Saturday, March 22, 2008

No Stone Unturned - Joni Ames

I received this via email today and found it very encouraging. So I wanted to share it with you. I pray you'll find it encouraging as well today as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior.


NO STONE UNTURNED
(A Resurrection Sunday poem)
- Joni Ames
JONIAMES@aol.com

So many stumbling blocks I found
Upon the path I trod
It seemed I walked an endless road
As I cried out to God

"Oh Lord, My God, are you not there?"
I said to Him one day
"Do you not see me standing here
Or hear the prayers I pray?"

"Father, where are all the things
You promised once to me?
Where are the things I had faith for?
Where is my victory?"

"Patience, child," I heard Him say
"Endure now to the end
Remember I am on your side
And I call you My friend"

"Did I not spare three men of God
From furnace and from flame?
Do you not know I care for you
For whom I'll do the same?"

"Did I not shut the lion's jaws
For Daniel in the den?
Do you think I don't care for you
But only for those men?"

"I told you, have faith as a grain
Of mustard seed and see
That, as you speak, a mountain moves
And falls into the sea"

"These, the things you see today
Shall pass and fade away
And you SHALL see my victory
And answers as you pray"

"Wait for just a little more
Your answers are at hand
Do not quit - it's almost time
For victory in your land"

"I'm not slack as some men are
For I'm Almighty, True
And I SHALL bring EACH thing to pass
That I have promised you"

"Remember, My Son had to die
And see the depths of hell
But then He rose to victory
And there was praise to tell"

"It seemed that death had taken Him
No future to be found
But those three days, I worked, unseen,
And captives were un-bound"

"Know I do the same for you
I quiet now each fear
Know I hear each prayer you breathe
And count your every tear"

"See that stone upon the tomb?
It stands, but not for long
For soon, each plan will drop in place
Right where it should belong"

"Do not fear now as you see
That all your life is churned
But watch and see all stones removed -
I leave NO stone un-turned" "

The stones or stumbling blocks you see
Are nothing now to ME
For soon, yours too, will roll away
And YOU'll have VICTORY!"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Happy Resurrection Sunday!
Love in Jesus,
Joni Ames

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Permission is granted (and you are also encouraged) to reprint these articles in hard copy form, as well as sending them to your own email lists and posting them on your own websites. We ask only that you keep Joni's website, email contact info, and author contact information intact.
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Joni Ames P.O. Box 99Elkview, WV 25071E-Mail: JoniAmes@aol.comMain Website: http://www.joniames.org Prophetic Newsletter Archives/Web site: http://www.joniames.net

Friday, March 14, 2008

Horton Hears a Who & Abortion

My daughter has been looking forward to going to see the new Dr. Seuss movie which came out in theaters today - Horton Hears a Who. Work is crazy right now with quarter end, but I'm hoping to be able to take her to see this in a few days.

I was surprised to see an email this week from Bound4Life endorsing this movie. Curious I visited their Mercy Seat Blog to see what this was all about. As I read the post about the movie - All Whos Who Have Blood That is Red - I felt the Lord confirming what they were saying.

I strongly suggest you take the time to read this blog posting and then take time to see the movie. My daugther is six and although I haven't given her all the details as to exactly what abortion is, I have talked to her about it. I wear a Life Band, a red wristband with the word LIFE stamped on it. She asked me what is was and I explained to her that there are people who are deceived by the enemy (satan) and don't realize that babies are alive and precious to God when they are in their mommy's tummies. Sometimes people make bad decisions and these babies are killed before they are born. The band I wear is to remind me to pray for these babies and their mommies and to realize that we are ALL precious to and loved by the Lord.

She now asks to pray for these little babies and I believe her prayers are precious and beautiful to the Lord. I truly believe the Lord is calling out to this nation, to the world. One of the things He is calling out to us is how precious Life is. Changing the laws is not going to change abortion - only changed hearts are going to make a difference. I agree the Lord very well may be using this movie to start speaking to us about how precious Life really is.


A person's a person, no matter how small!

I ask that you read this posting and ask the Lord to show you His heart in this area. Please pray for this nation and ask the Lord to begin to move in all our hearts regarding this issue.

“Jesus, I plead Your Blood over my sins and the sins of my nation.
God, end abortion and send revival to America.”

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Dark, yet Lovely

In my last post I had written about how understanding the grace of God in my life also requires me to truly see myself without His grace. At the end I had included a verse from Song of Solomon.

Dark am I, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem,
dark like the tents of
Kedar,
like the tents curtains of Solomon
~Song of Solomon 1:5


I wanted to give some background regarding this verse.

The woman describes herself as dark, yet lovely and the compares herself to the tents of Kedar and the tent curtains of Solomon’s temple. These describe our outward life (our flesh) and our inner life (God’s Glory in our life).

Tents of Kedar – this describes our flesh, our outward life of darkness. This is our natural tendency as humans to sin. The tents of Kedar to which she is referring, were made from the hides of wild goats and provided shelter for shepards. They were often discolored and black because they were exposed to the weather/climate of the area for extended periods of time. These tents represent the darkness she sees in herself – the outward condition of her life, which is filled with sin and failure.

Tent Curtains of Solomon – In the holy place of the temple there were bright white curtains that were known as the Curtains of Solomon. They could not been seen from the outer court and therefore were hidden from the common people. Only the priests saw them. These curtains represent the beauty that is within her (within us) that only God can see. This beauty is the Glory of God in our lives.

This is why she (and we) are dark, yet lovely.

In the study I am doing right now, it lists four reasons why we are beautiful and lovely to God in the midst of being spiritually immature.

1. We possess the gift of righteousness (2 Corinthian 5:21). He sees us as lovely because of the work of righteousness that He has done in us, not because of anything we have or have not done. We are clothed in his garment of salvation and His robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10)

2. When we were reborn in Him, He gave us a willing spirit. God knows that we are fallable, He is drawn not towards what we do for Him, so much as He is drawn to our hearts that say “Yes” to Him. This “Yes” in our hearts will come before any true outward changes are apparent. This willing heart is the work of the Holy Spirit within us (Psalm 51:12)

3. God’s nature/personality. God’s passion for us, how He sees us is totally determined by His nature, His personality. As parents we understand what unconditional love is towards our children. The difference with God though is that even when He is disciplining us, He is loving us fully. He is able to show us all His emotions towards us equally, not withholding one over another. God is love and therefore His view of us in based on this love.

4. We are beautiful to God because of our identity. Who are we? We are the Bride of Christ! It is absolutely certain that our destiny is to be adorned, embraced and enthroned as the Bride of Christ. This alone makes us absolutely beautiful! We need to learn to realize our identity is not in what we do for a living or even what our ministry is. Our identity is in Christ and who we are in Him, the Bride!

Monday, February 25, 2008

His Love / Our Darkness

Awhile back, someone I know had shared about how they were going through a phase right now where God is revealing to them what they look like, who they are, without His Grace to cover them. He said he had actually been asking the Lord to show him this and he talked about how the Lord showing him this would put him on his face in front of the Lord, weeping.

I remember at the time when I heard this, thinking it was amazing. Imagine how much closer to the Lord this experience would bring you. However, at the same time I was incredulous because I could not imagine asking the Lord to show me that about myself. I had not yet started the Song of Solomon study that I am currently in. I did not yet even begin to understand how much the Lord loved me or how beautiful I am to Him. I couldn't imagine seeing the opposite side of the coin.

Now that I've been going through the Song of Solomon study, the Lord has been bringing numerous other things into my life to help me to understand just how very much I mean to Him and how much He loves me. I'm amazed at just the little bit that I am now starting to understand. How much He loves me, because that is what He created me for, not because of anything that I do.

With this though He has shown me something else. While reading the Final Quest by Rick Joyner, I came to the chapter called The White Throne. I wrote briefly about some of this chapter in the posts The Sheep and the Goats as well as Focus: Ministry or People.

In this chapter, Rick's vision has brought him to the Throne Room of Christ. He begins to see himself and others that he has thought of as great Christians, as they really were on earth. He begins to see that what we see here in our lives is not necessarily reality. It began to make me think about what I really look like without God's grace. While thinking about this I realized something:

Until we can start to see what we look like to God without His Grace, we can not fully appreciate His Grace or how beautiful we are to Him through His Grace.

I don't know that I'm at the point that I'm ready for Him to show me who I am without Him or His Grace. I'm don't believe we can ever be truely ready for that experience. I'm just beginning to understand the darkness that is within me without my Lord and the love that He holds for me regardless. It has been an amazing experience so far!

Dark am I, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem,
dark like the tents of Kedar,
like the tents curtains of Solomon
~Song of Solomon 1:5

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Urgent America (Lou Engle)

I recently had an email forwarded to me with the below message attached from Lou Engle. I tried to find this on his website so I could just reference the link, but was not able to so I'm posting the email here.

Please take a moment to read and think about what he has to say. He also has a blog which is a very good and thought provoking read if you are interested - Lou Engle Blog

*****

Urgent - To America
Lou Engle


I am speaking now for my own personal perspective and not from any ministry I lead.This past several weeks I posted a video stating that I could never voted for John McCain because he had voted for the funding of embryonic stem cell research. I have made a vow that I would not be a participant in either the shedding of innocent blood or in the taking of any life at any stage. It is my conviction that fertilized embryos are living cells. As we know, today there are walking living human beings that were once embryonic stem cells that could have been killed for research purposes. I have received some excellent feedback both for and against concerning my video. One of the arguments against my stand is that science has now found a procedure that makes embryonic stem cell research a moot point. Therefore they say McCain will not have to face this issue according to this argument. Major Catholic leaders have come out and now endorse John McCain because of this supposedly closed issue. Because of this, I have withdraw n the video because I don’t believe that I could lay my convictions on others who will be faced with a major decision on whether their conscience could allow them to vote for McCain.


As for me, and not my ministry, I remain steadfast in my earlier conviction that I cannot vote for John McCain. I would like to include a part of James Dobson’s statement concerning McCain because there are obviously other issues involved. You may ask me, “Shouldn’t we vote for McCain because he is certainly better than Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama?” My answer is maybe you should, but I have been praying that God would drive the abortion issue like a wedge into this nation. Why should I take the wedge out by softening my stand? If the church came out in mass and united behind a true pro-life candidate, like Mike Huckabee, it would forever make a statement to the Republican Party that we are not yours we are God’s. Maybe it would be better to lose an election than to have another Missouri Compromise that keeps dumbing down the issue and will eventually bring us to divine judgment because we have ceased to become t he conscience of the nation. What is better, a compromising Zedekiah, or a hostile Nebuchadnezzer? God was able to do more with the pagan king Nebuchadnezzer than he could with the compromising king of Judah. Maybe our thinking is all humanistic and we believe in politics more than the power of prayer.


Many of you have read my article on the five loaves and two fish candidate. You can read it again on my blog. I believe that the sudden surge of Huckabee and his confession that it was because of the prayers of the saints, could have been a sign and a test for the body of Christ to see whether or not we had eyes to see what we have been praying for, for so long. The brown bag container may have been just too much for us, and we stumbled over the simplicity of the voice. Here is a man, Mike Huckabee, that has stood for both a federal human life amendment and a federal marriage amendment arguing the brilliant case that to drive the issues to the states like John McCain would want to, is to make morality geographical. That is what slavery was! But no- we opted out and took the lie of elect-ability. There was no clear prophetic clarity in the body of Christ and so we settle for that which can neither give us a true plumb line of righteous ness or a measuring line of justice and we perpetrate the ongoing moral confusion that threatens to drown this nation and bring about a complete collapse of character. (I am deeply concerned about the immigration issue and am praying that Huckabee would take much more of a compassionate stand for illegal immigrants. Still my stand of conscience is upon the foundations of life and marriage.)


But it is not over; the word was that if the church would pray the next president would come in a brown bag and his five loaves and two fish would be more than enough. Mitt Romney has dropped out of the race. If the church would rise up with one voice in prayer and in voting a Godly man whom I have had the privilege to personally spend time with now and who stands on the values of marriage and life upon which civilizations rise and fall could still be elected. And even yet if we pray God may do other things that no one could have expected. For He raises up kings and He brings them down. So I lay before you my convictions but I don’t lay them upon you. But here I stand I can do no other.


For America,
Lou Engle


Statement made by James Dobson on February 5, 2008:
"I'm deeply disappointed the Republican Party seems poised to select a nominee who did not support a constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage, who voted for embryonic stem cell research to kill nascent human beings, who opposed tax cuts that ended the marriage penalty, and who has little regard for freedom of speech, who organized the Gang of 14 to preserve filibusters, and has a legendary temper and often uses foul and obscene language… I cannot, and will not, vote for Sen. John McCain, as a matter of conscience.”

"But what a sad and melancholy decision this is for me and many other conservatives. Should Sen. McCain capture the nomination as many assume, I believe this general election will offer the worst choices for president in my lifetime. I certainly can't vote for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama based on their virulently anti-family policy positions. If these are the nominees in November, I simply will not cast a ballot for president for the first time in my life. These decisions are my personal views and do not represent the organization with which I am affiliated. They do reflect my deeply held convictions about the institution of the family, about moral and spiritual beliefs, and about the welfare of our country."

James Dobson’s endorsement of Huckabee on February 7, 2008:
“The remaining candidate for whom I could vote is Governor Huckabee,” Dobson said. “His unwavering positions on the social issues, notably the institution of marriage, the importance of faith and the sanctity of human life, resonate deeply with me and with many others … Obviously, the governor faces an uphill struggle, given the delegates already committed to Senator McCain. Nevertheless, I believe he is our best remaining choice for president of the United States.”


My final statement:
I have heard such scathing comments against James Dobson from the body of Christ for his stand. Be careful you may be among those who stone the prophets. The great abolitionist heroes of the past were not known nor are now heralded by history for their political equivocation.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Focus: Ministry or People?

As I've been reading The Final Quest I've found that although it is a short book, it is taking me awhile to get through it. I find as I read each chapter I need to take time to let things sink in and let God speak to me.

So as I was going back over notes that I've taken on what I've been reading I found some quotes that I wrote down that I believe deal with the post I made last night about The Sheep and the Goats. I wanted to share these with you now.

This whole battle was for the people, and yet people were often regarded as the least important. We will fight fo truths more than for the people for whom they are given. We will fight for ministries while running rough shod over the people in them.


How much was I doing to promote myself rather than Christ? I began to see how much I did just to prove myself to others, especially those who disliked me, who rejected me, or who I felt in competition with in some way. I began to see how much of my own life was built on the facades of a projected image that belied who I really was.


I read these two items in the book and I thought "Yep, that happens alot. I've seen this many times in the Church." But then the Lord revealed to me how many times I've done this myself. I don't have any huge minisitry, but I've still had these attitudes. I've lost focus of God and those He loves and put the focus on me, my beliefs, my agendas, etc while believing I was walking with God and doing His Will. It is about our attitude and our focus.

In the story Rick is given a very drab and plain tunic to wear over his armor. Everytime he looks down at it (especially when he is in heaven amoung all those who have been purified by the Lord) he feels plain, dirty and ashamed of the tunic. But then he is reminded that the tunic is humility. He is to wear it while on earth so that the glory that is the Holy Spirit within him does not offend others who the Lord wants to save.

I realized that every time I start to think "Yep, I have that tunic!" are really times when I am at my most arrogant regarding my spiritual walk with the Lord. At those times He reveals to me a little bit more about how I look without His grace and I am immediately on my face before Him again. But after, I have a new understanding of His Love and Grace that I had not had before that experience.

Friday, February 01, 2008

The Sheep and the Goats

31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. . .41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in
prison and you did not look after me.' 44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison,and did not help you?' 45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
~Matthew 25:31-33, 31-45


As I've mentioned before I'm reading The Final Quest by Rick Joyner. I must say it is messing up my mind in that it is causing a huge shift in how I think about things and look at things. I highly recommend the book.

At one point he is talking to someone who he had once wanted to be mentored by, but their personalities had clashed and they had not gotten along well. This man is now holy and pure in heaven, but tells Rick he is one of the least in heaven because of how he had focused more on himself than on God during his life. (The amazing part is that he is so thankful and happy for the place he does have in heaven!) As he explains this a bit more Rick realizes he has done some of the same things. One of the things he mentions is he had rejected those who the Lord had given him to disciple. That really made me think.

I've always thought of the story in Matthew regarding the sheep and the goats as being someone who literally does not help the poor and needy physically. I looked at it in a worldly way, I guess. But it could also be taken in a spiritual sense. Are we helping those who are hungry, thirsty and poor spiritually - those who are looking for God? Are we being so judgmental towards others and arrogant in our own spiritual standing that we miss those God sends us because we think they are not worthy or we think they are unimportant?

While I was thinking of this the Lord revealed some of my own shortcomings to me. Areas where I had started to get arrogant because of what God has been revealing to me. Areas where I've started to focus on myself instead of on God. That knocked me down a notch or two.

So now I need to ask myself everyday:

Am I the sheep or the goat? Am I feeding the hungry and thirsty, caring for the poor and needy physically? Am I feeding the hungry and thirsty, caring for the poor and needy spiritually?

Am I looking upon others arrogantly, holding it over their head that I am spiritually more mature than them or am I looking on them with love through Jesus' eyes? Is there anyone God has put in my life to help that I have not because I have been thinking they were not worthy or important? If so, then I'm forgetting that I'm not worthy or important, but God still teaches and pursues me because He loves me regardless of what or who I am. The least I could do is the same for others.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Ephesians 1:4-6

My house church just finished a study for the children on Praise. It actually had some really good things for us adults as well. So last night we had decided to do a quick study on the Armor of God until we decided what to do next. The study last night really had a lot of good discussion with the adults and with the kids (I'll share some in the upcoming days!). We are finally starting to figure out how to do our "adult" time as a church while involving the kids as well. It is amazing how much everyone, adults & children, are growing closer to the Lord.

We decided we are now going to go through all of Ephesians - one chapter a week. We will all read it and come with our notes/thoughts to discuss. One adult each week will go through the chapter as well to look for discussion items to involve the children. I'm so excited!

Last night I started reading through Epehsians 1 and verses 4 - 6 really jumped out at me. I wanted to share that with you today.

4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
(Ephesians 1:4-6, NIV)


I'm going through a study right now on the Song of Solomon and I'm starting to finally get in my heart how the Lord really feels about me, how much He really loves me. This may be why this verse jumped out to me. We all remember the verse about the Lord knowing us when we were in our mother's womb (Psalm 71:6), but the verse in Ephesians tells us that the Lord not only has loved us since we were conceived, but even before the world was created!

Think about this and personalize it to you. The Lord loved me and wanted me to be holy and blameless in His sight even before He created the world! He wanted me to be a child of His even before He made the earth and all that is in it! What an amazing love.

Then it says he took pleasure in planning this. Even before He created the world He loved me, thought of me and made a plan to redeem me because of His love for me and He took pleasure in doing all of this. I am NOT a burden to the Lord - He takes pleasure in me just the way I am now. Not in how I will be after His process with me is finished (that is what He is enjoying planning for me). He took/takes pleasure in me when I was/am at my lowest!

For me that is a huge revelation. I think without realizing it I had a always seen myself as a burden to God. When I read this last night it finally hit me - God was telling me that when He does things for me He is not doing it because He feels He is obligated to do so because that is what His Word says, but because He really enjoys it and wants to do it for me!

I looked these verses up on Biblegatway in various translations. I love the way it is worded in The Message:

3-6 How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

(Ephesians 1:3-6, The Message)


I love how this says we were the focus of his love and that He wants us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving. When you personalize this and realize this is how the Lord feels about you, regardless of where you are at right now - that is beyond what we can imagine! Just know the Lord really does Love you more than you could ever imagine and there is nothing you have to do to earn it. He is pursuing you and lavishes His amazing love on you. Doesn't that just make you want to love and serve Him so much more!

19We love Him because He first loved us.

(1 John 4:19, NKJV)

Friday, January 11, 2008

Eyes of our Heart

God gave me something recently that keeps coming to mind periodically as I go through my day. It is a great encouragement to me and I wanted to share it with all of you, in case it could be the same for you.

God gave me this while I was reading the second chapter in The Final Quest. In his vision, Rick Joyner has been standing in the Garden of the Lord, he has ate from the Tree of Life and has been worshiping God. Then he is being told he needs to leave the garden to go out and bring the Good News of Jesus to others. He is saddened to leave the garden, but an angel named Wisdom tells him that this place and the presence of Jesus lives in his heart.
Then Wisdom released me and started to walk toward the gate. I followed with ambivalence. I remembered the exhilaration of the battle and the climb up the mountain, and it was compelling, but there was no comparison to the presence of the Lord and the worship I had just experienced. Leaving this would be the greatest sacrifice I had ever made. Then I remembered how it was all inside of me and was amazed that I could forget this so quickly. It was like there was a great battle raging within me, between what I saw with my physical eyes and what I saw with my heart.

(The Final Quest, by Rick Joyner)


After reading this the Lord gave me a vision of me walking down a wide asphalt road. On each side of the road I could see bright lights flashing and hear loud music and laughter. So many distractions beckoning me to leave the wide dark road I walking down. It reminded me a lot of Las Vegas. It was so hard to concentrate on the road ahead which was so cold and dark when I could see so many things on each side of me that looked so fun. But then I heard the Lord's quiet voice speak to me, telling me to stop looking at the world through my physical eyes. He told me to close my eyes and look at the world the way He saw it, to see it through the eyes of my heart.

So I shut my eyes and immediately all the distractions on each side of me when quiet and dark. I still has a sense of them being there, but they were dark and fuzzy, they held no pleasure for me. I realized all of a sudden that the reality I thought I knew was not the true reality. It was a fake that was all made up on the outside but on the inside was hollow and empty.

Then I noticed in front of me there were what looked like stepping stones in the middle of the road. These began to glow with an inner light. They were beautiful. I noticed though that they were not very large, just big enough for me to put a foot on. The Lord whispered to me that the path was really much more narrow than I had originally thought and that the only way to stay on the path was to follow Him - to see "reality" through the eyes of my heart, not with my physical eyes.

Now when I start to get tempted by the things of this world or start to feel overwhelmed by the things of this world, this vision comes to mind. That is not to say that I don't sometimes let the distractions of this world sway me. I'm human just like everyone else and I fall. (And it has only been about a week since He gave me this and already I have fallen, more than once!) But eventually I do hear God's whisper and He draws me back onto the path. He wants to guide us back to the path and guide us down it, but we have to give Him permission. He will stay by us waiting for us to ask Him to take us back, but He won't just pick us up and bodily drag us there. He will pick us up and set us back on the path if we ask Him to though.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Song of Solomon Study

As many of you may know from my previous posts - I've been on a journey recently to better understand God's love for me. The Word says we love Him because He first loved us. I know how much He loves me in my head. But at times that is all it is, just head knowledge.

I want to get it in my heart. I want to truly understand that He loves me no matter what I have or have not done. That does not give me an excuse for not reading my Bible, not praying, etc. However, I have trouble truly understanding that His love for me is not dependent on these things. Therefore, I live with shame and condemnation a lot.

Last week I started a study at RHOP on the Song of Solomon and I am so excited (and a bit scared!) about this. Last week while listening to the woman leading this study I started to "get it". I started to feel it in my heart, but without realizing it I would start to throw up a wall. It is a habit and it was causing a struggle in me through the whole lesson. Part of me wants to have the heart knowledge of how my Lord feels towards me, but part of me feels the need to protect myself. I know it is crazy but old habits and ways of thinking are hard to break.

I believe it is no mistake that the woman leading this had to postpone it from November to now. Right now this study and this understanding of how much the Lord loves me and cherishes me means more than ever before. God's timing is perfect.

So, if any of this is pulling at something in your heart. If you think this is something the Lord is also wanting to reveal to you, please join me. RHOP is making the handouts and the lessons available online. You can listen to the podcasts using iTunes (which is free - iTunes).

RHOP Podcasts (and handouts)

Song of Songs - Session 1
Bridal Paradigm Introduction Handout
Song of Songs Overview Notes
Discovering God's Heart - Session 1 Notes

I also have the RHOP podcast feed on my sidebar so you can see when the new sessions are posted.