Tag: trials

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I AM Your Shelter

James 1:2-3 (TLV) Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

Beloved, don’t shy away from hardships, rather seek Me in the midst of them. I AM the One who calms the storms and brings peace. I AM the One who brings beauty from ashes. Look to Me. I AM your ever-present help in times of trouble and I AM always with you. Quiet your spirit and seek Me. I AM your shelter in the storm, your cleft in the rock. And I AM working all things for good. I AM.

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Set Your Face Like Flint

Isaiah 50:7 (NLT) Because the Sovereign Lord helps me,I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know that I will not be put to shame.

Beloved, do not be caught up in circumstances and the things your natural senses may tell you. What I have said will be. I AM faithful and My word is true. Stay fixed on Me, unmoving, not able to be swayed by the things of this world, hearing My voice clearer than any other. Believe, stand in faith, and watch Me move.

I will allow circumstances to stretch your capacity to believe. I would not allow these things if I didn’t know that you could withstand and stay strong. So focus your gaze on Me and your heart on My promises, and wait with joy. In your heart you’ve desired to be able to testify to My power, so don’t be surprised when I give you opportunity to stand in faith, beloved. You asked for this. You will withstand and see My glory unfold.

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Fruit from Adversity

For I have loved you with an everlasting love, and My eye is ever upon you for you are so lovely to My gaze. Nothing about you – no aspect of your life or your past – goes unseen by Me, nor am I unfeeling to anything that has wounded you. Each wound you’ve received I felt even in greater measure, for I treasure you and hold you dear – I would that you NEVER be hurt. And yet, to those wounds I will bring healing, and through those wounds I will bring testimony that speaks of the power of My love. Nothing will be wasted. So hold fast in adversity, I am with you to bring you through and My love will cause fruit to burst forth from the land plowed by hardships. I bring life in the desert and joy even in the dark places. So again, hold fast – mourning may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning!

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Fragrant Offering

Luke 7:36 -38 (NKJV) Then one of the Pharisees (Simon) asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 

Mark 14:4-6, 9 (NKJV) [emphasis added] But there were some (His disciples [Matthew 26:7], Judas Iscariot Simon’s son [John 12:4], and the Pharisee who had invited Him [Luke 7:39]) who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply. But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me…Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her. 

It is first interesting to note and understand the significance of where Mary was on her journey to where Jesus was. I believe it to be significant to the journey your heart has taken. Simon’s name means “listening, to be heard, reputation. His home was in Bethany (which means “house of dates” or “house of misery“) and Bethany was right at the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives was and still is one of the most well-known Jewish cemeteries in Israel. Bethany was next to the road that led from Jericho (means “Place of Fragrance“) to Jerusalem (means “foundation/possession of peace“…a place of completeness and wholeness). Continue reading “Fragrant Offering”