By: Sandra Harris Frey
This past Saturday, August 11, 2007 was a great celebration for one of my lifelong friends. It was her wedding day. Her wedding was held in the same church her parents were married in 45 years ago to the day. Everyone was dressed in their finest attire and many had traveled several hundred miles to witness this momentous event. It was a time of celebration and tribute.
The church was elegantly decorated with candle and floral arrangements. The musicians performed enchanting arrangements signifying the union of these two hearts. However, nothing can compare to the radiance of the bride and groom’s love and devotion to each other as they looked into each other’s eyes and recited their marital vows.
Later, as we all gathered at the reception hall, the celebration continued. There were friends who had not seen each other in over twenty years. Some grew up together in the same small town, some were college mates, and some were friends made upon entrance to the “real world”. Outward appearances may have changed, but all discovered that our core being was just the same as it had been all that time ago.
We talked about the lovely union we had just witnessed, our own weddings, our families, our lives now and what we think is in store for the future. There was the same sweet, vibrant spirit in all of us that we discovered about each other and the reason that we remain friends.
It really isn't about the quantity of time spent, but the quality of time spent together. The same feelings of friendship will still be in the heart whether you see that person once a week, once in five years, or once in twenty years. On August 11, 2007, those friendships were celebrated.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
My Princess...You're Never Alone
"And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:20
You never need to hold on to anyone out of fear of being alone. My precious princess. I am with you wherever you are. I am the friend who walks in when the world falls out. I created you to have strong relationships, My love, and I see your desire to be close to someone. If you will seek Me first and come to Me with your wants and needs, I will choose your friends for you. I also will bless those friendships abundantly. Don't settle for less than My best just to fill your schedule with people to see and places to go. I want to reach you with the reality of My presence in you first, and then you will be ready for real relationships that are orchestrated by Me.
Love,
Your King and your Best Friend
Exert from "His Princess: Love Letters from Your King" by Sheri Rose Shepherd
You never need to hold on to anyone out of fear of being alone. My precious princess. I am with you wherever you are. I am the friend who walks in when the world falls out. I created you to have strong relationships, My love, and I see your desire to be close to someone. If you will seek Me first and come to Me with your wants and needs, I will choose your friends for you. I also will bless those friendships abundantly. Don't settle for less than My best just to fill your schedule with people to see and places to go. I want to reach you with the reality of My presence in you first, and then you will be ready for real relationships that are orchestrated by Me.
Love,
Your King and your Best Friend
Exert from "His Princess: Love Letters from Your King" by Sheri Rose Shepherd
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Obeying God's Laws
By: Sandra Harris Frey
Have you ever been speeding down the road, lost in thought, listening to some great music and suddenly those blue lights are flashing in your rearview mirror? The police officer asks you for your driver’s license, registration, and insurance card. If you are a law abiding citizen, you will have these documents with you. He collects them, goes back to his cruiser to run your plates and to write up a nice note telling you what you did wrong, how much you will need to pay, and the date you can visit with the judge. This is a traffic citation.
Some of you ladies may try to charm your way out of the ticket because you would rather spend your money on a new handbag, besides the speed limit is 35 miles per hour and that does seem a little slow for that stretch of road and 45 miles per hour seemed to get you there a lot faster. Some folks become argumentative and menacing. They threaten officers with their jobs because “they know someone downtown with a lot of influence”. Others know they have been speeding down that highway for years and should have had a hundred tickets by now. They are humbled and almost thankful the officer slowed them down. Their distractions may have caused an accident down the road. The blue lights flashing in the window signaled reality to return.
God gave us laws in the very beginning to follow, but temptation always seems to stand in the way of us keeping those laws holy. He put those laws in place in the beginning to show us our boundaries. The ideal outcome was to insure peace and harmony in the universe.
If you see those flashing lights in your rearview mirror one day, remember to respect the law. That police officer is just insuring you obey the law. Respect him. He may save your life one day.
Matthew 5:9
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Have you ever been speeding down the road, lost in thought, listening to some great music and suddenly those blue lights are flashing in your rearview mirror? The police officer asks you for your driver’s license, registration, and insurance card. If you are a law abiding citizen, you will have these documents with you. He collects them, goes back to his cruiser to run your plates and to write up a nice note telling you what you did wrong, how much you will need to pay, and the date you can visit with the judge. This is a traffic citation.
Some of you ladies may try to charm your way out of the ticket because you would rather spend your money on a new handbag, besides the speed limit is 35 miles per hour and that does seem a little slow for that stretch of road and 45 miles per hour seemed to get you there a lot faster. Some folks become argumentative and menacing. They threaten officers with their jobs because “they know someone downtown with a lot of influence”. Others know they have been speeding down that highway for years and should have had a hundred tickets by now. They are humbled and almost thankful the officer slowed them down. Their distractions may have caused an accident down the road. The blue lights flashing in the window signaled reality to return.
God gave us laws in the very beginning to follow, but temptation always seems to stand in the way of us keeping those laws holy. He put those laws in place in the beginning to show us our boundaries. The ideal outcome was to insure peace and harmony in the universe.
If you see those flashing lights in your rearview mirror one day, remember to respect the law. That police officer is just insuring you obey the law. Respect him. He may save your life one day.
Matthew 5:9
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Come Near
Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
Most of us will struggle to establish a daily appointment with God until something happens in our lives to convince us that there is nothing else we can do to find peace, help, hope, answers, or courage than to come to God in prayer. Unfortunately, prayer becomes a last resort, rather than our initial response.
I’ve spent over two decades teaching people to pray, and frankly, I’ve heard every imaginable excuse why people don’t pray…but what people most often fail to understand is what they are missing when they neglect to pray: power to overcome, comfort to sustain loss, courage to stand against temptation, faith that is invincible, and the ability to perceive the supernatural. These are the very real benefits of spending time with God.
Prayer will no longer be a passionless duty or a monotonous discipline if you get a glimpse of the moment-by-moment power and intervention of God available to you. When you hear God calling you to come near to Him, you must expect that He wants to give you more peace, power, and rest – look for it, ask for it, don’t leave your time without it.
Rosalind Rinker, one of InterVarsity’s first staff workers and author of Prayer: Conversing with God, called prayer “a dialogue between two persons who love each other.”
I can just hear Jesus saying, “Come to Me. I know your needs. I truly love you. Do not be afraid. Come, rest in Me.”
Exert from "Sacred Obsession Devotional" by Becky Tirabassi
Most of us will struggle to establish a daily appointment with God until something happens in our lives to convince us that there is nothing else we can do to find peace, help, hope, answers, or courage than to come to God in prayer. Unfortunately, prayer becomes a last resort, rather than our initial response.
I’ve spent over two decades teaching people to pray, and frankly, I’ve heard every imaginable excuse why people don’t pray…but what people most often fail to understand is what they are missing when they neglect to pray: power to overcome, comfort to sustain loss, courage to stand against temptation, faith that is invincible, and the ability to perceive the supernatural. These are the very real benefits of spending time with God.
Prayer will no longer be a passionless duty or a monotonous discipline if you get a glimpse of the moment-by-moment power and intervention of God available to you. When you hear God calling you to come near to Him, you must expect that He wants to give you more peace, power, and rest – look for it, ask for it, don’t leave your time without it.
Rosalind Rinker, one of InterVarsity’s first staff workers and author of Prayer: Conversing with God, called prayer “a dialogue between two persons who love each other.”
I can just hear Jesus saying, “Come to Me. I know your needs. I truly love you. Do not be afraid. Come, rest in Me.”
Exert from "Sacred Obsession Devotional" by Becky Tirabassi
Monday, August 6, 2007
My Princess...Pray with Power
My powerful princess, do now waste your walk through life today. Open your spiritual eyes. Prayer is needed everywhere. Anywhere you walk today I can and will order your steps, if you will let Me. Pray while you're driving, while you're cooking, and while you're doing laundry and running errands. Of all the weapons in the world, prayer is your most powerful resource. Don't let the day begin or end without letting your prayer to Me pave the way in all you do. Wherever you go, remember that part of your royal privilege is raising your voice to heaven. So hold on to the promises that are yours and pray!
Love,
The King and Intercessor
Exert from "His Princess: Love Letters from Your King" by Sheri Rose Shepherd
Friday, August 3, 2007
Alone Time
"When you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you." Matthew 6:6
There is nothing like having the undivided attention of someone you love or respect. There is no price we wouldn’t pay to have a private meeting with someone who holds an esteemed title or a powerful position, or has access to a network we’d like to reach.
That is why it is so incredible how little effort, interest, or commitment we place on making and keeping an appointment with the King of kings.
To have an audience with the King of kings is the privilege of every child of God…but most of us – and this is not an exaggeration – are either too busy, too tired, or too lazy to pray. We resist setting aside time to be alone with God. Why? It is not convenient. Also, we’ve lost the awe-inspiring image of a personal, powerful God who waits for us…
We miss so much power, passion, and purpose when we do not make time daily to hear His voice and respond to Him with immediate acts of love and obedience.
Corrie ten Boom, Holocaust survivor, said, “Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees.” Will you make an appointment with the King today – and every day for the rest of your life? If so, put it on your calendar. If not, you must ask yourself, Why not?
Exert from "Sacred Obsession Devotional" by Becky Tirabassi
There is nothing like having the undivided attention of someone you love or respect. There is no price we wouldn’t pay to have a private meeting with someone who holds an esteemed title or a powerful position, or has access to a network we’d like to reach.
That is why it is so incredible how little effort, interest, or commitment we place on making and keeping an appointment with the King of kings.
To have an audience with the King of kings is the privilege of every child of God…but most of us – and this is not an exaggeration – are either too busy, too tired, or too lazy to pray. We resist setting aside time to be alone with God. Why? It is not convenient. Also, we’ve lost the awe-inspiring image of a personal, powerful God who waits for us…
We miss so much power, passion, and purpose when we do not make time daily to hear His voice and respond to Him with immediate acts of love and obedience.
Corrie ten Boom, Holocaust survivor, said, “Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees.” Will you make an appointment with the King today – and every day for the rest of your life? If so, put it on your calendar. If not, you must ask yourself, Why not?
Exert from "Sacred Obsession Devotional" by Becky Tirabassi
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
What Stands In Your Way?
Submitted by: Sandra Harris Frey
A few years ago, I had the privilege to work for a company who was committed to the personal and professional growth of its employees. They offered books, seminars, round table meetings, and conferences. They even brought in an outside group who conducted a series of activities to strengthen motivation and commitment.
One of the exercises had an objective to conquer the biggest obstacle in the way from your obtaining true happiness. Each employee was given an 8 x 10 piece of ply board and instructed to write the obstacle that kept you from achieving your goals on the board. As a symbol of overcoming this barrier, the counselors instructed each employee on the fine art of breaking the board. There was an art to it. A firm fist hit in the center would produce a clean break signifying victory. I kept my broken board for many years to remind me to always keep a sense of purpose as one of my professional and personal ideals.
What obstacle is standing in your way of being obedient to our Father? Are you afraid of change? Are you afraid others may judge you? Are you afraid of commitment?
What's written on your board? Will you break that board and declare victory?
Romans 16:17
I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.
A few years ago, I had the privilege to work for a company who was committed to the personal and professional growth of its employees. They offered books, seminars, round table meetings, and conferences. They even brought in an outside group who conducted a series of activities to strengthen motivation and commitment.
One of the exercises had an objective to conquer the biggest obstacle in the way from your obtaining true happiness. Each employee was given an 8 x 10 piece of ply board and instructed to write the obstacle that kept you from achieving your goals on the board. As a symbol of overcoming this barrier, the counselors instructed each employee on the fine art of breaking the board. There was an art to it. A firm fist hit in the center would produce a clean break signifying victory. I kept my broken board for many years to remind me to always keep a sense of purpose as one of my professional and personal ideals.
What obstacle is standing in your way of being obedient to our Father? Are you afraid of change? Are you afraid others may judge you? Are you afraid of commitment?
What's written on your board? Will you break that board and declare victory?
Romans 16:17
I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.
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