Shabbat Shalom

May His glory rest on you as you rest in Him this Shabbat...


Art used by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. To order prints visit her "Revelation Illustrated" site, http://revelationillustrated.com/.

Lately my prayer time has changed dramatically. I have a new hunger to know God and to experience Him in a way that I can't seem to obtain. It's as if there is an invisible ceiling I can't seem to get through. I am always thinking about the Law and the Spirit.

Psalm 119:34 has been a daily prayer of mine,
"Give me understanding and I shall keep the law with all my heart."

I know the law is LOVE...
Love God and love people, Dt 6:4-5 and Lev 19:18. I know the law is to be upon my heart. I understand all of this in my head yet I find myself fighting to do it every day. I pray as our pastor does regularly that He teach us to love.

I am learning and growing everyday and looking back I can see the work that has been done. Thank God for what He has finished! There is soo much more that needs to be done. I know that the work He has began in me will be brought to completion (Phil 1:6).

I can't do this He has to with the fullness of Spirit. I am little in strength.

I don't know if this year's Pentacost will mark me will an infilling and baptism of Spirit. I can't bear to focus on that today. I must admit it's because I don't want to be disappointed if it doesn't happen this year. I sooth myself by asking and answering these questions...

Ques- "Do I trust God to do all things in His perfect time?"
Ans- "Yes!"
Ques- "If He doens't ever decide to fill me with all of His Spirit will I turn back?"
Ans- "NO!"
Ques- "Tomorrow after tomorrow will I still choose Him?"
Ans- "Yes!"
Ques- "Why?"
Ans- "because He alone is YHWH!"

This year I am going to focus my fast on being holy as He is holy...

For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am holy.
Lev 11:44

After He uttered the Law to Israel He told them His desire was to make them His own...

'Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'
Ex 19:5-6

I am asking Him to set me apart for holiness everyday. I am choosing to be set apart. As I prepare for this year' fast I will ask how I can I be set apart and holy? I will try to replace the common unholy things of my life with His Law. I will look for opportunities to love Him and His people.

I stand in my own way, there is no invisible ceiling, only myself. My common unholy ways are disguised as an invisible ceiling. Jesus made the way and removed the barriers. I need to press in to Him with or without a fullness of Spirit so that His prayer to the Father may be answered in me...

that they may all be one; even as You, Father, {are} in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, John 17:21

I now understand why the desert experience is essential to growth before the promise land. There is nothing to turn to in the desert but the Great Shepherd alone. The focus is on Him and provision from His hand is the only thing that sustains life. We don't live in the desert, our lives are full of all the world has to offer and we lose sight of Him. Can we live in the world and yet live the lives of those who are in the desert? I aim to try! I am preparing for a desert walk. Anyone want to come along?

Whatcha Buildin?

According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15

Where some may see a serious warning, do you see a glorious gospel? I'm not talking about the Gospel, the Good News of salvation through Christ, but the good news of the life that is promised beyond salvation...

There's more folks. There's meaning in what we do now, and in what we choose to build with. Are you building with wood, hay, straw? That is, are you building with natural, temporal things like your own will and personal strength? Then I suppose this ought to be a passage of warning. But if you are dying daily for the sake of your treasure, Who is in heaven... that is, if you are building with Faith, Hope, and most of all, Love (by which we lay down our lives)... If you are building with eternal materials, then like Job, you can look forward with confidence, saying...

"Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God" Job 19:26

What is that greatest treasure? The very presence of God. Pursue Him with all your heart, little echo. Great is your reward in heaven... His Face, and in His Hand you will be a crown of beauty...
You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, And a royal diadem in the hand of your God. Isaiah 62:3

Shabbat Shalom, little bride...

Beholding Beauty (Echo Women's Retreat 2009)

One thing I ask of the LORD, that I may seek; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD... Ps 27:4

One thing... Oh Father, may You be the only One I seek, may my desire and delight be found in You first and only.

I ask... Oh Father, I know that this can only come from You... increase my hunger for You, draw me close to You, turn me that I may turn.

Dwell in the house... Oh Father, may I be Your house, Your dwelling place, a place for Your light and Your glory to rest, and a place of shalom and beauty for Your people.

All the days of my life... Oh Father, I now know that I need not wait for some far-off day and time, I can pursue Your presence NOW, and so I do, with all my heart (that is, all that I can give right now! Oh, help me to give You more!)

To behold the beauty of the LORD... To see (behold) and to declare (BEHOLD!) and to be (be holding) Your beauty, in the world, and among my precious brothers... and my sweet, sweet sisters...

Wait for it...

Ever get dry? Is the water ever scarce and bitter? Ever start to doubt your path a little bit, wondering if you should go back to where you were before, where at least you weren't starving in the desert? Ever wonder, "Is God with me or not?"

Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters. Exodus 15:27

Just beyond Meribah, where the Israelites tested the LORD, grumbling about the water... just beyond the place of scarcity and bitterness was a place of abundance and fruitfulness.

Next time we're tempted to grumble, dearest family... let's look up and look ahead... let's remember that He has a TOV KASHAV... a GOOD PLAN, not just for us and our individual little lives, but for the whole Body. Let's remember WHY we are not to be grumblers...

Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life... Philippians 2:14-16

Let's stand out, showing those in the darkness what extravagant love is... and one way we do this is by refraining from complaining. Complaining is speaking death... let's not do that, okay? Instead, let's speak life to those around us, and let's speak life ALL the time, especially within the Body of Christ.

So what if the water is bitter right now... there is hope... Elim is just ahead... The question isn't, "Is God with me or not?" but rather, "Do I trust Him or don't I?"

Rest in His peace, Echo... that is, Shabbat Shalom!