What Is Your Will In Christ?

"O LORD, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures.  Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind, both large and small.  See the ships sailing along, and Leviathan, which you made to play in the sea.  They all depend on you to give them food as they need it.  When you supply it, they gather it. You open your hand to feed them, and they are richly satisfied.  But if you turn away from them, they panic. When you take away their breath, they die and turn again to dust.  When you give them your breath, life is created, and you renew the face of the earth.  May the glory of the LORD continue forever! The LORD takes pleasure in all he has made!  The earth trembles at his glance; the mountains smoke at his touch.  I will sing to the LORD as long as I live. I will praise my God to my last breath!  May all my thoughts be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD. ..."  Psalm 104:24-34 (NLT) So..

"Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it."   Proverbs 22:6 (NKJ) My mother was a passionate and marvelously industrious soul. She worked hard and was a continuously creative problem solver, a sincerely caring friend, and a genuinely loving heart. She wasn't perfect by any means - she faced struggles with her humanity as we all do, but in honest thought I've come to recognize that what made her so special was her reflection of Christ's heart and spirit. Above all else, it was that heart and spirit that made her joyful, beautiful and left many with a favorable and memorable impression of her. It's an impression that wasn't lost on her son. I lost her presence on earth some time ago and I've had time to reflect on the characteristics that stood out in her, were attractive, and what it was that made her seem special to many who knew her well. I came to realize that it was her love for Christ and the essence o

"If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the LORD..."  Jeremiah 29:13-14 (NLT) God's granted me a lot of grace and a lot of time to get to know Him. And from the time that I received my first King James bible at eight years old, curiosity has led me down a path of discovery that's spanned a number of decades. It was a struggle at first - trying to understand the old English of that first bible, but I found it hard to put it down. I came to have  a dreading fear of God from so many troubling passages of scripture that I'd read, but was conflicted because there were so many other passages that spoke of love and kindness that I'd read as well. What did it all mean? Who is this God? Could I ever be good enough? I needed to know... Because I was reading with a child's eyes and understanding in my discovery quest and without more mature guidance as I read, I came away from some of those long reading interludes with only

Let not my confidence ever become ugly arrogance. It's only by sheer grace that I live at all. My life is not my own, nor was it given by my own hand or earned by some self governed right. It was given by the breath of the One who created me for His own pleasure of Fatherhood and it is due Him still as He wills it. It's to Him that I belong. Evil might kill me, but it should know that it can only kill me to let me begin to truly live in fullness, the life for which I was created, and that the blood of this body would be a stain on evil's hands for which my Father's vengeance would exact payment while I sit at His feet. I don't have fear for tomorrow or for what circumstances any government or the dreadful in humanity might impose against me because my path is beyond their reach. I'm in their sight for now, but my provision is my unseen Father's endless storehouse and my place set on high, sheltered in a cleft of the immovable rock.  My rescue is always set a