I Hope You Dance! by Myra Boozer

"Let God have you, and let God love you. Don't be surprised if your heart begins to hear music you have never heard..." Max Lucado

Surrender is hard for most of us. We have all the answers, and we don't want to give in to anyone. But, it would be nice to be swept off our feet and held in the arms of God for a time of refreshing, a time of laughter, a time of release from this old world and all its cares. The road seems long and tiring on some days, and our cares become attached, as though they are determined to stay and drag us down... way down.

But, as we listen to the voice calling in the distance, "Come to me, my child, and I will carry you, I will give you rest." It becomes a silver-lined invitation on the best stationery you could ever envision. An invitation to lay down all that is bothering you, all that has crept upon you when you were just going about your normal routine of life...

He is calling, and He is waiting with arms open wide. So, what is stopping you? Go ahead, surrender to His voice, yield to His call. “Let God have you and Let God love you, and don't be surprised if your heart begins to hear music you have never heard before."

I pray you surrender, laying every burden down at His feet, allowing Him to lift you above all the cares that so easily beset you. Allow Him to sweep you off your feet and dance. Yes, I hope you dance...

"Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing..." Psalm 30:11.

The Gift Of God Is Eternal Life!

Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Jesus died for us when we were dead in our sins and doomed to an eternity in hell! Our frail human mind is incapable of fully comprehending the magnitude of God’s gift to us. How can someone whom we haven’t previously known be willing to sacrifice His only Son for our benefit? Romans 5:6, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

When we knew not how lost we were, God had planned for our total and complete deliverance. Through the precious blood offering of His Son, Jesus, the pure and spotless Lamb of God, the penalty for sin was paid. God loved us when we were still sinners.

Jesus died for us, and we are justified by His blood. We are saved from the wrath of God as we look to the cross and believe. When the sin in us made us enemies of God, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. We have now received life through the atonement for our sin by Christ Jesus. He died and rose again to provide our deliverance, to free us from the curse of sin and sin’s punishment. (continued) 

Are You All Tangled Up? by Myra Boozer

The BIG fish seemed to be a death trap for Jonah, but it was a life preserver! "Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights," Jonah 1:17.

Sometimes the situations we find ourselves in seem hopeless, and we feel helpless. Don't despair! You may be all wrapped up and tangled up in the seaweeds of this world, but keep calling on Jesus. Call out with a heart of repentance and surrender to HIS will, He will hear you!

God is in control of every situation that touches your life. He knows your name. He can turn things around. He can move into the darkest crevice of your world and set things in motion that you never dreamed about. He can break every yoke that binds you!

He can bring about your "release" just like Jonah. You, too, can be cast out onto dry land, maybe a beach. Take notice, this is where many forget the long nights of agony, suffering, and total despair. This can be the time you forget the prayers of repentance and the promises you made to God while you were chained.

Desperation brings about many promises that end up on the "To Do List." The smell of the fresh air and seeing the daylight can cause a freed person to rise up in an attitude of, "I made it! I am strong! I am resilient! I will survive!”

Hold on, this new beginning of freedom is a place of opportunity to do what God asked you to do from the beginning. To Obey Him! Your release did not happen because of your own ability, but because of His great mercy and the fact that you received what "you didn't deserve." Your hope is not because of your strength but His and His alone. This new found freedom isn't to be taken for granted; it is the gift of God. Your new directions will NOT come from your intelligence, but because He knows the way you should take.

Trust in the Lord with your whole heart. Follow Him, and you will not become entangled with this world again.

Warning! If by chance you forget your promises, Jesus may stop reminding you and allow you to go the way you choose. Any path other than His path leads to destruction.

Lord Jesus, Open The Eyes Of Our Hearts!

Lord Jesus, I pray that you make us a blank slate today. That you begin anew to create the persons you want us to be. Remove from us the pride of accomplishments and successes of yesterday. Today is a new day, a new beginning, to fulfill and display Divine tasks fresh from the mind and heart of God.

Lord, remove from us the crushing weight of past failures and inadequacies. Help us to throw off the suffocating thoughts that paralyze our forward movement and hinder us from fulfilling your perfect work in us. Help us to be friends, neighbors, companions, servants, pastors, preachers, prophets, and intercessors. Help us to be faithful, loving, compassionate, gracious, holy, victorious, strong, reverent, thankful, supportive, consistent, anchored, resilient, humble, submissive, trusting, and obedient. And tomorrow, we will start all over again to make each day a new day in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen!

John 9:10, “Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? 11He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.” Open The Eyes Of Our Hearts, Lord! 

Are You Drifting? by Myra Boozer

Have you noticed how we drift into different ways of living? For example, some people just take life so slowly and easily and don't really want to go anywhere, happy where they are. While others are always in the fast lane with places to go and people to see. They are so busy having fun and accommodating their latest find in food or entertainment that they almost live in a whirlwind.

D. A. Carson said, "People DO NOT DRIFT toward holiness...Apart from grace-driven effort, people DO NOT gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord...We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it Faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation. We slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism. We slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated..."

Age makes a difference in our pursuit of life and what it offers, but I believe we have drifted until many don't know how to find God. Start where you are and surrender ALL to Him. Then, we must pursue HIM until He catches us, captivates and changes us into His image... no longer trapped by the worldly attractions and sounds... no longer drifting on the sea of time... But looking unto our Blessed Hope, who is coming to rescue us from this world and its alluring, deceptive ways. Are You Drifting?

(A ship that loses its propulsion capability flounders helplessly and is at the mercy of the winds and waves. Without the spiritual dynamic of Holy Spirit power, we will flounder helplessly at the mercy of the winds and waves of life.) 

The Ways Of Man Are Right In His Own Eyes!

Proverbs 21:2, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.”

I have noticed in my latter years that there is one thought that continues to present itself in my walk with God. “Live every day of your life with the end in mind.” Our vision of the end will invariably determine the subject of our focus on each and every day of our lives. With that in mind, I continue to reach for the Truth of God to envelope my soul and deliver me from this house of flesh.

Are you searching for the Truth, or are you looking for something that will fit your list of Religious principles? Solomon stated that every “man is right in his own eyes.” Our human tendency is to justify what we want. We want so badly to think that what we believe is the Truth; consequently, we try to make the Scriptures fit our lives. The correct approach is to make our lives fit the Scriptures. When we attempt to remake God’s standard to fit our ideals and values, we drastically diminish the power of God’s Word, limiting it to only what we receive and understand.

Is it the Truth because we comprehend it to be so? Truth is Truth regardless of whether we receive it or understand it. Truth is not based on our perception, acceptance, or denial. Truth is the very character of our Creator. God is Truth! And His character is revealed to us through the Scriptures and in the persons of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Jesus stated in John 14:6, “...I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Jesus promised His disciples an Advocate to come after His departure and declared that Advocate to be the Spirit of Truth. John 16:13, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”

If we want to understand Truth, we must cultivate a personal relationship with the one who is Truth. To receive and understand Truth is to receive the Lord Jesus Christ, submit to His counsel, be obedient to His discipline, and walk in total surrender to Him. If we continue to walk in obedience and seek the revelation of God’s Word, we will move forward in Truth. (continued)

Jesus Will Make All Things New! by Myra Boozer

Revelation 21:5, “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.”

Lord, may we cast off any and all distractions that keep us from focusing on You. Those things that devour our time, leaving us tattered and worn, even frazzled in our thinking. The things that pull us down into despair. May we discard them for today as you draw us into Your domain.

May we turn our thoughts to resting in YOU and your precious mercy, that You so graciously extend by Your right hand. May we sit in Your presence and be renewed, refreshed, and revived. May we feel the touch of Angel wings upon our faces as we measure the depth of Your unfailing love.

May we feel your gentle hand upon our cheek as you dry our tears. Yes, Lord, may we cast aside all that is pulling and draining our very souls. May we know without a doubt that you are taking care of every worry and every heartbreak, as we climb up into your lap and lay our heads on Your big shoulder. You are our Loving Father! May we never grow so wise in our thinking that we fail to remember we are a child, Your Child! We are Yours, Lord! May we never forget Your great Love for us!