Beauty is in the eyes of the Creator and in the eyes of His enlightened beholder. Looking with the eyes of grace, we are reminded of how desperately we need our Father’s ongoing grace. Many consider a dandelion as a weed to be trashed.  BUT our Father gave us a whimsical mind that we may see an enchanting chance to twist a garland. Up until the 1800’s, people would pull out the grass of their lawn to make room for dandelions. They perceived much value in the weeds. God makes all things for a purpose. A dandelion is medicine for healing.  Mortifying our reasoning thinking mind, we submit to the Spirit within. AMEN

Surrounded by art we think outside of what is, into the realm of what will be. Within such a fabulous visible reality, is the unseen Spirit of God at work.  All beauty was originally designed by God. His calling card is found daily in a sunrise. As the first Artist spoke, all colors brushed across the universe. With the next vowel, landscapes flourished with skylines, mountains, and the ocean burst into being. We abide in the environment that our Father initiated. He invites us upward and beyond. With a glimpse of heaven’s glory, we attempt to match it.  We each volunteer our gifts to enhance our residence on earth.  In Cities with great architecture—we witness people walking about with high purpose.  Making a city or a nation great, requires all within it, to participate in faith, for it to become all it was intended. “Just Believe.”

Take time to consider the abundance of grace you have received. We could not have earned it, or achieved anything without grace.  What God freely bestows was never deserved. God spoke and made all that is for our pleasure and benefit. Botanists call the dandelion a flowering weed, a cheap medicinal plant. Matthew 6:28 “Why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field GROW. They do not LABOR or SPIN. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God CLOTHES the GRASS of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will HE not much MORE CLOTHE YOU —you of little faith? So do NOT WORRY, saying, ‘What shall we eat, drink, or wear?’ But SEEK first HIS kingdom. Do NOT WORRY about TOMORROW, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” As the world narrative continues to spin, unplug.  Instead choose to bask in His grace and marvelous provision. Romans 11:36 “For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever!”

Rejoice that God is doing a NEW thing. Secrets are revealed with a good thrashing of His Word. “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” 1 Peter 1:24-25 This active word was preached to us as a lesson to ponder in our hearts.   “The GRASS WITHERS and the FLOWERS FALL, BECAUSE the BREATH of the LORD BLOWS on them. Surely, the people are GRASS.” Isaiah 40:7 In other words, as we submit to the breath of God, we unravel, we die to ourselves, and we become a new creation. Hallelujah

Our tightly held beliefs break loose from our old nature.  Our hard heart is hammered by the mercies and kindness God has shown. Our Creator gave us this puzzle to contemplate. “No one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.” Luke 5:36 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in ME and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from ME, you can do nothing. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15 Jesus laid down His life so that we could enjoy new life “in Him.”

“How abundant are the good things that You have stored up for those who fear You, that You bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in You.” Psalm 31:19 The first miracle Jesus did was to turn water into NEW WINE. His Ways are beyond our ways. He gave us new LIFE in Him. Who else can do this?  Transformation requires a human soul that yields, that is flexible and expandable. The old wineskin, is our stiff old way of reasoning. Don’t be stuck in rigid traditions, be open and allow God to fill you with the Holy Spirit. He will give you NEW revelation. Don’t be a  know-it-all and burst in frustration and anger. Submit to His gentle but transforming process.

God’s living Word is actively penetrating our soul, dividing and operating deeply. His two edged sword divides the soul from the spirit. It discerns our thoughts, and it separates us from our ways to His. Too easily, we agree with the thoughts of man. Jesus is NOT behaving as the Pharisees. He is being Jesus – He sits with sinners, heals folks on the Sabbath, and forgives sins! – His behavior was way too radical for the Pharisees. Jesus THRASHED the status quo. In the last days, God says, “I will pour out MY SPIRIT upon all people.” Acts 2:17 This NEW wine of the SPIRIT is available to all who SUBMIT MIND, BODY, and SPIRIT to GOD.  Our inner man is refreshed, renewed, and filled by GOD with NEW WINE, the blood of much deeper REVELATION. Praise God.

Keeping our old skin will limit our capacity for new wine. Permit the old over-drive thinking mind to submit —so that His Spirit — has space to move. Our soul does NOT have God all figured out! Giving our mind permission to surrender, we make room for God to enter and change the way we perceive what God is doing. With the mind of Christ, we think on things above.  Our role, and the world around us changes.

SURRENDER and be an OPEN container of Gods Spirit.  Let Him have His Way to do NEW THINGS. Isaiah 43:18-19 “STOP DWELLING on the PAST….I am doing something brand NEW!” Give God permission to transform your view into His. Even now, His way sprouts and grows and matures. Don’t you perceive it?” Choose to be His new wineskin, a wide open container! Eager to allow God to do something NEW and FRESH —in us and THROUGH our inner man. “Let go and let God do His new thing.”  Get Excited to be changed. “Lord, make me into a NEW wineskin, flexible and able to EXPAND and RECEIVE what YOU DESIRE to POUR into MY life, by YOUR SPIRIT and for YOUR GLORY.”  AMEN 🙏

Immediately after being baptized by John. In Matthew 4 “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert wilderness to be tempted and thrashed by the devil. God allows tests to refine us. The devil said to Jesus, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus replied, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on EVERY WORD that comes from the MOUTH of GOD.’ The devil and the Pharisees are proud of the Scriptures they can quote. The Deceiver continued “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. Pridefully the devil quoted.  “For it is written: ‘God will command His angels concerning You, and they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will NOT strike YOUR foot against a stone.’ Jesus answered, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ Jesus rebuked the Pharisees. John 5:39 “You study the Scriptures diligently because you THINK that IN THEM you have ETERNAL LIFE. These are the very Scriptures that testify about ME, yet you refuse to come to ME to have LIFE.”

Isaiah foretells the coming of John the Baptist as the harbinger of the Messiah.  “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” Isaiah 40:3.  John was the herald of the Promised Messiah. Observe Isaiah 40:5 “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Well, what is next? The succeeding verses add intention. Make ‘room’ for the display of the divine glory in Christ Jesus and His salvation.   Our selfish soul dies like a bloom. It must experience a falling away from our true corrupt nature —so that the grace of God alone can be exalted. John the Baptist was under the preparatory work of the Holy Spirit. His words were given by God to pierce hearts unto repentance.

God created man in 3 parts. 1) the Body, encircles  2) the mindful Soul, which surrounds 3) the inner spirit of man. In order that the glory of the Lord should be revealed and human pride be forever confounded, the Spirit blows upon the flesh, and that which seemed vigorous becomes weak. That which was fair to look upon is smitten with decay. The true nature of the flesh pounds at the word repent. It is a scorching wind to the all-knowing ears of the self-righteous. John buried in the waters of the Jordan those who came to him. “Ye must die and be buried, even as He Who is to come will save by death and burial.” His example was as thorough in its teaching as were his words. John warned them of a yet more searching and trying baptism with the Holy Ghost and with fire! The coming of One Whose fan was in His hand, thoroughly to thrash the hard headed, and purge God’s threshing floor. The Spirit in John blew words that torched the vain glorys of a lukewarm religion.

The more we pay attention to how we Feel the less likely we are to obey God. Obedience is Acting, not feeling, in accordance with the known will of God. How then do we Act in obedience when parts of us feel so very contrary to what God wants. We act by Faith in He who dwells within. We don’t have to feel alright in order to do what’s right. Surrender and trust His voice, His leading.

They said…

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