in darkness, then why should I be afraid when times of darkness hover over me or my family?   Darkness for our family are the times we spend wondering how the next medical crisis will end.  In and out of waiting rooms, one thing I’ve grown to know:  God waits with us.  And in the darkest times, He is there.  He is at work!

Although His presence may be unseen, His Holy work is what I esteem.

Genesis 31:3

God tells Jacob to Leave

A Daily Devotion by Carrie George

March 22, 2010

Finally….after all these years, God gives Jacob the okay to leave.   And, He specifies where he wants Jacob to go.   “Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”

It goes on further and says that God reminds Jacob of all the ways He had blessed and provided for him.   You would think that after looking back with God, Jacob would have left well.   But he didn’t, and neither do we.

When God tells us to leave a place (whether a job, a position in the church, or a relationship), we are so excited about receiving permission to leave, we can forget about how well we leave.   We often take a misstep that does not represent His nature, and we fall back to our own ways of doing things.   Let me explain.

Jacob put his children and his wives on camel and all his livestock ahead of him, he was getting ready to leave town.  He was returning to his father Isaac with joy!   (31:17-18)  God had already given Jacob a dream and spoken to him saying: Gen. 28:15 “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land.  I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Having received a dream and word of promise from God, you’d think that he would have left honorably. Here’s what Jacob did, and this is what we can find ourselves doing too:  Gen. 31:20  “Jacob deceived Laban by not telling him he was running away.”

Looking back and remembering a time when God spoke to me that it was time to move on, I wonder: did I leave well, Lord?  Here are some principles that I wrote in the side margin of my bible next to the text of Genesis 31.   May they bless you and encourage you as they have me.

• Do not leave secretly (verse 27)

• Do not deceive (v.27)

• Do not rationalize your behavior (v. 31)

• Do not fear (v.31)

God wants us to respond in faith WITH faith, not out of fear or cunning calculation on our part.   He wants us to take the steps in a way that honor His Name.  Sometimes, we tend to fight back with the tool used against us.   In this case, the tool that Laban used against Jacob all those years was: deception.  Fear caused Jacob to behave deceptively.  Jacob’s error was that he justified leaving deceitfully by recounting all his righteous acts of service in the past.

No matter what has been done to you or me, we cannot respond in kind.   We leave in a manner that honors God.  For His Name’s sake, we honor God’s nature when we respond with faith, integrity, wisdom and truth.  I have a lot more learning to do and more work lies ahead.    Thank you for allowing me to share what was spoken to me as I read His Word today.

Lord, what do you see?

1Chronicles 26-27

A daily devotion by Carrie George

March 20, 2010

While pondering the text today, the Holy Spirit inspired me to ask myself:  “How do I view myself in the role God has called me to?”

I will admit to you- that my face turned red immediately.   I realized I had a larger vision of myself than I ought to.   Let me explain….

In my reading today I came across the various ministries and appointments that the King had mandated for the heads of families in 1Chronicles 26-27.   There were ministries of: prophecy, music, seer, gatekeeper (whose duty was for ministering in the temple of the Lord), treasurer, official officer, governor, commander and counselor.

Okay so I’m not one of these, Lord.  What am I then?

Then he took me further into His Word and my eyes were re-opened to the friends I know who have been called by God to duties that take them away from the temple.  They are called to work outside the church in various offices, vineyards, hospitals, airlines, and governmental affairs (to name but a few) in order to fulfill their duty in the Lord.

But I am not one of them.

When I came across the following overseers, I paused and prayed as I looked at my own life.   Here are some of the listed charges from 1Chron. 27:27-34.

27- charge of the vineyards and produce of the vineyards for the wine vats.

28-  charge of the olive and sycamore-fig trees, the olive oil.

29- charge of the herds of the valley.

30-31- charge of the flocks and the King’s property.

32- a counselor, a man of insight, a scribe.

33- the king’s counselor.

33- the king’s friend.

34- Commander of the royal army.

This list gave me pause because I realize my heart wanders into pastures where I am not called.

Lord, I ask: what do you see in me?   Where is my greatest value in the ministry of the Body of Christ?  He smiled, I felt it.   I listened, I waited and then I heard his whisper…..

“I call you my friend.”

“And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. (Jas 2.23)

Hanging with Jesus

February 23, 2010 – Leave a Response

While walking today (mind you only 20 minutes), I saw: dolphins, ordinary people doing extraordinary acts of kindness (feeding all the stray cats at the park), Seagulls having a blast chasing each other and dipping down right in front of me, looking at me like: “Watch this, Mom!!” and then meeting a young man named Anthony who shared a special scene with me.   Two Para-sailers took off for flight just three feet from where we stood, it was the most powerful thing I’ve seen.   I saw the chute open and the guy just sitting and swinging in his seat.   I said:  ”Anthony, that’s what it looks like when we’re hanging with Jesus.  He is the parachute over our head that takes us up from here to there!  All we gotta do is sit in that seat and let Him cover us.”   Anthony said:  Amen, yeah, that’s cool.   He is on my heart right now.   A tough looking young man who I know for sure is going to be in heaven one day.  I felt God’s assurance when I walked away and prayed.

Thank You for the days

When I don’t understand

You give us Your comfort:

Your nail-pierced hands.

Mercy and Grace, Salvation so dear,

Fills me with faith, replacing my fears.

11/13/09

CLG

God’s Hands- Make No Mistake!

Elohim – The Creator

November 9, 2009

Inspired by Kay Arthur’s book: “Lord I Want to Know You”  Chp. 2

My son is about to receive his third kidney transplant, and thankfully, I will be the donor this time.  This has caused me to go back to studying the Names of God again, which has strengthened my faith and solidified my hope.  The first five paragraphs are from Kay’s book.  They set up the foundation from God’s Word as to why I believe God’s hands formed my child and there was no mistake.

Colossians 1:16 In Jesus Christ, the Son of God, “all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth.”

Psalm 139:13-14 “He didst form my inward parts.  He didst weave me in my mother’s womb…I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Kay makes reference to Moses saying to the LORD: “Please Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since Thou hast spoken to Thy servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”  Exodus 4:10

And the LORD replied:  “Who has made man’s mouth?    Or, who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind?  Is it not I, the LORD?”  Exodus 4:11

“But why would God create people who are different from His normal pattern of creation?   Why would He ever permit a sperm to penetrate an egg when it would produce what seems to be a genetic disaster?”

The disciples asked Jesus about the blind man from birth:  “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?”  John 9:2.  Jesus replied:  “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.”  John 9:3

Kay writes:  “Oh, Beloved, if you are unhappy with yourself, with your child, or with a loved one, run into the strong tower of the name of your Elohim (Proverbs 18:10).   You may not understand how your situation could ever bring Him glory, but you can trust in the name of your Lord.”

Now this brings me to the reason I feel led to share from our own situation.   When my son Kevin was born, his beautifully shaped little body took my breath away.  Nothing could take away the power of God’s Presence and Love in that moment.   Psalm 25:10  “All the ways of the Lord are loving.”  What I did not know in that moment was that this love would require Kevin to face many surgeries in his life. Could this be God’s loving ways?

As the years went by and the number of surgeries climbed, He led me to His Word in Jeremiah 29:11.   I had never read that verse before, so these came to me as though they were meant specifically for our family.  “His plans are for good and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.”

One special day, a Healer/Evangelist traveling through our city at the time felt led to come and pray for our son.   Laying his hands upon his little head, this minister paused, then said:  “There is nothing of this child that is not of God.   This is God’s hand upon him, the way He created and formed him.   There is no darkness, no warfare, this is God.”  He then began a beautiful prayer of blessing- asking God to provide the grace for all his days and to fulfill the purposes of God in his life.

Back to Kay’s book:  “Why were we created?  Why were we born?”  Isaiah 43:1, 3-4, 7 sums it up best:  “Thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob and He who formed you, O Israel….I am the LORD your God (Elohim) …you are precious in My sight…everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”  Man was created for God’s glory.

“Can you see how awesome it is to know that you have been created for God’s glory?   That you are to live in such a way as to give all of creation a correct opinion or estimate of who God is?

Your life is to be lived in such a way as to reflect Him, to show the world the character of God – His love, His peace, His mercy ,His gentleness.  You are to live for Him, to accomplish His will.   To miss this purpose is to miss fulfillment. “

And so, the journey continues that leads to a path of life.  We face all things with Christ who strengthens us.   We thank Him for His ways and the faith and grace He’s blessed us with to give glory to His Name.

Psalm 139:13-4  “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

I love the simplicity of this statement:  ”Do what you love to do.”   I love to sing, write, walk, dance, encourage others, pray, paint, etc.   What you love to do will energize you to do the things you don’t love to do.   What I don’t love to do is:  face hard things with grace.   Dig deeper than my character offers me at the moment.  Receive truth when it injures my pride.   Treat someone with kindness when all they do is hurt me.  Keep trusting when there is no understanding.I love the simplicity of this statement:  ”Do what you love to do.”   I love to sing, write, walk, dance, encourage others, pray, paint, etc.   What you love to do will energize you to do the things you don’t love to do.   What I don’t love to do is:  face hard things with grace.   Dig deeper than my character offers me at the moment. Receive truth when it injures my pride.   Treat someone with kindness when all they do is hurt me.  Keep trusting when there is no understanding.
As I said before, when I do what I love to do first, it enables me to walk by the power of the Holy Spirit to do what I don’t love to do best.

A Beautiful Shape

October 20, 2009   Transplant #3 and now it includes me….I’m privileged to be the next donor for my son’s upcoming 3rd transplant.   After an entire summer of testing, I was given the green light and we are now waiting for the surgery date to be settled.   This process has been quite the roller coaster and has tried my peace, but not my faith.    Here is one of my writings from my journal:   More to follow when I find the time….

During my quiet time with the Lord several days ago, He showed me a picture of what He is teaching me through our circumstances through a visual of a kaleidoscope. It has helped me so much that I wanted to share it in case it ministers to one of you.

It dawned on me that all the elements inside the canister represent the details of my life. Each piece was uniquely chosen by Him; to execute His plan through me. These elements were given by grace with love, to show me the beauty of His plan. It was up to me to keep turning the tube until I saw the beautiful pattern of His design at work in me.

I wept as I saw them drop into form, it was so precious and rare, I couldn’t help but praise Him for all that He’s done, and all that He has in store. It empowered me with more faith, released a greater measure of His grace. I will face whatever storm that comes with courage, I can walk (not crawl) through this valley, and feel His Peace as though a staff were placed in my hand to assist me along the journey.

God is so good, His gifts are so precious, His care so loving. I looked up the word kaleidoscope for you today and perhaps the Holy Spirit will speak to your heart about whatever it is you face in this hour. I love you all.

Carrie

Kaleidoscope

1817, lit. “observer of beautiful forms,” coined by its inventor, Sir David Brewster (1781-1868), from Gk. kalos “beautiful” + eidos “shape” (see -oid) + -scope, on model of telescope, etc. Figurative meaning “constantly changing pattern” is first attested 1819 in Lord Byron, whose publisher had sent him one.

A tube-shaped optical instrument that is rotated to produce a succession of symmetrical designs by means of mirrors reflecting the constantly changing patterns made by bits of colored glass at one end of the tube.

A constantly changing set of colors.

A series of changing phases or events: a kaleidoscope of illusions.

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Carrie George
An Ordinary Woman Serving an Extraordinary God