Creation Speaks

"No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends."

John 15:13 HCSB

Most moms just give and give and give, expecting nothing in return; it's just what they do – it's just the way God wired them. Their greatest reward rests simply in watching their children flourish.

Perhaps many of you, like me, have a mom who's now passed away. When I think about my mom, I like to think about her enjoying new life now without the physical limitations that kept her bound during the final years of her life.

My mom had lived a very active life. Much of that activity made life richer for me. For all she did for me, I wish I could've honored her more, thanked her more, spent more time with her, while she was here.

If you've been blessed to have a mom like that, make opportunity to thank God and to thank her.

Your mom may say she doesn't need anything, but let me encourage you, while you have the chance,
love her well. It doesn't take much –
a heart-felt hug with a whisper,
"Thanks, Mom. You're the best I could ever ask for."
It won't just make her day –
it'll make her life.

If you haven't been given a mom like that, well, you still can be that kind of parent or mentor to another. You can be the gift. And it will feel just as good to be the blesser as it does to be the blessed. Even better. Great will be your reward in this life, and in the life to come. Guaranteed.



Make life sweeter, honeybee!

"I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me into your home. I needed clothes, and you gave me something to wear. I was sick, and you took care of me. I was in prison, and you visited me.'

Then the people who have God's approval will reply to him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or see you thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you as a stranger and take you into our homes or see you in need of clothes and give you something to wear? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?'

The king will answer them, 'I can guarantee this truth: Whatever you did for one of my brothers or sisters, no matter how unimportant [they seemed], you did for me.'"

Matthew 25:35-40 GWT 

Why is it, LORD, how is it, LORD, that You love us so unconditionally, so relentlessly? My viewpoint, so very limited and small, witnesses countless actions that must break Your heart… over… and over… and over. I don’t know how You continue to love us so, love me so. But I'm so glad that you do. The more I learn of You, the more I fall deeper in awe, deeper in love with You. Your love is amazing. Truly amazing. There is none like You.

"...but the angel said, "Do not be so surprised. You are looking for Jesus, the Nazarene, who was crucified.
He isn't here! He has been raised from the dead!"

Mark 16:6 NLT

"When we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and shared his death. So, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the wonderful power of the Father, we also can live a new life."

Romans 6:4 NCV



"Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God's right hand in the place of honor and power."

Colossians 3:1 NLT



"Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him.

I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ to save me.

For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith.

As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead!

I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be.

No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing:

Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven."

Philippians 3:8-14 NIV

"Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, 'Sit here while I go over there and pray.' He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.' Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.'"

Matthew 26:36-39 NIV

"Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see -- kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together. Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. He is the first of all who will rise from the dead, so he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross.

This includes you who were once so far away from God."

Colossians 1:15-21 NLT

"Welcome those who are weak in faith, but do not argue with them about their personal opinions.

Some people's faith allows them to eat anything, but the person who is weak in the faith eats only vegetables. The person who will eat anything is not to despise the one who doesn't; while the one who eats only vegetables is not to pass judgment on the one who will eat anything; for God has accepted that person.

"Who are you to judge the servants of someone else? It is their own Master who will decide whether they succeed or fail. And they will succeed, because the Lord is able to make them succeed.

Some people think that a certain day is more important than other days, while others think that all days are the same. We each should firmly make up our own minds.

We do not live for ourselves only, and we do not die for ourselves only.

If we live, it is for the Lord that we live, and if we die, it is for the Lord that we die. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

Every one of us, then, will have to give an account to God.

So then, let us stop judging one another.

Instead, you should decide never to do anything that would make others stumble or fall into sin.

So then, we must always aim at those things that bring peace and that help strengthen one another.

Do not, because of food, destroy what God has done. The right thing to do is to keep from eating meat, drinking wine, or doing anything else that will make other believers fall. Keep what you believe about this matter, then, between yourself and God.

Happy are those who do not feel guilty when they do something they judge is right! But if they have doubts about what they eat, God condemns them when they eat it, because their action is not based on faith. And anything that is not based on faith is sin."

Romans 14 GNT

"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."

Ephesians 4:3 TNIV

"Even the wilderness will rejoice in those days. The desert will blossom with flowers."

Isaiah 35:1 NLT

"The Lord is not slow

in doing what he promised --

the way some people

understand slowness.

But God is being patient

with you.

He does not want anyone

to be lost,

but he wants all people

to change their hearts and lives."

2 Peter 3:9 NCV

    God in my living
    There in my breathing
    God in my waking
    God in my sleeping

    God in my resting
    There in my working
    God in my thinking
    God in my speaking

    Be my everything

    God in my hoping
    There in my dreaming
    God in my watching
    God in my waiting

    God in my laughing
    There in my weeping
    God in my hurting
    God in my healing

    Christ in me
    Christ in me
    Christ in me
    The hope of glory

    You are everything

    Everything
            by Tim Hughes

It was a beautiful crisp day yesterday so I headed out to see if I could find any first blooms promising Spring.

Crocuses are usually the first noticeable flowers to appear on the tail of winter in my neighborhood, but I found none – of no surprise with frost yet clinging to the shadows even at mid day. The only blooms found, soaking in the sunshine, braving still frosty nights and chilly days, were these tiny blues (what I think are Persian Speedwells), only about the size of a rolled oat.

Then across the way this towering Pampas caught my eye. Its graceful white plumes reached radiantly into the mighty blue sky, unashamed while most of the world remained asleep in winter's grasp. My small zoom lens brought the view a little closer to the 10-ft high glittering fronds in my attempt to capture this scene for you.

Gazing up into them, something stirred deep within, even ached, for God's righteousness.

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.

They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. Aliens will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast. Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.

'For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed.'

I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations."

Isaiah 61:1-11 NIV

Ah LORD God, Your great and yet mysterious promises call out to my soul. 

Never stop growing. Never stop learning.

God will ever breath further understanding into our heart and mind, if we are open–
revelation regarding who He is,
revelation regarding who we are,
revelation regarding what it means to pray, "Your Kingdom come, O God."

We shall ever be in need of God aligning our perspective with His.

The more I learn, the less I know.   Socrates

"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;

I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth.

These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them."

Isaiah 42:16 NIV

"...I trust in your love. My heart is happy because you saved me.

I sing to the Lord because he has taken care of me."

Psalms 13:5-6 NCV

God is yet writing your story.

When the weight of all my dreams
Is resting heavy on my head
And thoughtful words of health and hope
Have all been nicely said
But I'm still hurting
Wondering if I'll ever be
The one I think I am
I think I am

Then you gently re-remind me
That you've made me from the first
And the more I try to be the best
The more I get the worst
And I realize the good in me
Is only there because of who you are
Who you are

And all I ever have to be
Is what you've made me
Any more or less would be a step
Out of your plan
As you daily recreate me
Help me always keep in mind
That I only have to do
What I can find

And all I ever have to be
Is what you've made me

    All I Every Have To Be written by Gary Chapman

Just take life one day at a time. Make sure to spend plenty of time with Him, just sitting at His feet, soaking Him in.
He won't let you miss His heart for you. 

"...You should think in the same way Christ Jesus does. In his very nature he was God. But he did not think that being equal with God was something he should hold on to. Instead, he made himself nothing. He took on the very nature of a servant. He was made in human form. He appeared as a man. He came down to the lowest level. He obeyed God completely, even though it led to his death. So God lifted him up to the highest place. He gave him the name that is above every name.

When the name of Jesus is spoken, everyone's knee will bow to worship him. Every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth will bow to worship him. Everyone's mouth will say that Jesus Christ is Lord. And God the Father will receive the glory.

My dear friends, you have always obeyed God...So continue to work out your own salvation. Do it with fear and trembling.

God is working in you. He wants your plans and your acts to be in keeping with his good purpose.

Do everything without finding fault or arguing. Then you will be pure and without blame. You will be children of God without fault in a sinful and evil world.

Among the people of the world you shine like stars in the heavens."

Philippians 2:1-15 NIRV  

My pastor Tim taught on this message this morning, and there doesn't seem another message more apropos for the first day of the new year:

It's never too late for a new start with Christ.

No one is ever too far gone that we should give up praying for them, or that we should give up on ourselves. 

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

Hebrews 12:1 NIV

What hinders? What entangles?

Join me in getting real with God regarding our own life and heart. "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8 NIV) Yet, because His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23) we can bravely face the truth about ourselves.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life." (Psalms 139:23-24 NLT)

What road has God marked out for you in 2012?

Let's open our hearts to ask Him. In boldly laying our lives before Him, we can arise in the strength He supplies to overcome whatever stands in our way. Let's seek out His wisdom for the specific steps to put action to His desires for us, one step at a time.

May you feel complete and live victorious in 2012. 

Comments? Feedback? Testimonies? Please feel free to send an email to deb@HeartScribeForHim.com.

Link to HeartScribe Gift Bookmarks here