remember

Remember...that is all I have been hearing here lately.

"Remember what I've told you."

"Remember what you've taught."

"Remember...do you trust me?"

Reading so many of your blogs has been a wonderful help to me lately because you have echoed the very words I have been hearing from the Holy Spirit.

Let me back up and explain first the picture of the staff. It was many years ago when I first heard Pastor Gary talk about David's staff...it was a lesson I shall always remember.

The staff was one of the tools of David's trade...he was a shepard. Perhaps it had a crook in it, and perhaps it was straight...I don't know. What I do know is that for every important event in his life, he would put a mark on his staff to help him remember that event.

When this shepard stood before Goliath, who was ready to mash him into the ground, he looked at his staff and remembered. He remembered the lion God had helped him kill. He rememered the bear who attacked his sheep and how God had given him the courage to kill him as well. Now, the staff was in his hand as he responded to Goliath..."I've killed the lion and the bear, so you are no big deal."

Okay, so maybe he did't phrase his reponse quite that way, but it was not his strength alone he was remembering, but the times when God prepared him for this moment in history as He gave him what he needed to defeat the enemies who threatened his life, his livelihood, his country, and the reputation of His God.

David remembered. His staff served as a reminder of the faithfulness of God in every circumstance. His staff reminded him of the long days and long nights of watching his sheep and the songs which were written, expressing his innermost thoughts and feelings. The songs of praise and thanksgiving even when he felt threatened and alone.

David remembered and overcame the enemy.

This is as much for me as perhaps some of you. Remember what the Holy Spirit has spoken in your spirit over the last few days, months and years. If you haven't written those words to you down...then do so. Attach an extra blog if need be and have it for your eyes only. Go to it daily so you never forget.

Courage is built on the knowledge of who HE is in you, and what HE has already accomplished through you.

This is for someone out there. You have forgotten the good God has done in your life and you've spent too much time on the negative. Remember today so that your tomorrow will be different. You've given up on life. You're just existing looking forward to the sweet forgetfulness of sleep each night...yet your sleep has not been sweet, but rather sporadic. The stress you hope will end, just arises each morning as you get up. Your day starts with exhaustion and ends the same. The joy you once had...well it just feels like it is totally gone. Your body is racked with pain mostly from stress. God is saying to you today to release all the old crap that has held you down. He's more than able and has very big shoulders for you to lean on. Not only that, He is saying He will take care of the things which concern you if you will praise Him. Why? Because praise lifts you from the cares and struggles of life into His realm where nothing is impossible. Praise re-directs your eyes in the right direction and causes you to see yourself the way God sees you...loved and beautiful. I know you feel ugly right now, but know this...He has made you to be a king, a ruler and an overcomer of EVERYTHING which comes against you...even your own mind. No, you are not crazy, just fatigued. "If you will just trust Me, says the Lord, I will put you on eagles wings and you will soar. I am the breath of life and I desire to blow a wind of newness your direction. Remember, daughter, the old stuff is passed away, so don't go there again. It would be like going back to dead flesh. It is dead...gone...decayed...leave it alone. It is time to forgive all of those who have offended you and I do mean everyone. Leave the past behind and move ahead with me. When you do, you will find the strength to run the race again and feel the air wisp through your hair...you will regain your freedom. I did not come to enslave you, but to free you. Walk in MY freedom today!"

Blessings to all of you, my blogging friends.