2 Peter

What’s Keeping You?

/ Susie Stewart / 6 Comments

You know in your heart

He is there

 

yet you pretend He isn’t

 

ALL of His creation shouts

and whispers

and sings

His glory and His goodness

 

And yet…

 

What’s keeping you, friend?

 

You see His character

in those who are

the givers

and the faithful

and the peaceful

 

And yet…

 

You think that life with Him

would be stuffy religion

and stifling rules

and….

 

accountable

 

Well, you can nix the idea of stuffy religion

and stifling rules

 

but accountability is a reality

 

You are accountable

before Almighty God

 

we all are

 

And you WILL give an account of your life

 

But wouldn’t it be better

if you could be accountable to God

 

with God’s help?

 

Because, guess what?

 

When you accept His love

and you accept His Son

 

and you accept His grace and mercy

and you choose relationship with Him

 

He becomes your Advocate!

 

How amazing is that??

 

Dive in, friend!

ALL in!

 

Nothing satisfies

like a relationship with the One who made you!

 

What’s keeping you?

 

Run

to

Him

 

and find freedom

 

for if you are ignoring Him

and rejecting Him

and not walking hand-in-hand with Him

 

you

are

NOT free

 

What’s keeping you?

 

~  Susie Stewart

 

 

Walking with Jesus

 

 

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

– Galatians 5:1 (NIV)

 

  …You will fill me with joy in Your presence…

– Psalm 16:11 (NIV)

 

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.
You hide them safely away
    from the opposition.
As You slam the door on those oily, mocking faces,
    You silence the poisonous gossip.
Blessed God!
    His love is the wonder of the world.

– Psalm 31:19,20 (MSG)

 

God’s way is perfect!
    The promise of the Lord has proven to be true.
        He is a shield to all those who take refuge in Him.

– Psalm 18:30 (NIV)

 

The spacious, free life is from God,
it’s also protected and safe.
God-strengthened, we’re delivered from evil—
    when we run to Him, He saves us.

– Psalm 37:39,40 (MSG)

 

The Lord does not delay [as though He were unable to act] and is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is [extraordinarily] patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

– 2 Peter 3:9 (AMP)

 

Is there anyplace I can go to avoid Your Spirit?
    to be out of Your sight?
If I climb to the sky, You’re there!
    If I go underground, You’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings
    to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
    You’re already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, “Oh, He even sees me in the dark!
    At night I’m immersed in the light!”
It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to You;
    night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to You.

– Psalm 139:7-12 (MSG)

 

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.

– 1 John 2:1 (NLT)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stretch

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Do you feel

S   T    R    E    T    C    H     E     D

by God?

 

Has He placed you

in a spot

you’re not certain about?

 

Feeling a bit inadequate

for the task at hand?

 

He’s placed you there

nonetheless

 

It’s not meant to be

a painful stretch

 

but an expanding stretch

like breathing in more air

 

And when you breathe in

the very breath

and expanding of God

 

you realize

that this place of challenge

and different

and harder

 

Is for your good

and for His glory

 

You surrender to Him

in the midst of it

 

and find

that you are growing

in the best possible way

 

You see all the more

what God can do through you

 

– Susie Stewart

 

 

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

– Philippians 4:13 (NLT)

 

…you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to Him, both now and forever! Amen.

– 2 Peter 3:18 (NLT)

 

…And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into His glorious image.

– 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

Settling

/ Susie Stewart / 4 Comments

I realized something

this morning

 

I realized that I

have been settling

 

No, it’s not what you think

 

God has given me

health and strength

to be fit

 

and I settled for little exercise

 

God has given me good food

to eat

 

and I settled for boxed crackers

and unearthly-orange cheese dip

 

God gave me an endless variety

of things to explore

 

and I settled for the couch

and Facebook

 

God gave me abundance wide open!

and I settled for mediocrity …

 

And it’s a slow, deceiving slope we go down

 

Sinking deeper and deeper

until we are comfortably settled

and the ground is swallowing us up

 

And we wonder how we got here…

 

We realize it was choice

after little choice

after little choice

 

A settling for lukewarm

and blah

and less than

 

Which is NOT

what vibrant God

has called us to

 

But…

 

As His mercies are new every morning,

so are my chances

 

And today I choose

to take care of my body

and take care of my mind

and most importantly,

take care of my spiritual life

 

which encompasses everything

 

No more settling

 

On PURPOSE today

for His glory

 

– Susie Stewart

 

*  This was tough for me to write, but I want you to know you’re not alone if you are in this place too.  God has called me to expose things to the light of Him and then do something about it.

 

Don’t you know that your body is a temple that belongs to the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit, whom you received from God, lives in you. You don’t belong to yourselves. You were bought for a price. So bring glory to God in the way you use your body.

– 1 Corinthians 6:19,20 (GW)

 

Beloved, I pray that in every way you may succeed and prosper and be in good health [physically], just as [I know] your soul prospers [spiritually].

– 3 John 2 (AMP)

 

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

– Romans 12:1,2 (MSG)

 

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

– 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NLT)

 

Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.

– 2 Peter 2:3,4 (MSG)

 

Photo by Arik Stewart

 

Does He KNOW You?

/ Susie Stewart / 3 Comments

You know that you are going to stand before Him,

right?

 

You will stand before the God of the Universe,

alone

 

And the eyes you look into

will either hold joy

or sorrow

 

And the just Judge

will know

if you’ve known Him

 

He will know if you chose Him

and His grace

 

Or if you chose the world

and your sin

 

And I can’t emphasize enough

the importance of knowing Him NOW

 

For when you stand before Him,

and you will,

He will either welcome you into His Kingdom of Life

 

or He won’t

 

And when you realize that all you had to do

here on earth

was accept grace and love

 

You will forever be in regret

 

that you didn’t know Him

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Not everyone who calls out to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of My Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to Me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in Your name and cast out demons in Your name and performed many miracles in Your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

– Matthew 7:21-23 (NLT)

 

Knowing the correct password—saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance—isn’t going to get you anywhere with Me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what My Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.’ And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use Me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress Me one bit. You’re out of here.

– Matthew 7:21-23 (MSG)

 

So, friends, confirm God’s invitation to you, His choice of you. Don’t put it off; do it now. Do this, and you’ll have your life on a firm footing, the streets paved and the way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.

– 2 Peter 1:10,11 (MSG)

 

This is how much God loved the world: He gave His Son, His one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending His Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in Him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust Him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

– John 3:16-18 (MSG)

 

Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by My Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why: I was hungry and you fed Me, I was thirsty and you gave Me a drink, I was homeless and you gave Me a room, I was shivering and you gave Me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to Me.’

– Matthew 25:35-36 (MSG)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Beyond Me

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

 

I’m thinking today

about the beyond

 

The beyond of what you did, Jesus,

from what I read about You

 

For the Bible says that the world

wouldn’t be able to contain

 

all the books written

 

if they were filled

with everything you did

 

And I long to glimpse

into that beyond

 

To see all the lives touched

all the words said

all the love given

the mercy

the miracles

 

I just want to know more of You

 

And I long to dive

into all those books that weren’t written

 

The beyond is unknown

 

But I am blessed

 

With a God who continues

to make Yourself known to me

 

In countless ways

 

And You’ve given us all the written Words

that are needed

 

for now

 

But one day I’ll know in glory

about that beyond

 

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.

– John 21:25 (NLT)

 

By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence.

– 2 Peter 1:3 (NLT)

 

Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures—either God’s Law or the Prophets. I’m not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama. God’s Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God’s Law will be alive and working.

– Matthew 5:17, 18 (MSG)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

 

Enough

/ Susie Stewart / 2 Comments

If the people in your life

don’t seem to be Enough

 

Do enough

Give enough

Understand enough

Be enough

 

It’s because they aren’t

 

Love them anyway

 

Only God can be your ENOUGH

 

– Susie Stewart

 

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

– Philippians 4:19 (NLT)

 
I could lose everything in life. There’s not anything I have here on earth that is guaranteed. If I lost it all though, I’d be okay because no one can take away my identity in Christ. Whether I live in a mansion on a hill or a shack in the swamp, I have my Jesus. Whether the world is for me or against me, I have my Jesus. When I am knocked down, I get on my knees and there I find my Jesus. His Word is planted deep in my heart and I believe it all.
– Melissa Taylor

 

His divine power has given us everything we need to experience life and to reflect God’s true nature through the knowledge of the One who called us by His glory and virtue.

– 2 Peter 1:3 (VOICE)

 

For us, there is one God, the Father who is the ultimate source of all things and the goal of our lives. And there is one Lord—Jesus the Anointed, the Liberating King; through Him all things were created, and by Him we are redeemed.

– 1 Corinthians 8:6 (VOICE)

Enough

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Through promises fulfilled and promises given in Scripture, I discovered the answer was always the same when I asked: “God, are You enough?”
Yes, He is.
Nothing here on earth is guaranteed, except for one thing: Jesus is with us always. And when we understand who He is, our doubts begin to disappear.
The Bible tells us Jesus is sufficient; He’s enough. Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (NIV 1984). I discovered this to be true. Every need, every doubt, every inadequacy, every fear was met, answered and removed by Jesus.
If I lost everything, I’d be okay because no one can take away my Jesus. Whether I live in a mansion on a hill or in a tent on the side of a swamp, I have my Jesus. Whether the world is for me or against me, I have my Jesus. When I am knocked down, I get on my knees and find my Jesus.
When life becomes more than you think you can handle, don’t quit. And certainly don’t believe the lie God is not enough. Instead, ask yourself, “God, are You enough for me?” Then plant His Word deep in your heart so you’ll always have the ready answer, that yes He is. He is enough for me, for you.

– Melissa Taylor

 

Know this: my God will also fill every need you have according to His glorious riches in Jesus the Anointed, our Liberating King.

– Philippians 4:19 (VOICE)

 

For His divine power has bestowed on us [absolutely] everything necessary for [a dynamic spiritual] life and godliness, through true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

– 2 Peter 1:3 (AMP)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

Character

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

God’s character is our standard

 

perfect and true

holy and good

 

unmovable

 

It has stayed the same

and will stay the same

throughout eternity

 

We, His created,

have inner character

that is either growing

or declining

 

May it grow

and struggle

through the dirt of adversity

and testings

and trials

 

with a heart surrendered

to the process

and to the Living Water

 

to bloom hope

 

 

 

– Susie Stewart

 

A good name [earned by honorable behavior, godly wisdom, moral courage, and personal integrity] is more desirable than great riches; And favor is better than silver and gold.

– Proverbs 22:1 (AMP)

 

If a man does not exercise his arm he develops no biceps muscle; and if a man does not exercise his soul, he acquires no muscle in his soul, no strength of character, no vigour of moral fibre, nor beauty of Spiritual growth.

– Henry Drummond

 

Because of this, make every effort to add integrity to your faith; and to integrity add knowledge;  to knowledge add self-control; to self-control add endurance; to endurance add godliness;  to godliness add Christian affection; and to Christian affection add love.  If you have these qualities and they are increasing, it demonstrates that your knowledge about our Lord Jesus Christ is living and productive.

– 2 Peter 1:5-8 (GW)

 

No character is ultimately tested until it has suffered.

– Harry Emerson Fosdick

 

When you go through deep waters,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you.

– Isaiah 43:2 (NLT)

 

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.

– Helen Keller

 

So, friends, take a firm stand, feet on the ground and head high. Keep a tight grip on what you were taught, whether in personal conversation or by our letter. May Jesus himself and God our Father, who reached out in love and surprised you with gifts of unending help and confidence, put a fresh heart in you, invigorate your work, enliven your speech.

– 2 Thessalonians 2:4-8 (MSG)

 

Make Christ your most constant companion. Be more under His influence than under any other influence. Ten minutes spent in His society every day, ay, two minutes if it be face to face, and heart to heart, will make the whole day different. Every character has an inward spring, let Christ be it. Every action has a key-note, let Christ set it.

– Henry Drummond

 

 

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.  And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.  And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.

– Romans 5:3-5 (NLT)

 

The character of God is today, and always will be, exactly what it was in Bible times. God is forever what at that moment, three thousand years ago, He told Moses that He was.

– J.I. Packer

 

Photo by Susie Stewart