Month: May 2016

No Fear

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

– Psalm 46:1-3 (NIV)

 

I imagine myself

standing on a mountain

 

when the ground begins to shake

and rocks start to split

 

the noise is deafening

and it’s hard to stay standing

 

I watch as mountains around me

crumble and fall into the sea

 

I stay standing

and I do not fear

 

my senses are heightened

my heart beats fast

 

but I do not fear

 

All is chaos

except inside of me

 

That is trust

 

A refusal to fear

because of who You are, God

 

That is the fearlessness I desire

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Do not fear [anything], for I am with you; Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, be assured I will help you; I will certainly take hold of you with My righteous right hand [a hand of justice, of power, of victory, of salvation].

– Isaiah 41:10 (AMP)

 

Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong.

– 1 Corinthians 16:13 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

Ready

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready.

– Luke 12:35-38 (NLT)

 

I’m looking up, Lord!

I’m waiting for You!  

 

I don’t live my life perfectly

and I don’t have it all together

 

But I’m gladly expecting You

Perfection, my Salvation

 

You promise to come for me

and I’m ready when You are

 

My Bridegroom, my Savior

The Reason I wait with joy

 

Come, Lord Jesus, come

 

– Susie Stewart

 

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died[a] will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.

– 1 Thessalonians 3:16,17 (NLT)

 

Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences. Christ’s death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation.

– Hebrews 9:28 (MSG)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

Sense Him

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Taste

See

Feel

Smell

Hear

that the Lord is good

 

Worship in layers

of texture

and beauty

and fragrance

and song

and gazing

 

Experience who He is

with senses attune to Him

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

– Psalm 34:8 (NLT)

 

Christianity is a religion of the Word—the written Word, yes, but also the Word made Flesh, who dwelt among us, who turned water into wine, who made the blind see and the mute speak, who washed the stinky feet of fishermen and broke bread with unsavory characters. Christianity is a religion of that Word, too. The psalmist knew that words were not the only way of knowing or even worshiping God. His songs suggest that dancing, animals, birds, trees, oil and wine all speak in their various ways of God’s infinite wisdom, beauty, and love. The trees praise God with their seasonal dressing and undressing, the mountain goats praise God as they bring forth their light-footed young, and the bread and wine and oil speak of God’s sustaining love that’s worth savoring.

– Rachel Stone

 

We proclaim to you the One who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw Him with our own eyes and touched Him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen Him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that He is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then He was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.

– 1 John 1:1-4 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

Are You Dead?

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Are you dead?

 

You may be,

and not even know it

 

Because until you reach out to Jesus

and place your life

into His hands

 

the Bible says

you are dead

 

You need His Spirit

living inside of you

 

to be alive

 

You will think you are alive

but you are not

 

You are a shell,

with a soul wanting

 

So humble yourself

before God Almighty

 

and accept His beautiful gift

of LIFE

in His Son

 

May you know

salvation from your sin

light for your heart

and freedom for your aching soul

 

Trust Jesus

and wake up from death

 

– Susie Stewart

 

As Jesus was saying this, the leader of a synagogue came and knelt before Him. “My daughter has just died,” he said, “but you can bring her back to life again if you just come and lay your hand on her.”…

When Jesus arrived at the official’s home, He saw the noisy crowd and heard the funeral music. “Get out!” He told them. “The girl isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.” But the crowd laughed at Him. After the crowd was put outside, however, Jesus went in and took the girl by the hand, and she stood up!

– Matthew 9:18-19, 23-25 (NLT)

 

It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose His temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, He embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on His own, with no help from us! Then He picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

– Ephesians 2:1-6 (MSG)

 

God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)

– Ephesians 2:4,5 (NLT)

 

Sacrifice

/ Susie Stewart / 1 Comment

The son

was to be the sacrifice

and the wood was placed on his shoulders

as he trudged up the hill

 

The father

with heart torn open

was poised to let it all happen

 

And on the mountain

the son

surrendered his will

 

and the father

his will, as well

 

And it was at that dramatic moment

of obedience

that God, the Father of all,

provided the sacrifice

 

At.  Just.  The.  Right.  Moment.

 

The son

and the father

were redeemed

by the Lamb

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith.

“Abraham!” God called.

“Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.”

“Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.”

So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”

“God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.

When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”

“Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”

Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven. “This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”

– Genesis 22:1-18 (NLT)

 

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.

– Romans 5:6 (NLT)

 

Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

– John 1:29 (NKJV)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

#1

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Many of us believe we have as much of God as we want right now, a reasonable portion of God among all the other things in our lives.  Most of our thoughts are centered on the money we want to make, the school we want to attend, the body we aspire to have, the spouse we want to marry, the kind of person we want to become…  But the fact is that nothing should concern us more than our relationship with God;  it’s about eternity, and nothing compares with that.  God is not someone who can be tacked on to our lives.

– Francis Chan

 

And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?

– Luke 9:25 (NLT)

 

Physical sickness we usually defy.  Soul sickness we usually resigned ourselves to.

– Mark Buchanan

 

We disgust God when we weigh and compare Him against the things of this world.  It makes Him sick when we actually decide those things are better for us than God Himself.  We believe we don’t need anything Jesus offers, but we fail to realize that slowly, almost imperceptibly, we are drifting downstream.  And in the process we are becoming blind, being stripped naked, and turning into impoverished wretches.

– Francis Chan

 

But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!

– Revelation 3:16 (NLT)

 

God, let me not be enticed to believe

that any thing in this life

compares with You

 

This life, my life,

is nothing

without my beautiful Creator

 

Keep me from love

of this world

to the neglect of my love

for You

 

– Susie Stewart

 

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Sharp or Sharpening?

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Are you sharp?

Or do you sharpen?

 

Do you cut?

Or do you heal?

 

Is your intent to pierce?

Or is your intent to mend?

 

 

What are  your words used for?

 

Godly friendship builds up

and lovingly confronts

 

with goals of

Restoration

Unity

Edification

 

Our words have the power of life

or death

 

to build up

or to tear down

 

and we choose grace

or self-focus

whenever we speak

 

So, may we sharpen one another

mutually

in Jesus’ love

 

– Susie Stewart

 

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

– Proverbs 27:17 (NIV)

 

Knowledge promotes overconfidence and worse arrogance, but charity of the heart (love, that is) looks to build up others.

– 1 Corinthians 8:1 (VOICE)

 

In the same way that iron sharpens iron, a person sharpens the character of his friend.

– Proverbs 27:17 (VOICE)

 

Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.

– Proverbs 18:21 (MSG)

 

Photo by Andy Stewart

In All Things

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Know

and believe

 

that in

ALL THINGS

God works

for your good

 

For YOUR good

 

For your GOOD

 

You love Him

and you have been called by Him

 

His purpose

is your goal

 

Sovereignty sees

and acts

and redeems

ALL

 

And how amazing is it?

 

That he takes our EVERYTHING

our triumphs

our failures

our pain

our sorrow

our joys

 

and works

actively

 

to make it

for our good?

 

That is love

 

Don’t just know it

for someone else

 

Know it for yourself

and believe it

 

Don’t waste your time

doubting His promises

 

– Susie Stewart

 

 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:28 (NIV)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Lying Lips

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

The dishonesty

the corruption

the immorality

 

the oppressiveness

of not following God

 

is overwhelming me

as I stare at the screen

 

The disrespect

the anger

the abuse

 

Our world is pregnant with these things

 

And it weighs heavy on me

 

The sin weighs heavy on me

 

And as I turn off the noise,

I pick up my Bible

and read,

“Help, LORD, for no one is faithful anymore;

those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.

Everyone lies to their neighbor;

they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts.”

 

And it feels familiar

and sad

 

The media

feels like a deep cesspool

and it threatens to pull me down

into it

 

But then I read,

“The words of the LORD are flawless,

like silver purified in a crucible,

like gold refined seven times.”

 

And I know that You, God, pull me out of that pit

 

Your purity

Your absolute faithfulness

Your never-lying, truthful, beautiful words

are nourishment to me

 

And I remember to glance

at the corruption

the lies

the failures

 

and to gaze

at You God

 

Your flawless, sinless, beautiful face

Your life-giving words

are my relief

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore;
those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.
Everyone lies to their neighbor;
they flatter with their lips
but harbor deception in their hearts.
May the Lord silence all flattering lips
and every boastful tongue—
those who say,
“By our tongues we will prevail;
our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?”…
And the words of the Lord are flawless,
like silver purified in a crucible,
like gold refined seven times.

– Psalm 12:1-4,6 (NIV)

 

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

– John 16:33 (NIV)

 

Online photo

Into Focus

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Occasionally when I’ve begun to pray, my vision seems blurred. Fuzzy. As though my prayer is out of focus because I don’t know exactly what to pray for or how to pray. But like adjusting the focus on [my] binoculars while I looked through them, I’ve found that as I pray, my thoughts become clearer, my focus sharper, and my requests more specific.

Daniel seems to have experienced this while praying because he states that God gave him insight and understanding, “While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people…while I was still in prayer…” (Dan. 9:20-22). It’s encouraging to me to know I don’t have to know specifically how or what to pray in order to submit to my Father’s guiding whisper. Sometimes I’m intimidated to pray beyond the limits of what I can imagine or understand. But as I am praying, God can bring to my mind the thoughts and ideas that have eluded my own understanding.

Why is it that I think after I pray it’s my responsibility to do all I can to bring about the answer? Why do I take the battle into my own hands? Like a drowning person who tries to “help” the rescuer, I wonder how many times I have actually hindered God’s answer to my prayers. I find it encouraging to be reassured that I don’t have to know everything, understand everything, analyze everything before I pray for something.

This is true for all of us. We don’t have to have a clear comprehension of what the need is or what the solution should be. We don’t have to tell God how to “fix” things or even suggest what His course of action might be. We don’t have to solve the problem for Him. What a relief it is to know all we have to do is to get down on our knees and state the problem. The burden to resolve the situation is His, not yours and mine.

– Ann Graham Lotz

 

I went on praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, pleading with the Lord my God for Jerusalem, His holy mountain. As I was praying, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, came swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice. He explained to me, “Daniel, I have come here to give you insight and understanding. The moment you began praying, a command was given. And now I am here to tell you what it was, for you are very precious to God.

– Daniel 9:20-23 (NLT)

 

My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he’s listening. And if we’re confident that he’s listening, we know that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours.

– 1 John 5:14,15 (MSG)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart