My Utmost For His Highest....(daily devotional) 

                                  By Oswald Chambers

The Witness of the Spirit

Oct

22

2012

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit . . . —Romans 8:16

We are in danger of getting into a bargaining spirit with God when we come to Him—we want the witness of the Spirit before we have done what God tells us to do.

Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. Yet once you do, immediately God witnesses to Himself—He cannot witness to you, but He instantly witnesses to His own nature in you. If you received the witness of the Spirit before the reality and truth that comes from obedience, it would simply result in sentimental emotion. But when you act on the basis of redemption, and stop the disrespectfulness of debating with God, He immediately gives His witness. As soon as you abandon your own reasoning and arguing, God witnesses to what He has done, and you are amazed at your total disrespect in having kept Him waiting. If you are debating as to whether or not God can deliver from sin, then either let Him do it or tell Him that He cannot. Do not quote this or that person to Him. Simply obey Matthew 11:28 , “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden . . . .” Come, if you are weary, and ask, if you know you are evil (see Luke 11:9-13).

The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason. We are inclined to mistake the simplicity that comes from our natural commonsense decisions for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of redemption, never to our reason. If we are trying to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder that we are in darkness and uncertainty. Throw it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give you the witness of the Spirit.

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in just over a year...

Nine weddings, graduation, new jobs, new house and a new phase of life.. Sitting down to reflect and take time to rest is crucial! 

The Jacob's Wedding

Jenelle and Patrick

June 25, 2011

The Guy's Wedding

Mikayla and Jake

October 2011

The Fazio's Wedding

Katherine and James

November 2011

The Robbins' Wedding

Nikki and Taylor

April 13, 2012 

graduation photos by Angie Afman

"If you can dream it, you can do it."

Point Loma Nazarene University

Graduation

May 5, 2012

Bachelor of Arts degree in Kinesiology

The Meilke's Wedding

Jenna and Brett

May 2012

The Ferrell's Wedding

Taylor and Kevin

June 2012

Summer 2012

July 1-7

Hume Lake counselor

 The Hitman's Wedding

Brianna and Graham

July 8, 2012

The Ormonde's Wedding

Krystal and Cory

August 11, 2012

The Taylor's Wedding

Jessica and Kevin

September 29, 2012

fear

Fear is the root of all evil. We know that so why can't we stop being fearful! Haha When I think of being fearless I think of bungee jumping, sky diving, downhill mountain biking or some extreme sporting activity.
Fear is such an intangible feeling, thought, indwelling. I am such a tangible and tactile person that I want to identify my shortcomings hold them in my hands and tear them apart. I want to find out what my weaknesses are and blow them to smithereens. Fear and doubt have a sneaky way of working their way into our minds and making us feel insecure about the skills, talents, abilities that we already have.
We must choose to believe truth, choose to love, choose to be carefree and LOVE. Easier said than done.
I realize that the lies that the enemy attacks us with are not anything new. Satan is not creative, he is not a creator. He perverts and twists God's truth to make us believe. We are much more prone to believe a half truth that has been tweaked just so.
The most affective way for me to identify a lie in my life is to journal about it and physically write down my insecurities, doubts, and fears. There is something about writing them down that objectifies the statements that I had been believing and makes it easier to see how wrong they really are. Having scripture next to these lies shows such contrast from these dark lies that it makes life simpler when you can call out lies in your own life.
Satan has stirred a fear in me to write, which would make sense because it produces so much good in my life. I must overcome my own fear to write and choose what God is telling me to do.
I love to write and see my own thoughts captured in a concrete way. I have so many abstract 'dreamer' thoughts that I need to focus myself to slow down. Resting in the Father's arms and knowing that I am worthy is the only way that I come to peace.
"Don't let the enemy rob you of the rest, confidence and security we have in Christ."- Janet Ables Blog

He who has begun a work in us will complete it.
-Phillipians 1:6

sin- is refusing to allow God to have authority of our lives.

Let us rest in the knowledge that the Father is the source of LIFE and he has so much more to offer than we could even imagine for our own lives. Do this by FAITH and TRUST that he is good.

We are saved by GRACE..