LIGHTHOUSE

God Bless You Nanette for recommending this.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day

Is a day to remember Love

Love is a smile

Love is opening the door for someone

Love is a hug

Love is paying for someone's meal

Love is random act of kindness

Love is giving up your time for someone else

Love is running into a burning building to rescue someone

Love is more for others than for self

The color of Love is Red

The color of blood is Red

Mark 14:24
And he said to them, “This is my blood,

which confirms the covenant between God and his people.

It is poured out as a sacrifice for many.

Ultimate LOVE

John 10:18
No one can take my life from me.

I sacrifice it voluntarily.

For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again.

For this is what my Father has commanded.”

John 15:13
There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

TURKISH DELIGHT!

We have been studying about our thought patterns and how they impact our actions and our life.
It made me think about temptation and the lusts that are in our flesh.
If I let the desires of my flesh dictate what I think about I will soon be consumed and overcome with temptation.
But God promises a way of escape...We must renew our minds with the truth in His Word. We must think of His Word with the same devotion and passion that we used to think about our idol.
The flesh wants to indulge itself in things that I think will satisfy....but I must remember....it always comes back to bite me....and ends up leaving a bigger hole than the one I was trying to fill in the first place!

I end up betraying my Lord, myself, and others.

I read this the other day in "The Daily Bread" devotional:


Turkish Delight

Read John 21:15-19

Your law is my delight--Psalm 119:174


In C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the White Witch needed to know only one thing about Edmund to get him to betray his siblings. By asking a few simple questions, the witch learned that Edmund’s weakness was his love for a candy called Turkish Delight. The piece she gave to Edmund was more delicious than anything he had ever tasted. Soon Edmund could think only about “trying to shovel down as much Turkish Delight as he could, and the more he ate the more he wanted.”

Each of us has a vulnerability like Edmund’s that Satan is eager to exploit. It may be something addictive like drugs or alcohol, or it may be something seemingly harmless and perhaps even good like food, friendship, or work.

After His resurrection, Jesus asked Peter this personal and probing question: “Do you love Me more than these?” (John 21:15). Many have speculated as to what Jesus meant by the word “these,” but it’s probably better that we don’t know. It allows each of us to personalize the question and ask ourselves, “What do I love more than Jesus?”

When Satan finds out what we love more than God, he knows how to manipulate us. But he loses his power over us when we delight in the Lord. — Julie Ackerman Link

I love Thee, because Thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree;
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now. —Featherstone

God takes delight in us—how can we help but delight in Him?

What is My "Turkish Delight"?

Cry Out to Jesus

To everyone who's lost someone they love
Long before it was their time
You feel like the days
You had were not enough
When you said goodbye

And to all of the people
With Burdens and Pains
Keepin' you back from your lives
You believe there is nothing
And there is no one
Who can make it right

There is hope for the helpless
Rest for the weary
And love for the broken heart
And there is grace and forgiveness
Mercy and healing
He'll meet you wherever you are
Cry out to Jesus
Cry out to Jesus

For the marraige that's struggling
Just to hang on
They've lost all of their
Faith and love
And they've done all they can
To make it right again
Still it's not enough

For ones who can't break
The addictions and chains
Who try to get up
But you crawl back again
Just remember that you're
Not alone in your shame
And your suffering

There is hope for the helpless
Rest for the weary
And love for the broken heart
And there is grace and forgiveness
Mercy and healing
He'll meet you wherever you are
Cry out to Jesus
Cry out to Jesus
Cry out to Jesus

When you're lonely
And it feels like
The whole world is fallin' on you
You just reach out
You just cry out
To Jesus
Cry to Jesus

To the widow
Who suffers from being alone
Wipin' the tears from her eyes
And for the children
Around the world
Without a home
Say a prayer tonight

There is hope for the helpless
Rest for the weary
And love for the broken heart
And there is grace and forgiveness
Mercy and healing
He'll meet you wherever you are

There is hope for the helpless
Rest for the weary
And love for the broken heart
And there is grace and forgiveness
Mercy and healing
He'll meet you wherever you are
Cry out to Jesus
Cry out to Jesus

Oh cry out to Jesus
Cry to Jesus

Terri's Testimony

I have been thinking about the testimony Terri gave last night...
What a beautiful love story between her and her Savior.
The love that God has shown her
even in the very dark times
has just made her story shine that much more brighter.
I was really touched by how she talked about the first inklings she had for God.
It was like a wakening to reality...the reality that life is so empty without Him.
It painted such a sweet picture for me.
A picture of a gentle Savior's love.
One who died for us to be brought back to Him.
He brings our heart around slowly until we see our need...and His love!
It made me think how illusioned we are.
That's right...ILLUSIONED!
We live under an illusion of self sufficiency.
We think that our power is really something.
It doesn't matter if we come from poor or rich families.
If we are well educated and mannered, or not too much so.
We still live under an illusion. The illusion takes many forms.
Yet it still always remains...an illusion.
When we get DIS-illusioned is when we begin to wake up.
The tearing down of the facade is painful sometimes.
We don't like it.
We hear a lot of stories in these rooms about just that....
The DISILLUSIONING.
It is frightening when it's happening.
But once the illusion of self is gone...
the REALITY of walking daily with the ETERNAL is left...
And that is more beautiful than any illusion we could paint.
Thanks, Terri....for the surrender...