notes from lisa...

Sometimes, I wonder why we serve God. I mean, is it for spiritual things or natural, temporal ones??? Are we guilty of following God for the tangible blessings, or is it really because our soul longs for more of Him? I just have to ask, because too often, I hear the scriptures that relate to the blessings of God's children in an earthly sense, rather than a spiritual one. The verses that promise great spiritual blessings are reduced to simple get rich quick schemes when we are done with them (and so are many of our church offerings--they sound more like auctions, than a time to give in God's House). God is not focused on giving us every thing that our hearts desire --that promise was never made, without a disclaimer. God is concerned with providing all of our natural needs --food, water and clothing. We don't have to worry about our daily bread, He provides it. Clearly, if God wanted every child of His to have every earthly thing that they desired, then every c

This turned out to be a great week...the only thing missing was the opportunity to be in fellowship with God's people worshipping Him, today. I have to go it alone, today; but alone time with God is quite awesome, too. I love it when He answers my questions, or teaches me through the Word, when I'm still long enough to hear His direction. One of the reasons my week was more special than usual, was that I had a chance to see what God will do when I really live by my motto (Exodus 14:14), rather than interfering in His business and trying to vindicate myself. I KNOW (in my mind) that God has my back, and has everything under control; however, holding fast to that knowledge in my innermost being is not always easy. It's those times when your character has been trampled underfoot (by those who should be defending your name [Psalm 41:9, 55:12,13]) without any just cause--because you know you have done nothing wrong, that self attempts to rise up and repair the damag

f you think about it, most of us, get baptized and receive His spirit, then we begin to give Him OUR own righteousness, rather than walking in His. Ours is less than worthless--in fact, it's putrid. The Bible tells us that "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6, KJV). Isn't is enough that He took our sin and replaced it with His righteousness, and now the gift we offer back to Him is "filthy rags"? The original language of the Bible doesn't clean it up so nicely--it bluntly says, menstruous rags or garments of menstruation, in Hebrew, of course. We all know that can be pretty gross with modern products, but imagine strips of cloth (washed in the Jordan, and reused...no bleach...aghhhh). But, even that isn't the whole story. Understand that menstruation in that time, for the Israelites, produced uncleanness. Just having a menstrual period meant that a woman could not be with the general public--or her family for that time, and

THE LOT SYNDROME Greed permeates our culture—not only outside the church, but within it. Somehow, we have found ways to justify it, “scripturally”. There are movements among the Body of Christ that have a mantra which speaks to our desire for more. One catch phrase of these groups is: “ You possess what you confess”.   In other words, what we speak, we have. If we desire more money, a bigger home, a better car, or wardrobe—career, etc. it belongs to us, all courtesy of our words. We embody that power in our tongues. And, it sounds good, too. Scriptures such as “ Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” [Proverbs 18:21] and others are used to rationalize the theory that God wants us to have whatever we desire, right now, in this life—that’s the Lot Syndrome. It’s “green grass” all over again. It’s not seeing the forest for the trees. It is a trap and it is an easy deception that the adversary has used rather