1 John

Fear

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom.
Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.
– Proverbs 9:10 (NLT)

 

A life of worship

is a life of fear

 

And it sounds strange

to say so

 

For fear

brings thoughts of scary

and terror

and angst

 

But Abba calls us to fear Him

with awe

and reverence

and joy

 

He calls us to see Him

in everything

 

He tells us not to fear people

or circumstances

or spiritual darkness

 

But to stand bold

in His Spirit

 

and this leaves us

with only the fear of HIM

 

But it couldn’t be further from the word we know

 

For this fear

dances in His presence

 

And brims over with joy

 

And seeks Him passionately

 

This fear is amazed at

and respecting

all-knowing

all-seeing

all-important

God

 

It is the beauty

of Father and child

 

It is

Fear

and fear not

 

– Susie Stewart

 

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

– 1 John 4:18 (NIV)

 

Fearing God has been a term I’ve wrestled with and longed to better understand. I know it means to have a deep level of reverence for God. But I love what a friend of mine who studies language root words to better understand biblical terms recently shared with me. After much study, she now defines a person who fears God as ‘one who sees the hand of God in everything.’ There are several Hebrew words for the word ‘fear’, but let’s look at two of these closely. One is ‘pachad’, which means terror. That’s not the one used in this passage about the fear of the Lord. The word used is ‘yirah’, which means being in awe of God. That deep sense of reverence where we truly desire to look for the hand of God in everything.
– Lysa Terkeurst

 

Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere Him.

– Psalm 33:8 (NIV)

 

Let all people stand in awe of the Eternal; let every man, woman, and child live in wonder of Him.

– Psalm 33:8 (VOICE)

 

The Fear-of-God is a spring of living water so you won’t go off drinking from poisoned well.

– Proverbs 14:27 (MSG)

 

 

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

– 2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT)

 

This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

– Joshua 1:9 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

 

Come

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

You hear my heart

as I turn to You

 

You know my thoughts

not a single one missed

 

No pompous prayer needed

or pretentious posture required

 

I come as I am

in what state I am in

 

The highs and the lows

bowed before Love

 

Imperfect speaking to Perfect

adoring one another

 

All bowed down

 

– Susie Stewart

 

We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!

-1 john 1:2-4 (MSG)

 

“…those the Father has given Me will come to Me, and I will never reject them.”

– John 6:37 (NLT)

 

“Come now, let’s settle this,”
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
I will make them as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson,
I will make them as white as wool.”

– Isaiah 1:18 (NLT)

 

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life.

– Revelation 22:17 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Drawing Me In

/ Susie Stewart / 1 Comment

Your love, God,

it pulls me in

to a warm embrace

 

Your kindness

leads me

to repentance

 

Your goodness

pursues me

as a friend

 

Your mercy

settles

my anxiety

 

Your faithfulness

holds me

tenaciously

 

Your patience

encourages

my walk with You

 

Your grace

brings hope

to my soul

 

Your love

encompasses my life

in parental care

 

No wonder I run to You

 

– Susie Stewart

 

 

Over time I realized that when we love God, we naturally run to Him — frequently and zealously.  Jesus didn’t command that we have regular time with Him each day.  Rather, He tell us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all you mind.”  He called this the “first and greatest commandment” (Matt. 22:37-38).  The results are intimate prayer and study of His Word.  Our motivation changes from guilt to love.

This is how God longs for us to respond to His extravagant, unending love; not with cursory “quiet time” plagued by guilt, but with true love expressed through our lives.

– Francis Chan

 

What a stack of blessing you have piled up
for those who worship you,
Ready and waiting for all who run to you
to escape an unkind world.

– Psalm 31:19 (MSG)

 

Do you take the kindness of God for granted? Do you see His patience and tolerance as signs that He is a pushover when it comes to sin? How could you not know that His kindness is guiding our hearts to turn away from distractions and habitual sin to walk a new path?

– Romans 2:4 (VOICE)

 

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

– 1 John 3:1 (NIV)

 

 

Photo by Andy Stewart

Spirit to Spirit

/ Susie Stewart / 4 Comments

Spirit

to

Spirit

 

The connection Divine

 

Unbroken

 

For You have taken up residence

inside my heart

 

I think about You

and I speak to You

and even when I do neither

 

Your Spirit knows

the worship that is all for You

 

In the mundane

I know I am heavenly connected

 

to Your God-Spirit

always there

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.

– Psalm 42:7 (NIV)

 

There is a way of ordering our mental life on more than one level at once. On one level we can be thinking, discussing, seeing, calculating, meeting all the demands of external affairs.  But deep within, behind the scenes at a profounder level we may also be in prayer and adoration, song and worship and a gentle receptiveness to divine breathings.

– Thomas Kelly

 

I will be in my kitchen cooking for missionaries or writing at my desk, my mind on “outward” things, but when I turn inward, where my Lord resides, it is as if I’ve never left.  I am aware that worship has been going on from my spirit to Him who is Spirit while I was cooking and writing!  Oh, it is so beautiful to be aware of the continuous connection, spirit-to-Spirit.

– Linda Dillow

 

Blessed are the people who know how to praise you. They walk in the light of your presence, O Lord.

– Psalm 89:15 (GW)

 

This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in Him, and He in us: He’s given us life from His life, from His very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent His Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.

– 1 John 4:15-17 (MSG)

 

It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before Him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship Him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.

– John 4:23,24 (MSG)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Unnecessary Performance

/ Susie Stewart / 2 Comments

Don’t you know?

Don’t you remember?

 

You are someone’s child

 

You are God’s child

 

And He created you

to be in relationship with Him

 

But you think you need

to perform for Him

 

To get it right

to impress

 

To stop

messing up

 

But His love is not conditional

on your performance

 

Nestle into that love

and stay there

 

Performance is for an entertainer

not a beloved child

 

I was inspired to write this piece after listening to a interview my cousin, Kathy Gray, did on her new book “Light in Our Darkness”.  In the interview Kathy said, “We were never created to perform.  We were created for relationship.”  Amen.  Thank you, Kathy

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Don’t be mistaken; in and of ourselves we know we have little to offer, but any competence or value we have comes from God. Now God has equipped us to be capable servants of the new covenant, not by authority of the written law which only brings death, but by the Spirit who brings life.

– 2 Corinthians 3:5,6 (VOICE)

 

But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

– John 1:12,13 (NLT)

 

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith…

– Galatians 3:26 (NIV)

 

See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know Him. Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but He has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is.

– 1 John 3:1,2 (NLT)

 

And since we are His children, we are His heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.

– Romans 8:17 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

Forgive

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

If you are waiting for the offender

to be worthy of your forgiveness,

that time will never come

 

just like it never came for you,

before your righteous God

 

Unworthy, we came to our Savior

and humbly accepted His beautiful gift

of forgiveness

 

And we turn around

and we forgive people

 

Always

 

because we can’t receive forgiveness

and then not give it back out

 

This is not an option

 

– Susie Stewart

 

 

If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

– Matthew 6:14,15 (NLT)

 

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

– 1 John 1:9 (NIV)

 

But You, O Lord our God, still show us compassion and forgiveness even though we have openly rebelled against You.

– Daniel 9:9 (VOICE)

 

You see, God takes all our crimes—our seemingly inexhaustible sins—and removes them. As far as east is from the west, He removes them from us.

– Psalm 103:12 (VOICE)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Unmerited

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Who else

in all the universe

can make you feel completely

unworthy,

and yet also feel completely

loved?

 

God is the only One

 

Utterly unmerited –

so it must be true love

 

– Susie Stewart

 

This is the embodiment of true love: not that we have loved God first, but that He loved us and sent His unique Son on a special mission to become an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

– 1 John 4:10 (NLT)

 

My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

– Ephesians 3:18-21 (MSG)

 

Photo by Arik 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

 

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

Tug-O-War

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

I’m in a tug-o-war,

a fierce competition

 

Only, it’s not a game,

but a battle

 

On the one side,

pulling me one direction,

is my longing for God,

my heaven-ward focus

 

And on the other,

the pull of the world

of distraction

of selfishness

 

And I feel that pull

that tug

that struggle

 

every.  single.  day

 

It’s not a horizontal battle

but a vertical tug o war

 

upward

and downward

 

and I want You, God,

yet….

 

I am pulled

by so much

 

electronics

my own thoughts

busyness

the enemy

 

the list goes on and on

 

But

in the middle

of that taut rope

is a tied piece of ribbon

 

and I see that red cloth

as

my choices

my focus

my will

 

It is me taking my thoughts captive

to make them obedient to Christ

 

or me allowing defeat thoughts

to overtake my hours

 

It is me choosing prayer

over mindless hours of screen time

 

or me letting entertainment

step on creative, full living

 

It is me deliberately serving

and honoring my King

 

or me procrastinating

what He has asked me to do

 

Choices bringing my ribbon

ever upward

or yanking me downward

 

And I see that the anchor

of the heaven-ward side

is God Himself

 

always drawing me in

and looking for my eyes to fix on Him

not on the competition

 

and I decide which side

I want to be pulling on

for my own soul

and because I am called to more

than downward

 

– Susie Stewart

 

The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.

– 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (MSG)

 

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

– Matthew 6:33 (KJV)

 

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

– James 4:7 (NLT)

 

But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

– 1 John 4:4 (NLT)

 

We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

– 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NLT)

 

Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, He does.

– 1 Peter 5:8-11 (MSG)

 

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

– 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

 

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