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No Fear In Death

 

Christina Grimme was shot and killed less than two days ago. A man reportedly traveled to her concert with the goal of ending her life. Some say he did it because she loved God; he committed suicide immediately after, so his deranged reasoning may remain a mystery. She was twenty-two years old. What is there to say after an event like this? Any words I might normally have had were stunned into silence by the added news of fifty more people murdered just hours ago in the same city, Orlando, Florida. Maybe thoughts will come later, but for now Christina’s far better words speak for themselves in this You Tube video.

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Land That Drinks In The Rain

cindigale's avatarCindi Gale

Hebrews 6 New International Version (NIV)

6 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,2 instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.3 And God permitting, we will do so.

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4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that…

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Consider the Lilies

cindigale's avatarCindi Gale

Just after this morning’s rain, I bicycled in the countryside. The winds were gusting from the southwest, and the air was cool from the recent storm. Along one narrow road was a field of yellow blossoms, the colors in flux as the dividing clouds migrated easterly.

While I admired the sky and vivid land, a phrase came to mind — it is settled there still:  Consider the lilies.

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Matthew 6:28 “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? 

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his…

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Stay In The Pocket

cindigale's avatarCindi Gale

What do you do with the thoughts or abilities that make you, YOU? I’m speaking of those things that are meant to be expressed— they’re intended for someone to receive them. They are your gifts, yours to give as you determine.

Is there music inside you that others want to hear? Can you produce art that people hope to see, or teach what learners are seeking? Is there love within you that someone longs for? Do you have the words that others need to hear, or the gestures for a life to be encouraged?

Those intangible, unquantifiable gifts within you are powerful. They change lives. Expressed when the time is right, they are the rudder that alters another vessel’s course.

Express them when the time is wrong, and a shipwreck can result.

Maybe that has happened to you, a shipwreck when you expressed a precious pearl of who you are…

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Power Washing

Eighteen years of accumulated algae, mildew, dirt, and moss resided in the shallow pits and crevices of my cement drive. I hadn’t noticed as I hurried across it, coming and going in my SUV, fetching mail from the mailbox, or lugging water to my little garden behind the garage. Yet when I finally looked at it, it was oh-so-obvious.

It took most of three days this week to dislodge the grime with a power washer. Little by little. An inch at a time. Hovering the wand the longest over the most stubbornly-embedded areas. It was slow, careful, tedious work.

Today my driveway and parking slab are like new. Clean. Free of algae and mildew and dirt and moss — liberated of all grime. It shines white in the noonday sun.

People collect years of grime, too. We barely notice as we hurry through life. We don’t know we could be made clean and new. We don’t imagine our lives could be better — richer, purer, more peaceful, wiser, clearer, more victorious …

We have a God who is willing to spend the time required to cleanse us. Little by little. An inch at a time. Hovering the wand of his divine power the longest over our most stubbornly-embedded areas. He is careful. He takes his time. He doesn’t mind the tedious work.

He wants us to have the best possible lives. To be like new. Clean. Free of guilt, wrongdoing, wrong-thinking, wrong-teaching — liberated of all grime. When we ask for his help, and let him cleanse us, we too will ultimately shine white in the noonday sun.

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Give Me Jesus

 

In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus, give me Jesus
You can have all this world
But give me Jesus
*
*
And when I am alone
Oh and when I am alone
And when I am alone
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus, give me Jesus
You can have all this world
But give me Jesus
 *
*
And when I come to die
Oh and when I come to die
And when I come to die
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus, give me Jesus
You can have all this world
You can have all this world
You can have all this world
But give me Jesus
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Springtime

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For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. Song of Solomon 2:11-12

Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” Hosea 6:3

For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations. Isaiah 61:11

 

 

 

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Promises Fulfilled

This post was plucked from obscurity by someone, somewhere, in recent weeks, and is getting reads again internationally. I’m taking it as my cue for a reblog. Hold on to your hope!

cindigale's avatarCindi Gale

What happens when we’ve heard God’s word and promises, and believed to the point of great hope for our lives, but the promises remain unfulfilled?

Proverbs 13:12 – Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

After a long time hearing how good life is going to be someday, we need to see it happen. I’m not talking about wanting it to happen — we did from the first talk of it — we need it to happen. An unmanifested promise eventually elicits pain from the place it used to evoke hope.

Imagine a business promised its employees improved salaries and benefits. As months passed, the employees’ thoughts and emotions underwent change when the talk failed to become reality. After years of hearing promises that weren’t fulfilled, they felt foolish for their naive enthusiasm early on. Even the most loyal employees grew suspicious that the…

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Always Only Love

Jesus roll away the stone
Breathe your fire into breathless bones
Raise to life this weary soul
My weary soul

Jesus fix this mess I’ve made
Whisper Lord and still the waves
Bid me come I’ll move in faith
I’ll move in faith

Faithfully Lord you pursue me
Arms wide open you run to me
Always gracious Always Holy
Jesus you are
Always only love

Jesus you forgive forget
Trade my rags for righteousness
Redemption comes with no regrets
No regrets

Faithfully Lord you pursue me
Arms wide open you run to me
Always gracious Always Holy
Jesus you are
Always only love

Sing it from the highest Mountain
Echo in the lowest hell
God’s great love and boundless mercy
Never falters never fails

Faithfully Lord you pursue me
Arms wide open you run to me
Always gracious Always Holy
Jesus you are
Always only love

Recorded and owned by Cindy Ratcliff

Download on iTunes: https://itun.es/us/OUOv-

For Booking: http://www.cindyratcliff.com/booking/

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Zoom In

The power of evil to slowly, imperceptibly rob us of our identities is real in all settings. We are unlikely to be a threat to evil as long as we remain subjugated to ungodly people. Satan knows what he’s dealing with as long as we are predictable. He knows the rules of religions, the demands on underlings to conform. If we swallow the pill of mindless compliance, he is assured of our passivity. We will be passive to injustice. We won’t learn of our God-given rights. We won’t express our true personalities and develop our God-given insights, gifts, talents, and strengths. We won’t be capable of overcoming evil with good.

If you’re suppressed and your identity is muddled, let’s do something about it. Let’s flip-flop the situation, and free you to be capable of overcoming evil with good.

Pray. Expect and listen to the Holy Spirit’s perfect counsel. Reflect: What is your true personality? Is it spirited? Is it strong? Does it debate with majority thinking? Does it fight against untruths? Does it seek ultimate harmony? Does it rise to defend victims? Does it rise to defend YOURSELF, if you are the victim?

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Do you fear that your independent thinking will break the rules? WHAT RULES? WHOSE RULES?

Did Martin Luther King turn people off? Did Abraham Lincoln? What if they had been shortsighted, and given up their right to think, debate, and resist common public opinion, because they feared being considered disruptive? So, they temporarily ruffled some feathers, they disturbed some people — who said we are born to make unrighteous people comfortable? Who created you for that destiny?

Where is the person God created you to be? You can throw off every demand and expectation that hinders, and be that person.

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Will you be accepted? Were Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln accepted?

Look beyond the nearest faces of disapproval as you defy their unrighteousness, and look to the purpose and goals for which Christ calls you. Get past the forceful people in your face spouting their policies, and discover it’s very different away from those people. There IS a world beyond your immediate world. Just beyond the few disapproving faces is a world of people who will accept you.

Be bold. Be strong. Be wise. When you are acceptable to God, you are also acceptable to a whole lot of people.

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2 Corinthians 10:18 (NIV) – For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.