Love Letters From My King

For sometime now I have been reviewing my walk with God. I realised that I had been trying to live a life for Christ…without Christ. How have I done this? By doing what I believed was what he wanted me to do, but doing it in my own strength, in my own way and not spending time with God in order to really know what he wanted me to do. For example, I new that he wanted me to be a witness to the world, so whenever any of my friends would ring up, and want to catch up I would automatically say yes. However, I know within my heart that I had not been using the time wisely. Even though a lot of the time I would be a silent witness, I would not honestly and whole heartedly stand up what I believed. When I didn’t agree with something I would not call upon the strength of the Lord to tell them why I did not agree with what they were saying. But, the biggest thing I didn’t do, was pray for them and tell them that Jesus really and truly loved them. I had let my Father down.

I have an absolutely beautifully crafted book called "His Princess: Love letters from your King" by Sheri Rose Shepherd. This book has blessed me so much and helped to repair my once strong relationship with Christ. There was a time in my life - as with most Christians, where I loved to spend time with my Lord and Saviour, where I craved His presence. I would sacrifice so much for His cause, and enjoy it (E.g. Fasting, saying no to doing certain things with my friends, not watching particular movies or listening to certain music). But, as time went by and I became 'used to the Christian world' my light began to fade and I became lax with spending time in His word and obeying His commands. This led me down some very hard paths and caused me a lot of pain. However, as I began to read the 'Love Letters from my King in Heaven' (By Sheri Rose Sheperd) I began to remember the passion and zeal I once had for my Father in Heaven. The feeling of belonging to such a great cause came flooding back and I began to feel a sense of justice once again. I began to recognise that God still loves me and still has a very special purpose for my life.

An so, Id would like to share with you, over time, just some of the "Love letter from Your King" that have so touched my life. Hopefully they will do the same for you.

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My Dearest Princess,

I chose you before the foundation of the earth to be My princess. You are royalty even when you don't feel like a princess. I will wait for you until you are ready to start living the amazing plans I have for you. I know you don’t know where to begin or how to become what I've called you to be, so let Me teach you day by day. Start by recognising who I am: King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The lover of your soul. When the two of us meet alone together everyday, I will show you how to let go of the things in your life that are holding you back from the blessings I want to give you.

Remember, My child, just as I have chosen you, I have given you a choice to represent Me to the world. If you are willing, I am here to give you all you need to complete your calling.

Love,

Your King and Lord who Chose You.

"You didnt choose me, I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce
fruite that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for,
using My name."
John 15:16

Getting Serious About God

Over the last couple of days God has been speaking to me about some very real topics that I would love to share with you. It’s about “Getting Serious About God”. For a long time now I have desired to change. I have wanted to be a strong woman of God and I ultimately new that one day I would be. Ever since I first committed my life to Christ, I envisaged myself being a powerful woman of God – set and ready to accomplish any task He had for me. The trouble was, I could see the finish line, but really didn’t know how to get there – a common trait among many Christians, I fear! So, for the past three years I have battled my way through many trials and challenges, experiencing some refreshing times of freedom, but then back into fight my way through the battle. And that brings me to right about now.

At this point in my life, I feel as though I am not where I should be in Christ. Even though I have ultimately desired to become like Christ, I have made some pretty poor decisions and committed copious amounts of sins, that I believe I could have easily fought off. But I didn’t – and, just the other day I asked God why. A VERY VERY bad question – but I did!

As I sat in the Church last Sunday morning our Pastor spoke about Christian conduct and how, being a Christian allows us to do something’s, but not all things. It calls us to different way of life. Elementary stuff I know – but as he spoke it, the words sunk deep unto my being. I knew that my way of life hadn’t set me apart from those that are in the world. Even though I was a Christian, I still had stayed in the room when swearing was blasting on the TV screen, I had sat in conversations when people had been speaking about topics and issues that I did not believe in – too afraid to speak up. I had not spoken up when I saw something that hurt my spirit or Jesus’ spirit and had not defended His name when others blasphemed Him. Even though many of these are only small, seemingly insignificant things, I know that they hurt the very heart of God, my Father.

When I was a little girl my Mum would say to me “Every time you sin, the thorns on Jesus’s head are dug in even header and blood rushes down his cheek”. When ever I did something wrong I often ran into my bedroom, knelt before my bed and cried out to Jesus “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Jesus, I didn’t want to hurt you” and felt remorse for my sins. As I am older I see the significance in that depiction. It really does hurt Jesus when he sees us committing sin, because it not only compromises the Gospel message and make Him look weak to the world, but it also hurts us. Because, when we sin, we fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)and ALL that He had planned for our lives.

When I got home from Church I decided to go straight to my room and set apart that time to seek Him and pray. I started writing a list of all the areas where I have previously sinned and fallen short and what I am going to do to fix it. I am not going to sit around with sinners and mockers, I am going to keep myself pure, I am going to stand up for what is right and what I believe in and pray more often. I am going to “GET SERIOUS about God”. For, we only live once and only have one opportunity to become ALL that we can be.

Much love, and blessings,
Karine

SET APART

Ok, over the past couple of weeks I have been a bit slack with blog posting, but my good friend Natalie has encouraged me to keep it up. Her encouragement came at exactly the right time, because over the past couple of days I have been fiercely overcoming some issues that have kept me bound for quite a few years. I finally found the source of my depressive thoughts and actions. On and off over the past 6 -7 years I have dealt with fought with my self image. At some points I have had great self confidence, whilst at other points I have been as low as wanting to end it all for myself. However, whilst listening to a Joyce Myer preaching I finally realised what my problem was. I honestly didn't know who I was in Christ. I mean, I thought I did, but her preaching – and the prompting of the Holy Spirit made me realise that I really didn't. So, what now that I knew what the problem was, what was I going to do about it?

Immediately the answer came to me – I needed to quote scripture to myself daily, hourly, moment by moment. I needed to build myself up in the word of God. So, I ran into my room and rummaged through my cupboard to find a set of "I am Statements that I had been given quite some time back and began saying to myself "I AM a child of God" " I am an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of my testimony" "I am made whole in Christ Jesus" "I am strong in the lord and in His MIGHTY power". As soon as I did this I felt a surge of energy go through my body. I knew that I had finally found the key. I was existing – but now I was moving forward. I am determined to continue with this breakthrough. I am NOT going to be overcome once again. Jesus is my Lord and Saviour and I am going to be a witness to His power and loving grace!

I have always had this great desire to dance for my Lord Jesus Christ, and I know that He created me with this purpose in mind. I see myself dancing in pure white, bring glory to His name. So, when I say the word of God over my life I see myself dancing for him - and speak life into the dream. I have recognised that Dreams dont just come true, we have to make the come true!

The words of this song continuously encourage me and let me know that I am SET APART for GREATNESS. My Lord created me for a special purpose. He created you for a special purpose to, do you know what it is?

"The Letter"

~Newsboys~

I wrote you a letter
Things could be better
Full of promises, every hope and dream
Did you get it
Have you read it
Talks about you and me
And the future, you see
Something no one can do
Is take the place of you
Can't you see you're....one of a kind

CHILD, YOU'RE LIKE A STAR
SET APART
SET APART FROM THE START OF THE WORLD
THIS IS YOUR TIME
RISE AND SHINE
CHILD, YOU'RE ONE OF A KIND

Sometimes every thing's too much
Like the deepest cut
You hurt to be touched
When you hear it
If you feel it
Don't let it have its way
I'm writing to say
Something no one can do
Is take the place of you
Oh can't you see you're...one of a kind

[Repeat Chorus]

I know it's hard to hear promises
When the blue has turned to grey
Nobody said it was easy
But I know you'll find your way

[Repeat Chorus]

Cry Out To Jesus

Right now I just had to share these lyrics with you. I was sitting down at the computer doing some study when my playlist clicked over to this song. Suddenly the words sucked me in to the presence of the Lord and I was crying on the floor. It is my cry that everyone finds their hope in Jesus like I have done. He is the only one in this world that can make life worth living. He is the one who has repaired my life and brought healing to my broken life. I urge anyone who is having a rough time to cry out to Jesus.

Please, listen and read the words of this song. Let it penetrate through your being…“Just remember that you are not alone in your pain and your suffering”

Cry Out To Jesus

~Third Day~

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 life.
You believe that there's 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 hearts.
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 marriage that's struggling just to hang on
They lost all of their faith in love.
and they've done all they can to make it right again
still it's not enough.

For the ones who can't break the addictions and chains
you try to give up but you come 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 hearts.
There is grace and forgiveness, mercy and healing
He'll meet you wherever you are.

Cry out to Jesus.

When you're lonely and it feels like the whole world is falling 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.
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 hearts.
There is grace and forgiveness, mercy and healing
that meets you wherever you are.
There is hope for the helpless, rest for the weary,
and love for the broken hearts.
There is grace and forgiveness, mercy and healing
that meets you wherever you are.

Cry out to Jesus. Cry out to Jesus.

Cry out to Jesus. Cry out to Jesus.

Your Love oh Lord is Perfect

"Your love, oh Lord
Reaches to the heavens,
Your faithfulness stretches to the sky.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains.
Your justice flows like the ocean's tide
I will lift my voice
To worship You, my King
I will find my strength
In the shadow of your wings"

Third Day "Your Love Oh Lord"

Sometimes i find song lryics so refreshing! I love how in the hardest times, there always seems to be a song that causes you to lift your eyes on Jesus and receive His strength.

At the moment I am on one of my last pracs before completing my primary school teaching degree. I tell you what, I am being torn andn stretched from every which angle. But i know that this is only for a time and a season and when I come through it, i will "be an overcomer by the word of my testimony"...and boy i cannot wait for that day!

The Greatest Beauty Treatment

I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Philipians 3:14 (NLT)

Well, I have just finished my first week of my second last prac before I finish my education degree. I cannot tell you how much work is involved because I am sure words would not give it justice! I have been up late every night and right now I am fully exhausted. Each night I have wanted to post a blog containing little trials and challenges I have gone through (and overcome!) BUT there have simply been too many other things to do. I have been collecting a whole list of things I would like to blog about and overtime I hopefully will. God is doing such an amazing work in my life right now that I am so excited about and cannot wait to share with anyone. Anyway, before I add any more length to this blog I will end it here. The following is a blog that I began writing during the middle of the week but have only just got about it finishing and editing it tonight. Hopefully it inspires you to push on towards the prize!

Preserving our Skin

The other night as I was working away meticulously at the computer, trying desperately to keep up with all my prac work such as reflections, lesson plans, observations etc. I became very tired. It was roughly around 12/1ish in the morning and my eyes were so sore that I could hardly keep them open. Every now and then I would fade off, my eyes would shut and I would fall asleep. However, for some strange reason, I still had this urge in my spirit to press on. To keep on going until I got everything finished.

Often times in the past if I have become too tired to work, I have gone to bed without having everything completed for the next day. The problem with this is however, as a teacher in training – this just doesn’t work! As soon as I would wake up, my mind would be immediately running on overload. I would not even have one moment to stop and ease myself into the day. As soon as I would wake up, my mind would dart back to all the tasks that I still had to complete from the night before and my mind would be running on overload first thing in the morning. I’d have to think about tasks that I have to get finished right away, still have to catch up on tasks from yesterday as well as what I ad planned for that day and for the whole day I would be playing catch up.

Last night was different however. Even though I was so tired, I knew that this time was different to every other time. I really didn’t have that much more to complete, I needed to push myself and make sure that I got everything finished. So, I put all my thoughts of bed aside and said to God – ok, if I must stay up, you give me the strength and energy I need”. As soon as I said this, for some reason (I’ll let you work out the connection) I felt like going and doing 20 sit ups and 30 tummy crunches and 10 star jumps. Now, that’s an odd thing to feel like doing at 1 in the morning – but the directive was so strong that I would not ignore it. So, off I go and do the exercises, feeling quite silly doing these activities at this time of the morning. While I was doing the exercise I felt a sudden surge of energy gravitate up my spine and immediately I realised that God had just answered my prayer. He had given me the strength that I needed to complete the tasks that needed to be completed.

Needless to say, I was able to complete the tasks that needed to be completed for the morning as well as clean up my desk, do my nightly cleansing and face washing routine, have time with God as well as have my devotion. And, even though it was quite late (or should I say early – like 3 in the morning!) as soon as my head finally hit the pillow I slept like a baby…in fact, better than a baby! I had the most wonderful night sleep and woke up fully refreshed in the morning. The difference was, I didn’t have to go to bed still worrying about the things I had to do in the morning, wondering if I would wake up and be able to complete everything in time for (seeing I have to be at school before 8:00am). The other factor that contributed to my good nights sleep was my time with God before I went to sleep. Because I had surrendered all control over to God and spent time just sitting in his presence my spirit was at peace and I was able to truly rest. I find that when I do this, all the stress from the world (such as deadlines, overdue tasks, worries), is released from my mind and body and i don’t have the physical weight of it hanging over my head when I sleep. Now I am sure this must be one of the biggest beauty tips in the book! How much better our bodies would cope – and how much less wrinkled our skin would be if we did this all the time!

An important note thought: When God gives you His strength it doesn’t mean he makes the task easier for you to handle. It will still hurt our flesh and we will still have to push beyond our restrictions and determine in out hearts to do it and the temptation to give up with still be there. But, His strength gives us the ability to overcome the task, if we so chose! It was still hard to stay up and compete the tasks. I remember wanting to give up and go to bed so many times even after God gave me the strength for the task. In fact, I’m not sure just how many times I was almost tempted to go to bed. But I persevered, I pressed on toward that prize, and boy am I glad that I did it!

Now, no one can tell me that God doesn’t exist! His strength is so real!

The Most Important Decison

Tonight I was sitting at my computer completing my preparations for my first day of prac tomorrow when I was asked by a friend of mine to look up a particular song on the internet. As I quickly perused various songs I stumbled across Casting Crowns song “Slow Fade”. Now, I have heard this song many times before, but tonight as I sat here, I listened carefully to the lyrics. I could not believe what I was hearing. I have not long come home from Church where a visiting pastor spoke about “The Most Important Decision”. He said that the most important decision is, the very next decision that we make – not, as most Christians think, our decision to accept Christ. Because, we can accept Christ, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we are living a victorious Christian life does it?

As I listened to the words of the song (which are posted below), I was amazed at how much the sermon linked with the song – and just how relevant both of these messages are to my life at the moment.

I wont speak too much about it tonight as I still have lots of planning to do, but I just couldn’t keep this revelation to myself. I just had to share it with the world in hope that someone else might be just as encouraged as I have been. In particular, the phrases
“choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
It's a slow fade, it's a slow fade” stood out to me.

I am very much aware that the decisions I make right now will determine the person I become in one year, two years and so forth. I want to make sure that I am a victorious Christian. I certainly do not want to be going around the same mountain again and again – like I have been up until this point. I want to break loose from this cycle. And how do I do this? By becoming conscious of all the small decisions that I make!

CASTING CROWNS LYRICS

"Slow Fade"

Be careful little eyes what you see

It's the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings

Be careful little feet where you go

For it's the little feet behind you that are sure to follow

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away

It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray

Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid

When you give yourself away

People never crumble in a day

It's a slow fade, it's a slow fade

Be careful little ears what you hear

When flattery leads to compromise,

the end is always near

Be careful little lips what you say

For empty words and promises lead broken hearts astray

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away

It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray

Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid

When you give yourself away

People never crumble in a day

The journey from your mind to your hands

Is shorter than you're thinking

Be careful if you think you stand

You just might be sinking

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away

It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray

Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid

When you give yourself awayPeople never crumble in a day

Daddies never crumble in a day

Families never crumble in a day

Oh be careful little eyes what see

Oh be careful little eyes what you see

For the Father up above is looking down in love

Oh be careful little eyes what you see