INSPIRED WORD

April 11, 2007

SHARING / SCRIPTURE

Today at Bible Study at work, the leader Dave, was talking about one of the Scriptures in

1 John 1:5-7: “This is the message that we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth; but if we walk in the light as He is the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.” Dave was giving us a science lesson and basically if we look into the night sky and see the moon, actually the light of the moon is the reflection of the sun in the sky. We are called to be moons – meaning we are called to be reflections of God's Son-light to the world. Again as Scripture says, “But if we walk in the light as He is the light, we have fellowship with one another.” The fellowship is not just us as a body of believers, but also like in the story of the Good Samaritan, in bringing God's light to even our enemies, and doing God's will. Basically when they are talking about God's light in helping us, it is staying in God's word and coming together in unity with one another and keeping in relationship with Him.

PRAYER

Lord, we just ask You to pour out Your gift of Inspired Scripture upon us and touch our hearts. Lets ask Him from our own hearts for that gift, not only for ourselves, but also for our brothers and sisters. O God, give us that gift; You tell us to earnestly desire them, so we are here tonight to ask for that gift of Inspired Scripture.

SCRIPTURE

........as we bow down and worship God, we do come more into His glory. In 2 Corinthians 3:17-18: it says: “Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. All of us, gazing with unveiled faces on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.”

SHARING / EXHORTATION

I was recalling my childhood as a little girl of about four years old. I told my Dad (a big burly want-to-be cowboy-type of guy) that I was sad and he said, “Honey, the joy of the Lord is your strength.” He put on some Praise and Worship music and turned up the volume. He taught me at a very young age how to dance before the Lord with gladness and joy. As we were singing that last song, I was reminded of that time of my life. This week has really been crazy and I am really tired and worn out; I really don't want to rejoice; I really don't want to be glad, but then the Lord said to me, “Ruth if I loved you enough to die for you and to be the One Who lifts you up, I want a dancing buddy and I want you to get up and dance.” So everyone just stand up for me. If your shoes are not comfortable, just take them off. God is an awesome God and worthy to be praised and honored. God was not afraid to get undignified; David was not afraid to get undignified, so we should also not be afraid to get undignified. So lets go; lets praise Him with all of our might!!

SCRIPTURE

Psalm 149:1-6: Sing to the Lord a new song, a hymn in the assembly of the faithful. Let Israel be glad in their Maker, the people of Zion rejoice in their King. Let them praise His Name in festive dance, make music with tamborine and lyre. For the Lord takes delight in His people, and honors the poor with victory. Let the faithful rejoice in their glory, cry out for joy at their banquet, with the praise of God in their mounths, and a two-edged sword in their hands.

PRAYER

Lord, we asked You to release the gift of Inspired Scripture and that gift is here in this place. Lord, we now ask you to release the gift of Inspired Image. So bring images to mind, O God, that You want to be shared in this place tonight.

IMAGE

As I was holding my hands out and swaying my body (I call that dancing..) I saw a vision of our Lord dressed in white. I couldn't see His face very well, but I could see His hands which He had stretched out and He was swaying and dancing in the same motion, of course He allowed me to be the lead. It is beautiful – try to imagine the white robe of Jesus swaying in motion.

SENSE ?????

After we were done singing that song, I had a few words pop into my head and they were:

I have put a new spirit within you.

IMAGE

I kept having an image of one of those waterfall statues. It was a vase sitting on its side with water pouring out into the pond below. But there is that recirculating pump so it never runs dry. It is constantly pouring and pouring. It actually felt like the Lord just wants that to happen in our lives; He wants to be the pump that allows His grace to constantly flow and circulate within us so that we can be the vessel that receives that grace and also the jar that it is pouring out of for the world.

IMAGE

Along with Mark's image of Jesus dressed in white and Cece's image of the vase with the water pouring out, I had an image too of Jesus of Divine Mercy dressed in white with the ray of blood and the ray of water. The prayer that came to mind was: O Blood and Water which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a Fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You!” And the other thing – when you were talking about being a child, today we bring the meek and humble souls and the souls of little children to Jesus in the Divine Mercy Novena.

SHARING / SENSE / EXHORTATION

The Lord just reminded me of something that happened a long time ago. My grandmother was a Pentecostal and I remember going to Tent Revival with her one summer. I was about seven years old. They had an altar call with all of the music and everything. The pastor was saying, “If you want to know the Lord in a deeper way, if you want to be renewed, if you want to give your heart to Him more, if you want to turn over your soul to Him, you can. Just come up and get prayer. I raised up my hand; others were actually going up the aisle, but I just raised my hand. One of the ushers came over and talked to me. I said, “I want to do that, but I am just a litte kid, is that for me too?” He looked right at me and said, “It is especially for you!” He then walked up the aisle with me. I feel the Lord saying that tonight - that if you want renewal; if you want to give more of your heart than you already have, if you want to just know Him in a deeper way, then it is especially for you. There is no reason to hold back; there is no reason to wait until you are in a better place or until things are right. I think the Lord is saying, “It is especially for you!” I think He is calling us to a renewal and a deepening of the heart.

CONFIRMATION

I have been out of town for two weeks and as I was coming back, the first thing I see and I know that I am home is the mountains. Everytime we have family visiting, they just can't resist asking the question: “Do you ever get tired of the mountains?” Have you all been asked that? I have got to say, “No way!” They are always different, they are always new, they are always a promise, they are always exciting and revealing to me.” All night long this has been a message to me – we are getting ready to invite people to the Life in the Spirit Seminar. Does it every get old? It is always new and who better to invite someone than someone who is already in love with it? Who better to show them the mountains than those of us who live here and see them and appreciate them? Who better to invite someone to the Life in the Spirit Seminar than people who are already alive and can show enthusiasm? So come and be renewed! I absolutely confirm Laura's words.

CONFIRMATION

I want to confirm that again. In order for us to be able to give what God wants us to give to the people in the Life in the Spirit Seminar, we ourselves need to have our hearts ready to go. We ourselves need to have the fire, the passion and the zeal. I just found myself praying, “God, I want more of You, I want more of that. I want more of what I got when I received Your Holy Spirit in Baptism.

PRAYER

Lord, we told You we want to give our hearts to You, but, Lord, we are also asking for renewal for the face of the earth. Lord, one way to accomplish that is with our Life in the Spirit Seminar. We pray right now for all those who will be attending the seminar. We pray right now that You will start moving hearts, that the invitations people will receive will touch them and that they will come; that when people personally invite someone, that You will touch their hearts. Then that seed will be planted. Lord, when they hear the message from the pulpit, we pray that you will work in them and move something in them and cause them to want more of You. We also pray for everyone here, everyone who will be part of the Life in the Spirit Seminar, the team that is working so hard to put it together, that Your graces will be over them and that it will be just as You want it. We thank You in advance, Lord, for what is going to happen during this seminar; we thank You for the renewal You have given us tonight. Plant Your desires deep within us, for we truly do want to renew the face of the earth. Amen.

SCRIPTURE

Ephesians 3:17-19: May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, and may charity be the root and foundation of your life. Thus you will be able to grasp fully, with all the holy ones, the breadth, and length and height and depth of Christ's love, and experience this love which surpasses all knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God Himself.

EXHORTATION

He protects us and nothing can harm us; we just have to keep the faith! That is all we have to do!