Summer is all about swimming--in the rivers, lakes, pools, oceans--bodies of water refresh the body & spirit. There is a waterfall in the landscape of a business by my house. The refreshing sound of the water is so intrigueing that every time I drive by the waterfall, I roll down my window to hear the sound of the rushing water. Water=refreshment.
Ezekiel saw a vision of a river coming from the temple (Ezekiel 47). As the angel took Ezekiel into the water, he was led through the water that was ankle-deep. I have been in the ocean when I have gone in up to my ankle....you don't feel the current; yes, it is refreshing, but you still have control. There are people I know who allow the Lord to take them ankle deep. They have a taste of the Lord; they know the refreshing that comes, but they still want to be in control.
Next, the angel took Ezekiel up to his knees. I have been in the water up to my knees....there is a feel of the current, but if one of the waves (or kids) splash me, I say "don't splash me, I don't want to get my hair wet". So, at the knee-deep place, it is a little more refreshing, but I am still in control. Do you know someone who has gone knee-deep with Jesus? They are stepping into things of the Lord, but they hold up their hands & say to him, "Don't splash me. I don't want to get my hair wet." Oh Lord, would you cause a giant wave to wash over those who are in the current, but not willing to give you their all! Get their hair wet Lord!
Again, the angel led Ezekiel through water that was up to the waist. Now, Ezekiel could feel the pull of the current. I have been there....the current is trying to pull me under. It is hard to keep my balance--the waves move me up & down with the current. This is a good place to be with the Lord. Do you know this place? When the Lord takes you deeper with him & is causing you to move in the Spirit & to be taken places (where the sand is disappearing from under you feet) that you are not sure you are ready to go?! Trust HIM! He will lead you & allow the sand to be shifted under your feet!
Lastly, the angel took Ezekiel deeper into the river: "now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in--a river that no one could cross." (Ez.47:5) To jump into the river--it is so great to take the plunge--to get the hair wet. Then it doesn't matter who is splashing around you. In fact, when you are totally wet, you might join in the fun of splashing! I have noticed that about swimming. If my kids are in the pool, and I want to get in. I don't just go ankle-deep or knee-deep or even waist-deep, but I jump in! Let HIS current carry you & take you where HE wants to go. He won't leave you in the water--all alone, not knowing what to do or where to go. He leads & guides us. He wants us to abandon everything to let Him be the leader....oh Lord, that we would say, "I will jump into the river!"
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
It Started with a Mirror
The following is an article by one of the young women who attend the Metamorphosis Bible Study. The Lord has done an amazing work in Hannah. She has been transformed completely~2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us "the old is gone, the new has come"! Enjoy & be transformed more & more into HIS likeness!
Hooks. They can start out small and may be seemingly nonthreatening, but the second the enemy gets us with the first one - well, that's just it; we're "hooked." Once he gets us with that first one, we can still proceed on out journey with Christ, but there is more resistance and we become easier targets. Then Satan hooks us again...and again, and again, until we are fighting with everything we have to press forward but we are making little progress.
I recently became aware of those hooks in my life and the biggest area it was affecting me was in my mind. The thoughts that continued to go around and around in my head were contradictory to what I knew to be the truth, but I still let them hold me in captivity. I knew they were lies, but I didn't know how to get rid of them.
After a long talk with my mentor and a visual from Judges 4, when Sisera, the army commander who had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for years, was killed when Jael drove a tent peg through his temple, I knew that I needed to drive the "tent peg" through those lies and demolish any and every argument that had set itself up against the knowledge of God because the war that most plagues our lives is the spiritual battle that takes place inside our own heads (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
While meditating on several verses I had been armed with one afternoon, God gave me the idea of a mirror and I knew right away what I was going to do. I bought a large, circular mirror, took it home, and I began painting on those lies - those hooks - where the enemy had taken my mind captive and before I knew it, I had covered the majority of the mirror with black paint.
I knew I wasn't done yet, though, so I grabbed some gray and painted on more words as they came to me. Again, before I knew it, the mirror was covered by yet another layer, so I grabbed my white paint and painted one last layer on top (and probably could have kept going). By the time I was done, I could hardly see myself when I looked in the mirror. It hit me right then that those hooks were not only preventing me from seeing myself the way that God sees me, they were stopping me from seeing God Himself because I was so focused on looking inside at all of my blemishes that it became harder to focus on Him. They were hindering my relationship with God and the truth spoken in the verse at the top.
I wrote down every single one of the hooks as I painted them on because I knew that I needed to find Scripture to counter them, so I spent the next two weeks digging deep into my Bible to pull out the truth. I knew that my ultimate goal would be breaking my mirror, but I didn't just want to break it - I wanted to go through each and every one of those hooks and say something to the effect of, "I know that I am not trapped, stuck, or enslaved because the Lord tells me that I have been rescued, liberated, vindicated, emancipated, and freed!"
When the day finally came for me to break my mirror, I had the support of my mentor who not only let me use her garage to break the mirror, but kept a hand on me and encouraged me the entire time. I picked up the hammer and read through the first hook on my list. I drove the hammer down onto the mirror and...nothing happened. I picked up the hammer again and completely threw my whole body into motion and slammed it down into the mirror. It cracked and glass pieces flew everywhere. It was exciting, it was liberating, and it was powerful.
I knew early on that after I broke my mirror, I wanted to make something new from the pieces to serve as a reminder that who I am in Christ is not who I was before I knew the Lord. Those mindsets were changed, I had been given new life, and I was free to continue this amazing journey with the Lord I have been on for eight months. As I started picking up the pieces of the mirror, the paint on many of the pieces just peeled right off because there was nothing for that paint - those hooks - to hold onto anymore! How fitting is that with what the Lord does in each of us? When He breaks those strongholds in our lives, they are completely broken! His mercy and love wash over each of us as we let Him cleanse us so that we can begin living transformed.
Breaking the strongholds was merely the start - now I have to practice walking out the complete opposite direction so that when Satan tries to hook me again, I can recognize and cast down the thought because I know what the truth is. How do I find the truth? I'll just give word that were given to me by my mentor and have become my prayer on this journey: "Begin to meditate on the truth...that's the only way to walk this out. God's Word has to take root in the rich soil of your heart - where the 'head knowledge' moves into your heart! That is where the difference is seen and lived out!" Hallelujah.
It started with a mirror. It was clouded, it was broken, and it was a mess. With the Lord's help, the pieces were picked up and put together in an entirely new way. It was transformed into a brand new, beautiful, changed piece. My prayer is that we all can "break our mirrors" and let the Lord make us into something much greater than we could have ever imagined.
It Started With a Mirror
By Hannah Reynolds
June 27, 2008
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV)
By Hannah Reynolds
June 27, 2008
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV)
Hooks. They can start out small and may be seemingly nonthreatening, but the second the enemy gets us with the first one - well, that's just it; we're "hooked." Once he gets us with that first one, we can still proceed on out journey with Christ, but there is more resistance and we become easier targets. Then Satan hooks us again...and again, and again, until we are fighting with everything we have to press forward but we are making little progress.
I recently became aware of those hooks in my life and the biggest area it was affecting me was in my mind. The thoughts that continued to go around and around in my head were contradictory to what I knew to be the truth, but I still let them hold me in captivity. I knew they were lies, but I didn't know how to get rid of them.After a long talk with my mentor and a visual from Judges 4, when Sisera, the army commander who had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for years, was killed when Jael drove a tent peg through his temple, I knew that I needed to drive the "tent peg" through those lies and demolish any and every argument that had set itself up against the knowledge of God because the war that most plagues our lives is the spiritual battle that takes place inside our own heads (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
While meditating on several verses I had been armed with one afternoon, God gave me the idea of a mirror and I knew right away what I was going to do. I bought a large, circular mirror, took it home, and I began painting on those lies - those hooks - where the enemy had taken my mind captive and before I knew it, I had covered the majority of the mirror with black paint.
I knew I wasn't done yet, though, so I grabbed some gray and painted on more words as they came to me. Again, before I knew it, the mirror was covered by yet another layer, so I grabbed my white paint and painted one last layer on top (and probably could have kept going). By the time I was done, I could hardly see myself when I looked in the mirror. It hit me right then that those hooks were not only preventing me from seeing myself the way that God sees me, they were stopping me from seeing God Himself because I was so focused on looking inside at all of my blemishes that it became harder to focus on Him. They were hindering my relationship with God and the truth spoken in the verse at the top.I wrote down every single one of the hooks as I painted them on because I knew that I needed to find Scripture to counter them, so I spent the next two weeks digging deep into my Bible to pull out the truth. I knew that my ultimate goal would be breaking my mirror, but I didn't just want to break it - I wanted to go through each and every one of those hooks and say something to the effect of, "I know that I am not trapped, stuck, or enslaved because the Lord tells me that I have been rescued, liberated, vindicated, emancipated, and freed!"
When the day finally came for me to break my mirror, I had the support of my mentor who not only let me use her garage to break the mirror, but kept a hand on me and encouraged me the entire time. I picked up the hammer and read through the first hook on my list. I drove the hammer down onto the mirror and...nothing happened. I picked up the hammer again and completely threw my whole body into motion and slammed it down into the mirror. It cracked and glass pieces flew everywhere. It was exciting, it was liberating, and it was powerful.
I knew early on that after I broke my mirror, I wanted to make something new from the pieces to serve as a reminder that who I am in Christ is not who I was before I knew the Lord. Those mindsets were changed, I had been given new life, and I was free to continue this amazing journey with the Lord I have been on for eight months. As I started picking up the pieces of the mirror, the paint on many of the pieces just peeled right off because there was nothing for that paint - those hooks - to hold onto anymore! How fitting is that with what the Lord does in each of us? When He breaks those strongholds in our lives, they are completely broken! His mercy and love wash over each of us as we let Him cleanse us so that we can begin living transformed.Breaking the strongholds was merely the start - now I have to practice walking out the complete opposite direction so that when Satan tries to hook me again, I can recognize and cast down the thought because I know what the truth is. How do I find the truth? I'll just give word that were given to me by my mentor and have become my prayer on this journey: "Begin to meditate on the truth...that's the only way to walk this out. God's Word has to take root in the rich soil of your heart - where the 'head knowledge' moves into your heart! That is where the difference is seen and lived out!" Hallelujah.
It started with a mirror. It was clouded, it was broken, and it was a mess. With the Lord's help, the pieces were picked up and put together in an entirely new way. It was transformed into a brand new, beautiful, changed piece. My prayer is that we all can "break our mirrors" and let the Lord make us into something much greater than we could have ever imagined.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Ruth - June 23, 2008
Here's last Monday's study about Ruth!
(Just FYI, the next few weeks might not be put up right away, but they will get put up eventually!)
(Just FYI, the next few weeks might not be put up right away, but they will get put up eventually!)
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