A fire in my heart

I can't explain how I feel right now...i don't know if i will be able to find the words to express what is stirring everything in me. O, my brothers and sisters in Christ...my hearts deep desire is that we will wake up, that we will truly live as He has called us to live. We have such freedom, here in the United States; we have such freedom in Christ, a freedom we are called to use to serve Him and one another. Are we truly living in those freedoms? We have brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world who are being persecuted for doing things we are able to do daily without threat of harm. Are we praying for them? Are we encouraging each other daily, spurring on one another to love and good deeds? Are we speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and heavenly songs, giving thanks to God for everything? Are we going to His Word to be taught, to be shaped, to be comforted, to know more the beautiful God we serve? I write this in tears right now, my heart so longing for us, His church, to truly love Him, one another, and the people around us who so desperately need to know the truth and hope of Christ. Let us not be lulled into sleep or into a worldly stupor, where we spend more time and energy voting for the next American Idol, making sure we look good on the outside, spending hours in front of a TV/Computer, than living a life truly abandoned to Christ. I am not trying to judge anyone for how they spend their time, if that conviction is necessary, I trust the Holy Spirit to work as only He can. I am just pleading, to myself first and foremost, that we would number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom. That we spend our time in a way that honors God and blesses those around us.

O Husbands, I plead that you would love your wives as Christ loves the church...don't allow yourself to get robbed, there is deep blessing in being the husband that God calls you to be. Don't let the enemy trip you up, don't let him steal your heart. He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe (Proverbs 28:26). Wives, trust the Lord as he leads you to love and respect your husband and submit to him, knowing the Lord has called him to love you as He (Christ) loves you. Don't let your heart wander, don't take anything for granted. Pray together, read the Word together. Don't let this precious and holy covenant be tarnished or destroyed by the lies of a world that goes against everything that our God honors. Don't believe the lies, stand firm in His Word, in your most holy faith.

To those who read this that do not believe in Christ and think I am just flat out of my mind, yeah, I used to think the same thing about Christians. The Bible says "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14). I share this passionately, because i believe it passionately. jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Fpr those who do not know Him, I pray he reveals Himself to you, pray your heart is opened to His truth and love. If anything I have said in my own words offends, I apologize, I am not very good with words and can think one thing and not express it as I desire. But I do not apologize if His Word offends, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation for everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile" (Romans 1:16). He IS truth, i know that with everything that I am. I just want you all to know His love, and I do not say that in a simple way...I know there is tons of pain and heartache in this world...He is still sovereign and loves deeper than we can ever fathom. I am sorry for your hurts...Christ has taken those hurts, all of sin, upon Him.

Brothers and Sisters, let us live our lives set apart, a light amidst the dark. May we love our God, may we love one another. Remember Jesus' prayer for us,

"But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
Their Future Glory, The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me." (John 17:13-23).

May our lives be a fragrant offering to Him...our Savior, our God, our majestic King, our Healer, our Comforter, our Prince of Peace, our Righteousness, our Hope, our song, our deepest joy, our great I AM.

With all the love in my heart, which only exists because he first loved us,
Cari