No Schism In The Body. Make Us One.

(25)...there should be no schism (division, separation, discord, disharmony) in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. (26) And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
-- 1 Corinthians 12:25-26 (NKJV)

Click here: Phil Driscoll - Make Us One - YouTube

Make Us One Heart. Make Us One Mind.
Make Us One. Let Your Will Be Done!
Grateful

What God Is Tired Of

You have abandoned me and turned your back on me,” says the Lord. “Therefore, I will raise my fist to destroy you. I am tired of always giving you another chance.
-- Jeremiah 15:6 (NLT)

I am tired of showing mercy.
-- Jeremiah 15:6 (CEV)

Father God, You gave Your one and only Son to die for us. We want to be made willing to live for You. Please, Holy Spirit, help us to be wholehearted God-worshippers and dye-in-the-wool despisers of sin. Jesus, we want to obey Your words, yes, Your spoken desires, when after defending the woman caught in adultery, in love You said to her, "Go and sin no more." Amen.

(1) Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, (2) but early the next morning He was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and He sat down and taught them. (3) As He was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. (4) “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. (5) The law of Moses says to stone her. What do You say?” (6) They were trying to trap Him into saying something they could use against Him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with His finger. (7) They kept demanding an answer, so He stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” (8) Then He stooped down again and wrote in the dust. (9) When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. (10) Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” (11) “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
-- John 8:1-11 (NLT)

Holiness Unto The LORD!
Grateful

Apostles. Fools. This World's Garbage.

(9b) ...apostles, like people condemned to die in public as a spectacle for the whole world of angels and of human beings. (10) For Christ's sake we are fools... we are weak... we are despised... (11) To this very moment we go hungry and thirsty; we are clothed in rags; we are beaten; we wander from place to place; (12) we wear ourselves out with hard work. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; (13) when we are insulted, we answer back with kind words. We are no more than this world's garbage; we are the scum of the earth to this very moment!
-- From 1 Corinthians 4:9-13 (GNT)

In Faith! By Faith! (Hebrews 11)
Grateful

One Heart, One Purpose, To Worship

And I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship Me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants.
-- Jeremiah 32:39(NLT)

In Unity!
Grateful

Why We Are Not Afraid

In the past seven days, we have experienced lightning strikes, earthquakes, and now a hurricane. These verses from The Psalmist hold my heart strong:

(1) God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in times of trouble.
(2) That is why we are not afraid
even when the earth quakes
or the mountains topple into the depths of the sea.
(3) Water roars and foams,
and mountains shake at the surging waves.
Selah
-- Psalm 46:1-3 (GWT)

Deo Volente (whatever God wants),
Grateful

Sorrows And Joys

As the earth needs the clouds and sunshine,
Our souls need both sorrows and joys;
So God places us often in the fire,
The dross from the gold, He destroys.
-- Mrs. Charles Cowman, paraphrased

Deo Volente (whatever God wants),
Grateful

Calvary For Him, Community For Us

In Gethsemane, Christ said "Yes" to dying alone on Calvary. Now we can choose life together in community.

Click: You Are My King (Amazing Love) - Newsboys - YouTube

Deo Volente (whatever God wants),
Grateful

God Did Not Abandon Us!

For we were slaves, but in His unfailing love our God did not abandon us in our slavery.
-- Ezra 9:9 (GNT)

Yesterday, we had a 5.9 registered earthquake in Virginia that was felt across the east coast of the USA. It's the most powerful earthquake in these parts in over 100 years. While it was a time of helpless uncertainty for humanity here, we escaped with no loss of life and little damage. Could such a timely tremor be tied to God's immediate nudgings, so we will turn totally to Him to avoid His ultimate judgings?

Hurricane Irene is also headed towards the east coast of the USA with landfall expected Saturday. We need You, God! We want You, God! We love You, God! Because in Your unfailing Love, You first Loved us. In Jesus' Name, You will not abandon us. Give us hearts abandoned totally to You. Amen.

Holiness Unto the LORD!
Grateful

Praying Partners

Hezekiah the king and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed and cried to Heaven.
-- 2 Chronicles 32:22 (AMP)

Let us pray... together.
Grateful

Bubbling Over With Hope

May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope.
-- Romans 15:13 (AMP)

Raise His Praise!
Grateful

He Heard Our Prayer

(21) And there by the Ahava Canal, I gave orders for all of us to fast and humble ourselves before our God. We prayed that He would give us a safe journey and protect us, our children, and our goods as we traveled. (22) For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to accompany us and protect us from enemies along the way. After all, we had told the king, “Our God’s hand of protection is on all who worship Him, but His fierce anger rages against those who abandon Him.” (23) So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and He heard our prayer.
-- Ezra 8:21-23 (GNT)

Holiness Unto The LORD!
Grateful

Cursed Or Blessed?

Wisdom from the Lord

(5) This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,
who rely on human strength
and turn their hearts away from the Lord.
(6) They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,
with no hope for the future.
They will live in the barren wilderness,
in an uninhabited salty land.
(7) “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
(8) They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit.
-- Jeremiah 17:5-8 (NLT)

Holiness Unto The LORD!
Grateful

Truly Healed, Truly Saved

O Lord, if You heal me, I will be truly healed;
If You save me, I will be truly saved.
My praises are for You alone!
-- Jeremiah 17:4 (NLT)

Holiness Unto The LORD!
Grateful

Let Us Pray... Aloud!

They prayed aloud to the Lord their God.
-- From Nehemiah 9:4 (GNT)

Have we prayed aloud to the Lord, our God, lately?
We could pray aloud to the Lord, our God, now.
Let Us Pray... ALOUD!
Grateful

Idols or The One God?

...we know that an idol stands for something that does not really exist; we know that there is only the one God.
-- From 1 Corinthians 8:4 (GNT)

Holiness Unto The LORD!
Grateful

My Stupidity

In my native eastern North Carolina home, there's "a kicking machine" alongside Highway 70. Yes, when I was a boy, my Grandaddy Gray explained to me how it worked. You would deposit a quarter in the machine, stand yourself on the "X", bend yourself over, and a mechanical boot would kick you square in the seat of the pants.

Reading Jeremiah's words I am reminded of that unusual contraption:

I turned away from God, but then I was sorry. I kicked myself for my stupidity! I was thoroughly ashamed of all I did in my younger days.
-- Jeremiah 31:19 (NLT)

I will ever love and trust Him. In His presence daily live.
Grateful

Give. Free To Give Themselves. The Tithe.

(4) He commanded the people living in Jerusalem to give the portion due the priests and Levites, that they might be free to give themselves to the Law of the Lord. (5) As soon as the command went abroad, the Israelites gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, vintage fruit, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.
-- 2 Chronicles 31:4-5 (AMP)

Holiness Unto The LORD!
Grateful

Puffed Up or Built Up?

...knowledge... puffs up...; but love builds up.
-- From 1 Corinthians 8:1 (GNT)

Love Never Fails,
Grateful

Some Will Turn Away

Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons.
-- 1 Timothy 4:1 (NLT)

God Forbid!
Grateful

A Fool of "Spirits" or Full of The Holy Spirit?

It isn't smart to get drunk! Drinking makes a fool of you and leads to fights. -- Proverbs 20:1 (CEV)

Lord, I don't want to be a drinking fool of "spirits", but to drink fully of The Holy Spirit. I want no "spirits" to take control of my mind or possession of my life, except for Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Holiness Unto The LORD!
Grateful

You Are Faithful. We Are Grateful.

Let's pray this prayer of assurance together to our Great and Good Holy God:

Our Hallowed Father, Our Holy God:
You are our Righteous Guide.
Yes, You go before us and You are above us.
You are our Reliable Gate.
Yes, You surround us on all sides at all times.
You are our Rock-Solid Ground.
Yes, You are the unshakable foundation under our feet.
You are our Reigning Guarantee.
Yes, Your Blessed Holy Spirit reigns within us, keeping us connected to You and comforted by You.
You are our Rear Guard.
Yes, You have our backs protected at all times.
You are Faithful and we are Grateful.
Yes, in the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Holiness Unto You, Our LORD!
We Are Grateful, Indeed!

When God Lives And Breathes In You...

At Pentecost and ever since, the outside God has been all about moving inside every fully devoted believer who will turn from acts of sinning, be cleansed from the attitude of Sin, and will wholeheartedly welcome Him in as Lord. What an inheritance He has offered to those who will belong exclusively to Him -- God's Holy Spirit abiding within!

This powerful passage from Romans 8, is an exclamation point behind the reality of Pentecost. Powerful, indeed:

(9-11) But if God Himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of Him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome Him, in whom He dwells — even though you still experience all the limitations of sin — you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, He'll do the same thing in you that He did in Jesus, bringing you alive to Himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and He does, as surely as He did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With His Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!

(12-14) So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

(15-17) This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who He is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us — an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with Him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with Him!

(18-21) That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
-- Romans 8:9-21 (The Message)

Holiness Unto The LORD!
Grateful

Sometimes It Takes Pain To Change

Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways. -- Proverbs 28:30 (GNT)

Lord, I pray that I have come to the place of total surrender so that I am now and always responding to Your gentle nudgings, yes allowing You to change me according to Your desires, lest I should still sometimes have to be subjected to Your painful judgings. Lord, whatever pain is necessary in my life for Your glory and my good, so be it. However, I do not desire unneccesary pain brought on by disobedience. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Deo Volente (whatever God wants, whatever God wills),
Grateful

If You Return? Compassion!

For if you return to the Lord... your children shall find compassion...
-- 2 Chronicles 30:9 (AMP)

Lord, as parents we do turn to You and to You alone as our Holy Father God. Please make Your compassion known to our children. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Deo Volente.
Grateful

Together As One Man

.. the people gathered together as one man...
-- Ezra 3:1 (AMP)

Lord, make us one heart,
make us one mind...
make us one...
let Your will be done.

Deo Volente.
Grateful

God Will Soon Crush Satan!

And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
-- Romans 16:20 (AMP)

Holiness Unto The LORD!
Grateful

...And Trust Him...

Pure faith is believing God can give us what we ask for, but trusting Him even if He doesn't.

I will ever love and trust Him! In His presence daily live!
-- From The Hymn, I Surrender All

Deo Volente (whatever God wants/wills),
Grateful

Own Interests?

For Christ did not please Himself -- gave no thought to His own interests...
-- Romans 15:3 (AMP)

Deo Volente (whatever God wants/wills),
Grateful

Even After He Became Very Rich...

(3-4) When Jehoshaphat's father had first become king of Judah, he was faithful to the LORD and refused to worship the god Baal as the kings of Israel did. Jehoshaphat followed his father's example and obeyed and worshiped the LORD. And so the LORD blessed Jehoshaphat (5) and helped him keep firm control of his kingdom. The people of Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat, but even after he became very rich and respected, (6) he remained completely faithful to the LORD. He destroyed all the local shrines in Judah, including the places where the goddess Asherah was worshiped.
-- 2 Chronicles 17:3-6 (CEV)

Lord, don't let riches rob us of a right relationship with You. Amen.

Deo Volente.
Grateful

Wake Up! Live In The Light!

(11) You know what sort of times we live in, and so you should live properly. It is time to wake up. You know that the day when we will be saved is nearer now than when we first put our faith in the Lord. (12) Night is almost over, and day will soon appear. We must stop behaving as people do in the dark and be ready to live in the light. (13) So behave properly, as people do in the day. Don't go to wild parties or get drunk or be vulgar or indecent. Don't quarrel or be jealous. (14) Let the Lord Jesus Christ be as near to you as the clothes you wear. Then you won't try to satisfy your selfish desires.
-- Romans 13:11-14 (CEV)

Deo Volente.
Grateful

Deo Volente

Deo vo·len·te [dā-ō-vō-ˈlen-tē]

Definition of DEO VOLENTE: God being willing

Origin of DEO VOLENTE, Latin, First Known Use: 1763

Lord, as You prayed to The Father in Gethsemane, Not My will, but Thine be done, so I pray Deo Volente, whatever God wants, whatever God wills.

As these three words are inscribed on the Scottish Crest for those with the surname Willis, As God wills, so I desire.

Deo Volente, indeed!
Grateful