Time is Short - Life is but a Vapor...

For those of you who know me personally - probably know that I believe that the rapture of the church will happen at some point in the next year or two. Am I saying that it is a for sure thing? No. However, I have done enough research to feel that it is a great possibility. It is so easy to get into the "yeah right" attitude. People have been saying He is returning for years. That is the very reason this is so exciting and scarey all at the same time. If anyone would like to know more of my reasoning and research - please message me here or on facebook and I would be happy to share this with you.

I was driving to work today and I was hit with the hard reality that THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN!!!! Regardless of when it happens or how it happens.. one day there is no denying that I will be standing in front of the Lover of my soul. As I am dwelling on this and meditating on it I was overcome with a sense of "unworthiness". I am so unworthy of the love that He gives to me. I am a sinner, I mess up all the time, I endulge in sin, I do things that I am not supposed to do, I don't do the things I should do. How is it that He loves me so much to let me in when I don't do my part all the time??? My own selfish agendas were weighing down on me with condemnation.

Then the Lord spoke to me and told me that "My sons blood has given you access to My kingdom". Jesus Christ paid the penalty for all of my mess ups, and the short-comings that I have, and all the people that my actions may have pushed away from God. I am worthy to be in His kingdom because He was the sacrifice for my sin. God is not about a bunch of nos... He is about leading you to the greater things in life - a more abundant life - and ultimately, His kingdom.

I did not write this post with the primary purpose of telling you to get ready. I did not write this post to tell you that Jesus died for your sins. I wrote this post to remind you that time is very short here on earth. The bible says in James 4:14

Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? You are [really] but a wisp of vapor (a puff of smoke, a mist) that is visible for a little while and then disappears [into thin air].

What is this saying? We are gone before you know it! If you look at the expanse of eternity and think about your life - it is literally nothing. Gone before you can blink your eyes. So why are we here? What is the point? What is the nature of your life? To love. The answer is to love. I wrote this post to remind you to love. God wants us to love others and show His love to others. God wants us to love ourselves. God wants us to love Him. How do we love Him? By keeping His commandments (John 14:15). God is not trying to restrict us - He wants us to live as He has called us - to live in love - so that we can show His love - so that His kingdom may be fulfilled.

With this being said - be encouraged. Know this:

• TIME IS SHORT
• He is coming!
• You are worthy through the blood of Jesus Christ
• STAY IN LOVE

I love you all! Be blessed! If you have questions, comments, or concerns.. please feel free to email me, comment, or message me on facebook!

NOT ASHAMED

I was reading an article today that was titled "Study: Most People Wouldn't Recognize Christians" on charisma news. This article bothered me in so many ways because all too often, I see it to be true. There are many people who believe in Jesus as the savior, are saved, but hide their identity from the people that need to see it the most. This leaves me asking why?

There are a number of responses as to why people may do this... to name a few...

• lack of faith
• embarrassed for being different
• persecution from "the world"

I wanted to write this short blog as a reminder to why we are here. We are the light of the world. Jesus longs to have a relationship with each and every person and needs us to be that light. If we have not accepted God's love for us and if we are not walking in love ourselves - how can we share this light???

The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:8-9:

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord of of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.

 Think of it this way - what has Jesus done for you???? He has set you free from sin, death, sickness, negativity... He has given you grace, mercy, boldness, confidence, peace.... He has opened a doorway for you to walk out an abundant life of fellowship with Him! How awesome is that? The Creator of the universe longs to fellowship with you! Not only that - He is CRAZY IN LOVE WITH YOU! This is nothing to be ashamed of! I get gitty over my redemption. I can barely fathom the thought that I am His beloved.

Don't underestimate the impact that you will have on the next person. Although, they may laugh at you in public - I promise God is speaking to them in quite. You never know who you will impact when you make a stand. I heard Steven Furtick say this the other day "Don't let your expectations distract you from what God is trying to teach you". Stop and let that sink in for a minute. Let me give you an example. Perhaps you have been praying about a job that you felt the Lord leading you towards - you were confident - had faith but did not get the job. Your expectations were so high but it did not work out the way YOU thought it would... At this point, do you walk around mad? No. You lean on God - Well Lord what are you teaching me??? A more sensitive personal example right now would be the tornado that just ripped through Oklahoma. Those people did not expect to have their lives torn from beneath them - however - God could be teaching them to depend soley on Him or that He was with them through the storm!

You not being ashamed of the Gospel can impact nations. It makes a difference. Every little act of faith is seen by someone... the unbeliever, the coworker at your job, the little girl who lives next door to you, your children, and most importantly God. What is God seeing when he sees you? How can you boldly proclaim your salvation? I leave you with this.... Don't be ashamed of the gift of salvation given to you - the world needs this and needs to see its product. If you have time, read the following link. It is from Pastor Saeed who is now in captivity for his faith. It will really put things in perspective in relation to what is important in life. Love.

You can read his latest letter here.
Be Blessed - With love

Wow. Conviction.

Watch "Misty Edwards Q&A - Speaking about Abandonment" on YouTube

No time to explain. No need to. Just watch. It will change your life.

"A Run on of Thoughts" - convictions of God through a mass shooting victim

Since I have last blogged a lot has happened. I started bible college, have increased my hours at work, etc. my blog time has decreased but nonetheless, I am still here and will be blogging as the Lord leads me. Right now is just one of those times.

With the series of events that has happened lately with the mass shooting in Colorado, the lord has convicted me greatly in one particular area of my life. That area is my outreach. On my lunch break today I was watching the news about one of the victims who was killed last night. They were going on about the tweets she sent out moments before she was killed. They mentioned that she was also at the mall shooting in Toronto last month. You can read about it here .

Anyway – that led me to start thinking about how god’s mercy has given her a second chance. My mind wandered  around the idea of if she was a Christian, did she know Jesus, had anyone told her about jesus, etc. I researched her life on google. I read her tweets. I looked her up on facebook. There was nothing about God in particular, just a regular person living a regular life. I noticed someone tweeted and she responded. I can’t quote the tweet but it was something along the lines of “live every day as if it is your last” her response was “sheep go to heaven”. I’m not sure what that meant – but the irony that she replied to that tweet yesterday overwhelms me. Was god using that person to speak into her life? 18 or so hours ago she tweeted something along the lines of “who ask that question? How do I know what I’ll be doing in 14 years, idk what I want to do tomorrow”. (am I am not directly quoting her, I just want you to get the idea). Did she know she would be dead on her “tomorrow”? as I was continuing in my research of this life I came across her blog. Her last blog was written on june 5, 2012 (just a few days after the Toronto shooting). Its contents blew me away. You can read it here.

God knew! God Knows! He knows everything and he has a plan! He knew what was coming up ~ perhaps the mercy and grace given to her last month was allowing her time to get her heart in place before today! She may or may not have realized this – I can’t be the judge of this. However, after reading the article, it was clear that god was pulling her. God was reaching out to his child. God loves her and wants the best for her and wants her for himself. The call was there on her heart – she felt it. My question is – how many times has she been reached between now and then? How many Christians have crossed her path? What lifestyles did she see? Who upheld the name of Christ around her? Who treated her with love? Who trampled underfoot the son of God in her presence?

We are the only bible people read sometimes. We are his hands and feet. He loves us so much and longs for our fellowship. That is why we are here In part – to help reach the lost. This has convicted my heart so much. How many times has god told me to reach out and I didn’t obey the call? How many people walking by me right now will be dead tomorrow? How could I ever look them in the face on the other side of eternity and know that I didn’t tell them about his love?

In closing of this post – please forgive me if I have not shown you his love. Know that jesus Christ loves you intensely. You are his precious creation and you are not alone in this world. You do not want to die without knowing him and his love. You do not want to spend an eternity without him. To all my readers who are Christian, please obey the call – reach out to those. We didn’t know god was calling her but god knew. She may not have known it was specifically god calling her – but she felt something on the inside – god could have sent the right person with the right words to make that connection in her mind. Although it may or may not have made a difference towards what happened last night, but it did make a difference to her eternal life. You never know what pull the person walking by you may have on there heart – consistently stay in prayer – watch and wait on god. He may be sending someone across your path to reach their life.

With love,

clare

Ramblings to the Father

The following is just my heart speaking to God. No time available to blog for a couple of weeks - so this is just a brief interlude.... of me loving on my God... If you are reading it, agree with me for it.

Lord, where do I begin. How do I explain my heart to the One who created it? How can I know that I am being honest and true to Him and to myself? Lord, my one desire is to know You more. If I say that is my one desire, why is it so hard for me to completely surrender to You? I long to be able to turn to complete abandonment for the sake of pleasing you. Inside, I have absolutely no desire to do anything other than sit at Your feet. I feel as if inside – I don’t care about anything. Although my flesh may not “feel” like seeking You 100% of the time – my heart screams for more of You. If I know how my life would take so many desirable turns at my surrender, why do I tend to opt for the other route? I am totally in love with You and have truly encountered Your love – I just want to share that with others. I want them to know this love. They criticize me, call me crazy, call me lame, say I’m brainwashed or I am taking it to the extreme. This EXTREME love can’t be mistaken – it can’t be took for granted – it can’t be left undiscovered. I have discovered this life of passion, power, persistence, favor, love, and humbleness. It exceeds my every expectation. But Father, do I represent it correctly? Am I showing Your love justice? Do people look at me and see You? If not, I am wasting Your time. Lord, show me Your ways – show me Your glory. Make me a light unto this world. Use me to show others that hope is alive and it is found in Your son, Jesus Christ.

BREAK MY HEART

There has been so much going on lately I am not sure where to start. Life is getting better and better by the day. God is teaching me so much about myself and my purpose to carry out his will. One thing that He is teaching me is how to call on Him. I am learning about pressing in and finding my “secret place” again. He gives me a desire to seek His face daily. At times all I want to do is lay on my face in His prescence and spend quality time with my Jesus. Let me be the first to tell you that it takes time, discipline, and patience! Your flesh is not always going to feel like it, but if you press on, it is so rewarding!

What is the secret place?  Psalm 91:1 tells us that whoever dwells in the secret place shall abide in the shadow of the almighty. I can’t help but stop and think about that. What happens in the almighty’s shadows? What can harm you there? It is amazing to think about how my God protects me! Your secret place is where ever you go to spend that time with God. It is important to spend time with God because He directs our path. How can you expect to hear from God if you don’t spend any time with Him? You have to draw near to Him so that you can learn to recognize His voice. One of my heart’s biggest desires is to become more sensitive to His spirit. I want God to break my heart with the things that breaks His.

Why do I ask that God break my heart? I grew up in a church that was on fire for God; however, somewhere along the way a spirit of condemnation set in on my life. Recently, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that in the past I made my decisions for the wrong reasons. I did not watch particular movies or listen to certain music because I thought “not” doing these things will keep me out of hell. I had no concept of God’s love for me or of His grace and mercy. From an information aspect, I knew God loved me – but I did not yet have a revelation of His love towards me. The more time I spend in the secret place, the more He is revealing His love to me. My heart desires to worship and to grow in love for my God. If I make a decision to lay aside my flesh or sacrifice something – I want it to be because of my love for Him. I want to make my decisions based on how it makes God feel. Jesus could have jumped off that cross at any time when the heat was on and ended all of it – every knee would have bowed to Him – BUT HE STAYED! He went through everything with us on His mind. No doubt in my mind as he was going through all the torment, humiliation, and pain of the cross that He looked 2,000 years into the future and saw my face – and your face – and your children’s faces – and pressed on through it all for us. Why would I not devote my entire life to Him for that? Tell me one person living or dead on this earth that would do that!!! So Yes, Break my heart with the things that break Yours God – Make me a living sacrifice  for You!

I have to keep in mind that my life may be the only Bible people read. I never want to live out of character to what I am supposed to represent as a Christian. I want to walk in love. I want people to see His love through me. So many people  think that Christianity is a bunch of “don’t do this or Don’t do that”. I am here to tell you it is not!!!! God gives us direction to guide us in the right direction. He created the Universe – do you not think that he can handle us? If He tells you ‘Don’t get involved in that relationship’ it is not to be mean – but to protect our hearts from what will happen. He has a plan mapped for us and that plan remains!

Who thought life could be so worry-free. Listening to the one who made life and following His instruction is the difference. 
NP: WHERE YOU GO BY JESUS CULTURE

Where you go I go
What you say I say
What you pray I pray
(repeat 2x)


Jesus only did, What he saw you do
He would only say, What he heard you speak
He would only move, When he felt you lead
Following your heart, Following your spirit


How could I expect to walk without you
When every move that Jesus made was in surrender
I would not begin to live without you
For you alone are worthy you are always good


You are always good
You are always good
Always good
Always good


(Bridge)
Though the world seems to forget
We will not forget
Who you are and what you've done for us


You are my God
(repeat 5x)

A short push to make it count...

His heart hears our cry. He is there for us each and every time we fall. He pleads with us for our time. If we would just seek His face, we would have our instructions for life. He longs to teach us. He needs our submissiveness because there is so much work to be done in a small amount of time. He needs us to go. Let's stir ourselves up and pray for God's heart. He longs to have a relationship with us... Not us and twitter, not us and facebook, not us and that random... He wants our undivided, selfless attention. He can't work with our hearts or fix them if we don't give Him the whole heart to work with. He interceedes for us constantly. He prays for our dedication to His purpose. Don't ignore His unfailing love. It is there for you unconditionally. We are only here for a little while, then we go home to be with Him forever. Make this vapor of time you have been given count - all for His glory.