John

A River Flows Through It

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

An outward focus

is as a river flowing

 

unobstructed

moving

living

 

from a heart

listening to the Spirit

 

An inward focus

is as a black hole

 

dark

still

backward

 

from a heart imploding on itself

 

And it is obvious

when you speak to someone

 

which one they are

and where their focus is

 

Do people come away from talking to you

feeling heard?

Valued?

Seen?

 

Or do they come away from talking to you

knowing a whole lot

about you

with a little more of you

on the side?

 

Our Jesus

Savior

King

God

 

focused outward

 

Time with His Father prioritized,

He went to the masses

 

and He Healed them

with His hands and His words

 

Selflessness

Humility

and attentiveness

come from the character of God

 

And we become more of this

when we allow Him to do His inward work

 

 

looking to Him

and focusing outward

 

– Susie Stewart

 

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if His love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of Himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of Himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, He set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, He stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, He lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

Because of that obedience, God lifted Him high and honored Him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that He is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.

– Philippians 1:1-11 (MSG)

 

On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took His stand. He cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in Me this way, just as the Scripture says.” (He said this in regard to the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were about to receive. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)

– John 7:37-39 (MSG)

 

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

– Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)

 

Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.

— 1 Peter 3:8 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

You Are Not Enough

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

I’m sorry to say it

 

You are not

enough

 

And we hear all the time,

“You are enough”

 

But in essence,

it’s not true!

 

YOU

are not enough

 

You have a deep, deep

need

for God

 

Deeper

than you can even imagine

 

And not only do you have a need

for God

but you also have a need

for His Son

 

Jesus was enough

Jesus is enough

 

That is why He is the only One

who could be sacrificed for a world of sin

 

Because He was enough

 

Perfection

 

And not only did we need

that sacrifice

 

but we need our Jesus

every day

 

We NEED Him!

 

We are not enough

 

We fall

we fail

we are weak

we are fragile

 

we are imperfect

 

Our

lives

are

in

His

hands

 

Victory is found in Jesus

 

We are not enough

without Him

 

– 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.

– 2 Corinthians 3:5 (VOICE)

 

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

– Philippians 4:13 (NLT)

 

Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

– John 15:5 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

Is This All There Is?

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

 

Living life

in light of eternity

 

means living as if

there is more than now

 

Eyes up

Trust forward

 

knowing that existence here

is a speck of dust

 

in eternity’s line

of endless

 

Remembering what is important,

Who is important

 

and not becoming attached

to what doesn’t last

 

Lord, show me how NOT to live

as if this is all there is

 

Show me my purpose

lived out

in Love

 

Finite life on earth

wrapped in infinite life with You, God

 

There’s so much more to come

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.

– Luke 10:27 (NIV)

 

Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and He’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!

– 1 Peter 4:7-11 (MSG)

 

Don’t be troubled. Believe in God, and believe in Me. My Father’s house has many rooms. If that were not true, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you?  If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again. Then I will bring you into My presence so that you will be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going.

– John 14:1-4 (GW)

 

For our momentary, light distress [this passing trouble] is producing for us an eternal weight of glory [a fullness] beyond all measure [surpassing all comparisons, a transcendent splendor and an endless blessedness]!

– 2 Corinthians 4:17 (AMP)

 

This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and Him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

– John 17:3 (WEB)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Love Obedience

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Self-righteous

rule-follower,

what is your motive?

 

Don’t you know it’s impossible

to please God without faith?

 

Fruitless are the actions

of religious law-abiding

 

Righteousness is not righteousness

by adherence to the rules

 

Righteousness is imparted

to the humbled and surrendered

 

Jesus’ perfection

rubbing off on His children

 

The righteous live by faith,

not the flesh

 

Faithless obedience

is only religion

 

Pharisaical

Empty

 

Live by faith

in the Son of God

 

and obey out of love

and true conviction

 

Obey out of love

and faith

 

– Susie Stewart

 

And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.

– Hebrews 11:6 (NLT)

 

What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity.

– Matthew 23:27 (NIV)

 

Jesus said to His disciples: If you love Me, you will do as I command.

– John 14:15 (CEV)

 

The test of the genuineness of our love for God’s family lies in this question—do we love God Himself and do we obey His commands? For loving God means obeying His commands, and these commands of His are not burdensome, for God’s “heredity” within us will always conquer the world outside us. In fact, this faith of ours is the only way in which the world has been conquered. For who could ever be said to conquer the world, in the true sense, except the man who really believes that Jesus is God’s Son?

– 1 John 5:204 (PHILLIPS)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

 

 

 

 

Invisible

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

My beautiful

Invisible

God

 

Sometimes I long

to see Your face

 

and Your invisibility

appears as a barrier

 

between You and me

 

But it doesn’t have to be

that way

 

There really is

no barrier

 

Only Jesus,

as the Way

 

Invisible God

You see me

 

right through to my core

 

And,

Invisible God,

you see the invisible people

among us

 

None escape Your sight

 

And while I still long

to see You,

Jesus

 

It doesn’t need to be a barrier

 

For You have made a Way

 

Communication with You

Creation Divine and serene

Your Word powerful and life-changing

Relationships beautiful

Love overwhelming

 

Life abundant

 

They show me You,

my invisible God   ❤

 

– Susie Stewart

 

We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, He organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.

– Colossians 1:15-18 (MSG)

 

We all live off His generous bounty,
gift after gift after gift.
We got the basics from Moses,
and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
This endless knowing and understanding—
all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
No one has ever seen God,
not so much as a glimpse.
This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
who exists at the very heart of the Father,
has made Him plain as day.

– John 1:16-18 (MSG)

 

But you may not look directly at My face, for no one may see Me and live.

– Exodus 33:20 (NLT)

 

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

– 1 Timothy 1:17 (NIV)

 

No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us.

– 1 John 4:12 (NLT)

 

For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

– Romans 1:20 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

 

Dark Pit

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

How dark is your pit?

How deep your valley?

 

How far down have you gone?

 

Into sin

Into grief

Into regret

 

That hole of darkness,

is it so all-encompassing

 

that you think

you’ll never see the light of day

again?

 

Even there

God will come for you

 

As long as you are alive

here on planet earth

 

you  will never be so low

that Jesus’ light cannot penetrate your darkness

 

This darkness,

it blinds

 

Wake up

to White Light

 

And He will bring you out

of that pit

 

– Susie Stewart

 

I am Light that has come into the world so that all who believe in Me won’t have to stay any longer in the dark.

– John 12:46 (MSG)

 

Everything was created through Him; nothing—not one thing!— came into being without Him. What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.

– John 1:3-5 (MSG)

 

I’m sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I’m sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in Me.

– Acts 26:17, 18 (MSG)

 

Through the heartfelt mercies of our God, God’s Sunrise will break in upon us, Shining on those in the darkness, those sitting in the shadow of death, Then showing us the way, one foot at a time, down the path of peace.

– Luke 1:79 (MSG)

 

 

Photo by Arik Stewart

Minority

/ Susie Stewart / 2 Comments

Do not be surprised,

dear ones,

that you are in the minority

 

Do not be discouraged

that the masses

are going in a different direction

 

Do not be overwhelmed

by the ugliness

all around you

 

Remember

that you are a lighthouse above the sea

 

You are a city on a hill

distinct from the rest

 

Sanctified

Set apart

 

Your one small flame

penetrates darkness

 

and the darkness

cannot overcome it

 

You are walking

the narrow road

 

while most are running

down the broad highway

 

Have compassion on them,

dear ones

 

Do not despise those

who are blinded by darkness

 

Make your light shine

in their world

 

And hold firm

to your hope

 

– Susie Stewart

 

You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

– Matthew 5:14 (NLT)

 

You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

– Matthew 7:13, 14 (NLT)

 

When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

– Matthew 9:36 (NLT)

 

The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.

– John 1:5 (NLT)

 

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.

– 1 Peter 2:9 (NLT)

 

For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!

– Ephesians 5:8 (NLT)

 

Forever

/ Susie Stewart / 1 Comment

God hath given to man a short time here upon earth, and yet upon this short time eternity depends.

– Jeremy Taylor

 

 

Forever

is a long time

 

and there is no one

I’d rather spend forever with

 

than You,

my beautiful God

 

Uninhibited praise

will be Yours

 

Untainted cherishing

will be ours

 

And I long for the eternity

that my mind can’t fathom

 

even as I walk

through time

 

And then I realize

that now

is part of always

 

Time is swallowed up

by eternal

 

All is present

 

And even as I wrestle

with the dust

 

I will still seek to praise You

uninhibited

 

And I will choose to cherish You

every day

 

As I look up with,

“Come, Lord Jesus, come.”

 

– Susie Stewart

 

With a loud command and with the shout of the chief angel and a blast of God’s trumpet, the Lord will return from heaven. Then those who had faith in Christ before they died will be raised to life. Next, all of us who are still alive will be taken up into the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the sky. From that time on we will all be with the Lord forever.

– 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17 (CEV)

 
For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity.

– C.S. Lewis

 

I will be there to greet you personally and welcome you home, where we will be together.

– John 14:3 (VOICE)

 

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy., the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

– C.S. Lewis

 

When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with Me where I am.

– John 14:3 (NLT)

 

I looked again. I saw a huge crowd, too huge to count. Everyone was there—all nations and tribes, all races and languages. And they were standing, dressed in white robes and waving palm branches, standing before the Throne and the Lamb and heartily singing:

Salvation to our God on His Throne!
Salvation to the Lamb!
All who were standing around the Throne—Angels, Elders, Animals—fell on their faces before the Throne and worshiped God, singing:

Oh, Yes!
The blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving,
The honor and power and strength,
To our God forever and ever and ever!
Oh, Yes!

– Revelation 7:9-12 (MSG)

 

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

 

Light Of The World

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

 

Light of the World

 

It is what we call You, God,

because of Your glory

Your redemption

Your Beauty

 

and more

 

And we, in whom Your Spirit dwells

are also

 

The light of the world

 

We share this title

 

Not on equal footing

but because we are like lanterns

 

in which Your spirit burns

and glows

 

We are vessels of Your hope

and Your glory

 

Your light in us

will not burn out

 

Just as Your glory will always

bring light

to the darkness

 

We are not meant to be hidden

from a world of darkness

 

for in that world

we are the light of it

 

The light of the world

 

– Susie Stewart

 

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

– Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV)

 

When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

– John 8:12 (NIV)

 

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

– John 1:5 (NIV)

 

But you are a chosen people, set aside to be a royal order of priests, a holy nation, God’s own; so that you may proclaim the wondrous acts of the One who called you out of inky darkness into shimmering light.

– 1 Peter 2:9 (VOICE)

 

Photo by Gracie Oertli

Salvation Strength

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Do you know

the strength of your salvation?

 

Do you know the power at work

in and through you?

 

You were saved for so much more

than you probably even realize

 

Jesus’ death and resurrection

broke the power of death over you

 

And you will live gloriously forever

because of the gift of your salvation

 

Your salvation brings you strong victory over sin

and you are no longer chained to it!

 

You have power in Christ

to overcome sin

to stomp on it

 

and before Christ

you were defenseless against it

 

Your salvation protects you

from the enemy who wants to take you down

 

He has no authority over you

so resist him

 

Your salvation brings you life-giving freedom

from your prison cell

 

and you have the power

to walk in that freedom

 

Your salvation brings you hope

in an uncertain world

and uncertain times

 

and this is a strong and enduring hope

 

Your salvation brings you peace

making you able to stand solid in chaos

 

Your salvation is strength

and defense

and endures forever

 

There is no need

to walk in defeat

 

– Susie Stewart

 

This includes you who were once far away from God. You were His enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now He has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a result, He has brought you into His own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault.

But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News….

– Colossians 1:21-23 (NLT)

 

I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

– Romans 8:38, 39 (MSG)

 

“It’s urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put Me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living.

– John 5:24 (MSG)

 

With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.

– Romans 8:1, 2 (MSG)

 

For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

– 2 Corinthians 3:17 (NLT)

 

So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.

– John 8:36 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart