Good afternoon. What a beautiful day it has been! Yesterday, the first day of August, was my niece, Candice’s birthday. May God bless her today and every day, she is a very special lady!
Ahhh…August. Pretty soon, the days will be getting shorter, the leaves will be changing, and the cries of children everywhere will be heard when school starts back up. In reality, though, I think kids crave the routine of school and once one day leads into another, they settle back in and enjoy it. 🙂
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Our lives are so busy that it’s a wonder we can keep up with it all! It is so easy to miss the connections between family, friends, and even our neighbors as we hustle around getting everything done! Carpool, homework, appointments, church, drama class….and then…?
Did you miss it? That gentle nudge…of the Holy Spirit…
-Urging you to find a quiet spot to pray.
-Compelling you to turn off the TV, slip away, and read The Word.
-Stirring you up out of bed on Sunday morning to fellowship with Jesus and His church?
That my friend was Jesus, inviting you to hang out with Him, get to know Him, and allow Him to speak in your heart at that given moment. Richard Blackaby explains it like this, “He is the One who pursues the love relationship with us. We do not naturally seek God on our own initiative. Everything we are experiencing from God comes in response to His invitation” (Experiencing God, 55). Did you miss it?
In today’s world, you can equate that to your Father: messaging you on Facebook, texting you that He loves and misses you, or Instagramming you the address of where you can hear His Word and fellowship.
Would you ignore the text of your best friend? He desires to be that. Your confidant? He wants to hear every concern, joy, hardship, and dream.
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In the bible, very frequently, we see God inviting the Prophets, Disciples, Patriarchs, and many others to have a relationship with Him. It is through this connection and the time they spent together- that God could reveal all He was, all He is, and all He can do. Moses experienced this with God, take a look:
“Time and time again, God invited Moses to talk with Him. God initiated and maintained a growing relationship with Moses. This fellowship was based on love, and God daily fulfilled His purposes through Moses” (Experiencing God, 56).
What would have happened if:
Moses didn’t take his father-in-law, Jethro’s, flock out to the far side of the desert and tend to them. He could have been lazy and said, “Nah, I got your daughter, Zipporah, already. I’m good. No need to impress you and keep my good reputation. Besides, It’s hot. I’ll take care of them tomorrow.”
He may have missed God’s personal invitation. An angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush when he was tending his father-in-law’s flock on the far side of the desert. This is where the LORD first revealed His holiness to Moses. “God spoke to Moses through the unique experience at a burning bush to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways” (Experiencing God, 56).
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Our heavenly Father wants to build a relationship with us and “His desire is to get us from where we are to where He is working” (Experiencing God, 56 emphasis mine).
Did you miss it?
I pray you didn’t. I don’t want you to miss anything our Heavenly Father has for you! I get it though, it can be hard to stop what you are doing and heed the call.
What would you do if Jesus was standing right in front of you, extending His hand, and inviting you to hang out with him, “Come, sit on the bench with me. How are you, my child?”
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In all honesty, I go through the same thing. Last Wednesday, July 25th, I was not feeling well all day. The Holy Spirit gently reminded me to keep my commitment and go to bible study. I am a co-facilitator of my ladies’ bible study small group and it was our celebration night. Yay!! We had just finished “Word Writers: Philippians” by Denise J. Hughes, an amazing Bible study, by the way! Her “Word Writers: Ephesians” book is great as well.
Because I heeded the Holy Spirit, I was blessed in several ways that evening. First, after I walked into the sanctuary, I was enveloped in so much love, hugs, and acceptance. The ladies at my church are so welcoming that it feels like coming home. 🙂
Secondly, I felt a special awareness of the Holy Spirit while I was speaking to the whole group of ladies. Let me explain. During our celebration night, a member of each table may share something they learned, were blessed by, or any other special way they were touched by the bible study. I spoke from our group and when I shared, I felt as though the Holy Spirit was very present with me and was revealing a part of me that may be used in the future. It is really hard to put it into words, but I still feel touched by that moment.
Finally, while I was sitting at the table, the Holy Spirit revealed to me, in detail, what my next blog would be about. I quickly wrote it down, so one word, idea, or impression would not be lost! That was last week’s blog “Darkest Before Dawn.”
I was so blessed and my heart was so full on the way home from church. I would have missed such a sweet time with my Savior if I had not been obedient to the Holy Spirit.
Listen to the gentle promptings of the Holy Spirit. Spend time with Your Savior. God only knows what you may be missing and I promise you this:
Spending time with Jesus will change your life!
To God All the Glory,
Shanon
Blackaby, Henry, and Richard. Claude King. “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God.” Revised and expanded edition. B &H Publishing Group. 2008.
August image: mycutegraphics.com
Jesus Text image: Christian group’s phone Jesus text
Spend time with Jesus image: peopleandthoughts.com
Looking back over those trials, I know that in spite of what I was FEELING, God was always with me. I was treading lightly and feeble in my walk with Jesus in those early days, but He was there! It is in those darkest moments that God can really move mountains, break strongholds, perform miracles, and reveal Himself to us. Complete surrender allows the Holy Spirit to do only what He can do.
I don’t know about you, but I have read the Beatitudes several times and have been inspired and encouraged by the blessings listed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus’ message, to a large group of potential followers, is what it really means to follow Him and be a part of God’s kingdom. Of course, living up to these standards is possible only through faith in Jesus, the son of God, and through the power of the Holy Spirit.
“Do not let any set of circumstances intimidate you. The more challenging your day, the more of My Power I place at your disposal. I know what each of your days will contain, and I empower you accordingly. Look to Me for all that you need, and watch to see what I will do. As your day, so shall your strength be” (Young, Sarah 330).
Several people I know have had challenging, fearful situations lately. Job loss, health problems, disabilities, and family emergencies are some of the difficulties they have faced. Fear can easily take root when we are dealing with a case of the “unknowns”. “What if I can’t find another job?” “What if I need surgery?” “What if…?” One of the things fear forces us to do is to decide to either put our faith in action according to God’s promises or regard the scripture as simply words on paper, “simply repeating what God says” (Chambers, June 4th).
hen the spirit moves me! So, if you ever see me bopping around my house, singing loudly to Casting Crowns, you know the Holy Spirit is coming alive in me to conquer the fear that the enemy is trying to have taken root in me.
Jesus, take the wheel
All 
ar. Here is an excerpt from his page on the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial website:
I cannot think of “Some Gave All” without thinking first of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. “And if you ever think of me, think of all your liberties and recall, some gave all.” Jesus died and gave all to show His own love for us (John 3:16; John 15:13), to reconcile us to God (1 Peter 3:18), and to give eternal life to all who believe in Him (John 3:36). There IS glorious, awesome freedom in Christ Jesus.
time to grow as a couple, travel, grow roots in a solid neighborhood…guess what?! God had His own plan for us.
mentioned in a previous blog, God slowly watered the seed of writing He had placed in my heart. Over the course of a few years, He encouraged me to keep a journal, write, and read. I devoured the Word, devotionals, and Christian books. I also applied and got accepted into SNHU’s English and Creative Writing Bachelor’s degree program. Through hard work, perseverance, and a whole lot of Jesus’ I graduated in the class of 2017.
about God, is that sometimes He blesses us with what we need before we know we need it.
Heaven Sent Sentiments 