That God is good is taught or implied on every page of the bible and must be received as an article of faith as impregnable as the throne of God. It is the foundation stone of all sound thought about God and is necessary to moral sanity. To allow that God could be other than good is to deny the validity of all thought and end in the negation of every moral judgment. If God is not good, then there can be no distinction between kindness and cruelty, and heaven can be hell and hell heaven.

A.W. Tozer – Knowledge of the Holy

As I reread this journal I can’t help but think of the following verse:

He who is holy will see that you are holy; but to the man whose way is not straight you will be a hard judge.”

2 Samuel 22:27 (BBE)

The verses I journalized from were Psalm 145:9,14-16, Job 38:25-27, 39-41, Matthew 5:45.

Jaque, all expectation is predicated upon My goodness—the ground of all anticipation. I am good, and I do not force My attention upon you. It’s easy to have you in My thoughts at all times, but if you would know Me you need to direct your focus towards goodness. Also, if you would be welcomed as a Prodigal, you must come as the Prodigal came.

Your attitudes determine how you experience My reception of you. If you expect goodness you will soon see that I am not slow to give it. But if you expect harshness you will find Me cold and aloof. Your heart determines how you know Me. To the humble heart I am good. In My goodness I show that to live well and be happy means expecting Me in all goodness and favor. It means carrying an uplifting attitude toward Me.

My word shows how good I am, even though your attitude can either reject or receive it. You choose how to know Me Jaque. If you choose Life you choose Me in goodness but if you choose death you choose dark moods and negative outcomes. Yes, because I am good you can move away from negative states.

Choice Jaque. As to how you will know Me is yours to make. This is My gift to you. Choice; the rudder of your ship. Where will your soul sail today? Into seas of goodness or onto seas of tumult? Choose this day how you will serve your Master. Let goodness open the eyes of your heart so you can serve in the light of My goodness. Then nothing but “goodness” will be your experience—no matter what.

Father, I wholly devote my heart and mind to you. Thank you for choosing me to know goodness and to be utterly delighted by it. I expect you to present Yourself as awesomely good. My attitude toward You is elevated above the clouds. Thank you, thank you, and thank you forevermore. Amen.

Belinda-Marie, My goodness is poured into every detail of My creation. Nothing is insignificant to the creator. Looking at a painting, one sees the big picture. You may see a bird soaring over the mountain top that towers over the roaring waters below. The painter sees each feather on the bird. He sees each tree that clothes the mountain top. He counts the number of waves white with foam. The creator takes intricate care in the details, to leave no stone unnumbered.

Every crevice of every rock, I placed there with My own hands. Every blade of grass, I hand painted it’s very own shade of green…no two exactly alike. Crystal snowflakes fall to the earth, placed precisely where I told them to go. The bird to your immediate left, sitting on the tree is following My instructions. The same sun that bakes the desert is providing only light in the arctic. Waves are dancing to the song I sing. Cattle wait with joy to fulfill My purposes. The fish are swimming to My destination. The branches are swaying to My breath. The stars have individual wattage to vary the degree of light exactly and according to My will.

Every detail, every movement, was ordained by Me. I have taken the utmost care of My good creation. Oh, Belinda-Marie, do you consider the lilies? How much more do I love you, My very good creation. My delight in My creation is dull in contrast to what I see when I look at you. Oh, how much I love you! I count and keep record of the hairs on your head. I assign tasks to each cell of blood that pumps through your veins. I place upon you distinguished markings in freckles and lines, to set you visually apart from another. I refresh your eyes by telling them to blink. I equip you with emotion to outwardly feel.

Do trees experience happiness? Do they hurt when they crack? Are they allowed to cry? No, because I saved the very best of My goodness for the one I love the most. Not the goodness that I have or possess…but the goodness that I AM! I am happy, I hurt, I cry! I would not give that part of Myself to something merely created. I reserve the best of My goodness for the very good of my creation. You are gooder than good!

Again, I do not have goodness, I AM goodness, and there is no besting Me. Thus, I do not say “the best of My goodness.” I chose to give My children the best because out of all of My vast, endless, wonderful creation, you are the treasure of My heart. I did not send My only Son to be beaten, bludgeoned, spat on, humiliated, and sacrificed so that I may have the prettiest of flowers to look at, or the beautiful kitten to delight in.

I will surround Myself with creation but it is you I long to embrace in heaven. It is you that I sacrificed for. I fill you with My Spirit so that you may have a taste of what is to come and so that I may ever prepare your soul. Time is near and I have unlimited seating in the heavenly arena, with more than enough to go around for eternity. Use the days I have given to fill these seats. My goodness abounds and is fueled at My core with the greatest love that man has never known.

Father God, my soul waits for You. Lord I pray that the day will come soon, but no sooner than that of Your will. I pray for the outward expression of the love that You have shown me, and that it will be a beacon of hope to someone in the dark. I ask for the wattage of your brightest star so that anyone who may stop to look at me, will only see You. Father, more than watchmen wait for the morning…more than watchman wait for You. My soul waits! -Amen

“Paul puts his finger on the thing that dims the spiritual life more than any other: timidity.  If I had one gift to give myself and others, I would unhesitatingly give courage.  For more people grow dim and need rekindling of the divine gift through lack of courage than through any other thing.  First of all, the courage to take from God what He offers.  That is the supreme courage: to pay the price and take the gift.  That takes courage, for it shifts the whole basis of life from self-sufficiency to God-sufficiency.  Then the next step: the courage to face up to the world with this appropriated gift of God and to believe that this and this alone will meet every need–and to say so, even when men are pathetically trying unworkable ways.”

“To pay the price and take the gift.”  To me that means to swallow my pride and take the gift.”

In the Character of God course one of the attributes we study is God’s goodness.  I believe we are afraid to believe God is as good as He is.  Yes, it takes courage to believe in His goodness.  If we used the faith and courage He gives to believe, I think we would see a lot more miracles occurring in our daily lives and others watching the church with gaping mouths…and being drawn to Jesus.

Click here for event flyer with full details.

“We never receive a complete knowledge through mere research, with our minds.  Knowledge of God comes through our hearts—the windows of our souls.”

That immediately reminded me of Malachi Chapter 3, where God promises, see “if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Mal 3:10 (AMP)

The windows of heaven—the windows of our souls—blessings the size of which we don’t have room enough to receive.  The mind can’t comprehend it, but the heart can.  Oswald goes on, “During the Boxer uprising in China, a lady I knew learned of the murder of her husband and two of her children.  Their bodies were found beheaded and mutilated.  After this astounding catastrophe she testified:  “I could not pray, have faith, or lay hold of God.  But my heart knew Him and no matter how this tragedy seemed to contradict so many things, I rejoiced in Him.”

Wow.  After my husband Chuck passed away I too experienced what it meant to rejoice in God without prayer, faith or feeling of God. I saw that my faith wasn’t in my faith, my hope wasn’t in my hope, nor was my confidence in my confidence.  Everything I had was in God.  I knew Him by heart and rejoiced.

Even now blessings are poured out in abundance and beyond any mental ability to fathom how my glorious God accomplishes this. But the one thing I know by heart: God is God.  Not joy.  Not peace.  Just God.

We thank-you so much for praying for us and for the people here. Even among such devastation and heartache, there are constant visible reminders that God is good! He is loving and is mighty.  Here is a link to our blog where you can check in for more details and photo updates!   http://stephensforchrist.blogspot.com/

In the Name of Jesus,
Michael and Fawn

[View with PicLens]

Growing up, one of my biggest fears was that if I surrendered all to God then I would have to go off to Africa and be a missionary. I heard countless stories of folks to whom that happened and I really didn’t want to go to Africa.

I presumed that whatever was unpleasant would be my duty. But, as Oswald Chambers says; Is that anything like the spirit of our Lord? —”I delight to do Your will, O my God…” Ps 40:8

As I got a little older I heard it said that God places His desires in your heart, that you will find that if He has a place He wants you to go to or a task He wants you to do, then He will sneak that desire in there and you’ll want to do it. That made me feel a little better about things…

But I have found that following God often feels like He’s asking me to jump off a cliff without a parachute; that proverbial leap of faith. What if you’re afraid? What if you just don’t want to do what you know He is asking you to do? How can it be an adventure and a delight? Why does He have to keep stretching me?

I am discovering that the beauty of this courageous life in Christ is that it’s all about knowing Him and trusting Him and being with Him. Yes, He does ask you to leap into the unknown, He does ask you to take another step without knowing the whole pathway. But every time you do that in obedience to His leading, you will discover that He is waiting for you there. He is your parachute who protects you against a fall, but your parachute won’t open until it’s needed. He gives you the words He wants you to say or the direction you need for decisions, or the guidance for the next step…..or leap!

And so it turns out that He does give you the desires of your heart after all because the true desire of your heart is Him and if He is ahead on the pathway then you’ll want to follow and be with Him at all costs.

Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. Matt 6:21 NLT

You don’t need excessive confidence first, just the simple willingness to take the next step towards Him. I will choose courage over fear because he has proven himself trustworthy over and over again. I would never know that if I hadn’t leapt off the cliff. The thrill of the adventure with God draws us on. But, more than anything just remaining in His presence is the desire of our hearts and it is because of this that we delight to do His will.

Amazingly I have discovered when I obey, that He has been preparing me for the task a long time in advance. He doesn’t throw us in so deep that we drown; He teaches us how to swim first. He has certain tasks that He has, and is preparing us for and because He prepares us for them they do turn out to be delightful. They fulfill us in ways we never expected. Whatever God calls you to do, He will give you the power and the courage to carry out. Who would have thought?

And once you’ve experienced that thrill, you will be truly delighted.

And so it’s true what He said at the beginning, but it’s the first part of the verse that the second part flows from and that’s the only part that we really need to focus on:

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Ps 37:4 NIV

And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he’s listening. And if we’re confident that he’s listening, we know that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours. 1 John 5:14-15 (MSG)

Jaque, I desire truth in the inward parts.  I desire that you know the truth by heart (that your heart knows the truth).  All who belong to Me know My will.  “And God wills that all men should be saved.” Do I therefore will salvation for all?  Yes.  But you know not all are or will be saved.  “And He healed them all.”  Do I therefore will that all be healed?  Yes.  But you know that not all are or will be healed.  So does the outcome of those who are not saved or healed change My will?

I deliberately haven’t posted the rest of the journal.  Just from the question I’m wondering what your answer would be if He posed it to you? If it doesn’t change His will why do things happen as they do?  If you think it means His will is not to save and heal all, why do you think so?

He is currently running an orphanage while the director is away (approx. 150 children and receiving more each day), as well as overseeing the temporary hospital he has set up in the church of the orphanage with about 20 intensive care patients. He is also providing ground support for two helicopters, the helicopter he was to fly had some fuel line problems. He is okay, and working very hard.

The orphanage is completely overrun with children and badly needs help. Fawn will be flying in to join him Feb 6th for a couple of weeks to help out while kind folks at home look after their young children.
Please pray for safety for Fawn and Michael and that God would pour out His grace on the people of Haiti through them and their willingness to serve. The biggest need is for healthy leadership and organization. The country also needs a strong government to be brought up out of this catastrophe. Please pray specifically for a revival in this land and for the national religion of voo-doo to be renounced. Thank-you!

Here are a couple of links so that you can read and see a little more of what’s happening.
Links:
This is the organization that Michael is there with www.helimission.ch
And he is also working with Samaritan Air http://samaritanairhaiti.blogspot.com/

Ah, I’ve got a plan. Here’s what I’ll do…

Luke:16:4a  The Message

Every priest goes to work at the altar each day, offers the same old sacrifices year in, year out, and never makes a dent in the sin problem. As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God and waited for his enemies to cave in. It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process.

Hebrews 10:11-14  The Message

It’s that time again. Sigh. The time when many of us make plans for what we want to change this year, otherwise known as ‘resolutions’. Sigh. Why do we do this to ourselves? Who initiated this tradition of attempting to fix everything all at once, only to find that within a few weeks, it’s likely that we’ll have gone right back into our old habits?

Determination is what is supposed to produce the change we seek when we make resolutions. It’s a character quality that’s held in high esteem by our society. “She’s one determined young lady, she’ll be very successful” or “I am determined not to fail on this diet!” Why, then, after having a realization (“I need to write more letters to my family this year”) when we feel so determined, does little change take place?

It’s interesting when one takes a closer look at what determination really is. The Latin word is determinare, meaning ‘set limits to’, or ‘mark off a boundary’ (the law?). In contrast, ‘resolution’ in the Latin is from resolutionem meaning ‘a breaking into parts,’ or ‘the process of reducing things into simpler forms,’ both of which come from the stem of resolvere, meaning ‘loosen’. So, why are we setting limits and marking off boundaries for things that really need to be simplified and let go of?

Paul said this in another form in 1 Corinthians chapter 2: “You’ll remember, friends, that when I first came to you to let you in on God’s master stroke, I didn’t try to impress you with polished speeches and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did—Jesus crucified.” Even more applicable to daily life, he said this in chapter 7,  “I do want to point out, friends, that time is of the essence. There is no time to waste, so don’t complicate your lives unnecessarily. Keep it simple —in marriage, grief, joy, whatever. Even in ordinary things—your daily routines of shopping, and so on. Deal as sparingly as possible with the things the world thrusts on you. This world as you see it is on its way out.”

Rather than get determined and forceful with the thing in our lives that we realize needs changing, consequently becoming like a law-minded priest who offers the same useless sacrifice ‘year in and year out’, let’s try letting go of it, releasing it to our Father. Simplify, loosen, like “resolution” truly means. Imagine yourself holding the thing in your hand and opening your fingers to let go control of it or in your heart and letting God reach in and take it.

More than ‘every year’ even, each and every day let’s release our determination to “fix” ourselves, our self-set limits, and let God mold and change our hearts and lives. It’s a wonderful and mysterious thing what happens when we sit with our loving Father, receiving His Word for us. Time spent in the scriptures and in our journals is the only thing that will produce the change we seek. If there’s anything to be resolute about, it’s the daily practice of ‘letting go and letting God’. Then we are sure to see God produce in us true, eternal, perfect change.

…because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Hebrews 10:14

It might sound strange but God wants to find me as much as, if not more than, I want to find God….God is not the patriarch who stays home, doesn’t move and expects his children to come to him, apologize for their aberrant behavior, beg for forgiveness and promise to do better. To the contrary, he leaves the house, ignoring his dignity by running toward them, pays no heed to apologies and promises of change, and brings them to the table richly prepared for them.When I look through God’s eyes at my lost self and discover God’s joy at my coming home, then my life may become less anguished and more trusting.

Henri Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son