life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the month “January, 2013”

I breathe in slow. Exhale. It’s never about performing. It’s always about passion. – Ann Voskamp

1

We can think we’re living with Christ –when we’re really only talking about Him.

Your hands can so work in service for Christ — that you forget to fall in love with Christ.

Radical is as simple as realizing God gave us two hands instead of one.

One to praise Him for the gifts given – and the other to pass on the gifts that never stop being gifts to pass on.

– Ann Voskamp
http://www.aholyexperience.com/

Forward is always the way home. – Ann Voskamp

Don’t you quit. You keep walking, you keep trying, there is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon. Some come late. Some don’t come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be alright in the end. Trust God and believe in Good Things to Come. – Jeffrey R. Holland

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Since God is near to all who call upon him, we are under no obligation to cross the sea. The kingdom of heaven can be reached in every land. – Abbess Samantham

Love has no limits and love can’t be contained and when we have a radical love for God, God takes care of the location of where that love goes.

Just radically, wildly, completely, wholly love. When someone stops doing nothing — and starts doing something — this is what starts to change everything. Do something. Love!
– Ann Voskamp
Someone who takes the time to understand their relationship with source, who actively seeks alignment with their broader perspective, who deliberately seeks and finds alignment with who-they-really-are, is more charismatic, more attractive, more effective, and more powerful than a group of millions who have not achieved this alignment.

Nobody else knows your reason for being. You do. Your bliss guides you to it. When you follow your bliss, when you follow your path to joy, your conversation is of joy, your feelings are of joy — you’re right on the path of that which you intended when you came forth into this physical body.
– Esther Hicks

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magic

1
in other words
magic persists with
or without us
no matter how
we may try to
destroy it

and I would
destroy the last chance for
myself
that this might always
continue.

cats and you and me (edited)
by Charles Bukowski

Therefore, those who know themselves can be themselves. – Boyd Bailey

1BE YOURSELF
“Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off.” 1 Samuel 17:38-39

Those who are comfortable in their own skin are content in how the Lord has made them. However, those who strive to be someone they’re not end up frustrated, failing to enjoy authentic living. Saul desired to honor David by giving him his armor that worked well in past battles, but what Saul found effective was not the best plan for David. Yes, wise followers of Christ focus on what aligns with the unique. Therefore, those who know themselves can be themselves.

Are you at peace in how the Lord has prepared you for the challenges you face? Do your words and mannerisms represent the true you, or are you a masquerade of another man or woman? It is ok to learn from others with a track record of integrity, but ask the Spirit to filter their ideas and actions through the grid of how God has made you. The Lord has placed you in this time and place, so be proud of who you are and where you’re from. Be who God made you.

“From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” Acts 17:26-27

Be yourself at home and your family will feel free to be themselves. Parents and children who laugh and cry together grow closer together. Be yourself at work and pretense will feel uncomfortable in your workplace. Office politics are precluded where people are at peace in their roles and responsibilities. It is in an environment of authenticity that we feel free to be how God has made us. So you can be content in a career that is the best fit for you.

Most of all be yourself in the company of Christ. He will not love you any more than He already does, regardless of what you accomplish or don’t accomplish. You don’t have to prove yourself to God who has already thoroughly accepted you in His son Jesus. Be yourself with your Creator and He will give you insight to be creative for His causes. Clothe yourself in the unique apparel of grace that Almighty God has just for you. He is conforming you into the image of His Son.

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” Romans 8:29

Prayer: Heavenly Father, give me the faith and courage to be who You want me to be.

Related Readings: Genesis 1:27; Psalm 106:20; 1 Corinthians 15:29; 1 John 3:2

© 2012 by Boyd Bailey. All rights reserved.
Wisdom Hunters Resources / A registered 501 c3 ministry
info@mail.wisdomhuntersdevotional.com / http://www.wisdomhunters.com

Phoebe

PhoebeI sat
stone-like
for days –
maybe weeks –
death still hanging out
smoking a cigarette
waiting for the chance
to conquer and suck
life from my defenseless body

now I realize the wings
I kept hearing
were not birds
as I thought
they were the wings of the
angels keeping watch
protecting
me
as my armor lay in a pile
I sat
staring
absorbing the carnage
wondering
how?
why?
it seemed impossible
I was still alive

AL 1/24/13

Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare the truth thou hast, that all may share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare. -Voltaire

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Speaking truth in love is the goal.
A very difficult and challenging goal.

when one suffers we all suffer – Gandhi

1Somehow, even without our knowing, when one suffers we all suffer. When one rejoices we all rejoice. Our sadness and gladness mingle together into one joy. In prayer we enter a deeper consciousness, even if it’s beyond our knowing: the reality that we belong, that we are all one living being. We enter into the suffering, and the joy, of the world. We become one with all our body. Our joy is there for others, and our pain is not ours alone. We receive the gift of their happiness, and help them bear the weight of their sorrows. Our souls are woven with theirs. In this way, even sitting in our room in silence, by the mystery of God’s grace in us, we become part of the mending of the world.
______________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

It is a gift of God, the life of the Spirit breathing in you, the maker of worlds uttering, “Let there be light.” – Steve Garnaas – Holmes

The divine in you is not the power to conquer wrong
but simply the passion to be good news,
to open eyes, to set free.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

freedom

The Ascent

1Grab hold,
and take this hand that
reaches out to you.

Look up
into my eye;
my spirit
cries out to you:

Friendship is my thought.

Let us climb the jagged cliff of life
and fight the ascent of Opposition together,

if I can lift you today,
you will look back
and grab the hands of a thousand more.

– Howard Rainer,

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