I Will Not in Any Degree...Leave You!

~I received this email today containing the following....I pray the Lord encourages your heart...
Don't know about you, but I sure needed His reminder today.
Blessings and love always,
Crista

Copy of Weekly Article, DALLAS NEW ERA
PRAISE GOD FOR HIS HOLY WORD

Charles Sims, Pastor
Away from home on a mission trip, very homesick--I'll never forget it. Then a card arrived from Charles, containing a Scripture notation (Heb. 13:5, Amplified Bible), reminding me again of the timeliness, comfort and power of God's Word.
"...for God Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake you! Assuredly not!"
I kept reading (v.6): "So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper: I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me?"
Wonderful words of life, blessed assurance.--Betty Sims.

Just Let Me

~With permission, I am posting a dream given to a family member and Brother in Christ, Dave Hiemstra. His wife, Kathy, sent it out yesterday. I pray your heart is encouraged in this. This really says it all....nothing to add.

I just wanted to share a dream that Dave had the other night. It was right after we had prayed and he was asking God to give us dreams and visions. Dave always said that he never dreamed at night but when he does dream, he has fantastic God-given dreams. (Me, I always dream but they usually have to do with what I saw or read before I fall asleep. Mostly they are just nonsense!)

In his dream, many of us were walking down a country road where the sky was huge above us and there were large hills on the landscape. He said gigantic figures began to form in the sky, one at a time and they were people. He said when the first one appeared, those on the road began to say “Look it’s John” or “No, it is Peter”. The figure would swoop over us a few times and we were fearful as it was so large and then it woould go down behind the hill and as we approached the hill, everyone was fearful, but the figure appeared up over the hill and had a loving and welcoming smile - Nothing to be fearful of.

Next Dave said a gigantic angel appeared in the sky and swooped over us and was so glittery and sparkly. It had gigantic wings. These figures would leave huge vapor trails and the whole world could see them. Next Jesus appeared in the sky in the same fashion. As He swooped by you could see two little girls in the trail of his vapor with their heads laid back and just enjoying riding in the wake of His passing. Dave said everyone started running after Jesus and wanting to join the little girls, everyone crying out to Jesus to carry them also.

Dave said he started to be lifted up in the wake but then began to doubt that it was real and felt himself hitting the ground. He said “Jesus, I want you to lift me like the others” and Jesus said, “Just let me!”, and then Dave was lifted and riding (floating) with the others behind Jesus. He said there was such joy and happiness and even a smell of what he described as mint all around. He said when he woke up he could still smell the fragrance and wanted to wake me up and ask me if I smelled it too. He said he just could not describe the beauty and splendor of it all.

I think what really stood out to Dave was that Jesus said “Just let me!” This spoke to us both about how we struggle and fight against all our thoughts and fears and Jesus is there just waiting for us to let go and let Him!

Storm Dreams, Earthquakes and Warfare!

~For those of you following this blog, you know that the Lord gave me two dreams - only a month apart - about an approaching storm of unimaginable magnitude in the Spring of this year.
~I have just completed listening to the prophetic Word of the Lord preached through Pastor John Kilpatrick and what the Lord gave him to tell The Church for 2009 and beyond. I believe it to be straight from the Holy Spirit. Please contact me if you'd like a copy. The Lord gave Pastor John the Word: R-E-S-U-R-R-E-C-T-I-O-N and the meaning of each letter of the word: RESURRECTION. The thumbnail of God's Word is this:
R: Rescue - God's going to RESCUE us this year.
E: Extreme - God will use extreme measures to rescue us.
S: Signs - There will be signs in the heavens.
U: Usher - God will send His angels to usher in what He's promised.
R: Recover/Recovery - God will make sure that recover/regain and be restored to normal and better: mind, body, spirit. "They shall lay hands on the sick and they SHALL recover."
R: Russia - Keep a wary eye on Russia. There will be suddenly involving Russia. Pray for our President.
E: EARTHQUAKE - SEE LINK. This involves the New Madrid fault line which extends from Missouri northward to Chicago. http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word/6500
C: Candlestick - Churches. God is not going to tolerate anymore evil in His Church. We will see churches being brought down, but other churches/candlesticks being raised.
T: Time - Time is quickly running out. The Gentile age is coming to an end.
I: Israel/Jerusalem
O: Overthrow: "I AM about to overthrow cities and evil." God is about to overthrow cities on rulers.
N: Near - HIS COMING IS NEAR.

~Church, this is not a call for alarm, but of preparation. Remember, that if God be for us, who can be against us. I tell you by the Holy Spirit, that God IS a God of mercy, but He also brings correction and judgment, for He is a just God. He is a God of Justice. He gives all of us time to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand! But there comes a time, if we continue in our rebellion and stiff-necked position, after God's multiple attempts to bring repentance and we repeatedly refuse, that He WILL bring His judgment upon that which is vile in His mouth and to His heart. Remember how Jesus turned over the tables of the money changers in the House of God? And what did He say, "My Father's House SHALL BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER, but you have made it a den of thieves." (Matt. 21:13)

~Church, as I was reading another "spiritual email" this morning...the Holy Spirit sternly stated, "THIS IS NOT A GAME!" This is not about forwarding emails about God and Jesus...It is about what we do and say. It is about living what we profess to believe! Anyone can punch a button and forward an email! Even the heathen do that!

~Church, there is an anguish in the heart of God for His People! (See post re: David Wilkerson - and if you can't find it, please email me.)

~Sorry if this seems a bit scattered today....but we need to know that we ARE in a spiritual battle...and God IS sovereign....and He WILL fulfill what He has said....and we do not rule God, but HE IS RULER OVER ALL! Are we truly serious and sincere about our walk with the Lord, or do we view our salvation as just an easy ride to heaven when it's over? Jesus came to destroy the works of the enemy...and that is the power in which He's called us to walk.

2 Chronicles 7:14-16 "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually."

May he who has ears to hear, hear what the Spirit is saying.

Up Close and Personal

~I was pondering today....about what the Lord did during our service at Life Care Center this past Sunday....how He revealed Himself to us...
~The Lord had led us to Romans 8:35 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"...v. 38 "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, v. 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
~And then we went into our time of praise through song....We'd just finished singing, "Nothing Is Impossible....when you put your trust in God; Nothing is impossible, when you're trusting in His Word. Harken to the voice of God to thee; "Is there anything too hard for Me?" Then put your trust in God alone and rest upon His Word; for ev'rything, O ev'rything, yes ev'rything is possible with God" Eugene L. Clark
~When we finished, the spiritual atmosphere became very heavy with the weighty Presence of God...and still....and then the essence of what the Lord spoke was this:

"You sing this song, "Nothing Is Impossible", but do you believe it?

Do you believe it? Do you really BELIEVE this? You sing, but do you believe it?

I love you so much, and I walk these halls night and day.

I have never left you nor forsaken you.

O, how I love you! O how I love you!"

~And the atmosphere became even heavier....and I could not speak....God's awesomeness had moved from Heaven to earth in a little dining room in a nursing home at 320 Brigham St. in Plainwell, Michigan. God came to us, up close and personal.

~Oh, His peace and His sweet Presence....and the overwhelming sense of His closeness and awesomeness....I have no earthly words....There were no words, because HE IS THE WORD!

How does one define THE WORD in earthly terms?....I truly don't know....But I do believe, that

God wanted us - all of us - residents and volunteers alike...to KNOW the reality of His abiding love and Presence...and to believe in WHO HE IS - Personally - and what is His desire to do among us...The Impossible - bring physical healing into the nursing home on a scale that will be exceedingly, abundantly beyond what we could think or imagine!

~So, I was pondering today about how God manifested Himself during the service...and how He revealed Himself to the residents....but then I also knew....He revealed Himself to me, too....

I need Him so much! I want to know My Daddy up close and personal - just like all of us.....

~I don't have any great, big revelation of sort....only that God wants to come close to us...more than we realize....to reveal Himself to us...and to love on us as His children....His Bride....

~O, Come Lord Jesus come....Come Lord Jesus come....

Psalm 42:1-2a "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God."

Jeremiah 29:13-14a "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord...."

Jeremiah 33:3 "Call to Me, and I will answer you...."

By My Spirit

By My Spirit

6/25/09

Crista Simmons

O, in the barren places - when I could see no more...

I sought My Living Savior and there He stood before...

"Come unto Me", He gently spoke; holding forth His hand,

"And I shall take you forward, into The Promised Land.

The way is narrow and often very dark,

But I Am ever with you;

Never, ever to depart.

I allow the darkness, so you will ever know -

I'll never leave you nor forsake you;

No matter how it goes.

And as you look to Me,

I'll take you through to more than you imagine -

For it's not by might nor power,

But by My Spirit," says the Lord.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 (Amp.) "For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you. Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as in vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart."

A Call to Anguish

A Call to Anguish - David Wilkerson

Would really appreciate your comments....I am undone after listening to God's anquished heart pour through David Wilkerson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27DIST8qO4I

Philippians 3:10 "[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 His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same ways 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, [in the hope]
v. 11 That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body]."

Joel 2:17 "Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar...."

Matthew 23:37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!"

~Christ's Suffering....His longing for us, His Bride and who He desires us to be....that we may truly reflect the true image of Christ....not an imitation of who we think He is based upon who we're watching on television or even listening to standing in the pulpit...but Who He Truly IS and has called us to be as His Bride.
~The suffering of Christ...the suffering/agony/languish/ache beyond ache which happens because He knows what could be....but will not, when the person(s) involved (myself included) are not willing to participate with Him, because of selfish pride, rebellion, the desires of the world, the desires of self....my time, my life, my house, my job, my kids, my ministry, my this/my that....unforgiveness...etc., etc., etc....

~Lord, I lay it down...my life...my all...my hopes....my dreams....my family...my job....my ministry....Lord, that what will arise out of the ashes of brokenness will be Your Resurrection power displayed....in that Lord, yet not my will be done, but Thy will be done for Your Glory and Your Kingdom...both for now and forevermore. Do whatever it takes, Lord, to take me wherever You want to take me. In Jesus' Name....Amen.

The Aroma of Christ

The year: 2001...in my pea pod apartment....literally crying out to God....A disheveled man in his 50's-60's had come into the store where I was working that day...the town "drunk"...living out of his van, and he wanted to buy a cell phone. There was an essence so deep and poignant about him - smacking me full head-on...That visible CRASH in the spirit realm where we see and hear the effect of our own self-righteousness that has no effect to change the lives of others....I couldn't escape the question resounding as if I'd just yelled over the Grand Canyon, itself....Where was The Church for this homeless man? Why was nothing made available to him to which he could avail himself in his time of need? (Please know that I had no idea what he'd tried to do in his city, but the Lord opened my eyes to see the suffering about me in the midst of those who call ourselves: The Church.)

The Lord revealed the following vision during prayer....I was in a forest of type...a small clearing with a "campfire" set...The wood neatly arranged in the campfire....The stove pot of stew hanging above it - full of vegetables and meat - ready to feed any hungry camper or passerby....Then I saw people...wandering...aimless....starving....eyes sunken and glazed....approaching the kettle hanging above the collection of wood....nearly tripping over it. ~But no one saw the food...They wandered in oblivion to what they had just passed....I wanted to shout out..."HEY! IT'S OVER HERE! YOU JUST MISSED IT!!!".....My heart sunk and ached deep within....The hungry continued to wander about...still starving...still aimless.
....LORD! Why didn't these people see the food which was so readily available? What happened????...."My Child, did you see the wood? It was unlit, so there was no fire. The wood just sat there....There was no fire....Without fire, the wood will not heat the dinner which awaits...without fire, no heat, no cooking....and NO AROMA....There is no aroma, because the fire has gone out of My Church in America. Wood sits ready in her pews...but there is no fire."

I will close with the following excerpt quoted from Leonard Ravenhill's sermon, "Are We Willing to Drink His Cup?", 10/25/85 and can be accessed in full at: http://www.ravenhill.org/drinkcup.htm

"I was reading a couple of pages in the Marechales life yesterday. I like to turn to that book. She was the oldest daughter of the founder of the Salvation Army. Even when she was 85 years of age she could preach up a storm.
"One night," she said, "I went to Brussels. I went to a large mansion loaded with antiques and costly things. It was beautiful. It was owned by a Christian. I noticed a sweet girl there, at about 9 o’clock each morning she would come out of the servant’s quarters radiant.

I said to her one day, ‘My dearie, I want to ask you a question. I’ve noticed the last few mornings while having my breakfast, after coming out of your servant’s quarters, you are so radiant!’ She replied, ‘I begin at 5 o’clock in the morning.’ ‘5 o’clock?! To what time?’ ‘Well, breakfast is at 8. Usually I have the last fire going by about half past 7.’ ‘How do you do it?’‘I just kneel in front of it. I sweep all the ashes on one side. I put them in a bucket. I get some paper and some kindling wood.’ (And boy, getting coal to catch fire is a job!) ‘I go in that room and get that fire going. I go in the next, I go to the next. I go back and the first one’s gone out, so I do it over again. But eventually I get to breakfast a minute or two before 8 o’clock. I’ve lit my 12 fires.’‘Don’t you get impatient?’‘No.’‘Well, you say the fires have gone out?’‘Yes, they often go out.’‘Well, do you get up early for devotions?’‘No,’ she said, ‘Not very early.’‘Well, how do you maintain you spiritual life?’She said, ‘Every time I light a fire, I say, Jesus, while I’m kindling this fire, kindle a fire in me!’
Kindle a fire of Your love afresh in me this morning! Kindle a fire of Your devotion in me!
Here’s this precious little girl talking to one of the most powerful women in the world. A women who, at 21 years of age, went to Paris and turned the city upside-down preaching to all the prostitutes. The queen of the underworld was there. Men came from the Sorbone, the greatest intellectuals with their long beards and their pipes, and listened to her.
And yet the Marechale said that young lady taught me more than most sermons I’d ever heard.
She had to light the fire, get bellows, blow the things up and try to get them going. She said, "At every fire place, I never missed one morning saying, ‘Lord as I’m kindling this fire, kindle Your fire in me.’" The fire of love for Your will. The fire of love. The fire of joy. The fire of peace. The fire of compassion.
If this fire came back to the Church, we’d turn America upside-down in six months.
Ours is all theology. We get a starving man and give him a cookbook. Does it help him? He looks in the cookbook and sees there a dish with potatoes, beef, etc. What do you do? You tantalize him! You say, "Oh, I hope one day you can come to our place We’re going to have this dish, this beef, this turkey, and something else." And yet the poor man is ravenously hungry! We give him a picture, but we don’t give him the goods! At the average church on Sunday morning, they give you the menu, but they never give you the meal. They give an outline of theology: ‘This is our precious doctrine." So, most people will be reciting doctrine in Hell."

LORD JESUS, SET OUR HEARTS ON FIRE FOR YOU AND YOUR KINGDOM, ONCE AGAIN! COME, LORD JESUS, COME!

2 Cor. 2:14-16 "But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ's victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere, For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which exhales] unto God, [discernible alike] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the latter it is an aroma [wafted] from death [a fatal odor, the smell of doom]; to the former it is an aroma from life [a vital fragrance, living and fresh]. And who is qualified (fit and sufficient) for these things? [Who is able for such a ministry? We?]...Amplified Bible

Revelation 3:15-22 "I know your [record of] works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth! For you say, I am rich; I have prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing; and you do not realize and understand that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Therefore I counsel you to purchase from Me gold refined and tested by fire, that you may be [truly] wealthy, and white clothes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nudity from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes, that you may see. Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude]. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears and listens to and heeds My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will eat with him, and he [will eat] with Me. He who overcomes (is victorious), I will grant him to sit beside Me on My throne, as I Myself overcame (was victorious) and sat down beside My Father on His throne. He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the [Holy] Spirit says to the assemblies (churches)."...Amplified Bible