The day with dianne Louise

James 3:17 (MSG)  Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. James 3:13-14 (MSG)  Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here's what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It's the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn't wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn't wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn't wisdom. Real wisdom! It is a consistent life, walking humbly with our God. To keep it we must spend time waiting and not always rushing. Waiting before God is a humbling experience and like having a spiritual shower. waiting says to the Lord, I need You, I am painfully aware of my own sin nature which will rise up if i don't wait for You. Real wisdom is not a feeling, it has nothing to do with ...

Jeremiah 32:18 (MSG)  You're loyal in your steadfast love to thousands upon thousands—but you also make children live with the fallout from their parents' sins. We know that we are not accountable for our parents sins but their sins do affect us children. My dad was an angry man and us kids never knew who we were dealing with, he was worse with alcohol. The fallout for me was a struggle with acceptance and love. I have a young boarder who has come from a family torn apart by anger and divorce. This young woman of 18 has seen her need to be mum to her young brother, her mother works and her father was the man who ran off with another yet his anger constantly invaded her life. This young lady is beginning university studies and is grief-stricken for her young brother and her mother, her mother is full of anger and bitterness, her brother caught up in the mess. What a responsibility to place on the shoulders of a girl since 13 years of age. She has not know peace for so long, ...

James 1:2-4 (MSG) Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. I can hear you say 'Now I know, I have proof that you are crazy.' Being glad when tested, Ha! I don't think, realistically, there are any tests in life that we enjoy. Blood tests scare us, exams scare us, testing the intention of others scare most people out actually doing it. Yesterday I had a discussion with a friend who is interested in a man who has a sordid past. Yes he now loves God and comes to church but to know if he has changed he has to be tested, just as he was before, and still stand unaffected. This may seem harsh to some, not to me, because if we namby pamby around and change the rules to suit our emotions, we choose, ...

Hebrews 13:12-13 (MSG)  It's the same with Jesus. He was crucified outside the city gates—that is where he poured out the sacrificial blood that was brought to God's altar to cleanse his people.  So let's go outside, where Jesus is, where the action is—not trying to be privileged insiders, but taking our share in the abuse of Jesus.   It is funny how we Christians get to thinking I've given my life to Christ now He has to keep bad things away, even if I mess up.   When we walk in our own path, determining our lives by our own set of rules   we reap the harvest of those set of rules. Even if later we get on track that does not mean the field we planted weeds in will not bear it's fruit. This defies everything nature lives by, why are we different ?   There is only One Way and it is His Way totally, all the time. Ah yes there is grace, always grace towards the repentant yet my God cannot change His Word just because I now get the picture.   Sowing an...

Hebrews 12:11 (MSG) At the time, discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it's the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God. I can agree with this. I disciplined my children and now I assist with the disciplining of my grandchildren. I do it because I love. I see beneath the selfish, pouting lip greatness and know it will only be revealed by my decision to stand firm. My God can see way beyond what I can see, in me. He has lovingly fenced me in (a huge yard now). At first I was on a tight leash, then a longer rope, then untethered in a small paddock and now a larger one. What has changed? I've learned to discipline myself, my mind especially, my emotions that feed on my mind and my actions that result. I cannot allow my emotions to escape like a fist full of hot air balloons. They will all fly everywhere, cause chaos and burst. My Mind must submit to Chr...

Hebrews 12:2-3 (MSG)  Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! Enough said! How can I better the scripture? Offense, disappointment, success, all put people out of the race. When we start to believe it is about us then our enemy has us. We need to see how Jesus relied on the Father, watch how He walked the walk. Who was He here for? Nothing could hold Him down, why? because He was focused. Amen!

Hebrews 11:1 (MSG) The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. Last night we began a new DivorceCare. It was looking slim pickings before we began but as I waited on the door two new participants arrived. Every single time there is one that the Lord is wooing back to Himself or a new woo, if you know what I mean. This, more than anything else stirs my heart. I feel His heart as He pursues them, loves them, reaches out to them. I love to watch my God in action, He is the best. what a lover! Oh how glorious oh how wonderful is my saviour's love for me.   It reaches beyond the highest heavens, more gloriouse than the best sunsets, richer than gold, more precious than diamonds. Full of freedom, release, healing His love sets me in a broad place, He spreads a table before me, He brings me precious gifts. What a valentine! As I come ...

Hebrews 10:22-23 (MSG)  So let's do it—full of belief, confident that we're presentable inside and out.   Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. I have several girlfriends who are at varying stages of walking into something God has promised them and we encourage one another in our faith. When God gives us a word and a promise, no matter how unbelievable it is, He fully intends to bring it to pass. When the angel Gabriel visited Mary he had news that blew her away. She, a virgin, was to have a son without the help of a man. The Lord chooses to bring His word to pass without intervention of others so that He can display His glory and reveal His nature to the promised. This is a love that we don not understand. To receive what has been promised it is important that the mind is corralled and made submit to the word of God, this in itself is no easy feat but with God all things are possible. Focus, not on what has been promise...

Jeremiah 17:10 (MSG) But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be." Oh how we love to impress! We dress outside to create an image of who we want others to believe we are. We speak in clever tongue to show how smart we are, we drive cars that have an image in our minds of what we want to align ourselves with. Ah! But God see through all the veneer, right through to the heart. What does He expect? His yes means yes, His no means no, He is who He says He is. He deals with all in the same way, He does not play favourites. How can two such diverse individuals meet? What is the common ground? Well I suppose it is where we both agree on something and the first something will be our state without Him in our lives. This morning a man who had come to DivorceCare last year and lately had started coming to church heard a message that opened his eyes to his state....

Jeremiah 16:19 (MSG) 19 God, my strength, my stronghold, my safe retreat when trouble descends: The enormity of what I am about to undertake overwhelms me, I go to the Lord, 'You sure you want me to do this?' I ask. Jeremiah was chosen by God to give a message to a people who would not listen to him, yet a people he cared for. He was thrown into a well and left for dead but God sent help. He was threatened with death constantly. There were sooth-sayers who gave a message that was not Gods, the people believed these well speakers yet God was telling Jeremiah a different message. I wonder what preachers would do if every word they speak was governed by legislation, how would they handle submitting their sermons to authorities to be vetted before they gave them? How would they go having to justify every $ they receive. I know that there are preachers in some communist countries that would face such a rigorous, debilitating, soul destroying process. The threat of jail would be...

Hebrews 9:26 (MSG) .... But instead he sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin. There is a solution for sin and it is nothing I can do. Yes I repent and turn away from sin but the true cost has been paid. Sin keeps me away from God and the more I walk in it the further away I seem to be. However, I am comforted with the knowledge that my God sought a slave trader whose sins were many. He was so far from Christ he could not find his way, had he even wanted to. John Newton was found by Christ and so great was the change in him that he penned 'Amazing Grace', the song that has been sung by so many and continues to be sung. Grace reaches out when all natural love has long expired. Grace is so full of forgiveness undeserved. Grace is love like we have never known, grace is our God. There are sins that I struggle with, that I repeat again and again. Yet I have a solution. I ask the Lord for...

Jeremiah 9:23-24 (MSG) God's Message: "Don't let the wise brag of their wisdom. Don't let heroes brag of their exploits. Don't let the rich brag of their riches.  If you brag, brag of this and this only: That you understand and know me. I'm God, and I act in loyal love. I do what's right and set things right and fair, and delight in those who do the same things. These are my trademarks." God's Decree. Our natural selves love to brag don't they? I did this, I did that, our emotions are charged and we are really pleased with our exploits. We (especially us women) love to have trophies to brag on, come to think of it guys love trophies and so I suppose they are the same. The conquest, the sale, the win all charge us with powerful emotion. In that emotional state we can so easily believe it was all our doing and we are sooo great. At present I am watching my God go before me and create a future that I know, really know, was none of my doing. I a...

Hebrews 7:26 (MSG)  So now we have a high priest who perfectly fits our needs: completely holy, uncompromised by sin, with authority extending as high as God's presence in heaven itself. I am so grateful that I do not have to be a 'high priest' in my own life, the burden of having to be flawless, always striving to be good and holy would drive me to distraction. No wonder people lock themselves away in monasteries to keep untainted from the world. The problem still remains, however, we have sin reigning in our mortal bodies, we are not able to save ourselves or anyone else for that matter. I will always be grateful to Christ for being the perfect sacrifice, the lamb that was slain, for me. I will always remember the day I asked the Lord into my life, the burden lifted and I was free, totally free and alive, so alive. My eyes were opened and I could see, see the truth, understand His word. Salvation belong to our God, who sits upon the throne. He alone won the right, He...

Hebrews 7:18-19 (MSG) The former way of doing things, a system of commandments that never worked out the way it was supposed to, was set aside;  the law brought nothing to maturity. Another way—Jesus!—a way that does work, that brings us right into the presence of God, is put in its place. I grew up in the Catholic faith and had upon me the need to perform, to win God's favour. Yet, He came to me and invited me to ask Him into my life, I did and now I live in freedom, the freedom of His love. He has done it all. We have a tendency to go to law. Law has it's place. However, the very laws we should obey, eg speeding, we flaunt. Yet the law we should not obey, earning God's favour by praying a certain amount, fasting, etc are not going to cut it. He has done it all. I pray because I love Him and want more of Him, not because I have a guilty conscience. If I am guilty of sin all I need to do is tell the Lord and ask for forgiveness and I am instantly made clean. I am so gra...

Hebrews 6:13-15 (MSG) When God made his promise to Abraham, he backed it to the hilt, putting his own reputation on the line. He said, "I promise that I'll bless you with everything I have—bless and bless and bless!" Abraham stuck it out and got everything that had been promised to him. When God made His promise to Abraham nothing much happened for quite a while. Abraham's faith was sorely tested He even tried to help God out but God stuck true to the original plan. The interlude in Abraham's case was some 20years or more. A long time to wait for a child and to receive when he was 100. God's plans do not change, we grow impatient, lose heart, stop trusting God to do a God- job, when He is right on track. His timing has to do with miracles and glory, His own. After Issac was born Abraham went on to have many more children after Sarah died. Sarah only ever had one child, Abraham had many. Some people we relate to are only a part of our journey to a point, t...

Isaiah 64:4 (MSG) Since before time began no one has ever imagined, No ear heard, no eye seen, a God like you who works for those who wait for him. I think by now we have gotten the message, 'wait for God!' Yet have we? How long does it take to get a message when our behaviour and habits remain the same? We don't get it! I have a mother who loves murder mystery books, she always has one in her hand. I grew up afflicted the same, yet last week when I went to bed, after feasting on a murder mystery movie, I opened my bible and it remonstrated with me about the importance on not looking on murder. To say I was gobsmacked would be underestimating my reaction. Last night there was the usual murder mystery show on and I chose not to watch it. Why does it matter? Probably because I want to see the Lord in His power and glory and what we condone becomes a part of us. The same goes for watching shows that contain fornication and adultery. What we watch becomes a part of our val...

Isaiah 62:7(MSG) They are to give him no peace until he does what he said What did He say? He said a lot and if you'd like to read it below it is full of promises. You could say 'ah but that was written ages ago to a city called Jerusalem, it doesn't apply to me.' However, I say, all of God is eternal, outside time, His words are full of life, they are living and active, sharper than any two edged sword. The word is there, waiting to be activated by faith. The first thing God does is speak words of promise, telling of a new future, the old has gone behold the new has come. Then the writer, Isaiah says ' I've posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. Day and night they keep at it, praying, calling out, reminding God to remember. They are to give him no peace until He does what He said, until He makes Jerusalem famous as the City of Praise. ' I am to continually remember, encourage myself with the promise, choosing to believe. I am to continually r...

Isaiah 61:7 (MSG) Because you got a double dose of trouble and more than your share of contempt, Your inheritance in the land will be doubled and your joy go on forever. Everywhere in God's word there are promises if we choose to see, to hear, to believe. To choose to stand up in faith and believe takes effort, something our western culture finds hard. However, miracles are there, stacked high, waiting for someone, anyone, to believe. God's nature does not change even if we become slack and lazy. I claim the above promise, I take it, and go to the Lord and say, 'Your word says 'my inheritance in the land will be doubled and my joy go on forever. I want to see this, I claim this.' Then wait expectantly! I remind Him, Your word says, Your word says, Your word says!!!!! I call it into being. Amen! You make all things new!

Isaiah 58:11-12 (MSG)  I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones. You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. The things that are important to me are here. He will always show me where to go. There are so many times when I feel lost and wonder 'which way?' There are times when I wonder if I am missing out on something and He says 'I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places.' Thank you Lord! There are times when my bones ache and my muscles feel useless but He says He will give me 'firm muscles and strong bones'. There are times when I feel empty but He says 'you'll be a well-watered garden, a gu...

Isaiah 57:13 (MSG) ... "But anyone who runs to me for help will inherit the land, will end up owning my holy mountain!" There is an old hymn that says 'only believe, only believe'. If we truly choose to believe God's word then all His promises are to us 'yes and Amen'. If I choose to make my God my healer then I force Him to be God, if I do not lift my hand to help myself then He must become GOD He has no choice. If I choose to make my God my provider then I release the floodgates of heaven, if I dare to stand still, and wait for Him. The ability to believe takes focus, determination, and downright stubbornness. However, those who knock and keep on knocking will have the door opened up to them. I want to know Him more. I want to know His ways, His thoughts, His heart. I will only do this as I wait on Him, listen to Him, settle in Him. He is to be found and I will find Him. Amen!

Hebrews 3:3-4 (MSG) A builder is more valuable than a building any day.  Every house has a builder, but the Builder behind them all is God. Glory is a treasure that we all seek. Self-effort is a driving force of most, if not all, of humanity. 'Yet what are we living for? We are not long here our life is just a breath so we better live it '(taken from a song by Brooke Fraser) I cannot add one cubit to my life by struggle. If the master builder is God then it would be smart to know His ways so that I can live a successful life. His ways are better than my ways. Let's learn where the glory belongs and live at peace with it's owner. Amen!

Isaiah 54:11-12 (MSG) "Afflicted city, storm-battered, unpitied: I'm about to rebuild you with stones of turquoise, Lay your foundations with sapphires, construct your towers with rubies, Your gates with jewels, and all your walls with precious stones. The Lord is a builder, He loves to construct, if we allow Him. He takes our broken lives and creates a new, more than glorious building. He makes all things new. He uses not ordinary materials but precious jewels, if we dare believe we are loved so much. We restrict Him by our view. If we see cement, dirt, sticks and He wants to use rubies and diamonds, we sell ourselves short. My God has a plan for me, dare I believe? New is different not a repair of what has been. New can look totally different. We see the rich go for new bodies all the time. They pay dearly and sometimes they receive what they have not bargained for. With us, He paid dearly, all we have to do is say 'yes'. Yes, yes, yes Lord, we say 'Yes...

Isaiah 49:1-2 (MSG)  God put me to work from the day I was born. The moment I entered the world he named me. He gave me speech that would cut and penetrate. He kept his hand on me to protect me. He made me his straight arrow and hid me in his quiver. How personal is our God? He knows the number of hairs on our heads, He knows us intimately. This God who names the stars, notices when one sparrow falls to the ground, He cares about little us, little me. At times, most times, I can feel insignificant yet He sees me as I am. He is preparing me for His purpose, His plans for me are great. When all around me disagrees with Him and who He is, His opinion, He laughs for He knows that nothing, absolutely nothing will stop Him bringing His plan to pass, while I look steadily into His face. It is only me who can stop His plans by lack of faith, of giving up and backing down, but where else would I go? Who else have the answers of life? Today I pitch my tent towards You and Your house L...

John 7:38(MSG) 38 Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says." Having Christ in our lives means we have the provider, healer, counsellor, comforter right in the centre of our being. When anxiety, fear, insecurity, sickness come knocking at our door we don't have to run hither and thither to find relief. To understand what the spring of living water is, it's power, it's reach we need to fellowship it because the spring is in fact a person. The fountain of life lives within the believer. When I want to know the Lord more I go to the fountain and wait, be refreshed. I don't go to the problem as He is not there. The image of refreshing waterfalls, the noise, the feel, call us to sit in, wait, soak in it. We have this right here, in the centre. We can go there at any moment without paying money. Our entry ticket was bought for us. The price was great so we don't have to conc...

Isaiah 44:3 (MSG) 3 For I will pour water on the thirsty ground and send streams coursing through the parched earth. I will pour my Spirit into your descendants and my blessing on your children.   I have always found that when I am thirsty I truly appreciate the drink. On a hot day an ice cold water refreshes like nothing else, especially with a slice of lime added with lots of ice blocks.   In 2009 my country, Australia, was in the throes of drought and had been in many areas for years, then savage  bushfires ravaged what was left. Next the rain began to come to the parched land.   In my state of Victoria we had a very wet winter in 2010. Now we are experiencing deluges of rain in summer 2011. The drought has well and truly been broken. We are now in flood.   When I am thirsty for God, really thirsty, He shows up and refreshes my soul. When He is sought  with all my heart and mind and soul He comes.   My God is not a god I bought ...

Isaiah 41:10 (MSG) Don't panic. I'm with you. There's no need to fear for I'm your God. I'll give you strength. I'll help you. I'll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you. Ever felt like a worm, out of your depth? I Do most of the time but I can trust the one who has made me to use me for His glory. Exams have a way of showing you what you do know and what you need to improve on. Yesterday I had a day long exam that left me very much aware of my assets and liabilities. In life we sit exams all the time, how we handle people, stuff, ourselves. Our integrity soon becomes evident, that's if we are observant, otherwise we play the blame game. Today I am very much aware that my God knows who I am and as I face who I am in humility I can trust Him with myself. I want to grow, to mature (well to continue doing so), to learn how to do life better. To do this I must stay humble or else I will trip over my attitude. If I can stay humble then my God can use m...

Isaiah 40:12-14 (MSG) Who has scooped up the ocean in his two hands, or measured the sky between his thumb and little finger, Who has put all the earth's dirt in one of his baskets, weighed each mountain and hill? Who could ever have told God what to do or taught him his business? What expert would he have gone to for advice, what school would he attend to learn justice? What god do you suppose might have taught him what he knows, showed him how things work? In all that is happening to my country at present I have to trust the One who made it all. I ask Him to protect us and lead us to Himself. Through disaster He is there, waiting for us to call upon Him, He is ready and able to save. I know that there will be those who will blame Him but I know stuff happens to all mankind. The earth convulses and heavens, the heavens release their fury but He is the still quiet voice. Him I can trust. To Him alone will I run for safety, for justice, for mercy. He alone is God! Amen!

Isaiah 38:17 (MSG) It seems it was good for me to go through all those troubles. Throughout them all you held tight to my lifeline. You never let me tumble over the edge into nothing. But my sins you let go of, threw them over your shoulder—good riddance! The above was written by King Hezekiah. He became sick and was told it was time to die and he sought the Lord. He had a heart after God and sought His ways when confronted by a huge Assyrian army threatening to destroy him. He seemed to have a revelation of God's ways. 'throughout them all you held tight to my lifeline'. To the true seeker , one with a heart for God this is how life is. He hears, He listens and He acts on our behalf. Our sins are dealt with at the cross, all we have to do is call out to Him and He answers. When I mess up, a repentant heart is all He asks for. I do not have to lock myself away, flay myself or something equally awful . He was flayed for me, He was crucified for me, I can trust that all...

Titus 1:4 (MSG) 4 Dear Titus, legitimate son in the faith: Receive everything God our Father and Jesus our Savior give you! Do you doubt yourself like I do? My God has called me to a career in which I feel grossly inadequate, there is so much I don't get yet it keeps me humble. Yesterday I was told that I can stand on my own feet, out from under a boss. While excited I am aware of all my lack. Yet today I say 'Lord if You go with me, You supply the wisdom, I will go'. What the Lord plans to do is to use the experience for me to know Him more and lean on Him more. He also plans to show me His abundance, His way. Dare I believe? Yes! Amen!