Double-Dipper Baptism

I often get caught up in what I call my “mom cocoon” where I like to wrap myself up in memories of my children. There are so many wonderful memories to come but there is always that look, touch, smell or event that takes you back to a very specific moment in time. With my son, Tony, being 11 years old now, I find more and more need to remember him as he was as a little man. My favorite times with him were always before bed. We had a schedule since he was born that would include, at night, his bath time and music. Then we would have a very lengthy prayer time. Tony loved to pray for everyone he could think to name. After we prayed he would put his arms around me and would have to do this funny ritual-order of kisses: cheeks, Eskimos, butterflies and more! So when the night came that Tony asked me if he could have Jesus in his heart- it brought such joy and honor to be his mom at that very moment.

To see Tony grow up is hard. Two years ago, when I put his shoes on in the dark when camping and realized we had the same size shoes- that made me cry! When Tony started Middle School this year, I didn’t cry but instead I got mad! His liking Middle School can make me pretty upset too. I should rejoice more over this, but part of me is mourning the loss of my sweet boy.

Merri has been all heart since she was born. I still giggle when I remember her as a tiny baby sleeping in her crib and she would laugh in her sleep!! She was five when she asked for Jesus to be in her life. It too was a joy and honor to be with her as she prayed and was forever changed. Just two years ago we were sitting in the living room watching a movie when Merri just stood up on the couch and shouted, “I just love God! I love Him sooo much- with all of my heart, body and soul!” It was too precious. She sat back down and continued watching the movie. She still likes to just burst out with praise to God and makes sure you know how much she loves Jesus. Its that joy and devotion that I pray we can all obtain daily.

Merri has been asking to be baptized (bapatized as she used to call it) for two years now. She would even “bapatize” herself when we would be swimming. I wanted to truly spend time with both Tony and Merri in discipleship with them and ensuring that they built their faith and were truly certain and passionate about confessing Jesus to the public and following Him in baptism. God really spoke to me about it being time for them to make this step in obedience and that it wasn’t about who could be there to see it or about it being the right timing according to me but that it was about them making that decision. So I made sure they were on the list for the first baptism of the year. They were so excited that they even invited their dad, step mom and grandmother. We prayed for a long time that they would be able to come and they did!

Last night was a night of joy and praise for us as Tony and Merri got baptized for Jesus! They truly understood that it isn’t baptism that saves but that it was a beautiful picture of salvation and obedience. They also experienced the Holy Spirit coming upon them. Not everyone gets that when they are water baptized, but they did. They also were baptized with the Holy Spirit. They couldn’t stop jumping and smiling with joy. Merri even asked, “does everyone get this joy when they are baptized? I just feel so good!” I let her know that was the Holy Spirit inside her and to ask for that every day.

It was explained to me once that water baptism is like taking a cucumber and dipping it in water- it is still a cucumber. Baptism in the Holy Spirit is like when you take the cucumber and make it a pickle. It is emerged in boiling water for just long enough and then soaked in the new solution. The cucumber is now a pickle and can never be a plain ole cucumber again. Tony and Merri will never be the same again- Amen!

Even the Winds and Waves

 Jesus Calms the Storm, 1995

by Laura Jame

Jesus Calms the Storm

Matthew 8

 23 Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. 24 Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

 26 Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.

 27 The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!”

I truly marvel over the words of Jesus! I love that He did in fact come and live on earth in flesh so that I can learn from Him. “Even the winds and waves obey Him!” This is true even today!

When the Storm Hits...

When a storm hits in our lives, or a problem comes our way, we do often turn to prayer. It really does bother me that in my past it took the hard times to get me to talk to my wonderful creator and best friend. And like the disciples we get desperate and cry out to God to save us. I know that God always hears us and He does truly want us to cry out to Him and rely on Him but it sure is better when we do it every day, begging to be closer to Him, crying out for more of HIM!  The more we know Him in a true relationship, we don’t have to get frantic and scared of the storm. We can rely on faith and stand up to the storm and rebuke it with few words. Even the winds and the waves will obey our words in Jesus’ sweet and powerful name! When I recognize the manifest presence of Jesus in my life- see Him standing there on the boat with me- I will have no fear, and will not lose my faith. I can have bigger faith and it only takes the faith of a mustard seed (how truly great is that?!).

I love big hairy prayers! I love heart cries to my God! I love that my dry bones and thirsty guts are in need of my creator God. I have nothing to fear but the idea of turning away from God or becoming too comfortable in the world again. My cries often are in rejoice of my God saving me not once, but daily. I can truly look at the storm and tell it how big My God is and not have to tell my God how big the storm is. Jesus taught me that!

Children's Bible Images Copyright © 1993
by The Zondervan Corporation

Poor in Spirit

Going back to the “One Year Bible” reading on Jan. 5^th… In Matt. 1:26 Jesus taught the disciples in this passage about blessings and inheritance. I truly love blessing! I could just wrap myself up in the blessings of God. His goodness is truly overwhelming and something I don’t mind being overwhelmed by! I no longer want to be overwhelmed with anxiety, fear or sickness. I want everything to do with life and the love of God. So this teaching on the “blessed” really got the attention of my noodle and my heart. I truly wanted to meditate on the Word and learn what it means to be “blessed!”

The Beatitudes  Matt. 5:1-12

    He said:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, 
   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 


4 Blessed are those who mourn, 
   for they will be comforted. 


5 Blessed are the meek, 
   for they will inherit the earth. 


6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 
   for they will be filled. 


7 Blessed are the merciful, 
   for they will be shown mercy. 


8 Blessed are the pure in heart, 
   for they will see God. 


9 Blessed are the peacemakers, 
   for they will be called children of God. 


10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, 
   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

I completely eat this up! I did get a bit “stuck” on “the poor in spirit” part and had to ask God to begin to teach me what this meant. Now, when you ask something according to His will.. it comes to pass/ it happens. It just so happens it is God’s will for us to know his Word. So he had no problem with my request I asked of him. He gladly taught me a few things on this “poor in spirit” business. He even went a little above and beyond and just amazed me. He is one extravagant, loving God!

It really all boils down to GRACE! Grace- the very thing that I’m saved by, the very thing that God uses to gift me with and the very thing I so don’t deserve. The gift of faith even comes by grace! Grace is for the broken, the lost, the found, the in-betweens, the un-grates (as my husband refers to my children when they forget to be thankful, haha) and grace is even for you and me!

So what is the opposition to grace? What is keeping me from being in grace and poor in spirit? I need to know this in order to truly understand the need to be poor in spirit, don’t I?

Asking those questions landed me in the land of conviction quickly. I learned that the “ME: Entitlement spirit” was keeping me from more blessing. So often it is easy to get settled, comfortable and familiar even with the good things of God that I forget to know God’s ways. I forget to hold onto the “child-like spirit” and see everything as I did when not just once saved, but twice saved! I believe that coming back to my first love was an even better burial of my old self. I don’t ever want to be too familiar or too tired of the beautiful gifts and miracles from God. I want each experience, each miracle and each moment to be like it was the first. God loves to send His miracles for us to see, not that we can become prideful, but that we could come to His call for us to know HIM.

Familiarity doesn’t bring me to humility or repentance. Miracles are not signs of approval but they are validation of God’s Word. I want to know what it is like to camp out before God and be blown away by His goodness and mercy that will follow me everyday! (Psalm 23)

I’ve been witnessing the beginning of revival in my church as over 300 people came to Christ this past year. I’ve known that it would take repentance to truly experience full revival. There are no clean revivals. There has to be some mess spilled out to get cleaned up!

“A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb, but to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” Proverbs 27:7  This truly is the best revival Word. I don’t want to be satisfied with just a bit of the Word. I want to crave and hunger for every word in the Bible and to truly feast on it, all year. Whether I am handed a dry piece of toast or a nice piece of honeycomb, I will rejoice and be thankful. I will never lack a thing because I have grace and it overwhelms my soul!

I bring my silly ole poor spirit that is dripping in grace and thank God. I give God the credit for every good thing that happens to me and know it is all by His grace!

Bitter Sweat... I mean "Sweet!"

Yesterday, January 4^th, our daily Bible reading in the New Testament (from the One Year Bible) spoke about how Jesus was tempted by the devil just after He was baptized, marking the beginning of his public ministry. I realized and reflected on the fact that as soon as Jesus went to a new level-- that is when Satan showed up. I’ve found this to be very true in my life as well.

Anytime I am called to do something for God or brought to a new level with Him, Satan shows up stronger and more determined than ever. That is usually a confirmation that I’m going in the right direction and not to back down. I truly can’t say that I always stand my ground and use the tools (found in the Word) that I’ve given by God, or follow the teachings (examples) of Jesus or allow the Holy Spirit (who can fight for me) to intercede as I should. I can say that when I have and when I do rely on those three that I feel such victory and breakthrough and can only credit the glory to God! He is mighty and victorious and I surely will serve Him, gladly!

Recently my friends Shaynah and Shannon decided to devote their first weekend in 2011  being “bedroom makeover warriors” and make their bedroom a place of rest, devotion and romance! All of us truly want our rooms to be a place we can feel at peace, rest and total retreat! I become overjoyed for them when they shared their plan. I was blessed to see the room before and a bit during and now I’ve seen the “after” pictures. So when I say I did a dance with Jesus for them, I meant it!

I grew up with family that worked hard remodeling and face-lifting homes. I drove my parents crazy begging them to help until they finally gave in and started letting me join in and learn from them. I have always found joy and reward in tackling home projects, especially if it involves paint! I also have seen and experienced the trials and sweat that comes with it. When you are pouring your money, time and energy into something that takes patience and well, did I mention money?! – you truly want it to go to plan, turn out right the first time and be done quickly. It just never seems to turn out that way, at least not as often as we like.

So, Shaynah and Shannon got on this “marriage testing” project. I say this because projects like this can bring out some not so fun irritations and reactions in all of us. If there is going to be good in something, especially that will give Glory to God, Satan is going to show up and bring company with him. He’ll even pop the popcorn  to go along with his big ole 64 oz. soda and oversized box of peanut m&m’s to dig into while he sits back and watches this matinee if you know what I mean. Tempted, tried and tested! Satan didn’t even get to stick his ugly head in the door before my friends stood their ground and rebuked him out of the mess.

Did it all go smoothly, as planned and as quickly as hoped? Well, that all doesn’t really matter when you know that Shaynah and Shannon got to wipe the sweat off their brows and taste and see the “sweet” that God just poured into their lives and home. Inside our inner man is a beautiful, holy and loving place. God sees us as He created us and values us even when we want to have a throw down! Sometimes we just can’t get still enough to look inside and see the beauty in ourselves that God sees in us. We get caught up in our lives and schedules and even our chaos. I praise God for the seasons and times He slows us down, takes us deeper and gets us all still and quiet for Him. This “S&S” project is a true reflection of God’s love and devotion for us. When we give Him the time and space He needs…. He cleans it up and makes something beautiful and mind blowing out of it.

So as Shaynah and Shannon still lay in their room amazed and blown away by this gift God has given them… I pray that it will always be a reminder of how God sees them both- beautiful and worth it! 

The Soil of My Heart

Today was the wonderful return of “Mad Mamma Monday.” Christmas break came to an end and my children made their return to school this morning. I noticed that the break caused a true shift in driving madness for sure. This morning it was a mystery how 4-way stops operate. At each one, which I go through three of them, everyone suddenly forgot how the law applies. I survived! This “mad mamma” just turned up her Jesus music and gangsta-grooved her way through the streets of A-town and back safely to her wood-heated living room. Word to my Father! Amen.

My worship time was started with yesterday’s morning worship from Bethel Church in Redding, CA. I enjoy so much getting to watch ibethel.tv and worship with their wonderful church through the web. If you need great TV programming, just register for Bethel TV and watch their programs. You’ll soon be forgetting all about the silly TV. We began streaming our computers through our TVs and I have enjoyed this because I can cut out ole nasty TV and soak into what God has to offer me through technology. Anyways…. I was at the end of an awesome worship session when prayer at the end came and a man led everyone to pray for the soil of their hearts to receive the seeds God is going to plant. This really began to marinate in me and became a great time to listen and meditate with God on this.

The new year has come and this means reading the Bible all the way through again this year. So I’m back in Genesis and in the garden with God. At the front of my thoughts sits the splendor of how God could speak and whatever He speaks, comes to pass. Everything He spoke to be, IS. His words are powerful. His creation is real. We are His. He created us, molded us and He breathed life into us. Man was especially special. He didn’t speak us into being, He put His breath in us. He wanted us not only to be made in His image but to be filled with His spirit. The garden was made for us to dwell in. He gave us every plant and every tree to eat from. The trees bear fruit and seed. There is a river that runs through the garden and there is light that shines upon it.

My heart is a garden. My inner woman is a deep, secret garden where God wants me to dwell and walk with Him. He wanted me to see this amazing soil He has prepared in me this past year. It has been toiled, turned, tilled and compost was added. There are no icky thorns or weeds. The best part is the compost. He takes all the leftovers and junk I had and made it into something beautiful and rich! Once it was stinking up the house and now it’s in the soil ready to feed the seeds that are coming. It’s taken a lot of hard work and trials but the soil of my heart is ready for the next step- planting time!

I am ready to receive the seeds that God has selected for my garden. He knows just what my inner woman needs and doesn’t need. He knows what my soil can produce and what would only wither, die or take over. He knows what seeds will beautifully grow together and compliment each other over time. He knows just where to place them and at what time they need to be placed. He knows the amount of water, sun, fertilizer and tending they will each need. I just have to receive it all! He has given me the tools, the guidance, the resources and joy to garden.

I take delight in receiving the seeds from my Father and what He wants me to birth this year. His beautiful spirit runs inside me and flows out. It is the river and the holy water that will clench the thirsts of the garden. The river of joy flows out of me!

I’ve been given the Word of God to always stand upon and it has the “Ultimate Guide to My Garden” inside and in every word. I will embrace, meditate on and confess the words inside. The Word and tools He has provided allow me to dig into the richness of my God and all the goodness He has for me. I can discover the path of His plans for me in ministry and I will know how to stand and defend my garden from the enemy. I will get to see the fruit and seeds develop over time. I will always be amazed, never anxious, always ready in every season. I will walk with Him in my secret garden.

The Holy Spirit will be my guide, my protector and my teacher. He will fight off the enemy when I let Him, He will protect every bit of my garden and flow through it, filling it with such beauty and aroma. Flow Spirit, flow! Fill me Spirit, fill me! The enemy has no place here, Satan cannot even steal a breath from me. He cannot blow even a seed of doubt into my garden, for it will be stopped and burned from existence before it can land in my soil.

My time of worship and meditating on the word will be the fertilizer needed. It will show me the seasons and pour out the nutrients needed to grow a supernatural garden, that can only be grounded and rooted in love! It can grow at supernatural speeds and strength. Even the fruit can be supernatural, bigger and tastier… full of more seeds than imaginable. The possibilities of this garden are endless with my God. There is no limit to the love of my God. There is no end to His goodness and blessings.

Above me there is the most beautiful and amazing light of the world! Jesus, the Son of God, shines down on me. I long only to see His face and feel His warm and tender embrace. We can dance in this garden together, never growing weary or tired of time together. I will ache to be with Him every moment of my life and will pray for His return. There is no life without Him, my savior, my friend! I am nothing without Him. He is my one thing. Oh Lord bless me and bless this garden-- my inner woman. I love you!

I stand amazed in this garden. The seeds are pouring down from my Father’s hands and heart. Even seeds drop from His eyes. He sees me for how He created me and sends me seeds that will even allow me to see with His eyes and seeds that will allow me to feel as He feels. His goodness is in every thought and moment I give Him. I will receive only the words of life and only speak the words of life He gives me. I will reject the darkness and all that comes from it. I am a child of the light and I will shine in every corner of this world. I toss aside my shoes and dig my bare feet into this holy soil of my heart. I am ready to dig into the depths of His goodness today and everyday to come. 

2011... The Best Year Ever!

My sweeeee-T husband keeps saying, "This is the best year ever! It only gets better and better!!" He is sooo right. God just gets better and better and yummier every day and every moment I have with Him. Every day is full of His glory, His grace, His love and everything else I allow Him to bless me with. We know that this year is a year of abundance, health, victory, increase, prosperity, hope, joy, love and we are ready to receive it all. Are you???