GOD's Rest

GOD's Rest is when i am right with GOD (through obedience to His Voice -- the Holy SPIRIT; His Word -- the Holy Scriptures; and the Word Himself -- CHRIST JESUS)... in all humility, yielding to all He wills -- surrendering all my dreams and desires, all my plans, all my preferences, all my expectations of how things should be, all my rights to who, what and how i want to be.

GOD's Rest is relaxing expectantly in the passenger seat and allowing CHRIST, by the Holy SPIRIT's engineering, to bring me to each new "road trip" of His making. All daily destinations are GODventurez. The journey from point A to point B (the process of sanctification) is allways in the delightful company of my Lord JESUS, my Constant Companion. In His company is fullness of joy, unsurpassed peace, and complete ease amidst the sometimes seeming whirlwind activity of accomplishing our Father's will.

GOD's Rest is recognizing that GOD, by His SPIRIT abiding in me and i abiding in Him, does all the work supernaturally. i am but the willing instrument that He wields to accomplish what it is that He desires to accomplish through me. When i submit my bodyheart&soul to His perfect and loving will, not only does He answer my earnest desire to make a difference in this lifetime, but He reveals to me Himself, my Beloved Lord.

GOD's Rest is mine when i am spontaneously surrendered, unconsciously unbound, and carefully carefree. i am in GOD's rest when i am being the child of GOD that i already am.

GOD's Rest is supernatural -- a gift of grace from GOD.

ALL Children Are GIFTS From GOD

Children are a gift from the LORD,
They are a reward from Him. (Psalm 127:3)

You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother's womb.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.

My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them. (Psalm 139:13-16)

Triple Threat from San Diego...the Three Musketeers.

German version of Hang in there, baby!

Kristika, with the Mona Lisa smile...all the way from Taveuni.

She (and her family) goes to the Assembly of GOD church in New Town, Taveuni. CHRISTian Indians are a rarity in Fiji, as most of the Indian population are Muslims.

Ema's from Naselesele Village -- she is a beautiful inside and out!

Another little cutie from Naselesele Village...probably in Kindergarten this year.

Some of the wonderful children of Naselesele Village Primary School.

Little Beni...from the Naselesele Village, Taveuni. He's my friend.

And this is little Jo. He is like a grown man in a toddler body...he is strong-willed and outspoken already! He lives with his grandmother and three young cousins.

Filo, Talei, with baby Ligani...another baby brother, still "in the oven," was not yet born when this photo was taken.

Leone, chowing down on his birthday cake. He's about 5 years old today...feisty, to say the least!

Deep in thought...i sometimes wonder what goes on in "little people's" minds.

This boy was so feisty, i had to kickbox with him...literally! And he beat me to a pulp!

i met these kids when i was in Paunzhausen, Germany. What polar opposites, compared to the kids from the Village.

Curly headed bundle of joy!

Rarotonga (Cook Islands) beauties...i heard it said that the kids in the Cooks learn to dance before they learn to walk!

Best of friends...they were inseparable...glued at the hip (or cheek, from this photo)...from Bibi's HideAway -- Matei, Taveuni (Fiji)

What if any of these children were "terminated" while in the womb, each one already a live person, just living inside another's body? What if any of these children were "clinically removed" because they were just a "bunch of cells"? What if any of these children were "aborted" because the birth control method failed and this is the last-resort "birth control" method?

From Creation (egg and sperm joining together to make one live, growing, beginning of a human being) to final exhale -- is GOD's arena. He created, He alone can un-create. The Divine Designer has final say on the outcome and longevity of His design. Those who play at god do not know GOD. He is a loving Father who keeps His eye on all children. Premeditated murder (for how else can one interpret the word abortion? Killing -- "aborting" -- an unborn child is not accidental...it is an act that is planned in advance and by appointment) is a heinous crime...and no amount of justification or excuses will relieve that person of guilt, for it is written and engraved in every person's heart, Thou shalt not kill. And GOD has promised, Vengeance is mine! (Romans 12:19)

And yet, for a guilt-ridden killer, there is pardon. The same loving Father who avenges His little ones provides merciful forgiveness through His Son, CHRIST JESUS. In CHRIST alone is salvation. In CHRIST alone is pardon.

All children are gifts from GOD.

You were once a child. You were once a baby. You were once a "bunch of cells." You were once an egg and sperm organism...and you were NOT an accident, for GOD had created you even before you were created in your mother's womb...you were created in His infinitely intelligent Mind. All children are gifts from GOD, including you.

(Please read Lying Words Never Profit from Rapture Alert.)

This BODY of DEATH

Romans 7:24 says, "O wretched man that i am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

John MacArthur, author and general editor of the MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV, wrote these notes regarding that "body of death" which Paul wrote about in Romans 7:24...

body of death -- The believer's unredeemed humanness, which has its base of operation in the body. Notes for verse 6:6, our old man -- A believer's unregenerate self...worn out and useless.

He also wrote, "Tradition says that an ancient tribe near Tarsus tied the corpse of a murder victim to its murderer, allowing its spreading decay to slowly infect and execute the murderer -- perhaps that is the image Paul has in mind."

When i received CHRIST as my Lord and Savior, i was baptized with the SPIRIT of GOD. He came to abide in me to grow that new creature that i became, that new life characterized by the nature of JESUS CHRIST. As symbolized in my water baptism, the full immersion in MidwaySD's baptistery illustrated the death of merlin, my old unregenerate nature; and the rising out of the water symbolized my birth into the new life, as the new creature rln -- CHRIST's very own.

But, O wretched woman that i am! Who will rescue me from my sinful flesh? From that old merlin -- that dead corpse of self-righteousness, vanity, impatience, anger, critical nature, unclean lips, unruly-monkey mind, self-focus, controlling and abrasive personality -- who's still trying to jump on the back of the new rln?

When i allow that old merlin to rear its ugly head, i allow sin to infiltrate the new creature, rln. If i don't repent (turn away from it and turn to my Father for forgiveness, confessing that sin and agreeing with Him that i've broken His Law), i continue to carry that dead weight, that body of death -- that sin of my choice -- on my back, carrying in my person (and to the depths of my soul) that putrefying, stinking diseased mess that is my sin.

Without my repentance and GOD's forgiveness, i will slowly but surely kill myself, in the body and in the soul -- suicide, certain death...which is another sin added on top of that unrepented one.

But i can declare with utter gratefulness, as Paul did, "i thank GOD -- through JESUS CHRIST, our Lord!" And i can deny myself the foolish pleasure of having it my own way -- killing with a vengeance that old merlin (daily as need be) because i can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me."

(Please note: the ultra-stressed screaming face, a la Twilight Zone, is not my work. Credit goes to my friend Lisa's son's artist friend in Germany.)

The POTTER And The CLAY

The Lord said to Jeremiah: “Go down at once to the potter’s house. I will speak to you further there.” So I went down to the potter’s house and found him working at his wheel. Now and then there would be something wrong with the pot he was molding from the clay with his hands. So he would rework the clay into another kind of pot as he saw fit.

Then the Lord said to me, “I, the Lord, say: ‘O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay? In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter’s hand.’ (Jeremiah 18:1-6) To apply this Old Testament truth to today's life on the fast lane, just put your name in place of "O nation of Israel."

Servanthood, according to Henry T. Blackaby (Experiencing GOD -- Knowing and Doing the Will of GOD), is being that moldable clay (a fully devoted follower of CHRIST) in the Potter's hands. The clay must be responsive (obedient) to the Potter, so that He can make a vessel of His choosing. And here's an aspect i hadn't understood about the potter and clay illustration: the vessel has to remain in the Potter's hand to be of any use to the Potter.

Blackaby writes, "When the potter has finished making the instrument of his choosing, that instrument has no ability to do anything whatsoever. It has to remain in the potter's hand. Suppose the potter molds the clay into a cup. The cup has to remain in the potter's hands, so the potter can use that cup in any way he chooses."

JESUS speaks the Truth in John 15:5, "I AM the Vine, you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me, you can do nothing." Remaining, abiding, walking in CHRIST is the key to bearing fruit...much fruit -- not just having leaves for show, not being a sanctified prig (as Oswald Chambers would put it), or sitting comfy on a shelf, gathering dust and spider webs.

Another aspect of the clay vessel (or ceramic, as illustrated above, painted in 1975), is that after the Potter has fashioned the clay to His satisfaction, He tests it through fire (like the clay pot that is fired in a kiln oven), to burn off impurities (those things not of GOD), to strengthen it to the point that it's usable, equipped to do the job it was fashioned for, according to His workmanship (as illustrated below by these vases from Pisac, Peru).
So are the saints (those separated for GOD). We are tested with the baptism of providential fire, through which the Holy SPIRIT engineers trials -- life's challenges, fiery experiences through the Valley of the Shadow of Death -- so that we may become that tested-and-found-true vessel -- equipped and ready to do the work He has always purposed to do through us.

And that remaining, abiding, in His hand is crucial. i, through my own meager power though well-intended efforts, can do absolutely nothing of eternal value -- zip...nada...sega -- without obeying His instructions, His Word.

And because i know that i can do nothing whatsoever without Him, that leads me to believe that i must trust Him completely to what He wants to use me for, where He wants to place me, when He sees me spiritually fit for His work, and to absolutely trust that He will provide me with all the practical provisions needed and enable me (through the Holy SPIRIT) to do that work He has called me to do, one day at a time. i need not know all the logistics, the why's and wherefore's -- all i need to do is be that vessel, His instrument -- totally surrendered to doing His will so that He may accomplish what He purposes through me. (GOD proved this to me on an experiential level -- see The Wall.)

As Blackaby puts it, one has to ask the right question to get the right answer. The "wrong" question is: "What is GOD's will for my life?" The right question is: "What is GOD's will?"

The genuine CHRISTian, the fully devoted follower of JESUS, the one with a true servant's heart, is the one whose focus is solely on GOD, His will...period. The true servant truly means it when he declares, "It matters not what GOD does (to me) -- it matters only Who He is!" (quoted from Oswald Chambers) That servant's will, his natural sense of his rights to his rights, has been sacrificed at the foot of JESUS' Cross. He has no will other than to obey GOD's will. He has laid down his vessel, waiting and willing in GOD's hands, to be used as He chooses.

And the true CHRISTian is that clay pot...moldable, available, tested and found true, equipped and ready to answer GOD's call...Here i am, LORD, send me!