It’s been a sweet day this third day of 2011 — Now on to day 4.

My Journey told me today that we do not need to make New Year’s Resolutions, but rather it would behoove us to ask ABBA to start a revolution in us. I think He already has and I’m loving it!  That’s the reason for my sweet day!

Webster says revolution for our purposes here can be defined like this:

a : a sudden, radical, or complete change b : a fundamental change in political organization; especially : the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed

Oh, this so fits! The overthrow or renunciation of one ruler and the substitution of another!

That’s what we want  a sudden overthrow of our own thoughts and deeds enthroning the HOLY SPIRIT to manifest in us the Mind of Christ, conforming us to the image of JESUS!

This could be the most exciting, best year of our lives so far! That is ABBA’s will for us and if we ask and submit, He will perfect us!! I’m sure of it! Aren’t you?

John 14: (New American Standard Bible)¹²“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. ¹³“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴“If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

ABBA, we are excited, we sense Your Holy, Sweet Presence. We sense Your love for us. We sense that You have only our very best at Your Heart. We are delighted with You. We love You, we worship You and we desire to please You and serve You. We desire to encourage and build up the Body of Christ and to be instruments in Your Service to rescue souls from hell, to see them birthed into Your Kingdom.  We offer ourselves to You right now and again and again for as often as it takes for You, HOLY SPIRIT, to perfect this revolution in us that we know is Your Will. We have no doubt in our minds that it is Your will for us to be radically changed from glory to glory to the image, to the mind and ways of JESUS our Savior. We are ready. Do it LORD. Do it!  And not just for us, but for our people too.  Those on our Praying for These list and those on our hearts right now as we pray together. And our IDOK Troops. I have one such solider in mind right now. He’s home safe and sound and the way I see it, he is in perhaps as much grave spiritual danger right now as he was physical danger while abroad.  So I am asking You, HOLY SPIRIT, to begin a campaign if You have not already to turn his heart back to what he already knows is Your will for him. And as I think of the one, there is another, go after him too, rescue both of them from their own flesh, I pray. And as we put this to post, I pray for peace and holy excitement in each of our IDOKs, that each of us will seek and amen You giving each of us a revolution in JESUS Name and for His Name Sake. Amen and amen.

Holy hugs Dear Ones! kt

2 Corinthians 3: (Amplified Bible)¹⁸And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.

P.S. Just learned of a prayer need. Keith Thomas has had a recurrence of his pancreatic cancer this last week. He is Pastor at Cottage Hill Baptist Church.

Well, here we are 3 days in to Twenty Eleven or Two Thousand Eleven whichever way you prefer to say it.

We did traditional New Year’s food on Saturday, Sunday morning Church and Sunday afternoon goofing off (Sunday evening services at Satsuma First were let out so our goofing off was acceptable :) ). It’s been fun!

But now it is time to settle in. Get down to business. Plot, plan and perfect Christian living in 2011.

(Actually I hope when the clock struck twelve and the New Year was born that you were actively seeking the LORD’s will for you.)

I use the word perfect, not to mean without flaws or mistakes, but rather a ‘quest toward maturity’. That I think is a good word for us this year. Make it our quest to be more mature in faith, trust, love, self-control and more when we arrive at December 2011. Here’s what we want to ‘quest toward maturity’ in this year.

Galatians 5: (New American Standard Bible) ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

And how shall we do that?

Philippians 3: (New International Version, ©2010)¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Oh that reads well. I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

He took hold of me!! Hallelujah! HE TOOK HOLD OF ME.

Do you KNOW that JESUS having taken hold of us is the greatest of all miracles and joys? Let it be that we not only KNOW it but FEEL it afresh, anew, deeper and wider within that we ever have! Amen and amen.

I would welcome reading some of the things you have begun to do this year to ‘perfect’ your walk with JESUS.  Allow me to refer you back to our New Year’s Offering post to remind you of some of the opportunities we can get in on.

Please visit Praying for These and reacquaint yourself with those for whom we are praying. Praying is one of the most important things we do in the Kingdom of our Father.

I have added another page to The White Stone – 2011 Memory Verses. You are invited to visit there as well.

ABBA, thank You for these many opportunities to love You and serve You and grow in the likeness of our JESUS our Christ and Savior.  I am mindful in these moments of Sheila and Dori and a serious decision that must be shortly made. And it is my prayer, ABBA, that it be made in wisdom, Your Wisdom. That both Sheila and Dori will HEAR from You in this regard and know and do Your Will. You know it all, LORD, and I pray for peace and help and what is best for all to be brought to pass. And there are other matters – all the matters of our people listed, we desire to be faithful, we desire to be effective warriors in prayer, we desire to be instruments of comfort, strength, help and peace. So, HOLY SPIRIT, take our prayers and make them that and us too. Protect our IDOK Troops and comfort families and friends we pray, all in the Name and Merits of JESUS our SAVIOR, LORD and COMING KING. Amen and amen.

Holy hugs, kt

IDOK DEVOTION FOR FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2009

A Guest Writer Today: Joanie Yoder

of RBC – Our Daily Bread from her Book, God Alone

2 Corinthians 12 NIV

7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

It is always a joy to talk to my old college friend Tom and get caught up on what the Lord has been teaching us since we last met.

One time Tom began with a sheepish grin, “You know, I can’t believe how many years it’s taken me to learn my latest lesson – and I’m a Bible Teacher!” He went on to list some of the trials and testings he and his family had been facing and how unworthy he felt teaching an adult Sunday school class. “Week after week I felt I was a total failure,” he confided, “and kept wondering if this might be my last Sunday before announcing my resignation.”

Then on Sunday Tom noticed a young woman who stayed behind to speak to him. She was a friend of his family, so she knew what they had been going through, “Tom,” she said, “I hope you won’t take this the wrong way, but you’re a much better teacher when you’re going through tough times!”

Another sheepish grin crept across Tom’s face as he told me, “Only then did I feel I grasped the Lord’s response to Paul’s thorn in the flesh: ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’”

Weakness helps us to relate to others and lets God’s power work in our lives. That may be our greatest asset.

WE MAY FACE SITUATION BEYOND OUR RESERVES, BUT NEVER BEYOND GOD’S RESOURCES.

ABBA, we certainly feel the weakness but we have experienced Your Grace and we know that Your Grace is sufficient; abundantly sufficient for Danny and Tina, Sparkie, and our Sister here before us this morning. Holy Spirit help us pray fervently for these and all these listed here. And whatever You desire to do with IDOK hands and feet to alleviate and aid I pray we will hear Your Call and obey quickly. I pray for Holy Ghost discernment and urgings for all of us in all our situations and circumstances today. Please continue to protect our IDOK Troops today; please continue to have mercy on we the people of America; please continue to stem the tide of evil, particularly in Washington and State Governments and deliver us from sin in the Mighty Name of Jesus I pray. Amen and amen.

As I post this it is 99°F and clear in Balad, IQ (Airport) and the time is 3:30 PM AST on October 16, 2009.