The past couple of weeks, the Lord has been pouring out His Spirit upon IHOP in an increased way. Last Wednesday, the students had chapel. The leaders were talking about body image and agreeing with the Lord about how He made us and breaking agreement with the lies of the enemy. The Holy Spirit showed up and people started repenting and getting delivered and healed of eating disorders among other things, and they were filled with the joy of the Lord. Many broke their mirrors.

 In a culture that is obsessed with fame, riches, and beauty, it is hard not to be influenced by it. But this is not the will of the Father, to be filled with negative thoughts every time we look in a mirror, to wish we looked differently, constantly comparing ourselves to others, obsessing with food and diets. Most of us think that if we could just get the right clothes, the right frame, the right hair style, the right make-up, and lots of compliments, then we will feel beautiful and be happy. This is a burden that we don't have to bear. It's time to quit listening to voices that speak death over our souls and didn't shed blood for us. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, made in the image of God. He delights over His creation. He knows our frames and He loves them! Being in fellowship with Jesus, the giver of life, is indescribably better than in fellowship with demons that speak death! May He set our hearts free from lies and fill us with joy!

 I'd encourage everyone(even if you think you don't struggle with this) to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal lies that you have been believing and lies that have been spoken over you, repent of them, and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal His truth to your heart and agree with it! He has give us everything we need for life and godliness today, and we don't have to wait for circumstances to change or for the people around us to change before we can walk in the fullness that Jesus has for us today.

Be blessed!

Candyce

 ^"How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
       How vast is the sum of them!" ~ Psalm 139:17

Brown Shoes

 This fall, I have really been needing some brown shoes to wear with jeans. There was a particular kind that I was looking for, but Wal-Mart and Target didn't have any and they were too expensive at the other stores, so I prayed and asked the Lord to provide money for the brown shoes I wanted. A couple of weeks later, I receive a text from a lady, saying that she had some new brown shoes that she had bought last year but were too small, and she wondered if I wanted them. I replied, "YES!" So, I met her at the missions base and tried the shoes on. They fit perfectly and they were the exact style of shoe that I was looking for. They were a really nice brand and had only been worn a few times. I was smiling and whispered to the Lord," Ah, You did it again!"

 Then this week, my rent and other bills were due. I was well short of the money, so the night before I was praying and stressing out. I get a phone call the next day from someone telling me that they wanted to give me a certain amount of money and it was the exact amount that I needed!!!! I sighed and laughed in relief, wondering why I waste so much time stressing out about finances when Jesus has come through every single month since I've moved to Kansas City. He is so patient with me as I learn to lean on Him and trust Him. He does not grow weary in taking care of His children. The Lord is my Shephard.

 ²²Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. ²³Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. ²⁴Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! ²⁵Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life^[b]? ²⁶Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

 ²⁷"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ²⁸If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! ²⁹And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. ³⁰For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

 ³²"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

~Luke 12:22-34

Giving thanks!

~Candyce

Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.

A Day at a Nursing Home...

  Today, I woke up not very happy about having to get up early on my only day off, especially after a very stressful and emotionally draining week, to take a group of Bible students to the nursing home. I reluctantly drug myself out of bed asking the Lord for grace.
  I drove the students to the nursing home as I downed some black tea, hopeing that it would wake me up so that I could actually form comprehensive sentences. Before going into the nursing home, we prayed, asking the Lord to strengthen us and to lead and guide us. Instead of going straight to the Alzheimer's unit first like usual, we decided to walk around. One of the administrators took me to a room to talk to an elderly lady that was bed ridden because of a stroke. She was very reluctant at first to talk to me and was not very nice. She spent the first few minutes telling me that I didn't have to talk to her and that yelled at me. I just smiled at her and told her that I wanted to talk to her. Once she saw that her unkind remarks weren't bothering me and that I was really serious about listening and talking to her, she invited me to sit down and we talked for two hours. She shared about her life as I organized her sock drawer and brushed her hair. She spent a good portion of her life in California. Her husband, whom she described as abusive and angry, left her after 20 years of marriage for another woman when she was in her forties. She had a few kids with him, he abused them as well. He is now dead, and her children are now grown with children of their own. They hardly ever come to see her. It was obvious that she still had deep pain from years of abuse, abandonment, and rejection. She has ceased expecting anything from anyone and is afraid of reaching out for fear of rejection. My heart really hurt for her. 
  After sharing these things, she went on to talk about Jesus. I loved hearing her story about being filled with the Holy Spirit and how she was filled with joy overflowing when it happened. She says that she prays in the Spirit everyday, and it's what gets her through. She also shared that she often closes her eyes and sings, picturing herself able to raise "holy hands unto the Lord in His temple." She took me to school on the book of Revelation...she told me that I didn't know very much...haha(this was very humbling considering that I'm supposed to be studying the book every week. I was provoked none the less=) I prayed for her and she had a big smile on her face after I left. I was grateful that even though she had grim circumstances, she had a relationship with the Lord and had Him to comfort her. I do pray that the Lord heals her heart. No one is too old to have a whole heart filled with truth about how Jesus sees them and loves them.
 I left grateful that I gotten out of bed and realizing, once again, how selfish I can be. For someone confined to a bed in an ugly room with nothing but a television, me brushing their hair and organizing the few things they have, these simple acts, as mundane and unheroic they seem, could brighten someone's day or week or month or year even.( It's even better doing these things knowing that nothing goes unnoticed by the Lord, and every small act done unto Him and in accordance to His will is taken note of!)

 Since my visit to the nursing home today, I have been thinking about life and how futile it is. When I am old, possibly confined to an ugly room, with hardly any physical comfort, everything stripped away, with nothing left but memories, will my heart be overflowing with worship to my Maker? Will I be filled with peace and joy, with a deep friendship with the One, who is called "Faithful and True." I definitly don't want to wait til I am old to have a close relationship with my Beloved One. Will my heart be free from offense and bitterness or will it be filled with years of unforgiveness and resentment? He desires to lead us on the path of life, to heal our hearts, and fill us to joy overflowing no matter the circumstances. This is for us, who believe in Jesus, today, for the rest of our lives, and for eternity.

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness though our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." ~2 Peter 1:3-4
 

I'll just let Elizabeth Elliot write for me. I found this devotional this morning and I thought that I would share it.

Title: Maybe This Year...?

Author: Elisabeth Elliot

"I hardly know where to start," a letter begins. "My story is not one involving men. That's the problem. Male companionship seems not to be found, and, I fear, may never be found. They never ask me out twice. I'm always 'dumped.' The problem is I want a relationship. I have this overwhelming desire...."

Someone else said to me, "I fell deeply in love. He fell deeply in love, too--with someone else."

Another letter tells of the agonized yearning of one couple for a child. Since God has not removed the desire, they ask, may we not conclude that He wants us to employ whatever means we can (e.g., in vitro fertilization) in order to have a child?

God's not having taken away a perfectly normal human desire does not by any means indicate that we are free to pursue its fulfillment in any way we choose. A woman who had, after years of struggles, quickly lost sixty pounds told me that she had been expecting God to take away her appetite. When she realized He did not intend to do so (she had been asking for the removal of our God-given protection from starvation!), she stopped gratifying that appetite in the wrong ways.

Will the young woman find a mate? Will the couple have a child? Maybe this year will be the year of desire fulfilled. Perhaps, on the other hand, it will be the year of desire radically transformed, the year of finding, as we have perhaps not yet truly found, Christ to be the All-Sufficient One, Christ the "deep, sweet well of Love."

"Why won't God let someone into my life? I feel left out, abandoned. When will it be my turn?" The petulant letter goes on. "I feel deprived! Will He deny me the one small desire of my heart? Is it too big a treasure to ask? I sit in torture and dismay."

Life is likely to continue to hold many forms of torture and dismay for that unhappy person and for all who refuse to receive with thanksgiving instead of complaint the place in life God has chosen for them. The torture is self-inflicted, for God has not rejected their prayers. He knows better than any of us do what furthers our salvation. Our true happiness is to be realized precisely through his refusals, which are always mercies. His choice is flawlessly contrived to give the deepest kind of joy as soon as it is embraced.

Joseph Eliot, in the seventeenth century, said, "I need everything God gives me, and want [or feel the lack of] nothing He denies me."

In Moses' review of God's leading of the children of Israel he said,

"Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart.... He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then fed you with manna which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.... Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.... For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land--a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing."

Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 5, 7-9, NIV

The cause of our discontent: We simply do not believe God. The wilderness experience leads to the Promised Land. It is the path God chose for us. His Word is established forever, and He tells us in a thousand ways that His will is our peace, His choices for us will lead to fulfillment and joy, the way of transgressors is hard. Do we suppose that we could find a better way than His?

One of George Eliot's characters says:

"You are seeking your own will, my daughter. You are seeking some good other than the law you are bound to obey. But how will you find good? It is not a thing of choice; it is a river that flows from the foot of the Invisible Throne, and flows by the path of obedience. I say again, man cannot choose his duties. You may choose to forsake your duties, and choose not to have the sorrow they bring. But you will go forth, and what will you find, my daughter? Sorrow without duty--bitter herbs, and no bread with them."

Instead of seeing His everlasting love, tenderly bending down to our humanness, longing over each one of us with a father's speechless longing; we sometimes think of Him as indifferent, inaccessible, or just plain unfair.

The worst pains we experience are not those of the suffering itself but of our stubborn resistance to it, our resolute insistence on our independence. To be "crucified with Christ" means what Oswald Chambers calls "breaking the husk" of that independence. "Has that break come?" he asks. "All the rest is pious fraud." And you and I know, in our heart of hearts, that that sword-thrust (so typical of Chambers!) is the straight truth.

If we reject this cross, we will not find it in this world again. Here is the opportunity offered. Be patient. Wait on the Lord for whatever He appoints, wait quietly, wait trustingly. He holds every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year in His hands. Thank Him in advance for what the future holds, for He is already there. "Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup" (Psalm 16:5, NIV). Shall we not gladly say, "I'll take it, Lord! YES! I'll trust you for everything. Bless the Lord, O my soul!"