Oh Happy Day , When Jesus Washed My Sins Away , Oh Happy Day

Do you remember that day ? I mean the day that you "realized" that Jesus had washed your sins away.

I think that day is the day the "Joy of my Salvation" began. My quest has been to rejoice in the LORD alway , making it imperative that I remember that "day."

Actually for me I had several of "that day." I grew up believing that I had done something so horribly bad that no one would forgive me. The reason for this action ( I believed) was that I had a reprobate mind.

When God first revealed to me that I had believed a lie and that He would forgive me , I had a "happy day" for a few minutes. Peoples opinion was louder than God's and once again I became convinced that , I had done something so horribly bad , that no one would forgive me.

This light on , then light off , happened over and over in my life.
A friend came back into my life recently and she remembered me when , "the light was on".
She remembered how happy I was even though I had dire , dire circumstances. So it has kick started my memories.

I remember my "happy day" now. I remember how the Holy Spirit brought to my thoughts "who soever will may come." My thought was , "but what about the reprobate?" What made the light come on was this thought , " that a reprobate would not even want to come to God. "

That light lasted quite a while but it became dimmed once again by man's opinion. I have come to think of all of those times when "man's opinion" took charge of my emotions as trips to Doubting Castle, as in Pilgrim's Progress written by John Bunyan.

Once again I am leaving Doubting Castle, this time to believe that I can rejoice in the LORD alway and again I say, Rejoice. This time I have determined in my heart not to listen to opinions of others. Also I want to be a friend to others who have had a really rough time of it.

Better than giving them promises from God's word would be my belief in their "happy day."

That there actually was a day, that Jesus washed their sins away.

What Is The Coolest Thing God Has Done For You Today?

This was the question Francis Chan suggested his congregation ask each other. He was teaching on joy and pointed out that we are actually given this command in the Bible , "Rejoice, in the LORD alway. And again I say , rejoice." Phil 4:4

So many times when I give a word of testimony I share what I have to rejoice in. When I feel that the Holy Spirit has given me a scripture that I am to apply my life to, I rejoice in the moment . There is joy in the Holy Ghost . But so many times while I am so busy trying to live my life in light of this Word , that joy fades.

What is it that happens exactly ?

I begin to worry that I am not going to " pull it off " . You know , I begin to think , " wow, this is so important , I really need to do this, maybe I won't do this, and then , oh, look here I am not doing it. " Before I know it , I have no joy. I have no sense of God's power being with me.

Living my life expecting the Holy Spirit to enlighten my path with the word of God is a very joyful existence. Letting how well I am doing at walking in that light to be my plumb line for joy , explains exactly why my joy fades in and out.

In while the Holy Spirit brings me the word out while I try to walk in it.

Ah , but can I lose my joy if I "Rejoice in the LORD, alway. And again I say, rejoice ?"

Here is the catch. It will have to be the only thing I do. I can not be divided and say, "Well, if I seem to be walking in the word good, I will have joy in that. " No , you see that would not be rejoicing in the LORD.

I will have to determine to rejoice in the LORD , always. In the LORD .

Would you like to know about some really cool things God has done for me lately ?

My daughter has been given a promotion at work. Instead of having an unpredictable time schedule each week she will have the same eight hour shift each week and after a year a paid vacation.

A cool thing for me was when I realised that this ominous burden I put myself under to be able to love unlovable people would no longer need to be my problem. I have given that problem to God and I now trust that He will produce His love in me . So you 20 people out there that I have been praying for , my hope is that the love I have asked God to put in me for you will be evident the next time I see you.

Another cool thing God did for me and my daughter. Last night I was just kind of out of it. Not thinking I left a package of chocolate chip cookies on the table and when I came home I found that my daughter's Spaniel had eaten them all. When we looked on the Internet to see just how bad chocolate is for dogs it did not look good. We prayed and asked God to spare her the ill effects that chocolate usually have on dogs. She never did get sick. She is alive and well today. I think it is a cool thing that God did for us.

These cool things that He did I hope you find interesting. These events are not what I am rejoicing in though.

My word of testimony today is : Phil 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: [and] again I say, Rejoice.

Grace

How far ? How intimate ? How deep do I want to go with Jesus today ?

If only I would stay within the realm of " Grace Received ".

Grace like forgiveness is limitless . My ability to receive grace places for me boundaries. Now these borders can be enlarged but the attempt to do so must be guided by the Holy Spirit.

When someone councils me that "this is what Jesus would do, " the ability to do so can come no other way than but the grace of God.

I have found the council much more helpful if the individual has in fact received this grace to do as he/she suggests. Somehow hope , or maybe it is faith , perhaps it is love , floats over to me when a person who has received grace shares his/her testimony.

Grace received , reveals power being perfected in a weakness.

Lately I have found many things to not be thankful for. However, I would correct myself. " Be thankful for all things ", I would remind myself. As if I could prod myself on to do what is right without grace.

A new day and a fresh start , walking in "Grace Received " I purpose first of all to refresh my memory of the grace received to even want to be thankful for all things. My gift of grace to be glad for all things probably began when I would quote Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.

Knowing all things work together for good helps promote thoughts that promotes thankfulness. This has come from a grace given to me when I had a huge weakness of murmuring and complaining . The mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ is so rich that He will continue to grant me this grace even now. I know from experience that He will perfect His power within my weakness and I will be able to thank Him for all things , once again.

It is kind of like muscle building. When a person starts lifting weights they do not start with the 100 lb. on the bar. They start with what they can lift easily at first and then gradually put more weight on.

Because of my circumstances I see that I need to graduate up to a higher weight level. However , if I forget how I ever managed to lift the weights I have already , there will be no way that I increase my ability to be thankful for even more dire circumstances.

I praise God for the grace to desire to be thankful for all things.

Entering His Sanctuary

2 Chron 30:8 Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers [were, but] yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.

Eze 44:9 Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that [is] among the children of Israel.


Eze 44: 16 They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.

Just because you see a problem does not mean that it is something that you are to address right now. In fact I think it might be wise to spend time in His Sanctuary .
In Psalms 78 David is increasingly aware of the enemies achievements and he becomes oppressed just thinking about it.
Looking at someone else's life can only bring me down because I have taken my eyes off of Jesus.

I am praying that He will help me once again to get my eyes on Him.
He is the One I want to follow. He is the One that really matters to me. I just want to go where He goes.

Sometimes it appears He wants me to take an educated guess as to where He's going. Educated by His word I stepped out. Now I am really sorry that I did so unwisely. I am not sorry that the whole experience has developed a better ear within me. I hear better now.

So what do I hear about my current situation?

That David was able to sing , my soul is free as a bird out of the snare of the fouler.
It will not be long before I too can sing and dance before the LORD . He is a faithful deliverer and rescues those who call upon His name.

Lazarus

Romans 8:2 For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death.



I believe Jesus when He said, "Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." I believe that while He ministered on the earth for 3 1/2 years He was showing me how to overcome. Jesus having a life-giving Spirit in Him is a far easier concept to believe than I having a life-giving Spirit in me. Easy to believe or not easy to believe is meant only to imply that to believe may take strength. I do believe but living like I believe takes a strength only God can give me. The truth is that He did give me that life-giving Spirit .



While Jesus ministered to the earth as the Son of man , people had not as yet been given this life-giving Spirit to dwell in them.



I believe that Jesus wanted me to be able to believe and receive "ALL" that He did for me. When He spoke life into Lazarus He was saying (with His actions , I believe), that He could give that same life giving experience to me.



Romans 8:6 If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace.



I can choose to look at the way my mind thinks when caught following the flesh and believe it is dead. I can say to myself, "Look how it always goes back to thinking like my parents thought. Look how it is so easily deceived into thinking like some charismatic person is thinking. Look how my thinking stinks! "



Or I can choose to believe that Jesus can arrive on the scene at any moment He chooses and breath life into my stinking mind. He can bring it alive with the power of His life-giving Spirit that He gave me.



Romans 8:9-10 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. ( And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them are not Christians at all.) Since Christ lives within you, even though your body will die because of sin, your spirit is alive because you have been made right with God.



That means I have a right spirit .



When Lazarus came alive he still needed a little help from his friends. Jesus told them to take his grave clothes off him .



It took some really brave people to stay around while Jesus performed this miracle. I do not want to smell a dead rat. That is a small smell though compared to a dead dog , or cow. These people were surely use to coming upon a dead something when they traveled from town to town. There were no animal control people to call back then and say, "please come get this dead deer that died on the path from my town to my friend's town."



Yet Lazarus' friends were there when Jesus said, "take the grave clothes off him." I think not only Jesus loved Lazarus but his sisters and friends loved him too. Friends that hang around and expect Jesus to do something miraculous in your life are priceless. Friends who believe that Jesus is still doing miracles today are the kind of friends I need.



I also want to be a friend to those who are believing that Christ lives within them. When they say, "I sin." I want to encourage them like Jesus has encouraged me. "Be of good cheer, "He said, "For I have overcome the world."

He Loves Me Where I 'm At

When the Holy Spirit convicts me of sin , this is a good thing. The conviction can stay a good thing until I decide He is not working fast enough. That I should be helping more with my repentance and then , I look around and wonder where the Holy Spirit is !
The only way that I know to back up is, to once again go to that place in my spirit that the Holy Spirit met me.
Like the woman at the well that Jesus met. He was not condemning her for where she was at , and I do believe that no matter what our sins, so it is with Jesus today.
He is not condemning me. Does He want me to change ? Yes, a spiritual change that He has done. Not a fleshly work that I can do.
And so , for it not to be a work of the flesh , I must wait on the Holy Spirit and believe I am loved, right where I am at.

A Good Kind of Hiding

Most of my life I have felt like hiding. Hiding from God's love is not an option however when you plan to enter the kingdom of God. Here you have to not hide and so I have endeavored to quit hiding from His love.
It has not been easy , it has taken days and days of applying His word to my life. Basically what the rest of the body of Christ is doing. I know , I am not so different.
For me the true word of testimony is when I can share that process with others. Very few talk about the housecleaning job that they take the time to purposely thank the LORD for each chair as they dust the legs and seats. Oh, I am sure there are a lot of people doing this, just not a lot take the time to talk about it. How I can thankfully dust that chair is a word of testimony to me because I know that except for the awesome power of the grace of God I could not dust it. I could not want to get down on the floor and dust the legs and braces that probably no one will notice if I don't do it.
It is from this grace that I spring board toward other things that my flesh does not want to do.

I do not want to come out from hiding. It has been a plan of self preservation for so long I can not even remember why I started hiding in the first place. Lately I have been having a very hard time with my flesh , that wants to keep on hiding. Finally I found a break through.
My flesh doesn't really want to keep hiding however ........it only wants to come out when it is sure that it is safe.

I can not imagine how one could go about convincing ones self that life will be safe.
It is not safe. To come out from hiding is definitely a risk .
There is one way that I can come out from hiding in this world and still feel safe. That would be to realize that there is a safe place for me in Jesus.

Jesus said, "that in this world there would be trouble , but be of cheer for He had overcome the world. "

Stepping out of hiding from my own self preservation but walking into a world that Jesus will be with me , makes coming out a whole lot easier.