GOT IT COVERED

People who believe in Jesus and PRAY ~ are under His covering. Our hearts are uplifted and illumined by the FAITH He has given to us. For in Him we have our being and His abiding love for us is made known. Often times people will fail us, but our God is faithful and when we cry, when we hurt, He is there! God commands His angels to surround us, and the indwelt Comforter, and the Presence of Jesus is felt as He hugs us. When we face the fires of this life, as we draw near to Him, He draws near to us and the darkness is dispelled by His holy light.
"For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways." Psalm 91:11 ~ The word covering is defined by Webster: Something laid over or wrapped around a thing, especially for concealment, protection, or warmth. We are that “thing”…wrapped in the prayer of others. There is no other explanation for how we step through these difficult days in Stockton. There has not been a single area of life that is not under attack,
and yet,
We breathe.
Our bodies move.
And we have the joy of the Lord as our strength as we focus our thoughts on Jesus. We are enabled supernaturally to face each day knowing that we are NOT alone. God has placed such a tender covering around His beloved and He has used a band of angels to guide us to a special group of women to pray us through. Our Father blesses us with a range of emotions and as tears are released the soul is refreshed. "Be still and know that I am there". Jesus is there as our Avenger, the Keeper of His promise to deliver us from evil and usher us into His peace. There is an ongoing spiritual war for our souls and the deceiver comes to rub us of the Joy of the Lord. In war no one is spared from the fright, but those who pray for the protection of their mate, or their child ~ FEEL His Word at work in the situation and we are assured that God will finish the work He has begun in them, and in ways that are beyond our understanding. "Do not be afraid...I GOT YOU COVERED even when you fail to recognize your need. Serving others can be as simple as sharing a SMILE, or filling an empty glass, or dropping a plan to take care of the needs of a parent. Some days we feel like giving our time, and some days we do not. We can all admit to avoiding those energy draining people who are cranky and disrespectful of all we have already done for them. Many times Ambassadors of Kindness receive pain in payment for good, rejection for acceptance, and anger for our sensitivity. However, those who choose Christ are changed by His presence. Christ in us, His hope for glory ~ replaces our stubborn hearts with better thoughts about the convenience of His ability, His grace in the midst of our bluster about not having the time to be of service. Our choice to show God's love, regardless of the behavior of the recipient is His doing through us. Hallelujah! When God steps into our heart, His love is unconditional ~ and over time, by His grace, we become more like Christ in our caring and sharing of His goodness. Jesus loved me even when I had selfish motives in my giving. As I was giving to another to gain their favor, God steadfast in His love, forgave me even when I did not think to ask to be forgiven for my selfish motive. God gives us favor without expecting a return. ONE LESSON: PURE AWE and RESPECT for HIS WAYS are purrrfect! His love is so BRILLIANT, so consistent, so BLINDING to my FOPAWS ~ that I gotta wear shades! His insistent, persistent LOVE COVERS a multitude of sins, and in His holy Way, with faithful compassion, His love fills in our gaps with generous grace and He gently reshapes us to understand that our Father does not reward us in proportion to our service, but He blesses us, He transfigures us by His overflowing, His unending good abundance! Because our Father loves us, He also warns us in His unchanging faithful Word. "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." 2 Tim 3:1-7 NKJV ~ Know this: Entirely selfish people will attempt to invade the space of your home. With impure motives they come to change your mind, to possess the thoughts of those who do not have healthy spiritual boundaries. Believers must exercise wise physical, emotional and spiritual boundaries. Those who possess the living Word of God, those who have matured by their pursuit of His discerning wisdom are not likely to become a victim of false doctrine, or to be persuaded that God will love them even more if they..... Mature women of the Word are strong in the Lord and in His mighty power, their shield of faith protects them from a cunning devil dressed in sheeps clothing. "Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed." James1:13-14 NKJV Let us thank God for selecting us to be the witness of Christ to the watching world. We are commissioned by Christ to represent Him, to present Him in Stockton and with those who we are in relationship with. We are called to serve Him by praying, and giving our time outside our immediate sphere of influence, even unto nations outside of our own. My Jerusalem is Stockton; My Judea/Samaria is Lodi/Acampo; My world is the orphanages in Chapala. Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You for Your indwelling presence and for the blessing of fulfilling Your purpose through Your chosen Ambassadors of Christ.Marge served in the Phillipines for 20 years. Paula serves at Bear Creek Church in Lodi. Michael served for 30 years in USA and the Phillipines. John 15:13-16 NKJV "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. (Bobbi lays aside her family to serve Christ and pray for a gaggle of woman in Stockton) You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you."