Holy Spirit- the Hammer that shatters glass and forges iron

Once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we are consumed and filled with the Holy Spirit.  He is much like a bodyguard or better yet a soul guard.  He is prepared to do battle for us and He is also there to love on us.  He can even pray for us when we can not or do not know what to pray for.  There are so many of us with the Holy Spirit in us but rarely do we utilize His services like we should.  The amazing thing is as humans, even with God in us, we still choose our own god(self).  Every choice we make in “self” is like a hammer shattering a plane of glass.  Every hope and dream we try and obtain on our own and without God is shattered.  Notice I did not mention success, because we know in this world you can have “success” and not know or believe in God.  Our hopes and dreams come from our souls and they are the desires that were woven into our minds when God created us.  I have not only experienced the shattered glass in my choices, but I took it one step further and walked barefoot around all those shards just prolonging my stubbornness and selfishness.  The image of the Hammer(Holy Spirit) striking down on that glass and shattering it is a vision my mind can see and hear clearly.  It is such a chaotic and violent sound and there is no order.  The glass is broken and spread out across a vast area.  When we try and live this life alone, this is how our thoughts end up. The glass has no chance against the Hammer!

However, when we choose to finally surrender and allow the God in us, the one true Lover of us, who consumed our all when we said yes to him, Victory begins.  When this happens and the Hammer begins its violent descent upon us, it is like the forging of Iron.  The same velocity used to shatter the glass simply shapes the iron.  Jesus lets us know that iron sharpens iron and if we allow the Holy Spirit to reign, He will make us strong.  When we allow the Holy Spirit to be our frontman we are molded and protected by the impact He(The Hammer) makes in our life.  As he continues to forge us He reminds us to hold true to the power and strength of what He offers and not turn to the weakness and chaos of the shattered glass.  The shattered glass is what we are use to.  We love to go places we know even if they are dangerous.  The truth is as The Holy Spirit forges the iron, God shows me He Loves me so much that once I say yes to Him my sins are forgiven and forgotten.  The impact of “The Hammer” on my life is clear and expressed with power and majesty in:

1st Corinthians 13:4-7

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Now what resonates in my heart and soul is the beginning of verse 8 which says “Love Never Fails!” Amen.

This lesson has impacted me the most as I am learning what Agape love is.  I have been so selfish in my life that I have always, even subconsciously, expected something in return.  I can say that I am now better at loving just to give through prayer and humility.  I know this love I am experiencing is real because I seriously just want happiness for them, regardless if they will be a part of my life or not.  I want them to be healed of their pain and prayer for their favor and happiness.  I honestly for the first time in my life, where I usually would NOT do this, I am doing this for them and not me.  There are few I have met that I have prayed for their salvation and a hope they can meet someone to share Christ with them.  Jesus is teaching me and breaking me and it’s all so new to me.  You see my friends the honest truth is I have never truly been in love and now for the first time I think I am.  He is becoming my everything and as He pours into me He opens my eyes to those around me.  I do realize Loving like God is about truly giving and  not receiving or expecting something in return.  It is pouring into others and then rest assured God will pour back into me.  He is my return, He is my expectation, He is my Gift!  As I am learning to put my hope in Him, I am realizing that I love well and I battle when I start to “feel” the pull like I should get something.  I am putting my childish ways behind me and asking Jesus and the Holy Spirit to show me how to Love.  I am learning not to put my hope or validation in people but in every situation turn to Him and Holy Spirit.  Making sure that everything I do is for His glory.  I do surrender all of me to Him and simply say with conviction ” I’M ALL IN!”  Let me finish with my new life verse from the Great 8… Romans 8 that is! And it’s:

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. AMEN

One Love, One King, All Christ!

in a rush

I woke up early on this third day of Spring break.  I felt so refreshed and my days have truly been overflowing with Jesus.  The truth is me and Jesus just been kicking it with each other every morning this week and my adoptive Father God has shown up every morning as well. Now this morning started the same as the others.  I woke up and walked to my desk.  I sat down and read a page out of my Jesus Calling book and then decided to play some Tonk(card game) while I waited to drink some coffee and head out to the beach.  I decided this morning to skip the coffee and head to a very fancy coffee/tea shop to get my very special Higelow green tea.  You may have one of these shops near you as well, they are amazing and have a very fancy name “Sevung Elevum.”  Once I had my tea I headed to the lighthouse.  As I was driving down old cutler road I notice the sunrise was happening and I was about 25 minutes away from the lighthouse and was going to miss this.  Here’s the deal I started the week by asking God to show me something new everyday I went to the beach.  He kept to his side of my request.  I remember a beautiful spot in the back of Matheson Hammock park where you can still see the lighthouse and it’s about 7 miles away.

This was a spot me and my dad would go to honor my moms memory and just enjoy the beauty of the water and the sky.  As I focus back on my driving I realize I am only about 10 minutes away from this spot and there in front of me, well 2 cars ahead of me is this tree shredder truck.  As I said I was on Old Cutler and there is no passing.  He is literally going 30mph and I am livid, how dare this guy follow the law and drive the speed limit and keep me from my sunrise gift.  He must not know it’s me Anthony Fadelle behind him, so 10 minutes becomes 15 then 20 and I am anxious and In A Rush.  In all this turmoil of my brain, God whispers ” this is on purpose, slow down!”  He was talking about my thoughts and not my speed.  Remember I asked him to show me something new and beautiful everyday and he kept His promises.  God being God and my adoptive Father, as I pull up the gift is waiting.  The sun completely exposed reflecting brightly on the surface of the ocean, but subtle enough that you could look right at it.  God showed me his face on this morning, he took the time and his perfect timing to let me see His beautiful face.  Slowly the clouds begin to cover the sun and the rays are diverted to the lighthouse.  What an amazing and awesome God I was trying to rush!

This has been my spring break and even in this down time I have had so many “Thing To Do.”  All of us find our self in a rush, staying busy and in the grind of life.  Honestly, we have to find time for God first, more than anything else, including family.  As I am sitting here quietly looking over the ocean there is no artist that could create or even duplicate the beauty of God’s creations.  Slow down my friends and start your days with God and I can tell you from recent experience it makes an incredible difference in how you live and care for others.  The only thing missing from my view this morning is the Holy Spirit decending down from the Heavens, that is how beautiful this landscape view is.  Let me just say this about slowing down in your life, PUT A RUSH ON IT! Amen

One Love, One King, All Christ!

New Rules “The 4 L’s”

1) Love God

2) Love Yourself

3) Love Others As God Loves You

4) Laugh

Love God-

This seems so easy and simple to say.  However, living as if we did love him and our lives did matter about him says differently.  The intimacy required to love our God takes us to places where we, ourselves, would never choose to be.  Solitude and Silence are those destinations that seem so frightening to go to.  I never could have imagined how loud silence can be.  Have you ever been there? Where the sound of silence starts to grow more and more.  I know for me it is very uncomfortable to just sit and wait on God, my anxiety pushes hard through my heart.  The spiritual warfare that is about to take place is so unsettling our bodies almost refuse the break from our perceived realities.  Every part of us that enjoys the sin we struggle with turns up the heat and begins throwing every bad, shameful and regretful thing you have done.  However, our God will meet us right there and remind us that none of those thing matter to him, because His first born paid the price.  Our sins are not an issue for our Father.  He receives us with open arms even when we have taken all of ourselves and wasted away.  I want to love back a Father that loves me unconditionally and How I start doing that consistently is on me.  How bad do I really want this?

Love Yourself-

Shakespeare says ” To thine own self be true.”  The meaning is you can only love yourself if you are true to yourself.  We constantly listen to and believe the lies that are whispered to us all the time of who we think we are.  If I could just remember that we are running this race from the finish line and that His Will is already done, I could avoid so many defeats even future ones.  Today, I learned the most effective weapon I use against myself is my brain.  I can’t possibly love myself if I find the wrong in every right thing that I do.  I have to STOP THE STINKING THINKING!  My desire this year is to ignore, take captive and re-direct my thoughts all under the Surrender of my Father, GOD!  In that embrace I can accept that I am awesome in God’s eyes because when I look at my reflection I see Jesus looking back!  I am in Him as He is in Me! I am created in His image. Amen!

Love Others As God Loves You-

One of the newer revelations in my life is as I concern myself with the well being and prayer life for others, my life seems less hectic.  When you take the time to pour into people who are in your crown of life, Jesus helps you with yours.  I must stay close with him and spend my quality time with him, but ultimately as I do His Will, he watches over me.  There is a peace that comes when you carry others burdens and pray for people to find healing, comfort or salvation.  There are many sermons taught on loving others but rarely is it modeled by those same people.  I, however, have been blessed to have people in my life that Jesus placed there to model it for me.  I had this for many years but my eyes had scales on them and I couldn’t get past my Stinking Thinking! God has reached me through others showing love for me than in any other way.  God has revealed times in my past where I have poured out and just couldn’t remember because I was so preoccupied with my failures and myself.  God has let me know through friends, players from the past and present, and new friends how my words have impacted them for God’s Glory!  I can tell you from my experience though many times there were tears, most of the time it was done through laughter.  I believe laughter is a spiritual gift, the ability to bring joy out of someone who is in a place of darkness or pain. It may be brief and for a moment, but it is the exact amount of time that person needed.  Laughter makes the Soul Smile!

Laugh-

My fondest memories are of laughter.  I can think back to several times when I couldn’t breathe I was laughing so hard.  Even though life has and will be a roller coaster of feelings, I still have been able to maintain the ability to laugh.  Then I realize how important laughter is to our health the more I see how it influences people in our life.  They want what we have!  The ability to draw out a smile or make someone giggle is priceless.  We only have so much time here on Earth and we all deal with enough drama that the world throws at us, the rest of the time we should be laughing.  Being funny(at the right times) is indeed a spiritual gift and gives people a place to release both good and bad emotions.  When laughter is used for uplifting, encouragement or even healing the response is Amazing.  I am so thankful to Christ for my sense of humor and especially for the affect it has on people around me.

I want to thank God for giving me these “4 L’s” of living, remember my friends:

1. Love God
2. Love Yourself
3. Love Others As God Loves You
4. Laugh

One Love, One King, All Christ!