Praise to God; Alaba a Dios; Elogio ao Deus; Berom till Guden...

Yo tengo un amigo que me ama mas de puedo explicar Yo tengo un Padre que me muestra justicia como nunca antes Es un Señor omnipotente y con èl puedo tener vida eterna No puedo darle suficiente gracias, porque tocò mis pecados en la cruz Y por eso, quiero darle todo mi ser Y por eso, siempre cantarè Y por eso, nunca dejarè de proclamar Que maravilloso es mi Dios Tu has prometido todo bien a los niños tuyos Tu quisieras nada mas que darnos regalos que nunca cesan de venir Pero primero tenemos de abrir nuestros corazones para ver tus bendiciònes Solamente luego, poderàmos ver la verdad an que trabajas todo para bien For those of you that don't speak Spanish: I have a friend that loves me more than I can explain I have a Father that shows me justice like never before He is omnipotent, and with him I can have eternal life I'm unable to give him sufficient thanks, because he took my sins on the cross. That's why, I want to give him all that I am That's why, I will always sing That's why, I will never stop proclaiming How marvelous is my God. You have promised everything good to your children You would like nothing more than to give us gifts that never stop coming But first we have to open our hearts to see your blessings Only then will we be able to see the truth in that you work everything for good. The other two languages in the title are Portuguese and Swedish. I totally wish that I could bust out a song in both of those languages too; however, it's just not in the cards; (unless the Lord randomly decided that I'm going to wake up one day and be fluent in both of them! Haha). Which, mind you, is not impossible. Anyway... back to the point. I wrote this song first in Spanish and then English. You would think it was the other way around. Anyway.. that's irrelevent. I wrote them to provide the slightest of pictures that are a part of the big picture; the one I will now elaborate on :) Vision. I have always struggled with this. I mean, what does vision even mean really? I always imagined that when all of those people that are super in touch with the Lord that talk about their vision actually literally, out of nowhere, are hit with a dream; a vivid dream, and so it is. The Lord gave them a picture. And that's why I've always struggled. Because I've never just been hit with a 'dream' from God. I've never closed my eyes and then boom, there's a picture of a nation in turmoil, or a vivid place. But, as far as I have come to understand, that's not really what it's all about. No doubt that definitely does happen. But I've realized that it's about finding what you're passionate about, and then picturing what it is that you would like to see done for the Lord. Hence, the title of this post. My vision is simply this: To see every single person on this earth crying 'Praise Be to God,' in every language that exists. And I struggled with this as well, because I would say 'Lord, that's not really a very vivid, descriptive dream, is it?' Of course I imagine I may have upset God quite a bit by saying that. My struggle was that I didn't really think it was personal, but instead something that all Christians should want.' But the Lord more or less spoke this into me: 'While that's true Courtney, you actually believe it can happen.' And how true is that, I really do see a world, the entire world, here, now, shouting praises to the one true God. So many say 'It can't be done.' But as I've touched on before, we serve a God of the impossible! And the love of God works for everyone. If it didn't, the whole thing would be destroyed; as the whole message of Christ is centered around that fact that He takes EVERYONE, just as they are, and wants to drench them in his love. And so I got to thinking, is it any wonder why the Lord has revealed a message unto me that would seek to awaken his bride to the vast, immeasurable love that he has for us? I wondered at first why the Lord would have me to speak to those who already call themselves follwers of Christ, as it is indeed ironic because I have a heart for the 10-40 window; the most unreached places on earth. But that's where it starts isn't is? That's where my vision starts: Awakening his people to His love, that they might step into their full inheritance and go! Just as the Lord calls us to! AMEN!!!! My point is this: Don't diminish your vision. If you are passionate about it, if it something that is pleasing to the Lord that would seek to further his kingdom, GO FOR IT!! Praise be to God; Alaba a Dios, Elogio ao Deus; Beron till Guden....!!!! God Bless :)

You Are A Fool; You Are an Heir

I would just like to say starting out that this may seem a little weird at first and quite frankly it will sound evil (no pun intended haha) but I think it will be very easy to see the contrast once you are finished reading. Also, sorry if it's long! Who am I talking to anyway.... Haha. Anyway.. here goes. Foolish child, I love to make you wander about Feeling as though you've got nowhere to rest. I love watching the desperation in your eyes as you yearn for something more; And I love knowing that I am keeping you from it. Foolish child, you have somewhere to go but I will do my best to keep that from your knowledge; Don't you know how much I loathe you? You're trash, you will never be worthy of anything, you sinner; I love seeing you take solace, without even knowing, in my lies. Foolish child; look at you just running Throughout this world in which I wander to and fro. Run to me and I'll promise you all of your desires; all the while knowing they will not complete you; For the deepest desire of mine is to destroy your life. Foolish child I find true joy in hearing that you are done; With each tear of yours that falls I laugh hysterically. Your hurt is to me the sweetest of symphonies; And I am here so that hurt forever will prolong. Foolish child, if only you knew that the bondage that you find yourself encompassed in I am proudly proclaiming is from me; But this truth I will indeed keep hidden You, foolish children, truly are the most hideous of creations; You are more worthless than dirt on the ground. I can only hope that you never awaken your hearts; and forever lie drowning in my vat of lies. Dearest child, why do you wander so? Come to the fount and rest. That I might drench you in a downpour of blessing That forever soaks and dwells within you. Dearest child, where is it that you go? Don't you know how much I love you? You are my heir; my most beautiful work Find solace in me that I might reveal this love to you. Dearest child, why is it that you run? As far as the east is from the west, there I am also. Instead run to me; that I might give you life abundant For this is the deepest desire of my heart. Dearest child, have I heard you say you're done? As soon as that first tears finds its was down your cheek, I weep continually. Your hurt is to me the deepest of sorrows; I have come so that suffering no longer marches victorious but hangs its head. In my name, dearest child, you are liberated from the bondage that has encomapassed you; I'm begging you; grab ahold of my garments that this may be so. You, my children, truly are the most beautiful of creations; You are more precious than gold that perishes even though refined by fire. Please, oh please, bride of mine, awaken your hearts; That I might lavish upon you all that is intended. I wrote the two different 'letters,' if you will, above, to provide a contrast between the enemy and God. The devil really does want to keep us in bondage; but the Lord says in me, you are free. And he truly does want to lavish upon us ceaseless blessings; especially when we find ourselves at the end of our rope. He says "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." -Matthew 11:28- School lately has been very demanding, and in the last couple of days I have felt completely drained. But I was reminded of that verse and although it's hard; I am doing my best to cling to Him and find rest. The enemy no doubt is in heavy pursuit of us; especially when we are at our breaking point. But in this hope we can REST: the Lord, who loves us so much more than we will we ever be able to comprehend, is eagerly waiting for us to come to him, those of us who are weary and burdened, that he may give us rest. "For creation was subjected to frustration; not by it's own choice but by the will of the one who subjected it; in hope that the creation itself would be liberated from it's bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God."Romans 8:20,21 Thanks :)

Unto You I Write

"How great you are, O Lord my God Your abounding beauty resonates throughout all of creation Darkness trembles in your holy presence The whole earth is filled with your glory Together all of creation joins in a mighty chorus The leaves dance; the birds sing; your bride proclaims Praise be to God. Maker of the heavens and earth. O Gracious Father, reveal your desires unto me That I might bring the kingdom of heaven to this earth Break down the walls of solitude For your kingdom leaves no room for such as these Your love stretches from the east to the west There is no place void of your love In you, O Lord my Keeper, I seek refuge No other fortress will satisfy me Restore my soul, that I might be reconciled unto you; Who sculpted and molded me in your very image Let not my heart become ostentacious May I forever endure in this fortitude Awaken my very being, O Lord my God To see all of that which is pleasing to you Instill in me a passion that screams the greatest remedy of all Blood shed from a savior; the one who paid it all." This is something that I wrote to God. I recently finsihed Floyd McClung's 'Livin' on the Devil's Doorstep,' and at one point it talks about Christmas time, and how they are actaully giving gifts unto God. After all, it is his birthday. That simple fact stirred inside of me quite a bit... Because nowadays, we instead buy gifts for each other. Anyway, the point of this is not to talk about that true meaning of Christmas haha. That would be silly, considering it's February :) But here's what I'm thinking: Floyd and his crew had the right idea. It's Jesus' birthday, so shouldn't we give unto Him? But how do we justify stopping there? Giving God a gift one day out of 365? The guy who's up there 24/7, non-stop on the job working to give us the best life possible?? To drown us in his blessings? I encourage whoever it is that might find this quick word today to just take 5-10 minutes and just give unto God. It can be anything. He is forever interceding for us, so let's express how much we appreciate it!! Thanks everyone!!

"Because I Said So"

Mom: "Go clean your room." Child: "Why?" Mom: "Because I said so." Nowadays, this is not something that you wanna hear. Because usually, it pertains to something similar to the above text. It is a command, and not a fun one. But try this on for size: Person 1: "How is it possible that I deserve such a love?" Person 2: "Because I said so." Person 1: "How is it that 'I am'?" Person 2: "Because I said so." Person 1: "How can we possibly have overcome this world?" Person 2: "Because I said so." Are you getting the picture? It's not hard to guess who persons one and two are. We, followers of Christ, are person one. And of course, God himself is person two. I have to believe that it breaks God's heart when we ask thse questions time and time again. He's up there saying 'Don't they realize how precious they are, more precious than gold?? Think about that. More precious than gold?? I don't know about you, but Amen. We are, because He says so. We have overcome, because He says so. We deserve Him, because He says so. This is no longer a command, but the deepest expression of love from a Father that loves his children. Thanks ya'll!!!

Worry Schmurry

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own." Matthew 6:34 Pretty straight-forward, no? Ok, very straight-forward. To put it even more simply, just don't worry. About anything. Well, I don't know about you, but when I read that, at least until recently, I'd say 'that's all fine and dandy Jesus, but is that really possible?' (Brief side thought): We serve a God of the impossible, amen?? That really doesn't pertain much to what I want to give a quick word about, but nonetheless, it's something to think about!! :) Anyway... I was reminded of that verse recently from a friend. It's such a good one! (If you wanna check out more about what Jesu Cristo says about worry, check out the end of Matthew 6). Another verse that I really love says this: "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Matthew 6:27. I have been reminded recently of the importance of not worrying about anything. Jesus is pretty intelligible if I do say so myself! Worrying is just wasted time. Especially because of this simple fact: God has us. What a beautiful thought! The reason we don't have to worry about anything is because he that lives inside of us has already overcome the things of this world! We just have to cling to Him and trust that he has us. hence the title of this particular post: Worry schmurry! :) Thanks for checkin' in! God Bless!

LOVE

Wow... where do I even begin? This seems like the thing to do... So again, even though I hate following trends, this seems harmless enough! :) So, here I am, in good ol' Ohio. Of course it's nothing special... but wait. I'm gonna go ahead and stop right there. That's kind of the idea behind this blog; the point if you will. And the point is simply this: God moves no matter where you are. For the longest time, I struggled with this thought. It's not that I didn't believe that the Lord used people where they were, but I would always say something like 'Well, it's nothing like if I were in China and doing the the work of the Lord there.' But I got to thinking (or maybe the Lord got me thinking?) that when God hears us say this, it breaks his heart. For quite some time, I had been praying that the Lord would reveal to me a possible DTS where I could go and be actively engaged in Him there. No doubt, the Lord did this for me, but then He said that one simple word that is even worse than yes or no: Wait. 'Are you willing to wait on me Courtney?' 'Do you trust me?' And so the free-fall began. With every move that I made, every step that I took, I did my best to rely on the strength and power of the Lord. Since then, the Lord has been speaking into me the most beautiful things; and one in particular that has changed my life. It's the simplest of things, and yet aren't the simple things the hardest to accept? And it's SIMPLY this: God loves me. God loves his people. And you may be sitting there saying 'Well, duh Courtney. Of course he loves us.'But no... He LOVES us. And yes, I would love to elaborate :) The main verses (although there are many, many others) behind this revelation is 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: BE RECONCILED TO GOD. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Read that a few more times. I imagine most of you have heard this verse many times. Here's what I want to touch on, and I say that because that really is all we can do when we are talking about the love of Christ. We are a new creation when we commit our lives to Christ. What does this mean exactly? Jesus had all authority in heaven and on earth. After his death and resurrection, were we were given the Holy Spirit; the very Spirit of Christ. What does that mean? BE RECONCILED TO GOD. An absolutely sock-rocking statement in Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis says this: 'When God looks at us, he sees himself.' In Romans 8 it says that 'if we are children; then we are heirs: heirs with God and CO-HEIRS with Christ. Co-heirs with Christ?! You mean God sees ME as he sees his son; the Son of Man?! Realizing who you are in Christ is absolutely crucial in the furthering of His kingdom. If we do not realize it, we will never be able to step in the full inheritance of God. But not only do we need to realize it, we need to accept it. It is something that we will never understand; it is simply a divine gift from a Father who loves his children. Not just loves. LOVES. Phillipians 3:16 'Let us live up to what we have already attained.' Thanks for tuning in!! Courtney