Quotes From The Heart October 2011

*YOU HAVE VALUE
A leaf has value at every stage of life and death.
From bud to beauty and decay to dirt, the cycle of life continues.
You are esteemed by the God who made you.
He has designed you to have value at every stage of your life.
Yesterday you were dirt.
Today you are a bud.

*COMPLETE
Another human being cannot complete you.
They can help you to become complete by
encouraging you to grow closer to God
who made you and will complete you.

*A tree must let it's leaves fall to grow into spring.
Will you let go to grow into new life?

*Fight the good fight. Don't give up. Don't give in. You don't quit.

*I pray that my unbelief today will be my faith tomorrow.

*A baby barely conceived is a human life full of potential.

*RELATIONSHIP > Religion, rules, rituals

*Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don't impose it on others. You're fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you're not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways inconsistent with what you believe—some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them—then you know that you're out of line. If the way you live isn't consistent with what you believe, then it's wrong.
Romans 14:22

 *LIVE LIFE IN THE MOMENT

 *A QUESTION from GOD
{Now prepare yourself like a man;
I will question you, and you shall answer Me. Job 38:3}
Are you willing to seek a question from God or are you afraid of what he will ask you about your life? Are you afraid that his questioning will expose your weaknesses? GO FOR IT! Ask God to question you. The result will be:
1. More of you yielded to him.
2. More of the strength of his wisdom living within you.

*IS IT TIME TO LEAVE THE 99?
Even in the murkiest of waters, the surface can reflect our image.
Are the things we don't like about others a reflection of our own weaknesses?
Take empathy to another level. Step into the heart of the person whom you are viewing through disapproving eyes. The person you disapprove of may be the one amongst 99 that you are called to reveal a greater love. It's easy to stay in the comfort of the 99. There's safety and comfort in numbers. The best relationships are not built through comfort. Struggle, brokenness, yieldedness and forgiveness are the hallmarks of relationships that endure and reach the point of: " Till death do us part unto eternal life."

 *A CITY of FATHERLY LOVE
Heavenly Father, I pray for men who have had children to become the fathers that children need. I pray for fathers to show their daughters how a man should treat a woman. I pray for father's to teach their sons how to become young men of godly character. I pray for the hearts of the fathers to return to their children.
I pray for Buffalo to become a City of Fatherly love. Amen.

*Its time to turn the den of thieves into a house of prayer.

*CONFIDENCE
One moment I have it and one moment I don't.
Sometimes I hide behind something to make people think I have confidence.
Sometimes I hang out in the confidence of a crowd.
Then comes the moment in which I realize that:
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
It's not about me.

{Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. Phil 4:13 MSG}

* THE SAD SEED
The sad seed was mad at her mother.
"She dropped me and left me all alone." Said the Sad Seed.
The Sad Seed was mad about where she lived:
"I'm covered in dirt and lonely darkness."
Said the Sad Seed.
Once upon a minute, Sonlight seeped into the soil and the Sad Seed stretched and grew. As the Sad Seed stood on her roots and poked her bud above ground, she noticed her Mom standing tall beside her. She hadn't left her alone after all. The Sad Seed grew into a Glad Seed and she began to teach all the other Young Seeds about GRATITUDE.

* "He loved them to the last and to the highest degree." John 13:1 Amp
"and he will do even greater things than these" John 14:12 Amp
If we have been called to do greater things
then we are called to love to a higher degree.

* The isolation of a mountain can be like the withdrawal of Gods blessings. He tests our faith like a mountain tests our perseverance and endurance.

*Is there a burning bush in your soul that needs some flame fanning?
Don't be afraid to ask for help in pursuing
the vision that God has placed in your bosom.

 *WHO NEEDS TO BE HEALED
A few years ago I was at a Sunday night service at The Tabernacle. A group called The Shepherd's Troupe was leading worship. They are a group of people that some of us might refer to as developmentally disabled. I watched with tears in my eyes as a young girl smiled and swayed to the music. That's all she could do was smile and sway. I cried out to God: "Why can't you reach out through me and touch her and heal her?" This was God's reply: "What makes you think she needs to be healed? How do you know she's not perfect just the way she is? She has you crying your eyes out. Who needs to be healed, you or her?"
I cried even harder as I realized that the healing needed to happen in me.

* NIGHTMARES
In the middle of the night
When you are experiencing nightmares,
You are not alone.
Stop and just believe that
God has someone interceding for you.

*The bottom of the pit may actually
be the tip of the Promised Land.

*You are on the verge of a launch into the glory of God's purpose for your life.
DRIVE SLOW, LET JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL!

*THE FATHER SCREAMED The Father screamed at his son: "When will you grow up? You are lazy and don't try hard enough. I don't know why I waste my breath on you!" The boy fought back tears and went to his room. He sat on his bed and cried. He felt alone, ashamed and afraid that he would never amount to anything in his Dad's eyes. Then he looked out the window and saw his Dad in the garden. He whistled while he worked. Digging in the soil, Dad pulled weeds and rocks in preparation for planting. He watched as his Dad dropped the seeds into the ground and covered them with soil and he heard his Dad say: "There little seed, I've given you my love and now I will be patient and wait for you to grow." The boy cried harder as he longed to be a seed in his Father's garden.

*I might see a sunrise while you're in the eye of a hurricane.
You might see new buds growing while I'm falling like a leaf from a tree.
I might be blinded by a blizzard while you're on a sun soaked beach.
You once were blind but now I help you see.
I once was blind but now you help me see.

*BELIEVING CAUSES SEEING
"Oh Daddy" Cried the Heart Farmer's daughter.
"How can I believe in something that I can't see?"
The Heart Farmer smiled and looked into the eyes of his precious Beauty and said:
"When I lie awake at night in the darkness, I can see the sunrise before it does. When I plant seeds in the ground, I can see them fully grown before they do.
And you my darling Beauty, I can see the smile in the eyes of your heart when you are not with me. God gives us nature as a metaphor of His love. We don't always see it but we know it's there. We know that He will never leave us or forsake us."
The Heart Farmer's daughter looked up at her Dad and smiled and said:
"I love you Daddy!"

* A SALTSHAKER Last week in a 7th Grade Class in a Buffalo Public School, I asked the students how many of them knew a friend or relative who died from violence. Over 3/4 of the students raised their hands. I then told them several stories about young people who were close to me who had been killed. I told them that I would give them the details surrounding the deaths and that I may cry at any point during the story. We also talked about open wounds in our hearts. When we don't develop empathy and we disregard someone else s pain, it's like shaking a saltshaker on an open wound. The class ended on a high note with smiles and handshakes instead of saltshakes. Our City has been shaking salt on the wounds of our children for many years. They see a City that builds courthouses yet let's youth programs and community centers close. They see a City with lights on a Peace Bridge and yet too few textbooks in their schools. They see a City with millions of dollars worth of street corner surveillance cameras and yet they can't find a job so they can make a couple of bucks. They see a City where politicians and preachers tell them how to behave and yet they continue to oversee a City of poverty - as in spiritual, moral and physical poverty. A long as the young people in Buffalo continue to feel devalued by the people around them, they will continue to exist in a state of woundedness. Do you perform at at your best when you have a wounded heart? How do you feel when somebody shakes salt of indifference on your wound. We teach empathy and respect. Grades go up when children feel valued. Respect flourishes when children feel empathy.

*MORTAL SPERM
"Now that you've cleaned up your lives by following the truth,
love one another as if your lives depended on it.
Your new life is not like your old life.
Your old birth came from mortal sperm;
your new birth comes from God's living Word.
Just think: a life conceived by God himself!"
1 Peter 1:22-25 MSG

 *HOW TO GET STRONGER
The physical act of lifting weights causes your muscle to experience brokenness. You release your current strength to become stronger. Filling your body with solid food causes your muscle to be rebuilt with more strength.

The spiritual act of lifting weights requires releasing burdens to become stronger. You were not made to carry the world on your shoulders. The God who created the world will put you and your weight on His shoulders if you will just let go.

If you are having trouble even supporting your own weight just to start your day, picture Jesus extending a hand to pull you up. He will walk with you and carry your weight if you will just lay your burdens down.

If your heart is broken and you can't stop the tears, picture Jesus kneeling in front of you. He's holding your heart in his hands and tells you "I won't let you sink any deeper, I have your heart in my hands." Feel his fingertips gently holding your heart.

Lord I pray right now that anyone who is feeling broken and wounded will release their brokenness to you. I ask you to let them know how much that they are loved and valued in your eyes. Please let them know that you will never leave them or forsake them. I ask for your peace and grace to reign down on the brokenhearted in extravagantly abundant measures of mercy even as they read this. In Jesus name, Amen.

* A QUESTION PRAYER
The answer was created before your question.
The question is: "Why were you created?"
If you have a desire to know then ask a Question Prayer.

Dear God, you knew me before I was formed in the womb, why did you form me? You said that you would teach me and guide me in the way that I should go, Please tell me which way. You said that you would establish the work of my hands. What is the work of my hands? Please tell me. Let me be employed for thee O God. Whomsoever you want me to be, please reveal yourself within me so I understand why you created me. Amen

 The guys walked into the Youth Center. They sat with their food and talked about their friend who was killed yesterday. Another young man said he was glad to be alive after somebody put a shotgun to his head. I don't think it would take much to help them start businesses. That would help eliminate poverty and stop the shooting.