Check for Cracks

The beginning of last week through today has been a great "refreshing period" taking place in my life. It has been one of the most intense and yet renewing times I have had in a very long while.

I have been challenged to review my life; take another, longer look at the "woman in the mirror". Blessings are overflowing from every direction around me and with it so is the requirement for actual implementation of the work I am called to do with more focus and determination. It is truly real-time, serious, hard work at times, for which I would not trade one moment, personally and in ministry. The hard part has been in really taking a look at "how" I am doing the work. The question has been am I on track, off track or laying down on the tracks, when I should be pressing forward.

I am pleased to share that I have discovered some "error messages" on the control panel of my life; pleased because I have taken note of them and have taken action and put strategies in place to correct what needs to be corrected. Had these "error messages" gone unnoticed for much longer, there is no telling where 'my train' would have been heading for. A real-time "danger zone" was directly in my path.

I have taken a look at every every of my life; health, spiritual, family, financial and recreational. There have been some positive things taking place and yet some major 'errors in judgment' which have been made.

I just viewed another awe-inspiring video message of hope and encouragement from Rick Renner daily "Sparkling Gems from the Greek" devotional. I encourage you to take time to check it out (Monday 14 June). It is a must see. I also urge you to get the Sparkling Gems from the Greek devotional book as well. You will grow in wisdom and understanding.

http://www.lightsource.com/ministry/refuel-with-rick/

This devotion shares how when we ignore the condition of our "foundation" because of busyness, prayerlessness, insensitivity to the Holy Spirit or from being proud, cocky, overconfident, lazy or complacent, we are endangering not only our lives, but how we put in harms way the lives that are connected to ours. A simple 'fix', but one that will take real time work, which is not work at all. It is taking time to BE STILL and hear the voice of our "ENGINEER" giving us direction and instruction for our personalized course.

Take a few minutes to check out the above link and as well Beth Moore's "A Quick Word from Beth" http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/a-quick-word-with-beth-moore/ (Monday 14 June). You will truly be inspired.

Take a look at one last thing I would like to share on the subject today. I found this in the Message Bible. I pray it inspires you to check the foundation of your life - the things you are currently doing to ensure that you are "on track" with your ordained purpose and calling and that there are no "cracks" in your foundation where your enemies can seep through. Your life is too valuable and too precious to waste any portion of it. Your purpose is too far reaching to have it destroyed now. You have come to far to turn back now!! There are too many lives still hanging in the balance, waiting for what God has placed in you for them, as only you can deliver. Remember, quitting is not an option. Neither is anything short of your most excellent effort.

1 Corinthians 10 (The Message) (verses 1-14,23-24)

1-5 Remember our history, friends, and be warned. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraculously through the Sea. They went through the waters, in a baptism like ours, as Moses led them from enslaving death to salvation life. They all ate and drank identical food and drink, meals provided daily by God. They drank from the Rock, God's fountain for them that stayed with them wherever they were. And the Rock was Christ. But just experiencing God's wonder and grace didn't seem to mean much—most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased.

6-10 The same thing could happen to us. We must be on guard so that we never get caught up in wanting our own way as they did. And we must not turn our religion into a circus as they did—"First the people partied, then they threw a dance." We must not be sexually promiscuous—they paid for that, remember, with 23,000 deaths in one day! We must never try to get Christ to serve us instead of us serving him; they tried it, and God launched an epidemic of poisonous snakes. We must be careful not to stir up discontent; discontent destroyed them.

11-12 These are all warning markers—danger!—in our history books, written down so that we don't repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don't be so naive and self-confident. You're not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it's useless. Cultivate God-confidence.

13 No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it.

14 So, my very dear friends, when you see people reducing God to something they can use or control, get out of their company as fast as you can.

23-24 Looking at it one way, you could say, "Anything goes. Because of God's immense generosity and grace, we don't have to dissect and scrutinize every action to see if it will pass muster." But the point is not to just get by. We want to live well, but our foremost efforts should be to help others live well.


29-30 But, except for these special cases, I'm not going to walk around on eggshells worrying about what small-minded people might say; I'm going to stride free and easy, knowing what our large-minded Master has already said. If I eat what is served to me, grateful to God for what is on the table, how can I worry about what someone will say? I thanked God for it and he blessed it!

31-33 So eat your meals heartily, not worrying about what others say about you—you're eating to God's glory, after all, not to please them. As a matter of fact, do everything that way, heartily and freely to God's glory. At the same time, don't be callous in your exercise of freedom, thoughtlessly stepping on the toes of those who aren't as free as you are. I try my best to be considerate of everyone's feelings in all these matters; I hope you will be, too.


Be IN Courage, even the more.

With love and joy,
Linda Michelle