God wakes me usually in the early hours of the morning, while my defenses are down and I am most receptive. Sometimes it’s a thought or scripture that I am led to read. But most often it is a vision or an inspiration that I write down. This morning it was both.
This morning I saw myself in a hospital room. It looked like a scene from one of those CSI shows where the doctor has the dead body on a gurney and their chest is cut open. Well, I was the body, but I was alive. I look up and I see that it is actually an operating room, so in that, I am a little assured I will be okay after all. Then I see my surgeon is the Lord. Okay, I feel a little better; after all I am in good hands. But then I realize that I am cut wide open and He is going for my heart with a knife.
“Whoa! Wait a minute. That’s my heart, God. You can’t cut my heart.”
He points to my heart and says, “Look. I have to remove what’s dead. It has become a burden to you.”
I was actually able to look down and see what he was doing and I saw that a part was grey; it looked dead and was not moving. “Oh right then, but I’m starting to hurt. Can I get more anesthesias?”
God said, “You already have all that you need. Just lay back and let me work.”
Well, I started to get impatient, so I leaned forward to see how far He had left to go. I saw that He was removing my whole heart! “What are you doing? You said you were only going to remove a part of my heart. You can’t have the whole thing!”
“I said I have to remove what is dead and that happens to be the whole thing. I have a brand new one right here to replace it.”
“But that’s my heart! You can’t have my heart! Everything I am is in my heart. I will be lost without me! No one will recognize me anymore if you take my heart. All that I am is there!”
I grabbed my heart in my hands, jump off the operating table and began running through the hallways. But no matter where I ran or which way I turned, I always ended up right outside the operating room where God stood by the bed. He was not excited or worried that I was running around with my heart out of my chest. And when I finally looked beside me, there was the Holy Spirit keeping up with me. Running right alongside me wherever I went, watching the heart I held in my hands. He looked at my heart then up at me. “God is waiting for you.”
Finally, I stopped outside the operating room, still not wanting to go inside. “Do I have to start all over? If I give you my heart, do I have to learn what I already know all over again? I mean, there are things that I have learned about being a Christian, God. What about all the things I can do?”
“Stop thinking, rationalizing, and looking for the worst. I want to give you a new heart. I want to replace it with an obedient one. Even as you stand there holding your heart in your hands, you remain disobedient. You prayed that if you could just get someone to help you learn what you never were taught; you would be able to change faster. I am your Father, and I love you.”
There was a pause as I remembered my prayer through tears from just the night before. Reluctantly, “So…I have to give this to you now, don’t I?”
“Yes, you do.”
“But are you going to take away everything I had my hopes set on?”
“Everything will be okay. I love you and I have many things for you to do which you will find joy in. You will find your strength in me.”
With that, I awoke with one word in my mind, “Daily.”
I searched the Word for scriptures:
Psalm 16:7-11
I will praise the LORD, who advises me. My conscience warns me at night. I always keep the LORD in front of me. When he is by my side, I cannot be moved. That is why my heart is glad and my soul rejoices. My body rests securely because you do not abandon my soul to the grave or allow your holy one to decay. You make the path of life known to me. Complete joy is in your presence. Pleasures are by your side forever.
Psalm 68:19
Thanks be to the Lord, who daily carries our burdens for us. God is our salvation. Selah
Ezekiel 36:26
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove your stubborn hearts and give you obedient hearts.
Luke 16:15
But Jesus told them: You are always making yourselves look good, but God sees what is in your heart. The things that most people think are important are worthless as far as God is concerned.
Tuesday
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Wake Up!
October contribution by CF
Hear Ye! Hear Ye! All who are taking in air and are awake… It is time; time for change - time for connecting and obedience.
We walk around in our nice little bubbles, free from all the things we don’t want to let in. We position people in and out of our bubble according to who they are or how they act, or even where they can benefit us.
It is time for all of that to STOP!!
God has placed all of us in His bubble and he has chosen the ones we will be in touch with. People reach for us, yet we turn away. We do not recognize that they were put in our lives by God and we do not get to choose if we want to live the life He gives us. We have a hunger in our spirits for things we do not understand, but God does. He will feed this hunger with the dreams he puts in your spirit and with the people He sends. Still, you may be turning them away without realizing they could be part of His plan.
We need to be in God’s word every day, listening to His voice. He has made a light for us; His Word will direct our path. Let’s turn to all people and see them the way God does, bring them in. Let us place no judgments, no prejudice and no one beneath us. (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 119:105, Luke 6:37; 1Timothy 5:21; John 8:23)
I will open up my world into the bubble God has put me. I know my vision will only get bigger and stronger. I know I was put here to serve all people for God. The Word says, “…all of you must serve each other with humility, because God opposes the arrogant but favors the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5 GW
Whoever is first will be last and whoever is last will be first… (Matthew 20:16)
I WILL SERVE WITH JOY!!
October contribution by CF
Hear Ye! Hear Ye! All who are taking in air and are awake… It is time; time for change - time for connecting and obedience.
We walk around in our nice little bubbles, free from all the things we don’t want to let in. We position people in and out of our bubble according to who they are or how they act, or even where they can benefit us.
God has placed all of us in His bubble and he has chosen the ones we will be in touch with. People reach for us, yet we turn away. We do not recognize that they were put in our lives by God and we do not get to choose if we want to live the life He gives us. We have a hunger in our spirits for things we do not understand, but God does. He will feed this hunger with the dreams he puts in your spirit and with the people He sends. Still, you may be turning them away without realizing they could be part of His plan.
We need to be in God’s word every day, listening to His voice. He has made a light for us; His Word will direct our path. Let’s turn to all people and see them the way God does, bring them in. Let us place no judgments, no prejudice and no one beneath us. (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 119:105, Luke 6:37; 1Timothy 5:21; John 8:23)
I will open up my world into the bubble God has put me. I know my vision will only get bigger and stronger. I know I was put here to serve all people for God. The Word says, “…all of you must serve each other with humility, because God opposes the arrogant but favors the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5 GW
Whoever is first will be last and whoever is last will be first… (Matthew 20:16)
I WILL SERVE WITH JOY!!
A Heart to Obey
Contribution from M. VW. age 12
The act of honoring someone contains many things that aren’t always so easy but we must learn to obey God and do it. In Exodus 20:12, we are told to honor our Father and our Mother. The act of obeying means: obeying, respecting, treating well, not talking back, and the list goes on. Even if doing these things seems like the whole world is going to end, it won’t. When we are being disciplined, we know that somewhere deep inside of our hearts. It’s just hard to remember it at the time. While writing this, I have learned about some of the many things the devil gladly gives us to make it hard to honor my parents. One is rebellion, another is simply our flesh (or human nature), and a third one is temptation.
Rebellion hurts us all. When we have rebellion, we don’t realize it. In Hebrew they call it transgression or “pasha” (peh’-shah). It means to rebel or to sin-to resist or defy authority. First John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This tells us that if we repent on us having rebellion or any other sin, Jesus will forgive us. So listen when you parent tells you that you have rebellion and just bite your tongue. Especially when you are thinking, what are you talking about? I don’t have rebellion!” (or any other feeling) You will be fine-just try to say, “Yes sir” or “Yes ma’am”, making sure that you are saying it in a voice that is not a bad attitude.
Temptation is hard to get over if you don’t really have the motivation or thought that it’s wrong in your mind. First Corinthians 10:13 says that there is nothing we will ever be tempted by that someone else has not come across before. One of the ways God shows his faithfulness is by not letting us be tempted beyond what we can handle, also he will provide a way so we can actually say no when we are tempted. James 1:12, “Blessed is the man who endures temptation, because having been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” See right here in this verse that it tells us that if we stay away from temptation that we will be rewarded with the crown of life.
Our flesh is seriously one of the hardest things to get over, but with the help of God, you can. First Peter 4:1-2, “Therefore, Christ having suffered for us in the flesh, also you arm yourselves with the same thought, that he suffering in the flesh has been made to rest from sin, in order no longer to live in the lusts of men, but in the will of God the remaining time in the flesh.” If we listen to what God has been telling us in the word, and act upon those words, we will become conquerors of the flesh. (James 1:21-22 & Romans 12:21)
If you get sent to your room because of one or more of these things shove your face into the bible and read what God has to say about these things. Learn how God says to obey and do it. Learn how he says to get over these things and start practicing them. These are all the Devil’s things to get you away from God and the things of Holiness. Pray that God give you a heart to obey.
(All scripture references were taken from the Modern King James Version of the Bible)
Photo by T. Price
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Photo by T. Price
"I will stand on my watch and set myself on
the tower, and will watch to see what
He will say to me, and what I shall
answer when I am reproved.
And Jehovah answered me and said,
Write the vision, and make it plain on the tablets,
that he who reads it may run.
For the vision is still for an appointed time,
but it speaks to the end, and it does not lie.
Though it lingers, wait for it;
because it will surely come.
It will not tarry."
Habakkuk 2:1-3 (MKJV)
"O Jehovah, I have heard Your report;
I am afraid. O Jehovah, give new life to
Your work in the midst of years;
in the midst of the years make known;
in wrath remember mercy...
yet I will rejoice in Jehovah,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Jehovah the Lord is my strength,
and He will make my feet like hinds' feet,
and He will make me to walk on my high places.
To the chief singer on my stringed instruments."
Habakkuk 3:2, 18-19 (MKJV)
“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory
and honor and power:
for thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
Revelation 4:11 (KJV)
"If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
1 John 1:9 (ESV)
"Faith assures us of things we expect and
convinces us of the existence
of things we cannot see."
Hebrews 11:1 (GWV)
River Front Park - Downtown Spokane
Photo by Hanalore' VanWinkle
About Town Hope
“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have…” 1 Peter 3:15
Are you prepared to give an answer for the hope you have?
The vision for Town Hope has to begin with the testimony of the hope we have in Christ. Hope for the broken rests on His body; through the unity of Christ, the common hope we have through Christ our Lord and Savior.
Are you prepared to give an answer for the hope you have?
The vision for Town Hope has to begin with the testimony of the hope we have in Christ. Hope for the broken rests on His body; through the unity of Christ, the common hope we have through Christ our Lord and Savior.
“You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, Lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, 'Here is your God!'” Isaiah 40:9
We may say, “I am only one, God.” And God reminds us in His special way, He only needs a willing vessel and a heart to believe Him, and He’ll move mountains for His cause.
Many things God asks us to do bring us to a place where we must step out in faith, then He will bring others along side.
Habakkuk declares that he will wait for an answer from God…
“I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.
“Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; It speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” Habakkuk 2:1-3
God tells him to write it down…
So are you one who will share your testimony?
Town Hope
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