True Fasting

Isaiah 58

True Fasting

¹ "Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the house of Jacob their sins.
² For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
³ 'Why have we fasted,' they say,
'and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?'
"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?

⁶ "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
¹¹ The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

¹³ "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD's holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Bloom Where Gods Plants You!

You May Not Think You Belong Where God Has You

....BUT...

Even Jesus Ate With Sinners and Tax Collectors!

(Matthew 9:10-12)

Soooooooo I say......Let us not despise our calling....for we know not what the Lord has in mind!

Paul writes in Romans 11:34, quoting from Isaiah 40:13

"Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?"
"Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?"
For from him and through him and to him are all things established.
To him be the glory forever! Amen."

Also the Lord G-d himself says through the prophet Isaiah in ch 55:9
“ For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts."

So, ONCE AGAIN I ENCOURAGE EACH OF US

TO

BLOOM AND GROW WHERE GOD PLANTS US!

Even if it may seem like a GARBAGE DUMP!!!!!

Isaiah 55

An Invitation to Abundant Life

¹ “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.
² Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance.³ Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David.
⁴ Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people. ⁵ Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the LORD your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.”

⁶ Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. ⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
⁸ “ For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.

⁹ “ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. "
¹⁰ “ For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, ¹¹ So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."
¹² “ For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. ¹³ Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the LORD for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Oh My Goodness!

Oh My goodness!
two times in one week I am writing unscripted on my own blog! lol

For sure!

Well, the way I see it, it's my blog and you are coming on here to read it...so I can do that, right?
Besides, from what I can tell there aren't too terribly many "yous" coming on here reading my unscripted (or otherwise) ramblings anyways, and right now it's doing me a world a good to ramble on....so I shall continue!
☺
Every once in a while you just have to blow off some steam. Depending on what it is you do for a living, your once in a while may come more frequently than others. Take for instance with my job.
Well I work in the financial industry. As you can imagine....with the economy being as it is....there is allot of "s t r e s s " and uncertainty that we all have to contend with these days....Well I am required, on my job, to sell and offer the utmost in customer satisfaction all the while tallying a good deal number of calls per hour. [Can anyone say STRESS?]......While here lately the customers I serve are 80% coming in "hot under the collar" because of their own worries of the economies situation. ALL day long I get blasted with vulgarities and accusations from clients as I am the the ambassador of the company to them...and then when I turn around and meet up with the big wigs I get it from them....seems as I never seem to "hit the mark" according to my superiors.
Broken promises...misinformed managers...lack of communication. Do as I say....today .....tomorrow may be different.

I about lost it today. I am gonna be 49 this year and I felt like a child today at work. (not in a good way) That is all I will say as I don't want to "dis" my employer...after all they still are my employer at this point. ☺

So, basically things didn't add up as I had expected. Things aren't as they were. Things aren't as they told me they would be. Things have changed........."Oh well."..... "What does that really matter?"

THIS is what I have been struggling with, all day.

THIS is why I have eaten half a bag of chocolate chips and that yummy Klondike Bar my gorgeous hubby Dano bought me.

These questions.

So WHAT? What do I do with them? Got any ideas....any advice? ☺

Not like I can't change any of the above fore mentioned truths.

What I figure I CAN do is one of the following:

1)Be super miserable at work and sooner or later get my self fired

2)Try to change everything back to way it was 2 years ago and aggravate everyone in
leadership ...and get myself fired

3) Put up with it; look for another job

4)Pray..... give this situation it to the Lord. Give myself to the Lord....my attitude to the Lord, thank the Lord for this job, as horrible as it may be at times and ask Him to provide for me an open door somewhere else.

I think it's a no brainer......#4.....lol As much as my "spirit man" knows this, my flesh is having a hard time with it! This is where the scripture from Matthew 26:41 comes in "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!"

HELPPPPPPPPPPPP!!


Maybe I just need to eat more ICE CREAM!!!!!! ☺

What are blogs for?

Do YOU know?

I don't....I really don't even know, remember why I started mine. I remember who talked me into it....haahaa...but can't remember their argument that made me turn the corner and actually "do it".

At any rate ...I am here....with a "BLOG"....and it is titled...."The Fire Within"....what exactly does that mean, The Fire Within?...Well I can tell you what I meant by it when I puck the title.
PASSION....the passion inside of me. Well and YOU for that matter....All of us.....We all have passion inside.
Some of us show it allot better and allot more often than others...but I contend that we all have passion deep down inside.

And~Right now I am a deep - deep -deep well...that used to be overflowing, upwards towards heaven with a gusher of crystal clear water, that now one might be hard pressed to find the bottom of....and when the bottom is found....how clear is the water? Even I can not be sure of that.....God is is working on cleaning out this deep, deep well of mine.

Night after night I dream of far away place. Up past the clouds and stars. Way farther away than the planets and even further off than the galaxies where the angels and demons battle.High in the Highest heaven I meet with my Lord and we sit and talk about things in the past and things to come. I have to be honest I don't want to leave His side when the night is done. Of course the choice, not being mine I awake as usual from my slumber, to yet another day filled the same things I left behind when I closed my eyes the night before. I know, I am human. When I awake I praise the Lord for His Grace. Where would I be without it? Without Him?

Still....alone.....I face the day.....so I pray...knowing that my prayers, [because I am righteous through HIS sacrifice for me], are effective...and powerful ......so I take a stand against the evil one and pray, believing even when the circumstances show me otherwise, I still stand in faith...because faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, and I have God's promise! I stand firm on God's word. ***sigh***......[.still I miss them]

Lord, oh dear Lord....I know He takes care of all I hold dear. I do in fact know this. I wouldn't be able to make it through the day if I didn't "know" this...."believe" this.

Thank you Lord.

I love you.

One day soon....I will walk along the shores of Heaven during the day....with those I love.♥