Paid in Full

Atonement Has Been Offered

There was a certain practice in the Roman court in Jesus time that was familiar to all.
If you were arrested and brought to justice in a Roman court they would write down every crime of which you were convicted and they listed them on a "certificate of debt" and they nailed it on the cell door. When you lived out your crime and were released they wrote on your certificate of debt Tetelestai which means- paid in full.

Colossians 2:14
"Having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross."

Each one of us are born owing God the perfect righteousness (that He originally created us with) but we can't pay (We sinned in the garden of eden and are born with this sin).
That certificate of debt that we owe God shows that we are forever excluded from His presence. When JesusChrist went to the cross He nailed your certificate of debt to the cross. On it was every sin you'll ever commit. When he cried his next to last cry while on the cross He screamed out the word that was on the certificates.
He cried tetelestai - paid in full!
John translates it - it is finished; but what was in the world during the time that the new testament was written was translated - paid in full.
Your certificate of debt to God has been paid in full.
We get to fellowship with God. We get to enjoy the relationship unity with Father Son and Holy Spirit. We get to enjoy the kingdom of God as His children, co-rulers with Christ and Heirs to the kingdom.

I know in my own walk in this life satan lies to me. He will remind me of past sins. He tries to oppress me with my own inadequacies and sins.
He wants to discourage me and bring me fear that I need to work harder or that I'm just not good enough to be a child of God.
I say TETELESTAI! It has been paid in full. It is finished! Get behind me satan and eat my dirt!
I am not good enough but Christ is and he has paid the price for me on the cross. Praise Jesus. Thank you Lord. I have been forgiven.
Do not let the enemy bring up things from the past that God has already forgiven you for. If you have brought that to the Lord already and laid it at the cross, you can walk in victory. You can hold your head up and know your place as God's child.
When those things are brought up you say triumphantly Tetelestai - paid in full. Praise Jesus.
Satan wants to bring you down if he can't destroy you he will try to oppress and depress you.

There is something that I will never forget. Something the Lord allowed me to see with my own eyes one unforgettable night. I was hesitant to share this but I felt the prodding of the Holy Spirit to share  with you.
Two summers ago when I was staying at our family's cabin it seemed every night my sleep was disrupted by some kind of spiritual warfare. It was so heavy I cannot describe here now but just know that I was on my knees everyday praying for discernment and understanding and truth during a summer of obvious spiritual warfare.
One night I was startled awake by the Holy Spirit. There was no doubt that I was about to encounter something evil. I woke up with a jolt and my heart was racing, pounding out of my body before I even knew what what happening. The spirit in me was already aware and awake and bringing me up to speed. There was this horrible evil darkness in the corner of the room where the door was closed. I immediately looked in that direction and could see complete details of a very large, shiny black very skinny spiky headed demon hunched over but standing and holding some kind of long stick thing that curved at the top. The demon was hunched and half turned away from me but cowering in the corner of the room, looking at me but something was very evident about this scene.
I sat up in my bed staring at this thing but without any fear whatsoever. I stared and I prayed in my mind asking God what He wanted me to do or to know about this.
He revealed something in me. He said "he is scared" and the Holy Spirit revealed what this meant.

First of all if I as a child of God know the truth then that scares the enemy. The truth is that Jesus lives inside of me. He is the "word" and the word is living and active, sharper than any double edged sword it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit , joints and marrow.....Hebrews 4:12
Hello! this thing is spirit and the word in me - JESUS- divides him. He's scared.
When I know the truth, I send him out with thunder, I send him on his way in wrath and power. He is afraid and rightly so. God opened my eyes to this truth. When we don't know the truth and if I were to see this thing without the eyes of truth I would have been afraid and he would have been fed off my fear because fear is not of the Lord but of the enemy. But I was in control in Jesus name and he was afraid of me.  God wanted me to see that the enemy has no power. Christ is victorious and has already won. The battle is over. satan knows it and is afraid of us.
matthew 12:45
"when an unclean spirit goes out of a man he goes through dry places, seeking rest and finds none..."
I am going to have to address this more in another post. I could write too much just on this verse alone.
Claim the truth in Jesus name during your day.
You have been forgiven, your debt has been paid in full. You are a child of God almighty the one true living God creator of all. Jesus the Son of God died for your sins and lives inside of you.

(romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.")

To conclude my story after receiving this understanding from the Lord I said out loud to this scared demon in my room just what came to my mind and that was "you don't belong here, I belong to Jesus, leave in the name of Jesus." thats all I said but it left immediately and not in an angry way but just quickly. I think we have no idea how much is going on around us and how much we can use the power of Jesus the word of God to reveal the truth and to send the enemy packing and with a kick to the butt in all sorts of situations.

Not only are we forgiven but we walk around with access to Jesus power.
Watch out evil we know what we are made of!

It Is Only the Heart that God Desires

Proverbs 23:26
"My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways,"

There are outward works in your life and there are inward works.
The outward works are the ones that everyone can see. There is no real goodness in them unless it is coming from God's internal working in you.
Anyone can desire to look like a good person or even try in their own strength to please God and therefore give to the poor etc.
Mark 12:44
"For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all that she had to live on."

But when giving to the poor came from a place in your heart that originated from your love for the Lord the giving is a sweet aroma to God and fruit for all to enjoy.
But outward works have only as much spiritual value as they receive from their source. So when giving to others for your own benefit the value is what is obvious, the blessing you receive in giving and the recognition.
But when giving out of the outflows of Christ's life within you, the value is unending and carries over into your eternal rewards.

As Jeanne Guyon puts it
"The difference is that at the outset the activity was more outward; now the activity has moved inside; it has become deep, inward, hidden and outwardly imperceptible.

We are being drawn.

It is not our turning but it is a drawing of the Lord to us."

Our way is clear then. We must give our full attention to the activities that take place deep within our inmost  being. These are the activities of the spirit. These activities are what counts.
When you turn inward you turn away from outward activities and distractions.
Inward activity begins by simply turning within to Jesus Christ, for that is where He is, Within your spirit.

The lord is our center.
When you turn your attention within to the living God you turn your eyes upon all that matters.
forget the outward act of trying to love the lord and to be loved by him. Forget about the outward act of trying to be a good person acceptable to God and those around you.
Rather, turn your attention to him only and simply abide in Him. Draw to your center where Christ is and keep your focus on him...He will bring about the goodness of Him inside of you. It will permeate your whole life.
Psalm 59:9 "I will keep my whole strength for you."

Inner Abiding
Continuous inner act of abiding. abiding in love.
John 15: 1-7
"....He who abides in me and I in him, He it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."
Abiding in Christ is turing your attention to Jesus again and again. Having the energy of your soul centered on Him. He is the point. Not succeeding or being the best at what you do, or being the perfect parent. It is Jesus who matters for everything, in every subject of your life. When we turn our focus on Him everything else falls into sync. It is through Him that we are conformed to His will.

The more we turn inward to Jesus, to the center of our soul, to the very one that matters the more we sink into the beautiful inward depths of God. This is to know God beyond the surface of a new believer.
God has an unimaginable purpose for you. He shares His riches with you and reveals mysteries of ancient pasts, ancient creations and an existence of royalty because of His sacrifice for you.

He's Coming!!

I turned to greet Dave when he came home from work last night with Wells's spit up caked in my hair, two different socks on and circles rimming my eyes. An added bonus was Oscar's throw up on the front of my shirt.

Oscar currently refuses to swallow his food. He keeps it in his mouth so long that he chokes on it, and throws it up, usually all over me.

Among these fun activities during the day there is also the sting of still grieving Jake. This makes for a very strained attempt at caking a smile on my face for Dave when he walks in from a long day at work.

I have a very loving husband whom does not hold this mommy grunge look against me.  He has said that the mommy grunge is evidence of my love for him and our children.  Even though my desire is to be completely put together before he gets home (and most days I work to make that a reality) the truth is with two children under the age of three, there are few opportunities to do anything for myself.  Feeding time alone is a feat right now. An attempt at feeding oscar will take 40 minutes of begging bribing and tricking him to get at least a small amount of food in him for one day.

But all motherhood woes aside, I have felt an urgency lately. a pressing perception that Jesus is coming soon to gather the church. This makes me jump out of my skin excited. I dont want anyone to miss out. I want to run through my local grocery store and shout out ftom the excitment in my heart "hes coming hes coming" I want to tell anyone I come into contact with "just repent and ask jesus to be your savior, believe that he died for your sins!" (romans 10:9)
Now imagine this scene with the way I curently look and you have a crazy person running around denver freaking everyone out.
John the baptist wih his camel hair outfit would look less crazy than me.

The Holy Spirit has been prodding my heart to be ready to unashamedly speak in boldness in my faith in Christ. Also to be ready (as the virgin's were ready with the oil lamps in Jesus parable Matthew 25).
The spirit, the Holy Spirit is testifying to this truth in me that Christ will rapture us soon. Obviously I do not know the day or hour but being that I am a child of God himself(acts 1:28), I am bride to christ the very son of God (revelation 19:7-9), the Holy Spirit of God rests in me (acts 2), I am the temple of God this very moment (1 corinthians 6:19-20), how can I not know that there is a stirring of the Spirit that Christ will be soon here to rapture us home? As well as my very relationsip with God there are the signs of the times that He warned us of, all over the place! There's no way to be casual about it. His signs before his return are everywhere!!

So little wife and mother that I am, a speck in the universe, an "insignificant woman in the world, yet I am heir to the kingdom of the creator of the universe and I don't even find time to put a clean non-spit up shirt on before my husband returns home from work let alone prepare and do great things for the name of God before He comes back to gather us home for the great wedding feast!
This has me praying for help in being ready for Christ's return.
Lord what does it look like to be ready for you?

Just as dave loves to see me in the throws of motherhood, a  woman that loves his children and him, even without a second to tend to myself to look pretty, so is God speaking to my heart that he loves to see me in the midst of the breath of life that He gave me.
Right now that means that I am a mother who is stuck in the house most days of the week.
This is right where God has me right now. I have to surrender that back to Him and trust Him with that. I look out into the world and see woman of God doing great things in God's name. But right now being ready for Christ's return is in my p.j.'s at home and living in the moments where Christ's life is glorified in me. Even in my home with only two little ones to watch all the "godly" progress.
So for now I'm not called to run through the grocery store bursting out of my skin with crazy eyes and excited chirps that Jesus is coming. Although when I am there I am ready to tell anyone of Jesus! The good news, His love and forgiveness for them and I ask the Lord "who here do you want me to share your love with?" I wait on the Lord's words, His timing and His will before I try to do my own "great" work in sharing the gospel.

Jesus was a carpenter for 30 years.
He went to work every day without a reported miracle.
He sat at the carpenter's bench he planned his projects, he carved and hammered. No souls were saved no great miracles no mass of people following Him for 30 years of His life on earth.
This makes me wonder about something.
What does that mean about our lives on earth?
The son of God almighty was on earth in human form for 30 years as a carpenter. Well we know there was something happening there. God himself wasn't in human form living among us doing nothing for those years. There was an unseen gift of the most valuable significance unraveling between Father and Son during that time. A gift most treasured for eternity. With an eternal perspective you can see more truth.
God and Jesus were working something out for eternal glory, for eternal reward for eternal value.
And my question is what is God doing in us when we are in the midst of our work on the carpenter's bench.
When I am doing something which from a worldly perspective may look unimportant or lacking great power of God - I'm not out with missionaries in a third world country or speaking to thousands with billy graham. That is a beautiful life for these great children of God, but God calls me to stay at home while I'm drudging it out on the bathroom floor scrubbing Oscar's oopsy pee pee puddles. I'm surrendering my day to Jesus life in me and trusting Him and His will but not seeing any great miracles in my day.
But what is God working out with Christ inside of me for the eternal reward? For the eternal life ahead of me?
Are we developing a bond and relationship so blessed from our time on earth that cannot ever be given in such a way as my time on earth with Him?

His life's work is yet to be fulfilled. I have a whole entire eternity to continue to live and my time on earth prepares me for a great ministry in eternity.  I believe that something unseen, a mystery right now but a gift and a remarkable wow is happening right now, during our most unspectacular moments on earth for the eternal glory.
I praise you Lord for your plan and for your will for me to change poopy diapers.