A New Thing

The Notable Praise blog is going to be moving in a different direction. My desire is to turn this blog into a worship blog where I can share the worship music I have written, making it available to the Bride of Messiah.

Because of this I will be moving the Notable Praise articles my other blogs.

If you would like to continue to receive the articles I write, please subscribe to the following blogs:
Notable Pictures blog
Minister 2 Others blog

A note to subscribers of the Notable Praise blog – you may receive several emails as I move the posts over – please disregard these if you have not read them before – they are being sent out automatically as I move the posts around – sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you for your patience!

Hanukkah Greetings

Bring a snack to share
And meet us there
As we gather for some fun
We’ll remember the reason
We share this season
In the Name of the Holy One

We’ll think of the Hammer
So we don’t stammer
When the king tells us to bow
Re-dedicating the temple
Is really quite simple
And the time is always NOW

So repent and change
Choosing HIS ways
Making sure of your stand
Keep your eyes on HIM
‘Cause here we go again
The battle is at hand

The rulers
Of the world we live
Desecrate and defile
But we’ve the choice
To lift our voice
For me -
I will now bow
I will not bend the knee
To the king of Babylon or his image!

Click link below and enjoy!
WE WILL NOT BOW

Happy Hanukkah!

The Missing Hairbrush…

When I went to brush my hair this morning, I could not find the hair brush.

I glanced around my stuff and then headed for the bathroom.  I searched the drawers, looked around the sink…no brush…

I went to my daughter’s room and searched through the places I thought she might have put it…no brush…

I looked around the house.  Living room…no brush… Dining room…no brush… Kitchen…no brush… on and on my search went…

Finally, I decided to just go use my comb and stop wasting my time searching for the brush, obviously SOMEONE had misplaced it.

Well, in case you haven’t guessed it by now,  I suppose I will have expose to my oversight…  When, I went back to comb my hair, lo and behold! right there beside my comb was the hair brush!!!

“Father, unite Your people…”

Many times we cry for unity in the Body and we may even go as far as to “glance” over our own attitudes, thoughts, and actions.  But too often, we consider “the OTHER person” to hold the key (it’s THEIR fault!) when, in fact, the brush is in OUR possession.

I cannot change someone else – but I can change ME…with the Father’s help…

Careful inventory often reveals bitterness,  unforgiveness, and places where I have offended others and allowed myself to be offended.

Father, please help me to have a heart that is unoffendable.  Show me where I have bitterness or unforgiveness.  Show me where I have offended others, and where I need to forgive those who have offended me.  Reveal that which is in me that is not lined up with You.  Create in me a clean heart and let the unity in the Body begin HERE…with ME…   Help me, Father, to walk in love, Your Love, above all else – no matter WHAT may be said or done to me, please help me to   WALK IN LOVE…

 

Gaining the World?

We know that one can be so focused on their “ministry” that they can reach hundreds, even thousands of people for Messiah, yet lose their own soul in the process.  I would like to submit that one can be so focused on “reaching out” to others that they lose their own family.

Many folks share their giftings and talents with everyone else BUT their own family.  Oh yeah, some Sally Jo Stranger was “really blessed”  but what about the daughter?  Joe Blow turned “got saved!”  but what of the son…does HE know God?

I have always believed that my first ministry is here at the house, raising the young disciples that the Father has graciously allowed in my life.  However, my life and thoughts — and especially my prayers — drastically changed when a dear friend was over visiting one day.  Her words penetrated my heart and cut right to the core of the issue.  “You don’t use your gifts TO your family.”

After much pondering and prayer, I soon understood these words and the depths of their reach continue to work in me.  My prayers greatly enlarged from “Father, give me the words to help Betty Jane Believer” to “Father, give me the words to help this son, and this son, and this daughter, and this daughter, and my husband, and my son-in-law, and…  What would YOU say to them through me, how can I encourage them?  Remove death that tries to come through my mouth towards them and replace it with LIFE…for MY words bring DEATH but YOUR Words are LIFE…  if you use me anywhere, in any way this day, Father – let it FIRST be in the lives of my family…then if it so pleases You, let it reach out from there – but let the anointing be used HERE FIRST – let the Your Spirit move HERE FIRST!”

What good is my life if I win the world and do not minister to my own family!?!

Busi-ness

This morning when we woke up, we laid in bed awhile discussing our plans for the day. I was gonna do such-and-such because it was the 5th day of the week — my husband was gonna do such-and-such because he was thinking it was the 6th day of the week. We thought about the week and tried to remember who was correct — is it the 5th or the 6th day — this would make a huge difference in how we approached our day! My husband looked at his watch — 6th day…

I couldn’t believe him because watches can be wrong and we had things we were gonna do the 5th evening and we didn’t do them so it MUST be the 5th day today! I got up and checked my computer –
it would let me know… THE 6th DAY!!!

How did THAT happen and where did my week…all my time go! NEVER to return to me again, NEVER to be recaptured! It was like eating while in a good conversation — you look down and swear someone must have eaten your food!

However, the food WAS consumed because it was on autopilot, I didn’t have to think about it, it just was happening while the conversation was going on…

I have this comfort in the “missing day” – above all else, I know that first things came first! I and my Father cannot be separated — For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate me from the love of my Father, which is in Messiah, Y’shua! (Romans 8:38-39)

I may not have gotten everything done I intended on accomplishing this week, and I may have been so busy that the days got away from me — still yet, my Father and I communicated throughout the day and I feasted on the Word.

How, when I was so very busy?!

Because THAT relationship is on autopilot. I cannot be separated from Him and He cannot be separated from me. I do not have to stop and think, “Have I prayed today?” because LIFE springs forth from me and communication with my Father automatically flows from my thoughts and lips!

I do not have to stop and think, “Did I meditate on His Word today?” because LIFE strings forth from me and His Words are constantly on my mind, in my heart, (and, now with my pocket MP3 player, in my ears!)

I often wonder, “How do folks get through life without Him?”
He is my breath…my food…my very LIFE!

May you also be so connected with the Father,
that you cannot forget Him as you go about your busi-ness!

Authority

Dear Father,

I would like for my spirit to become so authoritative in my life that my soul
and my flesh submit to it. That when I want to say or do something, my
flesh would ask my spirit, “Is this alright to say or do?” Then my
spirit would respond yea or nay. Or my soul would say, “I am upset about
this or that, may I have an emotional outbreak?” And my spirit would
reply yea or nay. And whatsoever my spirit determined — because my
spirit would be so in tune with Your Spirit, Father, that yea or nay
would be the final say and my flesh and soul would then submit without
another thought.

Now, it would be so cool if this prayer were answered completely… TODAY.

If from this day on my flesh and soul were thus — under the authority of my spirit, which, of course, is under Your authority, from this moment on…and if there would never be another problem concerning this matter…(*sigh*)

However, I know You do not do things this way. I know there will be
failures and victories, valleys and mountain tops. And… in a way…
I am most thankful for those, because this is the journey of a lifetime.
If it weren’t for the scenic drive, the ease of the ride would lull me to sleep.

Thank you, Father, for the challenges of the journey!
Thank you for the mountain tops…and for the valleys.
Thank you for the laughter…and for the tears.
Thank you easy days…and for the challenges.

You never said the righteous man does not fall -
You merely said he stands back up when he does.

Mirages

Interesting word – mirage.

Here is what Webster has to say about it:

Mirage: an optical effect that is sometimes seen at sea, in the desert, or over a hot pavement, that may have the appearance of a pool of water or a mirror in which distant objects are seen inverted, and that is caused by the bending or reflection of rays of light by a layer of heated air of varying density

That is what is going on in this religious desert of America.  Folks are spending all their energy running to religious mirages instead of running to the Wellspring of Life – Yeshua (Jesus) our Redeemer – the Living Water!

Twinksters are calling, “Come over here, I have water!”  When, in fact, they offer a bending of the light…a bending of the True Light.

So how do you tell a mirage from Truth? — Look for the Life.  If you are out in the desert and see water — is there any life around the water?  Palm trees?  Palm tree only grow where there is water.   In the same way, Life only exists where the Living Water is.  Look for the Life.

Deuteronomy 13 tells us that Yahweh will send false prophets among us that will do wonders and work miracles but their message would be to thrust us away from the path God told us to walk in.  The Father does this to test us — will we look at the miracles and say, “OH!  HE is a man of God!”  OR will we look at the message and say, “HE is NOT a man of God because he leads people AWAY from God’s commandments!”

Yeshua said in Matthew 7:20-23,” Not every one that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name? and in Your name have cast out devils? and in Your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, you that work iniquity.” (…depart from Me, you that are LAWless…without the LAW of GOD.) 

You see, there are only two trees, two paths, two options — obedience or disobedience….Living Water or mirage….The Light of the World or bent light.

Yeshua said “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15

1 John 5:3 says, “For this is the love of Elohim, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous.”

Run to the Truth. Mirages can never quench your thirst.