Humble Thyself in the Sight of The Lord

Have you ever wondered why when we ask God for something, some of the times, we never get it? I know I have, plenty of times and some of these times, it has resulted in angry discussions with God. The reason why, I have come to find out, is in the book of James. It talks about how our earthly passions keep us away from God. And if we ask for earthly passions, they will do nothing but make us grow farther away from God. Like asking for money, fame, lots of fine material things. This is very dangerous because all these posessions act like a barrier between us and God. Once we have a cozy house, a nice car, lots of friends and money, we tend to come to the conclusion that we don't need God.
At this present moment I am blessed that I don't have many material things. I have found that living as a student has brought me closer to God because I depend on God on all my things. I depend on Him to help me with school either it be with how it is going to be payed or how I am going to pay the bills.
When I humble myself to God, things go as smooth as silk, but when I decide that I can handle the situation, that is when my wordly passions get in the way causing me to drift away from God., ergo I get in a pickle.
It is a challenge for me to humble myself to God. This summer, I humbled myself for three weeks and went on a missions trip, worrying about how I was going to pay for the three weeks of missed work. Oh was I amazed and blessed at what God has done and how He provided and how he continues to provide for me. I am soo blessed!!!
I am soo blessed to have so many wonderful pple in my life, besides mom and dad and my sisters, I have beautiful friends who love God with all their hearts and nothing more would please them than to serve God and do His will. Yah, I am talking about Amy, Chelsea and Rita. I am soo blessed that God has brought us together you are all beautiful women of God and I am glad that I can serve God with you all. You know I love you all very much.
So through humility to God, He promises to lift us up! Wow what a promise. So to all my friends, I challenge you to become humble, to become patient, full of mercy and love and to look around at God's presence, like I did yesterday and see how much God has surely blessed you. God is alive... Allelujah!!!!!
May God lift you up today! and send His awesome blessings on you and remember the Jabez prayer... May You bless me, enlarge my boarders, keep me safe and from harm.
Wow what a prayer,, God granted it to Jabez and God will grant it to us...
Remember, to humble thyself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up!

Training for the prize

Well, I have to say, today I did what I wanted to do, I jogged out to the end of Lower Malpeque road and back. Two hours later, and ten kilometers to boot, I did it!! While I was jogging, I was thinking lots.. like how St. Paul tells us that we are to be like athletes that are training for the prize. Of course our prize does not come in forms of silver or gold, naww they come in the form of eternal life that was bought by the blood of Jesus. We must train to fight against the evil forces. Jesus is depending on us! As St Teresa once said "We are His hands, His Feet, His eyes in which He sees the world" So with that in mind, the training reflection gave me a couple of questions... Am I a dedicated Christian? Do I train everyday to become a better Christian?
Unfortunately, my answer is no, I train more physically than spiritually.. This has been my challenge all summer, to match my work outs with my pray outs! My prayer life has gotten better but I need to work more on it. Jesus is more important to me than any workout! So I challenge each of you to start thinking of your faith life as a workout preparing you for the spiritual battles and leading you to the prize.
"Keep your eyes on the prize and your feet on the street" In other words, Jesus calls us to do the unthinkable but it is never something that we are not prepared to do. So keep your eye on eternal life but remember, we are still here on earth so we must live each day seeking every chance we get to share Jesus with someone. We are Jesus' hands to hug His eyes, to seek out injustices and His feet to share the Gospel of Love:D
Peace,
M

"Prayer-Battle in the secret place"

Ok, so here is another installment of Utmost for His highest,,, updated version. This one is on prayer. It is really awesome! The reflection is on Matthew 6:6
[ Jesus did not say, "Dream about your Father who is in the secret place," but He said, "...pray to your Father who is in the secret place..." Prayer is an effort of the will. After we have entered our secret place and shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is pray. We cannot seem to get our minds into good working order, and the first thing we have to fight is wandering thoughts. The great battle in private prayer is overcoming this problem of our idle and wandering thinking. We have to learn to disicpline our minds and concentrate on willful, deliberate prayer.
We must have a specially selected place for prayer, but once we get there this plague of wandering thought begins, as we begin to think to ourselves, " this needs to be done, and I have to do that today." Jesus says to "shut your door." Having a secret stillness before God means deliberately shutting the door on our emotions and remembering Him. God is in secret and He sees us from "the secret place"-He does not see us as other people do, or as we see ourselves. When we truly live in "the secret place" it becomes impossible for us to doubt God. We become more sure of Him than of anyone or anything else. Enter into "the secret place", and you will find that God was right in the middle of your everyday circumstances all the time. Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless you learn to open the door of your life completely and let God in from your first waking moment of each new day, you will be working on the wrong level throughout the day. But if you will swing the door of your life fully open and pray to your Father who is in the secret place, every public thing in your life will be marked with the lasting imprint of the presence of God.]
As I read this last night, I have come to a different realization that God sure wants us to meet Him in a secret place, but I never realized that the secret place refered here is about a place soo secret that even your thoughts do not know where you went. We must pray with 100% comitment to God and also come before God with a pure heart leaving all the junk of the day behind. God has given us the honour to talk to Him, so do you not think he deserves our undivided attention? So why not start to spend time before the chaos of the day starts with God? I guarantee your day will go awesome! I know that since I started spending time with God each day, things have been going awesome! I have a better outlook on life, more patience and more joy. My relationship with God has grown trememdously and I am soo blessed about it.
If you want to have this experience, I challenge you to spend at least 20mins a day with God, I guarantee you won't be dissapointed:)
Prayerfully yours
M

Epiphany! God made the sunset just for you!

What an amazing day! Work was great, for once! But it was tonite that I was surely blessed, Or as Molly says Epiphany! God was sure with us. Well, an unschedualed supper date, or spontanious supper date, with Molly that was really awesome! Thanks Molly for saying grace at the table. It was really special! And thanx for the awesome sharing. Remember you are in my prayers always! Keep your head up on your journey!
Than I got to see Aleida, who I have not seen in a while:D and what a beautiful sunset. I just can not describe how thankful I am to God for what He has done for me. I may not have money but I have beautiful friends and family and a beautiful home!
I can never speak of how thankful I am to God for all the blessings in my life. I know that I am not worthy of them but I thank God for them. God is soo awesome! I can understand all the praise in the psalms, the only way to describe God's awesomeness is through the psalms and poetry.
Molly had reminded me something, that all things in nature were created by God for us. So everytime you see a beautiful sunset, think that God created it for you and I.. Wow eh?
This is Psalm 30 from "The word on the street"
Elevate You

All I want to do is look at you
Elevate you
You lifted up my head. I was staring at graves:
You saved me.
You stopped the gloat in the throat of my enemies
You made their mockery cease; I begged for help:
you healed me, arranged my early release;
You gave me a hand up and out from the grave with my name on, and now, it's game on.
So let it rip, sing it strong!
let his crew take the roof off with this celebration song;
His fury don't last so long; his favour lasts a lifetime
we cry through the night, but the morning sun begins its climb, and it's celebration time.
you turned my tears into cheers, My moping through coping and on into dancing.
You made me take off my funeral gear,
and suddenly vibrant colour appear.
My heart's gonna sing, it's not gonna stop.
God, I'm going to thank you till I drop- you're top!

May God bless you all
Shalom,
M

Engaging the Word

Recently, I was suring the net and came across a book titled "Bible for Blockheads" mmm I thought to myself, what a title.. Not a good thing! As far as I am concerned, we need to understand the bible on our own! It is nice to read books pertaining to Christianity but anyone can understand the bible if they spend time with it! Yeah, until recently, I was not into reading the bible but as soon as I started to do my devo time with Rita, I was amazed at how much more I understand about God.. I am not saying I understand God completely but I am noticing his hand prints on alot more things.
I found out how important it is for me, as a Christian, to go and read the word. When reading about the whole armour of God, the word is very important because like a soldier, we can't understand what to do in a battle unless we are of knowledge of the goal, vision and beliefs we have.
I now challenge you all to read the bible. Begin with the psalms and do five a day. Pick up a journal and start marking what praises and thanksgiving you find in there. I guarantee you will not need the Bible for Blockheads anymore. Trust in God and Let His Holy Spirit speak to you.
The Holy Spirit is God's gift to us, The Holy Spirit is free!!!! We don't need a visa or mastercard.
So good luck on tha reading folks! I guarantee that God will speak to you in ways you will never know or imagine!
Remember I am praying for you all
God bless
M

A Generous Spirit Works Wonders

The greatest cure for greed is generosity. It is also a satisfying feeling when we give. but most of us feel good when we give away stuff we don't need. Have you ever thought of giving away something you value? Jesus gave His life.... what would be of more value than that?
Good generosity involves giving away something you value.. Your time or possessions are included in this. Paul talked about this when he wrote "be rich in good works and should give generously to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them" (1 Tim 6:18)
What have we done with it? You look at all those programes on tv about giving to third world countries,, most of the time you see superstars on there giving money. It is almost like a publicity stunt. This is not the kinda giving Jesus wants us to give. True giving comes from the heart not from the ego. The heart giving is about compassion, love not about impressing others. We must also give cheerfully.
Is your generosity productive? Remember each time you invest to those in need you are investing God's ressources so invest smartly;)
Remember.. money is like fertilizer, its not much good unless it is spread around
If ya want to be rich-Give..
Look at the life of Jesus, he may not have had a mercedes benz or the latest fad of clothes but he left a big impact on many pples lives he gave everything and taught all to do the same. God will provide and provide He does!
I for one, after worrying about the fact that I took three weeks off of work to do a missions trip now worry no more. I have soo many generous pple around me who have blesed be abundantly with food and money that I am overwhelmed. I love these ppl and I know that they feel a lot more blessed because they are helping the kingdom of God grow on earth.. Their money is the fertilizer that will feed the seed of JEsus on earth!
I gave Jesus three whole weeks of myself and He has given me more than I can ever ask or imagine.
Giving tips
-give the gift of time. It's the gift more valuable than money can buy.
-the generous person always has more than enough, the greedy person never has enough..

So to all of you take this and apply it... giving and not expecting anything in return is the Jesus way! and share your blessings with others...

Remember we are all neighbours... C. S . Lewis I think said it best "Next to the blessed sacrament, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses"
How do you treat holy objects?
God bless
M

"Do Not Quench the Spirit" 1Thes. 5:19

[The voice of the Spirit of God is as gentle as a summer breeze-so gentle that unless you are living in complete fellowship and oneness wiht God, you will never hear it. The sense of warning and restraint that the Spirit gives comes to us in the most amazingly gentle ways. And if you are not sensitive enough to detect His voice, you will quench it, and your spiritual life will be impaired. This sense of restraint will always come as a "still small voice"{1 Kings 19:12} so faint that no one except a saint of God will notice it.
Beware if in sharing your personal testimony you continually have to look back, saying "Once, a number of years ago, I was saved" If you have put your "hand to the plow" and are walking in the light, there is no "looking back" the past is instilled inot the present wonder of fellowship and oneness with God (Lk 9:62 & 1Jn 1:6-7). If you get out of the light, you become a sentimental Christian and live only on your memories and your testimony will have a hard metallic ring to it. Beware of trying to cover up your present refusal to walk in the light by recalling your past experiences when you did "walk in the light" (1Jn 1:7). Whenever the Spirit gives you that sense of restraint, call a halt and make things right, or else you will go on quenching and grieving Him without even knowing it.
Suppose God brings you to a crisis and you almost endure it, but not completely. He will engineer the crisis again, but this time some of the intensity will be lost. You will have less discernment and more humiliation at having disobeyed. If you continue to grieve His Spirit, there will come a time when that crisis cannot be repeated, because you have totally quenched Him. But if you will go on through the crissi, your live will become a hymn of praise to God. Never become attached to anything that continues to hurt God. For you to be free of it, God must be allowed to hurt whatever it may be.] From My Utmost for His highest by Oswald Chambers.
I chose this because it spoke to me and I thought I should share it with you all
blessings
M

AYM '05

Wow what a journey! The last three weeks I have been blessed to learn soo much. Firstly, I was blessed to get to know 11 beautiful pple who are on fire for God and I got to see how each one lives and learn of their faith stories. Secondly, I was blessed to be in a group that accepted me as I am and at such a fast pace. Thirdly, the music we produced together without music was angelic. Wow! the love of the team was amazing! Then there was the kids.... who are soo smart and their love and excitement to listen to the stories in the golden boxes to the wonderful skits we put on to the memory verses...ok.. here we go
Monday: Luke 6:47-48
Tuesday: Matt 18:21-22
Wednesday: Psalm 23
Thursday: Luke 10:27
These are beautiful treasures, or parables that need to be examined more deeply. One of them I am focusing on is Luke 10:27 "Love YaWeH with all your heart, all your soul all your mind and all your strength and love your neighbour as yourself." I am focusing on the last part.. love your neighbour as yourself. This is what Jesus calls us to do. I will be the first to admit that when someone comes through Drive Thru, I will make fun of them if they don't order right. That is what we as Christians are not called to do. We are called to love and treat everyone how we want to be treated. My goal is to be nice to all customers and crew, even when I am getting yelled at. Jesus never said to be nice to only those who will be nice to you, no he said to love everyone even your enemies..to turn your cheak if they slap you and offer the other one. Jesus calls us to this kinda love. But we can only do it with the help of the Holy spirit.
Why this one? well, on my way to work Thursday morning with Rita at the driver's seat, this was our devo for the morning and I felt it was my duty to love my neighbour and I know I have not been doing a good job of that. It is a challenge but who grows without a challenge??? Not me!
As for the whole three weeks, I must say I learned many games, songs and graces but most of all I have to say that the God moments were awesome! like the time we were outside singing on Rita's steps where Jordan had his God moment to the generosity of all to the look on the faces of hte kids wanting to know what was to come out of the gold box, which story? God blessed us abundantly even with Mary Beth... and all our encouraging letters and also the journeys with Pat! And the fact that we each got a lobster dinner for free! Wow, what a treat and some free chicken and pizza. I know I felt that every community just embraced us like the communities that would have embraced the disciples as they travelled in pairs to spread the word.
This brings me to an important point..... yah I am referring to my sermon here.. sorry guys! A christian community is very important because we are in a battle and we need a home base where we learn about our tactics and plans for battle against the evil one! We need it also because of the support. No soldier goes into battle alone! Jesus stressed the importance of community as well. WE need to keep our armour on and keep it shinning and make sure our swords are sharpened for the battle. The devil is always setting ambushes and so we must be on our guards! There is strength in numbers!
well, I will continue this tomorrow night... until then... God bless and keep that sword sharp!
M

Tonite was a neat night! I went to a coffee house at St. Paul's it was really nice they were raising funds for a well in Africa with the YMCA exchange. I wish I could have stayed longer:( Oh well. Work at 6am tomorrow... so need to get some sleep. But before I sign off... I have to say, although I enjoyed a great night, I am saddened. The reason is that Rushan is leaving:( I, like most pple, really were hoping it was not true:(
If I look back at my life, I have come to the conclusion that most of the pple I met have left my life. They are out of the picture, some permanently and others not so much. It is sad but at the same time, I learned much from them:) I just hope and pray that Rushan and I will never loose touch. He has been a special person to me. He has taught me much and he has been a blessing in my life. I know that wherever he goes, he will be a big blessing to the people there as he has been to me:D God sure puts pple in our lives to teach us to help us grow...and than they go off and touch other pples lives. Rushan, you will always have a special place in my heart. I am going to cherish everyday I see you or msn you:)
To all my friends, cherish friendships because you never know how much time you have with them.
Blessings
Melissa

The Journey continues

I am back from an awesome three weeks of eating, sleeping and breathing God and doing his awesome work! Wow, well I am not officially home yet but will be Thursday. I am going to write more than. But for now, it was a ride of a lifetime. God is so awesome and God provides abundantly! I miss you guys already! The light of Jesus shines so brightly inside u all:D I luvs yas and I will write soon
God's peace.. Remember Luke 10:27??????;)
M