by Suellen | God's Guidance
My husband loves to photograph Eagles.
We have spent many days packing gear into our car and driving off to unfamiliar territory in order to catch glimpses of these magnificent birds. We join the quiet, respectful group of photographers who have congregated close to the nests. Then patiently we wait to spot the tiny eaglets as their heads pop up.
My favorite part of this excursion is to watch the adult birds. They launch from the nest in pursuit of food. And they soar.
High, higher, higher…
These beautiful, majestic birds spread their wings to their full extent and they soar. The wind currents carry them and they disappear from sight as they head toward the nearest water or higher hills.
Then you watch them dip and swirl as they allow the wind streams to create the lift they desire.
It’s beautiful to watch.
This scenario reminds me of our lives as Christians.
God has plans for us. Our special purpose to further His Kingdom. Our unique part in His big plan.
You may think of yourself as too small or too insignificant to matter very much to God.
If so, you are wrong. You are precious and extremely important to your Father.
Do you consider yourself a “simple person?” Well I have tremendous news for you! That’s who God is looking for.
God isn’t looking for self-sufficient ones. He is looking for those who rely on Him and His Spirit to live their lives and accomplish His will.
To put it another way, the old adage is true: the way up is down. Down on our knees and down in our own eyes.
Then He will lift you up.
When we insist on doing things in our own strength, we mix our own efforts – even our best efforts – with pride, fear, worry, confusion, and every negative emotion.
Our Father wants our lives to be above all of that negativity. He has many things for us to accomplish, but He wants us to accomplish them with joy. And he desires to work with us to fulfill our part.
So when we start with prayer, reading the Word, and listening for our Father’s direction, something beautiful occurs. We get direction as to what to do. We gain confidence that only comes from time with Him.
And He empowers us to accomplish His task.
Even youths shall faint and grow weary.
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings as eagles.
They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:30-31)
by Suellen | Awakening
A couple of weeks ago, the Holy Spirit woke me up at 3 am and spoke these words into my spirit. “Stir up the gift which is within you.” (II Tim 1:6)
I knew exactly what He was saying.
You see, our church had been holding a campmeeting with Ted Shuttlesworth and his son, Ted, Jr. The building was packed out with visitors praising and worshiping God, clearly eager to receive the divinely inspired messages. And they were not disappointed. The rafters shook with the booming praise, clapping, dancing, and rejoicing over our God and what He is doing in the earth. Healings were dramatic and often. Throngs were saved and filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time.
As the night proceeded, I felt the gifts were being stirred in me – and others. In that atmosphere there is always an awareness of heaven’s touch – and the reality of the Kingdom of God.
It reminded me of earlier days…maybe because it was like earlier days. It reminded me of the days when there was rejoicing in the city by the many people who were turning to the Lord, getting saved, baptized in the Holy Spirit and shouting their newfound truth to the rooftops. (more…)
by Suellen | Successful Living
I can remember, as a child at my piano recital, waiting for my performance to come up on the program. I would sit, supposedly listening to the others, but totally distracted from music being presented. I was waiting for “my time” to come. That’s what I was there for. And when our group went back stage as “our time” got closer, it would have taken the National Guard to keep us from running and playing as we waited. We were waiting for “our time.”
I’m sure that many who played sports would have similar recollections. We were there to do our part. Of course, we pulled for the team, but we wanted our part.
As children we longed to be in the game… but what happened to us? Maybe put-downs or discouragements, maybe setting goals so high only supermen could have accomplished them, but for some reason, as adults we are different. (more…)
by Suellen | Awakening
My heart is so full this morning, it’s hard for me to settle into my post. Our Pastor started a series on Eternity yesterday, and thoughts began exploding within me.
First of all, I was drawn back to the passages within Isaiah which speak of the greatness of God. When you have been in ministry for awhile, it’s easy to acknowledge God’s magnificence, but not really meditate on it. Your concentration is on His greatness, but also on your place in His plan and what you need to be doing.
Today is different. Today I stand in awe of His greatness – and the realization of our smallness in the big scheme of things. When you contemplate eternity, you realize how truly small on the timeline is our lifetime. Even if we live 100 prosperous and prolific years, we are less than a speck on eternity.
When you contemplate this, His tremendous love for us and desire to fellowship with us is even more amazing. What an awesome God and Father we have. Our minds can’t comprehend His vastness or His love. Truly amazing.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in the balance, and the hills in a pair of scales?
Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor informed Him? With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of knowledge and informed Him in the way of understanding?
Behold the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales. Isaiah 40:12-15
There is something else which rushes into my mind also, and that is pity for those who don’t know Him.
- I feel such sorrow for the many who are suffering in the world and don’t know about the Savior and their opportunity to know Him.
- I feel sorrow for the foolish “intellectuals” who want to prove everything by scientific method, and yet defy all science in order to prove that everything “just happened.” That some “big bang” created all of the order we see, when all of science proves that order never comes from “big bangs” – only disorder does.
- I feel sorrow for the people who think that their moment of celebrity and prosperity is all that there is, when their lives are but a speck, and none of what they are seeking matters in the long run.
- I feel sorrow for Christians who believe in Jesus and yet deny Him by their actions.
- I feel sorrow for Christians who believe in Jesus, but are too busy with other things to let Him matter very much.
Yet in all of this, I feel thankfulness to my awesome Father God that He will make Himself known to any who want to know the truth. I know that on the horizon is a Great Awakening which will be revealed to the world.
I also know that many who don’t believe now will be drawn to the truth and to His kingdom when they see the signs and wonders which will be displayed in days ahead.
He will show Himself strong to those whose hearts are sincere and willing to listen to Him.
He is an Awesome God.
by Suellen | Awakening, Prayer
Guest Post by Mickey Estes
[ Note: A few years ago, my husband was led by God to start a Pastors’ Prayer Meeting in the area where we lived. He spent a lot of time locating church leaders in the several counties around, and he began the bi-weekly meetings. During that season, the Lord gave him many words about the significance of leaders coming together for God’s purposes. The next few blog posts grew out of those words.
I am sharing them again since these same concepts are so important for this present time. This word is important not only for leaders, but for all of those in the Body of Christ who truly want to see God’s plans unfold in the earth today.]
Recently, the Lord has been speaking to me concerning the body of Christ. There are so many divisions; so many walls. There are denominational walls, racial walls, gender walls, and cultural walls. It’s as if His body is divided into many pieces with no connections, and it grieves Him.
Why is this so? Why have we allowed Satan to divide us? God has some answers for us.
We are all believing for a great awakening, and there are some keys to our preparation for it. One of those keys is humility. (more…)
