#130 - Stacked in YOUR FAVOR!

Good morning fellow brothers and sisters!! Isn't it GREAT that God is no respecter of persons! He doesn't pre-qualify us. To hear from him we don't have to have a Masters Degree, or have went to Seminary, we don't have to be a missionary or a pastor. Isn't it awesome that each one of us, the only pre-requisite is to be born again, to have invited the Holy Spirit to live inside of us. Once we are saved, like Jesus said, he sent the Holy Spirit as our Guide & Comforter, to be with us always. At that point, when we have made the commitment to follow Jesus, and have invited Him to be our Lord, as believers, we all enter onto a level playing field! No "office politics", no "political correctness", pure and simple we have DIRECT access to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! Like we have an "ALL-ACCESS" pass! Way better than a back-stage pass, we have an "ALL-ACCESS" pass! As much time as we want to spend with Him, He is available! In the board meetings, on the playing fields, in your car as your driving down the road, in your office, in the bathroom, in the heat of battle, HE is right there available for access the moment we ask. He is there! Praise God! What a wonderful gift!

Ps 24:3-4a - Who shall go up into the mountain of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His Holy Place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart...

Ps 54:4 - Behold, God is my helper and ally; the Lord is my upholder and is with them who uphold my life. 

Ps 84:11 - For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows [present] grace and favor and [future] glory (honor, splendor, and heavenly bliss)! No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

Ps 144:1-2 - BLESSED BE the Lord, my Rock and my keen and firm Strength, Who teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight-- ²My Steadfast Love and my Fortress, my High Tower and my Deliverer, my Shield and He in Whom I trust and take refuge, Who subdues my people under me. 

Who is He? Who is this "One" on your side? Is He illusive or hard to figure out? Is He just this "mystery being" out there somewhere who wants to keep things hidden from us, who wants us to 'play it on our own?' NO. He is alive & well. He is KNOWN to those who want to KNOW Him! He will not stay hidden, He will not stay a mystery. Through the Holy Spirit, He has made it possible for ALL things to be known to us and for us. The key, pivotal factor is, we made have to do some seeking, we may have to do some digging for those hidden secrets or nuggets He has for us. 


If you picture a boxing ring, look at who you have in the ring. One one side, opposite of you, you see a very small but toothless being. You see one who has been cast down from heaven, and has a "ROAR", but no teeth to back it. He has a big "talk" but no "punch" to back it. The only thing he has is the power of suggestion. He can try to make you believe the negative things he may whisper, but the bottom line is, everything he says is a lie. So.... if you go into the match just KNOWING that ALL he says is a lie, you'll be fine! 


Let's look at who is in the ring with YOU on your side! Shall we begin? 

• Your Helper. 
• Your Ally. 
• Your Upholder - if you do happen to slip or almost fall, He'll uphold you. 
• The SUN - bestowing grace, favor, honor, blessing & splendor
• The SHIELD - bestowing grace, favor, honor, blessing & splendor
• Your ROCK
• KEEN (finely sharpened & accute) Strength
• Firm Strength
• Your Steadfast Love - steadfast... a love that won't allow ANYTHING to harm you. 
• Your Fortress
• Your High Tower 
• Your Deliverer 
• Your Shield - blocking any attacks
• Him Whom you trust 
• Him Whom You can take refuge 

Here we look. A scraggly, short, puny, toothless being VERSUS ALL this that you have on your side of the ring. Is there ANY question of who the winner of this fight would be? I'm not a betting woman, but if I was, I know where I'd put my money! The key is going into LIFE, going into EACH DAY knowing WHO you have on your side. Knowing WHAT you bring to the table. You go out with great FAVOR on your side. Favor! Strength! There is no way you can fail with our great and mighty God fighting on your side! 

Is there a way you could be defeated? Technically, yes. One way. If you listen to the suggestions of the scrawny being on the other side of the ring. If you allow yourself the freedom, if you put your guard down long enough for him to begin talking to you, he brings to the ring lies & manipulation. He brings to the ring deceit. Close off your ears to thoughts or suggestions of the enemy, and instead go out and CHOOSE to operate in the Victory that is already yours! The odds are most DEFINITELY stacked in your favor! Operate with the attitude that YOU CANNOT LOOSE! If you are willing to stay in-tune with your Father, and tune out the enemy, the victory is YOURS! The odds are stacked in YOUR favor! Go out and WIN today!

#17 - Is there a Light in your Eyes?

Well... it has been a fun morning. lol. So far, I have killed 4 fruit flies & 2 flies. One fly died via "coffee overdose". :) As my grandpa would say, "Oh, he won't drink much." You've got to admit... it's pretty exciting when you go to take a drink of your coffee and as you are bringing the mug to your mouth, you see a fly floating in it. Yes, gross! I was joking with Tyler and I said if I had a pest control company this would be my slogan: "Amy's Pest Control: Sending your bugs to meet Jesus!" :) lol! Whenever I kill bugs in my house, I just tell them, "I'm sending you to be with Jesus." It always makes me laugh just to say it, so maybe it will help them in their last moments. I will say that I have been warning them. I tell them if they want to live, they need to get by the door and fly out when it opens. Ha!

Anyways... that has been my morning thus far. :) SO excited for my DOR (Day of Rest) tomorrow!! YIPPEE!! YEAH!! :) I've been feeling a bit sluggish, I can tell I need a day to be rejuvenated. Tyler challenged me....he asked me if "writing a blogpost" was "resting" on my DOR. I defensively told him the reasons why it "could" still be resting... so, with that said, I may or may not post something tomorrow. I suppose if it feels like "work", then I will just chill, but if something is just JUMPING off my fingertips, then I may post something. 

Todays verses....

Proverbs 15:30 - The light in the eyes [of him whose heart is joyful] rejoices the hearts of others, and good news nourishes the bones.

Proverbs 31:28 - Her children rise up and call her blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied); and her husband boasts of and praises her...

Proverbs 15 was loaded with some jam-up scripture this morning! It was almost hard to get around "the mouth", "the tongue", "the lips", "words".... I definitely think that all the repetition isn't there for no reason. Just a reminder how very IMPORTANT it is that we are guarding our lips & words. 

Proverbs 15:30 stood out to me this morning. It just made me think about the light in the eyes of people. Have you noticed it? Can you think of people that when they walk into a room, it's like they have a twinkle in their eyes, it draws you to them, you just want to be around them. Can you think of people like that? You walk into a room, you see them, and you just gravitate to them. You think, "Oooh. I want to go talk to them. They always make me feel good to be around them." I was thinking about one of my friends who I go to church with, and that is how I feel when I am around her. You know the kind of person that you just click with. They always seem to be upbeat, they are like-minded and almost all the time they have a twinkle in their eye. They are filled with the joy of the Lord. I thought of my friend, and her husband is the same for my husband. They laugh about it, but they call each other "brother from another mother", or he calls my husband an "undercover brother." They are kindred spirits with us. We believe the same, we're both goal oriented, we both know how good our God is, we both love the Lord & love learning what he has to teach us. They are indeed our brother & sister in the Lord. Can you think of someone like that... when they walk in, they just have that sparkle? 

On the flip side...do you also know those people who are NOT walking in with light in their eyes. Yes, they may be Christians... but when they walk in the room, you quickly find a reason to exit. "Uh...yah, I gotta go to the bathroom." And you dip out because you just don't want to be around them. They bring you down. They are the people who if they said they have had a good day, or are having a good day, you want to respond with, "Notify your face." They are not bad people. But, just being around them your spirits are not lifted. Can you think of someone like that? 

That brings us to our Proverbs 31 woman....her children rise up and call her blessed. Who knows that you can't make a CHILD say good things about you if they are not true??! Children have this innocence about them... this truthfulness. Our Proverbs 31 woman is getting the praises of her children! I can just see it.... their mama walks in the room and she has that twinkle in her eye. Yes, she has accomplished a lot that day, but she still has the twinkle, the sparkle, the glitter. Just by the way they look at her, you can tell they adore her. She laughs with them, she loves on them, she kisses them, tickles them and even prepares for them their favorite cookies & lets them lick the bowl clean. :) Our Proverbs 31 friend is not living a lie, she just lives with light in her eyes. She doesn't jump down their throat. When they spill something, if she needs to be firm, she is... but most of the time she realizes that plain & simple, it was an accident and adults spill things too on accident. Who purposefully spills anything? Her attitude is, "No big deal, let me just grab a rag real quick and clean it up." Because of her child messing up, she doesn't make them feel terrible, they are not looking down about ready to cry because mom made them feel terrible. They are not running off to their room in tears because of the harsh words mom said. She may ask them to please be more careful, but her eyes are still full of love. Because of the love, because of the twinkle, her children ARE more careful next time. 

What about her husband? What about the Proverbs 31 husband? What is his response to her? He openly boasts of and praises her. He notices all she does. He takes note of who she is, what she accomplishes, how she treats the children, employees, the needy. He takes note of ALL that she does, he takes not of WHO she is.... he sees the twinkle in her eyes. She not only has it with her children, but she has it with her husband too. When she walks in the room, HE sees the light in her eyes. She is an encouragement to him. She lights up the room. She makes him feel good, feel better about himself. She thanks him for providing. She thanks him for what he did that day. She tells him how handsome he is, how cute he is. She loves on him, she adores him. Her eyes light up when she sees him. She loves him. Like a newly wed, he still has her heart. And the light even fills her eyes more when her husband brags on her. He tells of all she accomplished. He boasts of her. He praises her. It is not being prideful to brag on your spouse. To tell others of how blessed you are. Because of him boasting and praising her, deep down, her desire is to even do more, to even be better, to continue on this pathway of improvement, accomplishment, success. 

What does all this do for me? It makes me think about.... which woman am I? Am I the one people avoid because of my negativity? Or am I the woman that people are drawn too? Am I an encourager? A joy to be around? Have I been notifying my face when I am out. Granted, I don't have to be "overly happy" around people that it is annoying to them... I don't have to jump in the room bouncing & going overboard on, "HEY, Look at ME! I am HAPPY!" But, I can even have the quiet joy, the glow, the sparkle. The sparkle that shows even without words. The sparkle that shows a light in my eye.

When I think of my friend who is such a joy to be around... I know that part of it is because of her relationship with the Lord. She is full. She has found fulfillment in Him. She has spent time seeking Him out, finding Him, knowing Him. 

My desire for you is that you would find the light in your eye. That as your relationship with the Lord gets stronger and grows deeper, that you would YEARN even more for the Lord. That you would YEARN for that stronger relationship with Him. That you would YEARN to know your Father more, to talk with him, to fellowship, to love Him even more. That the light in your eyes would be an automatic result from your YEARN.

Close your eyes.... listen to the words..... enjoy this video: YEARN