He IS Our Help in Time of Trouble~

Tuesday morning hit with a solid thud in my heart. No joy...no purpose...no desire for nothing...just the awareness of the black pit of blackness....I picked up my journal to write my thoughts after shuffling around to make coffee and settling into my spot on the couch with some semblance of being awake. But, who cared?.......My eyes drifted to the fog hanging over the field in back of our house; stuck like muck on bare feet....going nowhere....just still and heavy....like my heart.

I've been through multiple trials over many a year....But this one from the enemy had hit like a blitzkrieg....and I was just so exhausted from surgery and recovery and other battles. I wrote in my journal, "Lord, it's been almost 2 months since surgery and You feel so far away...everyone seems so far away...."....and my mind drifted....looking up...."God, Help!", was all I could choke out.
"Crista, I never leave you nor forsake you....Even in your darkest hours. I AM STILL here with you."
I continued to journal...talking to God on paper...."I'm crying out to You for help in the midst of the choking sea billows of things which I do not understand. I cry to You for help! ~Today is a black day and even the clouds cover the sun."
Scriptures began to surface from the deepest parts of my soul.....Isaiah 50:10 "Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God."
Hebrews 13:5b 'For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." And I turned to Heb. 13:5 and began reading.....

But it was Heb. 13:6 that really caught my attention...."The Lord is my helper; I will not fear...." (Hang with me here...because these are exactly the kinds of situations where we know in our heads, and have heard it before....but now becomes a deeper reality/revelation in our heart....and you have these times just like I do...because we're all made out of dust!)

I read further...the definition of Helper in my Bible's Word Wealth:
helper: boethos (bah-ay-thoss); Strong's #998 From boe, "a cry for help." and theo, "to run." Boethos is one who comes running when we cry for help. The word describes the Lord as poised and ready to rush to the relief of His oppressed children when they shout for His assistance."....Hope began to rise through the dense, oppresive fog of my soul like a lone, smoldering campfire on a bitter cold, cloudless, starry night....a thin, wispy thread weaving it's way heavenward....barely discernable...but yet there....seeming to carry His Name to His Throne..."Jesus"....not of my own strength...but His...ascending boldly to His Throne of Grace in time of my need....."Not by might, nor power, but by My Spirit," says the Lord of hosts. (Zech 4:6b)

I cannot sit here and tell you the fog lifted....No....I sat and cried....poured out my soul as a drink offering to Him who knew the failure and hopelessness I was experiencing....My tears were my food that morning.....

And then...within the hour....my phone rang....Caller ID....my precious Sister in Christ...but I didn't want to answer it....I didn't want to talk...to anyone. It wasn't personal....It was the blackness of my heart...."Lord, what do I do?" "Call her back."

One ring...."Hello? Oh, it's you!...Praise You, Jesus!"....She pressed gently, "Are you feeling like nothing's worth it and you just want to give up?" ....I could only by a whimper and blubber out my confirmation to what the Holy Spirit had already told her....but this was enough confirmation for the Holy Spirit to launch her into all out spiritual battle on my behalf. It was His Spirit interceding for me...through her....Time stood still....as He revealed one thing after another that was attacking...and He led her to take His Word and slash the enemy's plan and purpose.
And then, He spoke as My Father...loving...tenderly....affirming....

Dear and precious child of The Most High God...He Who never slumbers nor sleeps, watches over us, to care for us...and Jesus sits at the right hand of God The Father, ever to make intercession for His saints....for He Who is in us IS greater than he who is in the world. If God be for me, who can be against me.

It is truly when we can do nothing, but look up to the hills from whence cometh our strength...that we truly know it is nothing of our own doing, but His...because He loves us...and it is His Promise to never, ever, no not ever, leave us nor forsake us....and as He tells us in the parable of the Good Samaritan....He is there...to care and tend to our needs when we are unable to care for ourself. He does this without condemnation, for there is now therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

I will leave you with this list of scriptures to encourage your heart today and I pray His Holy Spirit reach you and touch you and comfort you in the way that only He can do. The battle is truly the Lord's and He IS mighty in battle...for He and He Alone gets all the glory, honor and praise. To Him be the Glory, great things He hath done....and continues to do....for Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Praise be to God!

Hebrews 13:5-6, Psalm 46:1, Psalm 121:1-2, Isaiah 50:10, I John 4:4, Hebrews 4:15-16,
I Timothy 2:13, Isaiah 42:3, John 14:18

Be blessed in Christ Jesus~
Love always,
Crista

All comments to these blog postings are moderated before being allowed to be posted.
(This entry may be shared as long as it is shared in it's entirety.
Freely have I received...freely do I give. http://dinnerwiththeking.blogspot.com/)

Off the Back Burner

Dear Blog Friends,
Forgive me for not writing over these past couple months, but there was a serious physical situation for which I needed fairly emergent surgery. I am doing well now in my recuperation and (I think) not feeling quite so fuzzy brained from anesthesia and pain meds.

God is stirring my heart to begin writing again and through a very precious Sister in Christ, He's confirmed some other things to me....one of which is continuing to press on with this blog.
I don't know about you, but "going through stuff" often takes me to a point of re-evaluation...
And at the point He was stirring my heart to write....and I was praying about even continuing....
He sent His encouraging word through a dear Sister.

I don't know about you...but for me....I get to the point of asking, "Is this really worth it?"...whether I'm deciding how often to dust and mop the floors (cough, cough....)...or taking that extra trip to the grocery store...or writing....Whatever it may be. Evaluation is a really good thing when done rightly before the Lord. He understands when we ask Him, "Lord, do You want me to continue with ________(fill in the blank)?" For He IS Faithful, merciful, kind and compassionate....and He WILL give us His answer as we wait upon Him.

So, it's time....Time to get off the back burner and back to the front lines....
He's stirring my heart....and I await His further direction.....These past couple months have been a deeper revelation of His abiding love and mercies - which are new every morning...from everlasting to everlasting.
Much love and blessings always,
Crista

Strait Paths on the Piano Bench

Many in the Body of Christ are going through trials and hot fires right now....What we can trust is His Word which says that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. And one of His purposes is to kill the King Uzziahs in our lives; to remove the Baals from our mouths; to take us down the narrowing path (strait and compressed); to shake us loose from the things of this world, so that we will see Him high and lifted up....we will repent and cry out..."Lord, I am a wo/man of unclean lips! Forgive me!"..."Lord, not my will be done, but Thy will be done." And then we will go...not for man's glory, but for His Glory...and we shall go unto the least of these....stripped naked of our own glory...to go to the naked - for His Glory....That we pant for Him as the deer pants for water...to go to the thirsty and give them a cup of cold water in His name....to the One Who hung on the Cross...in His final moments....uttering in languished agony.....

~"I thirst."

Do we see Him now?....Do we hear Him now?

(Isaiah 6:1-8, Is. 58:6-10, Hosea 2:14-17, 2 Chron. 7:14-16, Matt. 7:14, Job 42:5-6, Matt. 25:40, Is. 53:2-3, Is. 64:6, John 15:1)

“My Piano Bench Lesson”

By Crista Simmons
Revised: May 7, 2008

Prayers of desperation ripped from my soul. Tears flooded my living room carpet by day and my pillow by night. It was the summer of 2002; one of the most difficult trial times of my life. I had just emerged from and emotionally ripping trial with my oldest son. The Lord had showed me that I had to totally let go. Now it was time to totally let go again in another arena and to learn something new. Like Job, I wasn’t sure I had recovered from my last “experience” to face yet another trial so quickly. I could still feel myself choking and vomiting on the sea water from my last thrust into the ocean of life, and my fingers had just barely taken hold of the raft.

By nature, I am self-directed and a “doing” oriented person. My hobby is gardening and my career is teaching piano. I was still single at the time. And in this trial the Lord used my love of gardening and vocation to teach me in greater depth about His desire for my relationship with Him. I’d been reading “Secrets of the Vine” by Bruce Wilkinson. In this super packed little book, Bruce describes the stages through which the Lord takes us in His work to produce more fruit in our lives. On page 71, he writes, “Did you know that growers prune their vineyards more intensively as the vines age?” He quotes a horticultural bulletin which stated that the vine’s ability to produce growth increases each year, but without intensive pruning, the plant weakens and its crop diminishes. Mature branches must be pruned hard to achieve maximum results. I began to reflect on my own gardening tools and their uses.

Pruning. There are different levels and tools. Scissors for the little stalks; nothing too tough or woody, but soft and pliable. Hand pruners for trimming thicker, more woody stalks and stems like rose bushes. And there are the Loppers. It takes two hands and upper arm strength to utilize these.

Pruning. The Lord had been snipping away at my twigs for years, but now He no longer used the scissors or hand pruner. He’d gotten out the BIG loppers for this one! I could now hear and feel the CRUNCH of my branches. I felt like my stretch marks were about to rupture.
Yes, my flesh was rupturing. Not a pretty sight, but necessary to advance in the Kingdom, because God loves us too much to leave us where we are. I’d finished reading Bruce’s book. Now it was time to take stock. Sin can cause pain. Walking in obedience can cause pain. Not too encouraging at the time. Yet that is a fact in our walk with the Lord. To go higher in the Spirit, He calls us deeper. And going deeper involves more cutting of the flesh. We have to be cut, gutted out, boiled and fired in the kiln. It is our choice. To whom will be bow? Flesh or Spirit?
I knew from reading and prayer that my pain was a result of walking in obedience. And now, the Lord was allowing this situation to grow me more fully in Him. I remember standing at my kitchen counter and literally begging Him to tie my flesh to the horns of the altar. I knew that if I didn’t get through this test, I would face the same test, and I didn’t want to go around this mountain again!

I was now at the Red Sea financially. I had six weeks to go until I started full-time work again. All my resources were gone. I’d been in similar places before this, but there always seemed to
be a light shining from somewhere within the tunnel. But now, dark turned to pitch. I had remained faithful in my tithes and offering over the years, however not always my first fruits. The Lord had been dealing with me about his issue. It seemed every time I turned around, there was I Kings 17 again!!! I knew what he was asking me to do. Let go! But did I really trust Him?
Trust…always the bottom line issue with me in my relationship with Him. I knew His love, grace, mercy and strength had carried me through many major trials in my life: adoption, sexual abuse, job loss, suicidal depressions, divorce, a sinful relationship and selling my home. But now, single, self-employed and less than $50 to my name, a late car payment, and many more bills that I did not even have money to consider paying. On July 24th, I wrote in my journal, “I am in a season of mature pruning; about values and identity. God is good, and God will work this out for my good. God is good, and He is good all the time.”
　
Then the Lord interrupted my thoughts. “Crista. Do you really believe this? Not yet. Not yet in your heart. This is the point I want to bring you to know that you know that you know for your own life. You encourage others; now encourage your own spirit in My goodness for you. See how I want to have you believe this for yourself - in your own spirit. There’s been a hole in your spirit that I want to heal. I want to pour out My mercy and grace upon you. I don’t just wish you well, drive by your house and wave as man does. I come to your door, and I want you to ask Me in with you. Invite Me in, and I will come in and be with you. I want you to know more than you do that My goodness is for you, but I had to deal with your unbelief first so you’d be ready to listen. Listen to Me.

It’s like this: As you give pictures and phrases to your students, so do I to you. Sometimes your students cry when you lovingly correct them. So do you when I correct you. But what happens when your student lets you sit on the bench with them? WOW! A solo becomes a duet! An OK becomes a Breakthrough! That’s what I so desire with you. Invite Me to sit on your bench with you, and we’ll have a “WOW!! It’s one thing to stand beside your student instructing them; it’s quite another to sit on the bench with them. There’s chemistry in sharing the bench! Think about the enjoyment when the chemistry is right for playing a duet. That’s what I’m talking about - ONLY GREATER! GREATER MEASURE! GREATER ABUNDANCE!"

Then I saw myself sitting on a piano bench. Jesus came over to me. As He stood beside me, I was crying. I didn’t understand. I was scared and hurting. Then I looked at Him. He asked me if He could sit beside me. I nodded. I felt Him slide onto the bench next to me. His love surround me in a freshness and fullness that lifted me above my circumstances. And then I knew. This whole financial pruning issue was about my relationship with Him. It was about an opportunity for even greater intimacy than we’d had previously.

It was no longer about “doing”, because there wasn’t anything left “to do”. Now it was about being. Resting. Abiding. Just being together, because we love each other and enjoy each other’s company. It was about turning a super solo into an incredible duet. A WOW! Duet for both participants and listeners. He wanted me to choose Him in deeper measure than I had done previously. He wanted me to see His hand in the process.

“Secrets of the Vine” became transformed by the “Secrets of the Bench”. Abide. Rest. Wait.
Intimacy. Join together. Harmony. Synchrony. A love song played out by The Master Composer, Himself, and His Bride.

“Deep calls unto deep…and in the night, His song shall be with me.” (Psalm 42:7-8)
Dear Jesus,
Please come sit with me
On the piano bench today;
So we can be close
And play a fabulous duet -
Together.”
Love always,
Crista

All comments to these blog postings are moderated before being allowed to be posted.

(This entry may be shared as long as it is shared in it's entirety. Freely have I received...freely do I give. Blessings always, Crista Simmons http://dinnerwiththeking.blogspot.com/)

Of Barren Deserts, Red Seas, Sarah's Wombs, Lazarus Tombs and His Resurrection Power

Isaiah 54:1 (Amplified) "Sing, O barren one, you who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who did not travail with child! For the [spiritual] children of the desolate one will be more than the children of the married wife," says the Lord."

How many times have we stood and faced the barren deserts, Red Seas, Lazarus tomb or empty wombs of our lives? Lost dreams....lost children....lost health...lost relationships....wondering if our unfulfilled visions were from God, Himself, which seem as elusive as trying to catch dry dust swirling over desert sands....miles and miles of sand....miles and miles of dust....and we persevere....one foot...then the other...."Lord, Thy will be done, on earth, in my life, through me, as it is in Heaven,"....and all the while, spitting the grit out of our dry mouth which eventually makes it way up our nose and down our windpipe...coating our mouth....and sticking to the roof of our mouth.

It seems almost incomprehensible in today's charismatic, electronic fast lane that God would leave us in a desert, wasteland situation for more than a minute, much less orchestrate the whole thing for His Purpose! Who dares to preach such a sermon today? Take him/her outside the camp and stone them! What a heretic! What a shameful blight upon the pentecostal/charismatic world to which we've become accustomed on TV and in our own communities.

It has become inconceivable that Our very God Who gave us His vision will allow the very death of it; seemingly to rub our faces in its death along the way. Isn't this what He did with the news of Lazarus? John 11:6 "So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.".....TWO MORE DAYS! Lazarus lay dying, and Jesus stayed two more days! How absurd! And Martha in so many words, told Him so....v. 21 "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."

What emotions do you think surged through Martha? If it were me, I'd be thinking, "Why did You allow this to happen? What is wrong with us/me that You healed everyone else, but when I sent word to You that Lazarus, Whom You love is dying, You don't come running, or command the sickness to leave him, but You waited....And now Lazarus is dead! TOTALLY STONE DEAD! In fact, he's now so dead, he stinks! His flesh has rotted off his body by now.

And so God allows it to happen...the death and humiliation of the very vision God gave us. Jesus hung bare naked and barren on the Cross, and in His barrenness and humiliation and total separation from God, hung the Hope of all time....the Hope for all eternity for the forgiveness of sins, reconciliation and restoration to God, Himself for all lost humanity who would accept Him and believe upon Him.

Miles of desert sand in our lives....heaped up along the road....symbolic of desert and death; yet it is in the desert where we truly find Him as we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of death. It is here where the Valley of Achor becomes The Door of Hope...and through it all, He takes the Baals from our mouth. (Hosea 2:14-17)

God took Esther through 12 months of preparation before He ultimately escorted her before the throne of the king...the inner chamber of his presence. For there is something about the desert and the stripping which removes the Baals from our mouths. Who do we quote most? Scripture or someone else? Who's name do we hear coming out of our own mouths? God's or someone else? God will allow the stripping.....God will do the stripping....And if we don't see Him allowing the work to be done...then we have not stopped to turn and see why the bush is burning and not being consumed....The potter's wheel....Tying our flesh to the horns of the altar so it won't crawl away....

What we need to comprehend is that it is God, Himself, in all His Glory and Splendor and Love, Who allows the total death and humiliation of a thing before He brings His resurrection power to it where He will get the total glory. For unless this thing can be verified as dead...no breath...no life...no movement...and the flesh rotting off of it....and now it stinks....there can be no resurrection power.

For if there is no death, man/flesh will ultimately take the glory that he did something very spiritual to make this thing happen...."I fasted"...."I prayed three hours a day"....."I laid my hands on so and so and they got better."....."I went to this conference where so and so preached...and oh man!"....."I did this....I did that....and isn't it wonderful what I did?"......And we may or may not throw a morsel of praise in God's direction.

Yes, we're able to maneuver God in there someplace, but when that thing is put into Sarah's womb or the tomb of Lazarus, and it is so barren that there is no hope of life, or so dead that it stinks, then He will come and speak, "Lazarus, Come forth!" For then and only then is there Only One Reason; God Himself. It had nothing to do with the flesh of man - all our best intentions and formulas and best efforts to pray and fast fall flat on a gritty desert floor in the barrenness of Sarah's womb. And when that happens, we have a choice. We will either choose as Job's wife suggested that we curse God and die...or like Job, we'll profess that "Though He slay me; yet will I trust Him; yet will I praise Him; yet will I look unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of my faith." As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord.

We see Martha, standing outside her brother's tomb, grieving....Jesus instructs them to remove the stone. Martha, in essence, questions Jesus' instructions and politely reminds Him that He's nuts..."Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days!" And Jesus turns to her, gently asking, "Did I not tell you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?"

Oh, it is difficult to accept that God allows death and humiliation to a thing, purpose or plan before he can bring His resurrection power to it. For resurrection power to be visible to raise that thing, there must be total, complete, irreversible death by any other means...other than His Spirit. Dead is D-E-A-D....Dead. No hope in anything, but God. Jesus, Who walks with us through the Valley of the Shadow of Death....showing us that He is The Way....He is The Door of Hope.

He Who hung on the Cross for us in abject totally, naked humiliation before all humanity, spirits and creation....allowed humiliation to nail Him to the Cross. As a result, it is His resurrection power, the power which raised Jesus from the dead, that He sends today by His Spirit to bring His Glory to our own personal barren wombs and the Lazarus tombs of society.

Jesus never told Lazarus that he had to have faith. No. He told Martha that if she would believe, she would see the Glory of God....and Lazarus walked out of that tomb...a whole man!

Do we truly have the stomach for that kind of move of God? Do we have the spiritual stomach to watch Him allow death to that thing and then stand there as Martha and hear Him encourage us that if we believe that we'll see His Glory? Do we have the intestinal fortitude to persevere through the desert? Can we look upon Him who had absolutely no comeliness in His lifeless, naked humiliation and see His resurrection power?

For I tell you the truth, it is far easier to get people to co-labor with a program than an impossibility of God, because impossibilities have death and failure written all over them and there are not too many who have the spiritual or emotional stomach for that kind of thing anymore despite our well-meaning intentions and filthy self-righteous rags.

Do we have the stomach to look unto the societal vagrants and misfits and see Jesus, Himself? Can we look at the demented, with slimy drool pooling on their stained sweatshirts and see Jesus? (For whatever we do unto those least esteemed by society we have done unto Him.) Can we understand that that which is uncomely and uninviting and putrid and humiliating is the very place to which He calls us to find Him?

For this is the exact place where we shall see His Glory and resurrection power....It is His promise...that out of the barrenness shall flow His multiplication....His Glory....

O that our hearts would cry out as the Apostle Paul as recorded in Philippians 2:8-10 (Amplified)

v. 8 "Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly'. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One).

v. 9 And that I may [actually] be found and known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law's demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that {genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith.

v. 10 [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of Hies Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death...."

1. "Have Thine own way, Lord!

Have Thine own way!

Thou art the Potter;

I am the clay

Mould me and make me

After Thy will,

While I am waiting,

Yielded and still."

4. "Have Thine own way, Lord!

Have Thine own way!

Hold o'er my being

Absolute sway!

Fill with Thy Spirit

Till all shall see

Christ only, always,

Living in me!"

Geo. C. Stebbins

Crista M. Simmons

http://dinnerwiththeking.blogspot.com

The Spirit of Travail - video by Leonard Ravenhill

“The Spirit of Travail” is a sermon by Leonard Ravenhill. It is an hour in length.

Turn everything off…and listen. It has stopped me in my tracks this morning.

What is it that we truly desire in our heart of hearts with God? Do we really want Him to transform us into the image of Christ? Oh that we mature in Christ.

Romans 8:17 “and if children, then heirs -heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.“

Galatians 3:10 “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”

Oh, that we would repent in sackcloth and ashes....God, Have Your Way in me that this vessel would glorify You and Your Kingdom Glory and Purpose shine through me this day....Lord, Do whatever it takes to take me wherever you want to take me. Take me to The Cross of Christ that I might arise to thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

I pray you are blessed.
Love always,
Crista
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn1c0OUQots&feature=fvw

Crista Simmons (cmsimmons52@aol.com)
http://www.ourchurch.com/member/l/LifeCareMin/
http://dinnerwiththeking.blogspot.com
http://restingbesidestillwaters.com
http://www.openheaven.com
May be reprinted only in it's exactness. Freely have we received. Freely do we give.

Will You Go After the One?

The other morning as I sat with the Lord, He expressed His burden and His heart for the lost.
O, that we may have ears to hear and hearts and feet and mouths that will be obedient to His bidding~

Will You Go After the One?
Luke 15:3-7 "So He spoke this parable to them, saying: What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost! I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentence."

I tell you the truth, I gave you this parable so you would know My heart for that one little sheep who is lost. A sheep that is lost will lie down helplessly and refuse to budge. This is why I put it on My shoulders. I lift it up out of the miry pit. I lift it up out of briars which have it so ensnared. I lift it out of the realms of darkness.

Did I not say that whatsoever you do unto the least of these, those least esteemed by society, that you have done it unto Me? (Matthew 25:40)

Did I not say that pure and undefiled religion before God is visiting orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world? (James 1:27) Beloved, who are the orphans? Those without mother or father; those who do not know Me as Abba Daddy; those who've been cast out by society and even by My Church. For verily I say unto you that I, Myself, will receive those who have been forsaken by mother and father. (Psalms 27;10)

Beloved, if you are truly Mine, you will love as I have loved you and do love you now. For I love you with an everlasting love. (Jeremiah 31:3) Love the lost, Beloved. Love the lost. Seek them with My whole heart.

For while you were yet dead in sin, I loved you and died for you that you may live. Pursue the lost, Beloved. With My love, pursue the lost.

In the same manner in which you judge another shall it be measured back to you.
For I tell you the truth, freely have you received...freely give.

Beloved, love as I Am love, and in so doing you shall have boldness in the day of judgement. (1 John 4:17)

Crista Simmons (cmsimmons52@aol.com)
http://www.ourchurch.com/member/l/LifeCareMin/
http://dinnerwiththeking.blogspot.com
http://restingbesidestillwaters.com
http://www.openheaven.com
May be reprinted only in it's exactness. Freely have we received. Freely do we give.

THERE IS A CHANGING OF THE GUARD

THERE IS A CHANGING OF THE GUARD!
This past Sunday while changing my clothes after church, the Lord spoke and said, “There is a changing of the guard! The old is gone, the new is come.” (Is. 43:18-19)

“I’m changing leadership and bringing forth the new guard - not because the old guard did a bad job, but now it is time to bring forth the new with renewed and fresh anointing for all I have in store. This new guard; birthed of The Spirit - not by might nor power, but by My Spirit. Birthed for such a time as this.

Let me say that everyone has their place in My Body. All are precious in My sight. But I Am speaking specifically to leadership - those whom I’ve called and anointed to lead - clothed in My robes of righteousness to lead in this final hour. These leaders shall be clothed in meekness and humility; gentleness and love. They will have My Shepherd’s heart; yet be bold as a lion. Out of their meekness, mercy, gentleness, love, compassion, humility and kindness they extend to others; especially to the lost and the least esteemed of society, they shall be ministering unto Me - for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

What is holiness and righteousness? It is loving as I Am Love. Yes, I call you to be set apart; to be set apart from the world - to love your enemies, to bless those who curse you, to love the lost - for how will they know unless you show them My love?

Remember those to whom I said were white-washed tombs were also the very ones over whom I wept - O Jerusalem, Jerusalem.

On the Cross I asked The Father to forgive them for they knew not what they did. I said this to show you the Way of perfect love which casts out all fear. I spoke this out loud so you would hear and know The Way of Love; My Way.

You know that I was as a Lamb led to slaughter and opened not My mouth. But on the Cross, I cried out. I cried out, “Father! Father! Why have You forsaken Me?” I know what it is like to feel forsaken, and I tell you the Truth, I shall never ever, no not ever, leave you or forsake you. There is no pit too deep that I am not deeper still.

I cried out, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” And I cried out, “It is finished.” I had shown you THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. For My Way is the Way of the Cross. Lay it all down for the sake of your enemies. Love and forgive as you have seen Me do. Bless your enemies, I say. Bless them - for by so doing, you do not know who shall be compelled to come to Me and be saved from the pit of hell. My Children, love not only in word and tongue, but in deed and in truth.

These are the leaders I am raising up today - The ones who’ve been the least esteemed, because they know My love for the lost. They have been forgiven much, and they extend My love, mercy, forgiveness and redemption to a lost and dieing world. They have My Shepherd’s heart to go out and find the one who is lost, so that which is lost shall be found. And Beloved, I tell you the truth, there are so many who are Mine who are lost right now. Wandering aimlessly….hurt and wounded. It is My love, My compassion and My mercy which shall bind up their wounds as The Balm of Gilead.

Yes, I AM changing the guard to those who walk in My Love. Beloved, I love you with an everlasting love, and I desire no man be lost, but all come to repentance and restoration to Me. But how will they know unless they hear and experience Me through My Body? I tell you, My People perish for lack of true knowledge of Me as Redeemer and the Lover of their soul.

O Beloved, I AM changing the guard to those who love out of a pure heart for:
Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God;
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God;
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth;
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy;
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Amen.

Crista Simmons (cmsimmons52@aol.com)
LifeCare Ministries and Healing Centers
http://www.ourchurch.com/member/l/LifeCareMin/
http://dinnerwiththeking.blogspot.com
http://restingbesidestillwaters.blogspot.com
http://www.openheaven.com
Richland, Michigan, USA
May be reprinted only in it's exactness. Freely have we received. Freely do we give.