Monthly Supporters

Stand in the GAP

Special treat : )


Listen

True Approval

Circumstances in our life may change on a daily basis...some more drastically than others. Just because our life looks completely different does not mean we are not wired the same way. I can often get so wrapped up in the change of my life and change of my routine, that I forget who I was to begin with and who I will always be. There is a fine line. Yes it is very important to go with God's flow and to be flexible to change so that God can grow and mature you. But we must not neglect our core personality. Changing and growing while still remaining true to who God created us to be. He is the Creator and He wired us a certain way for a reason. Nobody can be YOU better than YOU. And if you are not being you, who will? He needs you to be true to you because He will use those core parts of who you are to teach others and He also uses those core things as spiritual gifts for His glory. It takes getting really quiet, unplugging the world and seeking God wholeheartedly to find out and truly know who you are. The chatter-less world. "In repentance and rest is your salvation. In quietness and trust is your strength" Isaiah 30:15
I know for sure that I have always been wired in certain specific ways. I enjoy solitude and quiet time with the Lord. I operate better in small groups or one on one settings, God uses me more fully in these settings. So life get's larger and there are more people around all the time, but I am still who I am. Approved by God Himself to be me, fully unedited me. Having to really know and trust who God says I am is crucial in order to fight off the attacks that come with standing firm in who I am. Just the other night a friend from the ministry had said to be "You know you can do both. You can serve on the love team and the crew team." Sure you CAN do both, does that mean you should? Ask yourself that question. We CAN do a lot of things, pile them all up...does this mean we should? Does this mean God wants us to? Did we even ask Him? When I really stop to ask Him and let His spirit lead, it is amazing how much of the list is cut down to a reasonable size, and the motives behind each task are pure-as they were chosen by God for me to do. My assignments from Him. Quality, not quantity.

Make it your ambition to live quietly and peacefully, to mind your own business (affairs) and to do your own job. 1 Thess. 4:11

I was talking to a dear Cali friend yesterday on the phone and she reminded me, that it was up to me to self-care. It would be easy to just let life take over me and keep adding to everything rather than slowing, stopping or taking away. Believe me there is always an opportunity to add more, so it would be easy to just keep adding more. But then I would be a slave to everything but God. It is up to me. I have to force myself to slow down, no one else can do it for me-and the world does not promote or make this slowing down any easier. The challenge of it, makes the obedience that much greater and the fruit of that, that much sweeter. Don't forget who you are. "Why why do you try to be like the rest of them, when you know there's so much more within." I don't want to fit in, I want to stand out for God. Even if that means I have a target on my back. The more we stand-out the more we move into the line of vision and line of fire for judgement. People get uncomfortable when you do not conform to the patterns of this world. Sometimes they resent your BIG dreams. Don't stop dreaming, don't stop being you, keep shining FULLY! "Sometimes a light is so bright, it is condemning. Don't let that stop you from shining!" Don't dim your light just to please people, shine it bright to please GOD. He has your back, so who can truly be against you? Whoever comes up against you would be coming up against God. No thanks. I don't know about you but I wanna be on God's side.

People-pleasing-this is a miserable way to live. Let me tell you, it is impossible to please everyone. Period. But it is possible to please GOD. In fact, all He wants is your faith and love. This pleases HIM 100% People are so fussy, they change their minds with the wind. One minute they love you the next they hate you, and for no apparent reason. You could literally do everything in your power to please them...trying to be "perfect" in their eyes, and still come up short. Still they may turn on you or change their minds or simply leave you. However God will never leave you or forsake you. Sometimes it is a harsh reality and a tough pill to swallow to realize that not one human being will ever be there for you always or even come close to loving you 100%-in the way that only God can. This does not mean that their intentions are not good, but we are human after all. At any given moment our feelings and our humanness could take over-and for that split second maybe someone needs you, but you are not present bc you are following your feelings rather than following God. God can never be unfaithful to us. Even when we are unfaithful to Him, He is faithful. "If we are faithless, he will remain faithful" 2 Tim. 2:13.

"we are not trying to please men, but God who tests our hearts...God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else." 1 Thess. 2:4-5

Daddy's watching


It is such a weight off of a child's back to know that their Father has their back. Think about when you were little and you would act out just to see if your parents were watching, if they cared, if they loved you. You would push the boundaries and limits to see where the boundaries and limits were set. You wanted to see if your dad was paying attention, was present in your life and cared deeply for you. You would rebel and act out-maybe coloring on the wall in crayon or permanent marker. The Father that cares for you would come and discipline and train and teach you in the right ways, in the good ways. He would show you right from wrong. He would also love you enough to say no. He would love you enough to speak truth to you even when He knew you might not like him for it. That is true love. How much more does your heavenly Father love you? We act out sometimes to see if anyone is watching, if anyone cares, if anyone will rescue us. Time and time again, God our Father proves that not only is He always watching, always present, always cares, but that He ALWAYS has your back. He has your best interest at heart always.

Have you ever pushed yourself so hard that you broke-down? When I was little I would over-do things, not knowing that it was too much or too late for me. But my good parents knew better than I did, and they showed me the good way. They cared for me enough to say slow down Mal, we are watching, we care, we love you. I have been doing this lately, not on purpose, but subconsciously. I've been pushing passed 100% it's like I went from zero to sixty in no time. Well maybe I was checking to see if God was watching, if he cared, if He was still there even in the silence and the testing. The Teacher is silent during the test. Well He was there the whole time alright, and He surely cares for me more than any earthly parent possibly could. He told me last night to slow down. He wants me to put my health first, and although I am doing good things for Him and to further His kingdom He does not want me to do it ALL. No human could. It is okay to say no. No. It is a complete sentence in fact. He told me that it actually takes more courage and self-love to say no, than to run around and DO everything for everyone.

It was as if He came down from the heavens last night and ever so gently and lovingly whispered in my ear, "I am watching, I care, it's too much baby girl. Daddy loves you and He wants you to rest a bit." He told me "I would rather you say no than to be hurting, tired and in pain Malorie." I could hear His voice so clearly. It was amazing. I started crying as I heard Him speaking this to me, because I realized how much He really does love me. So much that He had to put me in pain, slow me down, stop me just so He could tell me how much He loves me. Pain is a megaphone. We listen more clearly...we even listen at all when we are in pain.

"The eyes of the Lord are in every place." Proverbs 15:3 and nothing escapes His attention, including you and me.

You know how when you have an issue in life, and you want to go to your closest friend to talk it out? Because you not only trust this friend but you know that they know almost everything about you, so they will have the most informed and loving response. If you went to a newer friend, you might have to take a big chunk of time just back-tracking and explaining your heart to them and your life story. They would need to context in order to give you the best advice or even to just fully understand where you are coming from. So we gravitate toward the people that know us best and love us best. How much more does God know you and love you? More than anyone ever could, more than you know yourself.
"When we ask Him for help, God's response is always informed by His perfect knowledge of us and our circumstance. Let's trust Him with everything! His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me"...because He loves me.

Shout out

Just have to say, WOW!!! God is loving me sooo much right now through my GRANDPARENTS, my PARENTS and my ROOMMATE!!! Thank you God for providing and loving me unconditionally through these amazing people in my life! You bless me through them daily!!! I pray that God pours abundant blessings into their lives as He has poured into my life through! He is so faithful and His timing is perfect. Just got my care package from Cali in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa...couldn't have been better timing. I was in the desert for sure! So much to be thankful for. I will praise Him in the desert and in the storm!

Thorn


Pride is not just "better than" it's also "less than"...either way our eyes are fixed on ourselves rather than on God.

So do not make any premature judgments...for He will both bring to light the secret things that are now hidden in darkness and disclose and expose the secret aims (motives and purposes) of hearts. Then every man will receive his due commendation from God 1 Corinthians 4:5. We do not rival the apostles in our accomplishments for God, but we all have things we do for Him. It’s then that we must be “glory deflectors,” making sure God gets all the glory for everything we have done.


I always thought that pride was just being overly confident and cocky, but there is a flip side to the coin of pride and ego. Struggling with self-image and self-love, always fighting the "you're not good enough" voices in my head, is just as prideful. It come in the form of feeling less than too. Humility is being right sized, seeing ourselves through God's eyes. If we are constantly beating ourselves up, feeling "not good enough" and unworthy or less than, we are still focusing on ourselves and comparing to others. We don't see that by feeling less than we are actually practicing pride in our hearts. Caring about ourselves more than we care for others-whether by means of feeling better than others or less than others.
"We care for ourselves so much that when we don’t measure up to either our own expectations or those of others, we can become very unhappy with others and even angry with ourselves. What we sometimes miss, however, is that the only reason we are dissatisfied with our appearance or discouraged by our failures is that we naturally care about ourselves. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t care what we looked like. We wouldn’t care whatothers thought of us. We wouldn’t care time with the image we see in the mirror. If we didn’t already love ourselves, we wouldn’t care whether or not we felt good about ourselves."

We're not, putting ourselves in a league with those who boast that they're our superiors. We wouldn't dare do that. But in all this comparing and grading and competing, they miss the point....We're not barging in on the rightful work of others, interfering with their ministries, demanding a place in the sun with them. What we're hoping for is that as your lives grow in faith, you'll play a part within our expanding work. And we'll all still be within the limits God sets as we proclaim the Message in countries beyond...But we have no intention of moving in on what others have done and taking credit for it. "If you want to claim credit, claim it for God." What you say about yourself means nothing in God's work. It's what God says about you that makes the difference. 2 Corinthians 10:12,18


Not that we have the audacity to even compare ourselves with some who exalt and create testimonials for themselves! However, when they measure themselves with themselves and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding and behave unwisely. We, on the other hand, will not boast beyond our legitimate province, but will keep within the limits [of our commission which] God has allotted us as our measuring line...For we are not overstepping the limits of our province and stretching beyond our ability to reach...We do not boast therefore, beyond our proper limit, over other men's labors, but we have the hope and confident expectation that as your faith continues to grow, our field among you may be greatly enlarged, still within the limits of our commission, So that [we may even] preach in lands [lying] beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another [man's] sphere. However, let him who boasts and glories boast and glory in the Lord. For [it is] not [the man] who praises and commends himself who is approved and accepted, but it is the person whom the Lord accredits and commends. 2 Corinthians 10:12-18

Hoarding

If we are not starving and thirsting for more of God all the time, then that means we are getting more of something else. We will never ever ever be satisfied with the things here on Earth. Our hearts will never truly be at rest away from the One who created them. So if we are not constantly filling up on God then we are surely filling up on something else...the only problem is, that "something else" will never be enough. He created us to constantly want and need more of Him, nothing else fills the God-shaped hole. Will we spend our whole life making our careers more important than love and relationships? Many people spend half their life trying to get their career in order that they have completely neglected relationships. Self-seeking rather than loving selflessly. It is more blessed to give than to receive. It's lonely on a pedestal- at the top all alone. God wants us to put our relationship with HIM first. To focus more on relationship with Him than on anything else, work included. That is where the abundance and blessings pour out infinitely more than anything we could earn by our own hands. God is the bread of life and the living water-you will never run thirsty or dry. You shall not want-as He will meet all your needs and more by His faithful provision.

Some of us have barns full of stuff-money that we could bless someone else with. Hoarding this stuff, and for what? Maybe if it's not barns full of money for you, it's barns full of time. Yet we spend our time-hoard our time on television, facebook or obsessing about our problems. Never keeping our eyes fixed outwards and upwards to God and others. Do we have barns full of talent that we are hoarding and not sharing with others? Are we rich in earthly things but not rich in love? Luke 12:21.

I am learning to hold so loosely to the gifts that God gives me-whether it is talent or actual monetary gifts. They are not MINE, I do not own them...they are the Lord's gifts on loan to me. He wants us to hold loosely to these gifts because sometimes He gives them to us just so that we can give them away to others. Not hoard them for ourselves. If we keep them and hold tightly to them, He will not be able to give us more. He wants an abundance for His children, so He gives so that we may give and then He can fill us again. The other day a women took me to lunch right after she had given me a wad of cash for groceries. The Lord had put it on her heart to bless me for the Kingdom work I have been doing. We ate lunch and had an amazing time together-talking for over three hours. I took the cash out of my purse and insisted on paying for lunch, with the cash she had just given me. I still had money left-over for groceries. She hesitated in letting me pay, but I knew this was exactly what God wanted from me. The motives of my heart were pure, He saw that I was holding loosely to the gift He had just given me. It was not MY money after all, it was the Lord's. So I gave it right back to Him, which is where it belongs. By doing this the Lord poured even more blessing and favor on me. An abundance. I pray to always hold loosely to whatever God has given me, because it came from him and He entrusted it to me for a short time, only to be able to give that away to someone in need. "You can't keep it unless you give it away."

Exercise for the soul...

Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. 1 Sam. 16:7

How we look on the outside is not nearly as important as how we look on the inside. God looks at the heart. "I want to be beautiful, make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart and be amazed." How much are we willing to sacrifice to have a beautiful character? First exercise our spirit and soul then our bodies. If we will keep coming back to God for spiritual character enhancement, He will "inject us with the kind of loving gentleness, merciful patience, unselfish kindness and unity of spirit that will beautify our lives." Don't look in the mirror for your self-worth, look in the Bible-injecting ourselves with character building verses and with the Truth about how beautiful God see's our hearts. If we strive to be better inwardly as much as we did outwardly, think of how much God could transform our hearts into something more beautiful. "Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised and honored." Proverbs 31:30 That is beauty that won't fade, character is the everlasting beauty from within. The times that I truly feel beautiful are when my heart is I am imitating God's character, reflecting His glory-not my own. When I am walking like Him and loving like Him, I get a glimpse of Him at work within me. I am a carrier of His presence, the beauty is in me. It is when I release that beauty to others by treating them the way He would treat them, that I truly feel beautiful. He is the good in me, Jesus is the only good part of me, every good part there is comes from Him. When I let Him shine in me- then I am fulfilled and feel beautiful. I heard someone once say, "we get our self-worth, not by how we are treated, but how we treat others."


"Put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self; created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." 22-24