My prayer is that the children He has given, will grow up, married to Jesus. To be honest, I really did not. I grew up, looking for good, and seeming to be consumed by the bad. But, I kept crying out to God. Because, even when I could not feel HIM, or it appeared He left me, HE was still there.

It was like, before I even consciously said YES, to Jesus, I was HIS. I belonged to HIM, and HE was the ONLY one who really got me. Yet, so many times, I betrayed HIM. I justified my actions, thoughts, and I quite simply took bait, that was meant to harm me. But God. I would love to say, I never struggle now. That suddenly everything was perfect, in my life. But, the fact is, sometimes things are challenging.

I absolutely CAN say that HE perfects our lives. HIS LOVE causes us to appreciate the MOST difficult times, people, places, and things. Because, WE know what it IS, to count it ALL JOY. Boy, have WE learned that one the HarD way. I used to worry what others think. Now, I am RESTING more each day, in HIS thoughts. My HOME is in JESUS. My marriage is in Jesus, and with HIM.

I love my earthly spouse, HE is a beautiful, man of God. I am very grateful for him. Most of ALL, I am grateful for HIS dedication to JESUS. I continue to say, I don’t mind being second. Because logically, if Jesus is first, the earthly spouse is second right? One problem….GOD is not looking at it that way. He sees it as, if JESUS is first then the spouse is part of HIM, and so they are first THROUGH JESUS.

WE FEAR bad things, when there is something unsurrendered. We misunderstand life, and challenges, when our heart is hurting, and ultimately not fully GIVEN to Jesus. When I woke up today, it was around 9 something. Usually I get up early, but WE have felt a bit more tired lately. So, today, I rested. When I woke, I ate of the word of God. Because, it is HIS LOVE on the page. I see that now. It took me years, to SEE. He just kept showing me. He was so patient and loving, as I kept trying. When ALL He wanted was my heart, and my REST.

So now, one day, one moment, WE REST in HIS time, ways. GRACE is JESUS. When He says, my Grace is sufficient, He is saying so much. When He reminds us, it is perfected in our weaknesses, that says a lot too. His GRACE is who HE IS. It is HIS LOVE, POWER, MIGHT, LIGHT, STRENGTH, JOY, HOPE and EVERYTHING HE IS and IS GIVEN to HEAL US. He is a deliverer, a best friend, a brother, a father, and many many many more beautiful attributes. Quite simply, He is EVERYTHING in our lives.

The world will try to sway us. But, our JOB is not to moved, from the fastening of GOD. WE must stay in the palm of HIS hand. WE must REST. RESIST EVIL STAND THANKFUL. I realized today, that instead of us resisting GOd’s transformation, we must resist the ways of the world. THAT is so very simple. BUT, so very profound too. God blesses us daily. The storms have purpose.

THERE really IS NO need for worry. We can make good choices, or bad choices. WE can fear this or that. But, the fact is HIS GRACE is sufficient. His power is perfected in our weaknesses. I see that verse in TRUTH more and more daily. It is what this ministry is built on. Jentzen Franklin reminds us, “in storms, to use the bread crumbs from before.” I believe God gave HIM that. Because, it is those crumbs, when we want a FEAST, that create ONE!

Look at the feeding of the 5,000. These young little babes, come in, with an opportunity, to join Jesus. They have an opportunity to marry HIM. I pray daily, for our children, the ones we have and will have. I pray that God give them spouses, that have a desire for GOOD, and for JESUS. Even if they don’t fully understand that. WE have given too much weight to the BAD. It is time, we do as commanded, and FOCUS on the GOOD. For that is where Jesus dwells.

HE is the best spouse ever. Whenever I do something well, or my husband David, it is because of the LOVE of Jesus. If I had to chose again, I would still chose HIM. I would chose for HIM to use us, and our family to bring Heaven. Yes, there are tough times, and persecution. But, our hearts and lives are HIS. IT is the ONLY way out of the dark. HIS LIGHT shines the way.

Matthew 5:16Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁶ Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Jesus gives us that LIGHT.

Shine today, because the dark seems stronger, but it NEVER will be stronger than HIS LOVE.

In His Grace and Favor,

Elea

As I begin to prepare to write this, it felt like so much got stirred up. I had no plan to write today. Little did I know, that God did. 😉 The title is about color. His LOVE is all about every color and nationality. His promise symbol is the rainbow. It has so many colors!!!!

I have said so many times, “That is a horse of a different color. ” Yesterday, someone said to me, “Aren’t we all?” That really hit me. I thought, “YES! WE ARE!!!” God meant for us all to work together. But, other things took place, and well complicated things a bit. Look in scripture, and you will see the challenges, and the trials. But, the GOOD NEWS, is in HIM we are the SAME color.

The color is HIS LOVE. It is every color you can fathom, and a few you probably cannot. 😉 The point is EVERYONE deserves HIS LOVE. Jesus came to save the least last and LOST. That is ALL of us! WE all have been broken, and in some ways, against God. I know there is good and evil. I am not in any way, saying we should not separate. I am simply saying, JESUS LOVES anyway. He changes the color from Fear to LOVE.

Faith passes away. Hope passes away. BUT, HIS LOVE stays. It is stuck to us like HOLY GLUE. WE can run, but we will never OUTRUN HIS LOVE. NOT EVER. Even those who have a destiny toward the bad, have an opportunity out. They just may not choose it. But, God handles that. OUR JOB is to LOVE.

The world will show colors, and if WE are not in a place of HIS LOVE and REST, we will get affected, from a negative place. JESUS was moved with compassion, mercy, grace, and LOVE. Should we NOT be? Forgive us LORD. For name calling, and holding onto offenses. For standing from places of pride, and calling it truth. Forgive us for doing it in a way that dishonors you. Make it right Lord. Bring us HEAVEN.

I have heard people say, “If someone shows you their true colors, believe them.” I have something else to add. LOVE them anyway. THAT can be impossible, without JEsus, and without a really DEEP connection to HIM. Even with one, we are not guaranteed a suffering free life, or one without difficulty. People get so religulous, and religious with condemning, that the LOVE gets LOST.

It is time we ask Jesus to find it, resurrect it and restore it. Because HE will. I look forward to it. We have endured a lot, through Jesus, and we will more. But, I finally see why. I finally am starting to see the point, and purpose. It is ALL about the LOVE. HIS name is JESUS!!!!!!

This morning, in this month of Heavenly Grace, I woke up to an odd smell. It was on my clothes. I think it may have been cat pee. I had a choice, I could get mad, or I could rejoice. I was woken up, with such JOY inside!!!! I chose, not to be moved, by it, and to praise GOD! I say this, because, if I had allowed it, to move me away from God, it would not profit HIM.

I am not telling you, that I never have a day, where I am not moved by strange stuff. But, I can say, that when woke up early now, more often than not, it is a HAPPY thing. I am so honored that He chooses, to give me another day. One to breathe, one to smile, one to rejoice!!! Perhaps this is what He means, about rejoicing in ALL times.

What does it profit a man, if He gains the world, but loses his soul? Not only, does it not profit man, but it dishonors heaven. I don’t know about you, but I truly desire to honor Heaven. I believe it happens a little at a time. I remember when I believed, ignorantly, that I had to DO to exist. I truly believed, I had to earn my keep, in a way that was obvious to God. When in truth, ALL He requires, is that we LOVE, and exist.

People have said, LOVE does not pay the bills. But, it DOES! When we are letting HIM LOVE through us in every area, they every single thing becomes a JOY!!!! The money, becomes not a worry, but an added Grace. Another once said, that LOVE is not what makes the world go round. But, in HIS world it is.

I have a hard time, watching things that appear unloving. But, I am grateful, when God reveals, the root of it all, is LOVE. Anything GOOD and HOLY is rooted in LOVE. It is rooted in HIS LOVE. People, who have been hurt by judgements, often feel real LOVE, does not exist. But, having been around almost 40 years, I can tell you, that IT DOES! His name is JESUS.

He is the author an finisher, of our FAITH, and HIS LOVE story. He literally writes it on our hearts. To quote, a beautiful, child of God. 🙂 (Francesca Batistelli.) My husband and I, and our family, are having many adventures. Who is watching? Well, EVERYONE!!!! But, the most important audience we have, is HEavEN. 🙂

Ultimately, we have a choice, every single day. God has given us the Grace to feel. But, I truly do NOT believe we have the Grace, to live by those feelings, forever. At some point, we have to begin to LIVE by HIS LOVE and word. The ONLY way to do so, is to receive it, from HIS heart.

The chosen COGS are being called to a higher standard. Every day, we are called, to climb higher, the holy stairway into Heaven. We are called to not only LIVE from there, but LOVE from there. It is our HOME. As a child, I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. I still have a child like spirit, but I think differently. Children, see through filters, that should be of HIS LOVE. But, so many get stuck in hurt. It is time, Jesus be allowed to clean the filters. It can only be done, with Heavenly washing.

So, today, be NOT moved by who is watching, and who is NOT watching. Be moved by the LOVE. Let it cause you to smile, laugh, rejoice, and be revived today. HIS JOY is our strength, and above ALL else, the GREATEST of HIS GRACES is LOVE. In the end, when all other Kingdoms crumble, IT alone will remain. 🙂

1 Corinthians 13Amplified Bible (AMP)

The Excellence of Love

13 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not ^[a]love [for others growing out of God’s love for me], then I have become only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal [just an annoying distraction]. ² And if I have the gift ofprophecy [and speak a new message from God to the people], and understand all mysteries, and [possess] all knowledge; and if I have all [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love [reaching out to others], I am nothing. ³ If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body ^[b]to be burned, but do not have love, it does me no good at all.

⁴ Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. ⁵ It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. ⁶ It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail].⁷ Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].

⁸ Love never fails [it never fades nor ends]. But as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for the gift of special knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part, and we prophesy in part [for our knowledge is fragmentary and incomplete]. ¹⁰ But when that which is completeand perfect comes, that which is incomplete and partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. ¹² For now [in this time of imperfection] we see in a mirror dimly [a blurred reflection, a riddle, an enigma], but then [when the time of perfection comes we will see reality] face to face. Now I know in part [just in fragments], but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known [by God]. ¹³ And now there remain: faith [abiding trust in God and His promises], hope [confident expectation of eternal salvation], love [unselfish love for others growing out of God’s love for me], these three [the choicest graces]; but the greatest of these is love.

In His Grace and Glory,

Elea and Family