O Praise Him!!
What an amazing and unfailing God we live for...His compassion never fails and He TRULY rewards obedience. I cannot stress that Truth enough tonight- I am absolutely taken by Him! What security and fulfillment...contentment and fullness, MY CUP OVERFLOWETH! GOD REVEALS HIMSELF IN AMAZING WAYS:
"They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them SINGLENESS of HEART and ACTION, so that they will always fear me for their own good. I will never stop doing good to them and I will INSPIRE them to fear Me, so that they will never turn away from Me. I will REJOICE in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land will ALL My heart and soul." Jeremiah 32
That is obviously powerful without me going into what He revealed to me through His words...but I will share anyway :)
Six Truths were exposed:
1. We are His treasured possession...I want Him to be the One Possession and the One Possessor of my life- We are His people, children, delight. His purpose is in us, just as ours is in Him
2. He desires and promises to give us the ability to have wholehearted devotion to Him if we are only WILLING.
3. He is above us, His ways, His thoughts (Isaiah 64)-for our OWN good we need to seek His will, for His will is, "good, perfect and pleasing."
4. He blesses the obedient.
5. He LONGS to INSPIRE us to follow and seek Him, not by force, but by INSPIRATION He wants to reveal and demonstrate His love and POWER!!!!!!!!!!!
6. Land in the OT represented prosperity, and security- with all of His heart, (yes, the heart of the Creator of the universe is HUGE and with 100% of it, )He wants to make us SECURE- somewhere in psalms it says. "I have assigned their portion and their cup, i have made their lot secure!" He DELIGHTS IN FULFILLING US!
What a Maker, Lover, Creator, Comforter, we have in Him!!! All things are in One. Sanctify us Lord, I want to fall deeper Lord every moment of each day- I am here, have Your way in me!!
Head over Heels, Kate

JC is beautiful
I write poetry frequently...to process, to illistrate, to express- and i felt led to share one of my most recent ones..its more of a prose piece than a poem ...

The Great Unraveling

You’ve left a Legacy of Love
Ingrained delicately in the core of who I am
For that, my eternal gratitude is insufficient.
All true beginnings begin with You.
I didn’t even know I could breathe this deeply
Your waves of grace gently lap my soul
An undeserving gift wrapped in Your affections
Each day You present me with the opportunity to gaze upon Your beauty
And it takes me in
You take me in-

You’ve changed the architecture of my being,
The framework uprooted with just one glance
And yet, it was A Great Unraveling
A profound ruining of a lost and desperate soul
Like the ink upon the pages of life,
You’ve scripted the perfect Romance
You’ve provided daily, the assurance of Your lasting love,
In this I’ve experienced liberation;
I am alive in Your freedom

And it takes me in
You take me in-

Bring me to a single-minded, whole-hearted devotion,
For Your majesty marks that of a King
Yet You delight in me as Your Bride
My eyes unveiled, a light so soft cascades, revealing Your
Extravagant love
And I am drawn, moved by Your intoxicating presence
The aisle, a path to take me to my Lover,
Your very gaze pierces my Spirit, I am wooed by Your Intimate touch.
A quiet pull brings me to passionately embrace my Maker, and we
Become One, I am Yours

And You take me in.

I am empty without You Lord
C.S. Lewis was a great man...he was able to take profound simplicities and convey such Truth, reveal His way and better understand the state humans are in...I've been reading one of his books off and on..and he says several enlightening things.."The human spirit will not even begin to try to surrender self-will as long as all seems to be well with it...we will not seek it in Him as long as Heleaves us any other resort where it can even plausibly be looked for. While what we call our "own life" remains agreeable, we will not surrender it to Him. What then can God do in our interests but make our "own life" less agreeable to us, and take away the plausible source of FALSE HAPPINESS?"
Isn't that so true? Can it really be called offering up "our own" when it is no longer worth keeping? He is better, sweeter, fuller than anyone, anything. I want to grasp this Truth EVERY moment...i don't want to be under the illusions of false happiness and fraudulent attachments- that is what the Ememy wants..for us to settle. LET US NOT SETTLE! St. Augustine, another God-filled man, has enlightened my heart, my Spirit with his words,
"God wants to give us something, but cannot because our hands are full-there is no where for Him to put it." What are my hands full with? Lord, help me to release them so that you may come and SATISFY with Your unfailing love! Majestic God, Holy Father, Best Friend, stir the hearts of my brothers and sisters, give us willing and obedient Spirits!

Too Good to me
He has been whispering "sweet nothings" to me like the waves of an ocean lap the shore; unceasing and soft...or it could be that i am actually, "tuning in". My flesh has been rearing its ugly head lately...and i have been allowing Satan to impart his lies that I am controlled by this sin...but my Redeemer has reminded me that I am a "slave to righteousness". I just did a little reading in my fav. book of the last few months, Isaiah. The title of this chapter is "Isreal the chosen." It's an intentionally ironic title b/c the chapter talks of the idolatry of the Isrealites. The message behind the irony? I think it is to convey that we, as His children, His chosen, are desired, longed for and fought for. Yet, we spend our entire lives seeking someone or something that will chose us, make us feel wanted, needed and fulfilled. He brought me to 1 Thes. where it says, "For WE KNOW that GOd has CHOSEN YOU." This purpose seems to be confirmed in a later verse which says, "I Am the first and the last" He spoke to me today when i read this...like a wind hits with such force that it burns, so this made my heart burn in excitement, in realization and in conviction. "Kate, I AM the beginning and the end of all you are, of all you will become, of all you disire. I am the FIRST you need to come to seek satisfaction and the last place you will ever need to go because, YOU WILL BE SATISFIED BY ME." Then His word came to life again; "for I WILL pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground." I don't want to shape idols any longer. I know He is the only Rock, all else is shifting sand...and i want to build my house on this Rock...I want to end my worthless pursuits and pursue WHOLE-HEARTEDLY the One who remains. Over the last few weeks, i've been asking Him what it means, how it looks to live the "abundant life"...and yesterday, while praising Him, He said, .."Kate, before you experience the abundant life, you need to be willing to give up that with which i ask you to..." If i really knew just how much He loves me, I would always be willing o receive anything from His hand. Mark 8:34 says, "If anyone would come after Me, He MUST deny himself ..." This is not a suggestion, but a requirement. I need to deny my flesh, my selfish, dissatisfying desires, and all that which keeps me from experiencing Him...THEN i can truly follow Him, THEN i can experience that ABUNDANT life! Another lesson i've learned; there are no choices, no decisions, without concequences...what i FEED in my life becomes what I crave. It's quite an obviouse concept, but i seem to need to learn things, ALL things, through experience.
If anyone is reading this, please e-mail me your prayer requests, and praises...GOD is so Great and it is an amazing thing to be in this Body and to carry one another...our prayers are weak but our God is so strong....and He truly does hear them! Anyway, the e-mail is KatesCaptivated@hotmail.com. May the God of our lives fill you with a peace and joy in knowing Who He is- may His unfailing love flood over you!
Falling in love, Kate