created to love Him...

Peter wrote of Jesus in his first letter that, "He committed no sin and no deceit was found in His mouth." Jesus stated several times in the Gospels that He only came to do or say what He heard the Father say...meaning if no deceit was found in Jesus' mouth, than no deceit is found in the Father's mouth.  In Revelation 12:10 Satan is called "the accuser of the saints." His job is to rob, steal, kill and destroy. There is no truth in him.  There is a clear distinction between these two worlds. Truth - lies. Life abundant - death. Love - hatred. Grace - accusation.  Purposed identity - useless existence. Transformation - stagnancy. Hope - hopelessness. The difference is screamingly obvious. I've known love from the One and known torment from the other. Why, then, do we (I) spend so much of our waking moments attributing the attributes of Satan to the Father and vice versa? Why do we day after day choose to believe that the lies are truth and the truth ...

He makes the clouds His chariot    and rides on the wings of the wind. He makes winds His angels,    flames of fire His servants.              ~Psalm 104:3-4 I love the majesty of God displayed in Psalm 104. There is none like Him. All of creation is under His gracious sovereignty. Sometimes I like to read this Psalm aloud to Him in worship of His...bigness! Verses 3-4 in particular caught my attention this week. What if these verses are literal, and not figurative? What if every time we feel the wind it is the effect of God riding by on the wings of His angels? If He holds the universe in His hands, it makes sense to me that I should be able to feel Him within the physical universe. I think it's easy sometimes to lock God in to only being a spiritual entity. But, He created the physical, which means that He is able to interact with us in physical, tangible experiences. If nothing else, these verses have he...

I'm in between a promise and the fulfillment in the place called process. I've been in this place called process for several years now. The longer it lasts, the more impossible the fulfillment becomes and the more difficult it is to believe that God will bring it. I would love to say that I have great faith and believe wholeheartedly He will do what He has spoken in my life. But, sadly, more often than not I find myself, like Sarah, laughing in doubt due to the circumstances that surround me. This has been one of those weeks. It has been a week filled with doubt and confusion. It has been a week where I have harbored thoughts set against His faithfulness. My mind has been allowed to conquer what I know to be true in my heart about His goodness and ability to do the impossible.  Last night, in a moment of hurt, unbelief and anger I told a friend that I feel like God has betrayed me...I don't think there is any statement more whiny than that! I fell asleep in a pout. When I ...

Earlier today I saw a father and a son shopping for a gift that, I'm assuming, was for the wife/mother. The son was maybe 4 years old - sweetly energetic and full of questions. Every few seconds I heard, "Daddy ______?   Can I have ______, Daddy? Daddy, how does ______ work? Daddy, how much does this cost? Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Now, I, as the onlooker found this little guy to be wonderful...in my 1.4 minutes that I had to stand there and listen to his constant line of questioning. The father, on the other hand whom I assume hears this 24/7, was slightly less engaged by the high-pitched squealing of this tot. He would answer with a shrug, a grunt, a murmur...half paying attention, trying to accomplish the task for which he came.  Sometimes, this is how I feel God must respond to me. I am FILLED with questions. I learn through questions. I thrive through questions. I've had many thoughts over the years that have questioned whether I drive God crazy with my unending que...

Praise... until the spirit of worship comes. Worship...until the glory comes. Stand in the glory! 

I remember one Christmas when I was a little girl wanting a specific doll. I had seen it in a catalog and knew my life would not be complete without it. Even at the age of 7, I wanted to be a mother! I circled it with a big magic marker and laid it open to the page on my parents' bed. My mom was always a sucker for buying me and my sisters dolls, so I knew once I made it known the doll would be under the tree. I never faltered. I never worried. A few weeks before Christmas, the presents were wrapped and I got to look at the tree and dream for several days until that doll was mine. I remember gently snooping, so as not to disturb the arrangement of the presents, to look for the doll shaped box. Sure enough, it was under there. It was as good as mine...but not mine yet. I was so excited that morning to open that gift and finally hold the doll that I had requested. For me, looking back, this is a reflection of what our relationship with the Father can be, or should be. I'm His c...

In my quiet time recently, I spent time meditating on John 16:12-13 which reads: "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come." These verses make me hungry. Imagine you have Jesus physically in front of you and He tells you that there is much more to say, but He's withholding because you can't bear what He has to say. You can't handle what He has to say. I can't tell whether this is Jesus' kindness to not overwhelm His disciples or if it's a sign of weakness on the disciples part that they are unable to hold anymore truth. I've been asking God today what is my truth-bearing capacity? If Jesus has truth He wants to share with me, I want to have the strength to bear it. God, increase my ability to bear truth and revelatio...

Unbelief says, "My life is slipping away from me; I've got to do something different."  But faith says, "I'd rather die than stop contending for the promise."  Faith prays until the answer comes. The meaning of prayer is answer.                                                                        ~Bob Sorge

I was spending some time in the book of Hebrews last week and stumbled across a verse that has been wonderfully haunting since.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from the sight of God, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.    Hebrews 4:13 Verses like these make me want to run and cringe sometimes...or, all the time! God sees everything. He knows everything. All those thoughts and behaviors that I work so hard to keep hidden from view HE is taking them in. His eyes are fixed on me. Where are my fig leaves??? As I was reading this verse and whimpering time stood still as I heard Him say, "Hol, aren't you glad that I AM the God that has this ability?" In a moment a verse, a truth that brought upon the fear of the Lord was now superceded by the love of God. I'm not saying that the fear of God was gone. However, in a moment the realization of His love became so much bigger than my fear of Him. What if we served a god who ...

I LOVE the Old Testament! The lives of the people are like parables with hidden treasures and secrets to be found. Tonight, I'm a bit captivated by the life of Moses. Have you ever really stopped to wonder and dwell on the different ways that God Almighty revealed Himself to Moses? Who gets to see God in that fashion??? God BEGAN the revelation of Himself with an unconsumed blazing bush. That was Moses' beginning. How does it get better and more amazing than that? God had just set the stakes really high to continue moving Moses from glory to glory. Moses, at this beginning stage of His relationship with Yahweh, was a weak-kneed, mumbling wreck. He couldn't put coherent sentences together. He didn't feel equipped to live up to the task of what God called him to do. He was called to save a nation from the bondage of slavery and he knew he wasn't good enough. All he saw when he looked at himself was weakness, failure, inability. Yet...God called him. We know the story...