Susie Stewart

Listen

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WORDS

hurt

heal

inform

affirm

express

 

Father,

lead my thoughts before a word ever leaves my lips

 

temper my tongue

 

for your glory

and for Your Name

 

Show me what righteous anger looks like

and what is mere bitterness

and selfishness

and pride

 

Silence the words

that I’m tempted to say

that shouldn’t be said

 

Teach me to listen

and  hear

and respond

from Your heart

 

Lead on, Lord,

and go before

so that the attitude of my heart

and the words of my mouth

show the light

You have brought to my soul

– Susie Stewart

 

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,  because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

– James 1:19,20 (NIV)

 

Understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Let everyone be quick to hear [be a careful, thoughtful listener], slow to speak [a speaker of carefully chosen words and], slow to anger [patient, reflective, forgiving]; for the [resentful, deep-seated] anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God [that standard of behavior which He requires from us].

– James 1:19 (AMP)

 

Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.

– James 1:18-20 (MSG)

 

When you are angry, don’t let it carry you into sin. Don’t let the sun set with anger in your heart or give the devil room to work.

– Ephesians 4:26,27 (VOIVE)

 

Pleasant words are like honey from a honeycomb— sweet to the spirit and healthy for the body.

– Proverbs 16:24 (GW)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Character

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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

 

Higher Still

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You say you don’t know why

and how He could let it happen

 

And you try to understand,

to know what He’s thinking

 

But His thoughts

are so beyond

 

And His ways

not even in range

 

So we trust that He Is

I AM

 

 

and that He took our fallen selves

and loved us still

 

He took our brokenness

and provided hope

 

He IS our Hope

and our mercy’s hand

 

He IS our Lifeline

 

And though we don’t understand

or comprehend His ways

 

We can know

He is our Answer

 

All questions are shrouded

in the glory of who He is

 

– Susie Stewart

 

How great is our Lord! His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension!

– Psalm 147:5 (NLT)

 

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so My ways are higher than your ways
and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

– Isaiah 5:8,9 (NLT)

 

Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of His understanding.

– Isaiah 40:28 (NLT)

 

God stretches the northern sky over empty space
and hangs the earth on nothing.
He wraps the rain in His thick clouds,
and the clouds don’t burst with the weight.
He covers the face of the moon,
shrouding it with His clouds.
He created the horizon when He separated the waters;
He set the boundary between day and night.
The foundations of heaven tremble;
they shudder at His rebuke.
By His power the sea grew calm.
By His skill He crushed the great sea monster.
His Spirit made the heavens beautiful,
and His power pierced the gliding serpent.
These are just the beginning of all that He does,
merely a whisper of His power.
Who, then, can comprehend the thunder of His power?”

– Job 26:7-14 (NLT)

 

“Indeed, through His own gracious revelation of Himself, we can understand God in part, but we can never fully comprehend Him, or even a single one of His qualities. There will always be more of His wisdom to understand, more of His power, more of His holiness, more of His love. We will never fathom Him, and we will never tire of Him. Through all eternity, we will look upon Him and marvel at the endlessly creative, wonderfully gracious, uniquely righteous, timelessly beautiful, unsearchably glorious, infinitely loving Maker and Ruler of all.”

– Kevin Hartnett

 

When I look at the night sky and see the work of Your fingers—
the moon and the stars you set in place—

what are mere mortals that You should think about them,
human beings that You should care for them?

Psalm 8:3,4 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Wide Open

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Jesus is a Gate

wide open

 

He is a gasp of fresh air

in a stifling world

 

He is a window to freedom

in a room of religious rules

 

He is water, living and alive

to a parched existence

 

He is a dance

in the midst of a crowd of unresponsive hearts

 

He is the Gate

I have walked through

 

and found Eternal Life

 

in the now

and forever.

 

– Susie Stewart

 

I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

 

– John 10:9,10  (NIV)

 

David danced before the Lord with all his might…

2 Samuel 6:16 (NLT)

 

So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.

Galatians 5:1 (NLT)

 

Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again.

But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

– John 4:13,14 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Peace

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Perfect peace comes from God.  It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit for the Believer, and it comes even in the storm if our hearts and minds are set on Him.

– Susie Stewart

 

The labor of self-love is a heavy one indeed. Think whether much of your sorrow has not arisen from someone speaking slightingly of you. As long as you set yourself up as a little god to which you must be loyal, how can you hope to find inward peace.

– AW Tozer

 

True faith, by a mighty effort of the will, fixes its gaze on our Divine Helper, and there finds it possible and wise to lose its fears. It is madness to say, “I will not be afraid;” it is wisdom and peace to say, “I will trust and not be afraid.”

– Alexander MacLaren

 

Now may the Lord Himself give you peace at all times and in every way.

– 2 Thessalonians 3:16 (NIV)

 

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]

– John 16:33 (AMP)

 

You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.

– Isaiah 26:3 (AMP)

 

Walk away from the evil things in the world—just leave them behind, and do what is right, and always seek peace and pursue it.

– 1 Peter 3:11 (VOICE)

 

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,…

– Galatians 5:22 (NLT)

 

A mind focused on the flesh is doomed to death, but a mind focused on the Spirit will find full life and complete peace.

– Romans 8:6 (VOICE)

 

For even if the mountains walk away and the hills fall to pieces, My love won’t walk away from you, my covenant commitment of peace won’t fall apart.” The God who has compassion on you says so.

– Isaiah 54:10 (MSG)

 

If our minds are stayed upon God, His peace will rule the affairs entertained by our minds. If, on the other hand, we allow our minds to dwell on the cares of this world, God’s peace will be far from our thoughts.

– Woodrow Kroll

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

With You

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As sure as God puts His children in the furnace He will be in the furnace with them.

– Charles Spurgeon

 

Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; He will neither fail you nor abandon you.

– Deuteronomy 31:8 (NLT)

 

But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you.
O Israel, the one who formed you says,
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.
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 43:1,2 (NLT)

 

So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.

– Deuteronomy 31:6 (NLT)

 

Hold on to the faithfulness of God.  Believe, when you do not understand, that He knows all about you, that He is committed to taking care of you.  He has promised it.

– D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you.  If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.  But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

Nebuchadnezzar was so furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face became distorted with rage. He commanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual.  Then he ordered some of the strongest men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.  So they tied them up and threw them into the furnace, fully dressed in their pants, turbans, robes, and other garments.  And because the king, in his anger, had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, the flames killed the soldiers as they threw the three men in.  So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, securely tied, fell into the roaring flames.

But suddenly, Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisers, “Didn’t we tie up three men and throw them into the furnace?”

“Yes, Your Majesty, we certainly did,” they replied.

“Look!” Nebuchadnezzar shouted. “I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god!”

Then Nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the door of the flaming furnace and shouted: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!”

So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stepped out of the fire.  Then the high officers, officials, governors, and advisers crowded around them and saw that the fire had not touched them. Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched. They didn’t even smell of smoke!

Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent His angel to rescue His servants who trusted in Him. They defied the king’s command and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.”

– Daniel 3:16-28 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

 

Full

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Guilt

Shame

Sin

Judgment

 

make us feel empty

hollow

lacking

condemned

 

and our souls echo back

the sound

of hopelessness

 

But You, God

You are FULL

 

You are everything

You are abundant

You are plenty

and overflowing

 

Your Fullness

replenishes us

with grace

upon grace

upon grace

 

because we need it, Lord

 

We need the Full

that You give willingly

to the ones You created

 

 

Our empty

is met

with grace

accepted

 

and we become beings

overflowing with the love

that You gave us

 

Fully

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Out of His fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.

– John 1:16 (NIV)

 

The heart overflows in the words a person speaks; your words reveal what’s within your heart.

– Luke 6:45 (VOICE)

 

When I think of the greatness of this great plan I fall on my knees before God the Father (from whom all fatherhood, earthly or heavenly, derives its name), and I pray that out of the glorious richness of His resources He will enable you to know the strength of the spirit’s inner re-inforcement—that Christ may actually live in your hearts by your faith. And I pray that you, firmly fixed in love yourselves, may be able to grasp (with all Christians) how wide and deep and long and high is the love of Christ—and to know for yourselves that love so far beyond our comprehension. May you be filled though all your being with God himself!

– Ephesians 3:18-20 (PHILLIPS)

 

For God in all His fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
and through Him God reconciled
everything to Himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

– Colossians 1:19,20 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Closer

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The closer I get to You

Lord

the less I desire the praise of people

the less I desire to please them

the less I am offended by them.

I gaze at You

and all the empty spaces are filled up.

 

– Susie Stewart

 

One thing I have asked of the Lord, and that I will seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, To gaze upon the beauty [the delightful loveliness and majestic grandeur] of the Lord And to meditate in His temple.

– Psalm 27:4 (AMP)

 

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT)

 

 

Photo by Gracie Oertli

 

Extraordinary

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Since our heavenly Father’s goal is to help us reach our full spiritual potential as believers in Christ, we will be challenged by the things He calls us to do. Sometimes really challenged…This is God’s way. Putting extraordinary tasks on the plates of ordinary people so that ordinary people can see what an extraordinary God can do through them…what He’s saying to you may sound impossible. But if you’ll just follow Him in stunned, submitted obedience, stepping out of your cozy comfort zone, you’ll find you’re leaving the realm of your natural abilities behind and entering the realm of His supernatural ones.

– PriscilIa Shirer

 

I replied, “I’m not a good speaker, Lord, and I’m too young.”
“Don’t say you’re too young,” the Lord answered. “If I tell you to go and speak to someone, then go! And when I tell you what to say, don’t leave out a word! I promise to be with you and keep you safe, so don’t be afraid.”

– Jeremiah 1:6-8 (CEV)

 

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in Me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.”

– John 14:12 (NLT)

 

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.  No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”

– Matthew 5:14-16 (NLT)

 

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Tight Grip

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I know your hand is outstretched

and I know You are trustworthy

so I choose to reach up to You

to grasp Your hand tightly

and to follow where You lead

 

The world is reaching out its hand to me too

with empty promises

and things that don’t fill

and roads with dead ends

 

I choose not to reach down

and take the hand of the world

for it will never satisfy

and there are many broken, plastic, soul-starved people

appearing fulfilled,

but are not

as they hold the hand of the world

 

I follow You, Jesus.

 

For every life has sorrow

and every life pain

and every life has its struggles,

but no matter the road

I want to be holding on to You

and despair will not come

 

 

You will strengthen

and comfort

and uphold

and inspire

and defend

 

and always Love

 

I am IN this world,

but holding tight to You

I will not be pulled downward

For I am IN it

but not OF it

 

I am free

 

My otherworldliness comes

by citizenship

in Your beautiful Kingdom.

 

I will follow the King.

 

– Susie Stewart

 

 

If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there Your hand will guide me,
and Your strength will support me.

– Psalm 139:9,10 (NIV)

 

So I let them follow their own stubborn desires,
living according to their own ideas.
Oh, that my people would listen to Me!
Oh, that Israel would follow Me, walking in My paths!
How quickly I would then subdue their enemies!
How soon My hands would be upon their foes!

– Psalm 81:12-14 (NLT)

 

And whoever does not carry their cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.

– Luke 14:27 (NIV)

 

 

Your own ears will hear Him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.

– Isaiah 30:21 (NLT)

 

But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.

– Mark 9:27 (NLT)

 

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.

– 1 John 2:15 (NLT)

 

“My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given Me, because they belong to You.  All who are Mine belong to You, and You have given them to Me, so they bring Me glory.  Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to You. Holy Father, You have given Me Your name; now protect them by the power of Your name so that they will be united just as We are.  During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name You gave Me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.

“Now I am coming to You. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with My joy.  I have given them Your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.  I’m not asking You to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one.  They do not belong to this world any more than I do.  Make them holy by Your truth; teach them Your word, which is truth.  Just as You sent Me into the world, I am sending them into the world.  And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by Your truth.

– John 17:9-19 (NLT)