"I Will Never Forget You..."

But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me."

(The Lord speaking) "Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet...I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me."-Isaiah 49:14-16

You may think God is unconcerned with you or has forgotten about you. But, God is clear about how He feels about us (John 3:16). In this particular part of Scripture, He compares His love and compassion on Zion, with that of a mother nursing her child. For those of us who have children, we can identify with this very strongly. Imagine, could you ever forget about the child you made and that you care for and nourish and love? The bond is too strong and it will always be with us forever. Now, think about God's comparison to how we feel and amplify that a gazillion times! God's love and compassion are far more pure than ours. It goes beyond unconditional. That kind of love is beautifully overwhelming!

I also love the way He says, " I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands." When you don't have a piece of paper, and you want to remember something, what do you usually do? That's right; you write it on the palm of your hand, so that you do not forget. God wanted to make a very strong point to Zion, that He could never forget them. It is the same with us.

God has not forgotten about you. You are never too far for Him to reach you. All you have to do, is make an about face, and turn to Him. Tell Him your anguish and pour out your heart to Him. Humble yourself, and admit that you are helpless and hopeless and need His Salvation. You may think it is pathetic or a "site to see" but God thinks that clothing yourself in brokenness in humility, in this way, is the most beautiful thing you could put on and He readily will receive you with open arms. God hates your sin, NOT you. And when you make that decision to seek His way and abandon it all, He will help you and He will embrace you as His own. He is a wonderful, loving, merciful, gracious Father, who will never leave you nor forsake you. He sent Jesus on your behalf, so that you may go to Him freely, and have a relationship and fellowship with Him and so that He may heal you and change you from the inside out. This is the God I love and serve. HE is truly awesome. ♥

Feeding His Lambs/Sheep

Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again. Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
Ecclesiastes 11:1-2

Before I surrendered my life to the Lord, a friend of mine had a vision about me. It frightened him, because he said that every time he dreams, it comes true. I don't think this young man, understood the gift God had given him, in fact I know he didn't because he wasn't living for the Lord, yet God used him to send me this message. This was the dream:

He said to me, "I dreamed you were standing on the sand of the shore, holding a loaf of bread and you were eating from it. In front of you, in the sea, there were many people who appeared to be drowning, but the waters were only up to their necks. They were crying out in despair. The waters were dark and murky. But, then the part that scared me, was when you began to walk over to the water and go in to it. You began breaking off pieces of this bread, and sharing it with those people. The water didn't overwhelm you. I couldn't understand why you were in there with them and how by giving them bread could even help them. I was afraid for you, by being in those dark, despairing waters, even though you seemed fine."

What my friend didn't understand, I didn't fully understand at the time either. It wasn't until about 6 or 7 months later, after I had a radical change in my life and relationship with God, and began reading His Word for hours a day, that I fully understood its meaning.

Christ is the "Bread of Life." Bread symbolizes life. It is the nourishment that sustains life. Jesus said in John 6:35,  And Jesus said unto them, "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger ; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst "

Bread also represents the physical body of Christ. At the Last Supper Jesus broke bread, gave it to his disciples and said, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." Luke 22:19

Jesus is also "The Word of God", that became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1-5, 14).

In the dream, I took the bread, broke it, consumed it, and then shared it with those who were in great despair, drowning in the waters of their sin. Christ is within me and His Word I have partaken in. I am to feed His sheep, His lambs just as He told Peter in John 21:15-17. The waters did not overwhelm me, because God promised they wouldn't:

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle on you."-Isaiah 43:2

I was there to bring His message to the sick and suffering in spirit. A few years ago, I prayed a prayer alone to God, that I wanted to reach people on a large scale, as many as possible with His message. Not long after, at a church I'd been attending, someone spoke a word to me saying that, God was going to use me, to reach people on a large scale, a very important purpose.

The dream, my prayer, and the spoken word of confirmation, speak to me that, God has called me to a higher purpose in Him and I cannot begin to accomplish such a weighty task, without His training, refining, preparation, holiness and power. This is a huge responsibility. A lot is at stake. I am humbled and cannot even begin to grasp how in the world this is going to transpire. But I trust in God alone, for His timing and His purpose to go forth and bear much fruit.

My conviction this morning, in reading the above scripture in Ecclesiastes, is that there isn't a whole lot of time, to bring His message to the lost. You never know what the day may bring or what disaster may befall any part of the world. I've wasted so much precious time on my own selfishness and selfish desires. I don't know how I am going to be used to minister, but I know that the clock is ticking and the enemy wants me to waste as much time as possible, because souls are at stake. I am valuable through Christ to do His work to His glory and am a huge threat to the kingdom of darkness. It is time to stop all of my selfish thinking and pursuit of my own desires apart from God's. He knows my desires, He knows my needs and He will provide. I have to seek Him first and His righteousness:

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto."-Matthew 6:33

Being self-consumed for so long has wreaked havoc on my life and delayed my blessings and purpose in Him. There is a world that is hurting and is desperate for an encounter with Jesus Christ. And how will they know, lest someone tell them? Have Your way God. I am ready to do Thy will. Help me to help others, to reach and teach them of Your love and sacrifice and the hope they are desperately seeking, is found only in You.

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"-Romans 10:14