The Voice of Truth

It’s been one of those days.

I got at least 8 hours of sleep but woke up tired.

Mentally drained.

I stretched for at least 5 minutes in effort to rev up my circulation and my mind—I had a lot of important duties ahead of me today.

After 10 minutes of “waking up,” I pulled myself out of bed and placed my two feet flat on the floor.

I looked out my window and smiled, wanting the bright sunshine to heal my hurting head.

My head hurt with all of the negativity…from every harsh word ever spoken to or by me, any criticism hurled at me, every memory that wasn’t exactly beautiful flashed across the movie screen of my mind.

Trying to let go of this unhealthy dose of negativity I was feeling so early in the morning, I pulled myself together and went on about taking care of business.

Five hours later, I’d accomplished half of my laundry list of things-to-do. I took a break to go for a drive and get fresh air.

Two hours and several errands later, I returned home feeling refreshed…but only for a moment.

As I went about completing the remaining items on my laundry list, negative thoughts and memories began to play in my mind. Tired of fighting the negativity, I began to explore this deep mental mire…proving in my head why all the negative memories were exactly right and how I wasn’t being paranoid and that my perspective is on-point, not at all skewed. In the midst of my being “in the dumps,” I started singing a song. At first, I didn’t realize that I had started singing because I was busy taking care of items on my laundry list and dwelling on negative thoughts. About 30 seconds into the singing, it occurred to me what I was singing—the words to the song, Voice of Truth, performed by the Christian music group Casting Crowns. The lyrics speak on the Bible story of David (a shepherd boy) standing up to Goliath (a real-life giant). The song talks about how the giant taunted David without mercy, telling David that he will never win. But the Voice of Truth told David a different story, told him not to be afraid, promised David that the outcome of this great fight would be for God's glory. David chose to ignore Goliath's taunting and to listen to the Voice of Truth and because of that decision, David was able to slay Goliath with simply a sling and a stone. 

An excerpt of the lyrics from about the middle verses of the song were the very ones leaving my lips and soothing my soul through the sound that rested in my ears.

Suddenly, I realized that in the midst of my issues, God was speaking.

He was speaking to me through the lyrics of one of my favorite songs, a song I’d forgotten about and hadn’t sung in at least 2 years.

It brought a smile to my face and happiness to my heart to realize how God can use anything to remind you of His love for you.

While I have not heard God’s voice directly speaking to me, it’s the beauty in cases like today that I hear His heart.

And for the first time today, I listened.

I finally found myself being still and knowing that God is GOD.

And realizing that even when God is silent, He’s still there, right by your side, encouraging your heart, uplifting your spirit and sustaining your soul…ultimately giving you the courage to press on.

Negativity is one of the enemy’s attacks directed to us as humans, a flaming arrow that sears the soul.

The Bible makes it clear that we are in a spiritual warfare. That’s exactly why we are advised by God’s Word to “take up the shield of faith”. Why? Because with a strong faith in God, we can “extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” (Ephesians 6:16, NIV).

At the end of the day, I have learned that when negativity assails me, I need to take up my shield of faith and recall the words spoken by the Voice of Truth who says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

JESUS is The Voice of Truth.

~*~

Original song by Casting Crowns, “Voice of Truth”: 

A Journey of Who Jesus is throughout The Holy Bible

Dear friends,

A friend of mine who works as a Youth Pastor often asks her high school students to share what they think about the Bible. She then proceeds to help them to find Jesus Christ in the Old Testament (of the Bible). She believes (and can prove) that Jesus is in all of the stories (in metaphor when not literal). One of her students said, that in the story of Noah's ark, "Jesus was the ark as in the ark being God's mercy and the flood is God's justice."

Today, I'd like to share with you a video in which an 11-year-old boy not only answers this question but takes the audience on an adventure of revealing Jesus throughout the Bible.

Enjoy the journey!

Love,

Alexis

P.S._ Here's the video:

Bloom Book Club presents...One Thousand Gifts

Dear friends,

I'd like to share with you a great find!

One which I've been benefiting from for about one year now-- The Bloom Book Club! It's a great, innovative and interactive place online created by hostesses Angie Smith and Jessica Turner. Angie Smith is the wife of Todd Smith who is the lead singer of the Christian contemporary (music) group SELAH. Jessica Turner is a creative professional and one of Angie's best friends. The official website of The Bloom Book Club is http://thebloombookclub.blogspot.com/

You can also find a link to Bloom through the Christian company (in)courage which supports the club via http://www.incourage.me/category/bloom

The second great find is wrapped within the first-- the book One Thousand Gifts written by Author Ann Voskamp, who is the latest guest on The Bloom Book Club. Angie and Jessica are doing a book study on Ann's book, starting February 7, 2011. Meanwhile, they encourage you to buy the book online or at the bookstore. The book study takes place online via video and you can see it on the official site for Bloom Book Club!

I hope that you will richly benefit from these great finds!

May God bless you!

Love,

Alexis

P.S._ Here's the intro video by Angie, Jessica and their guest Ann:

Hallelujah

Dear friends,

Happy Sabbath!

I hope you don't mind me calling you "friends"! I feel like addressing you as "blog readers" is a bit impersonal. Afterall, many of you have been reading this blog since it started in late August 2010 and for that I am grateful! I hope and pray that this blog, "God is Love," serves you as a continual source of support in your life journey and direction to The One who loves you with all of His heart (God).

Tonight, I'd like to share with you a beautiful song and story by Heather Williams. She's a new artist and she has a powerful testimony, as you can see in this video (see above this message). I blessed with the opportunity to see Heather in concert and what she said struck me to the core. Heather has been through unspeakable acts of cruelty during her childhood and has struggled with serious issues as a young adult BUT when she allowed God into her life and let Jesus live in her heart and shine through her life, she realized that her life is more than about all the bad things that happened to her in the past. Heather told the audience at the concert how she could sit there at the piano on stage, telling us about all the horrible things that happened to her growing up. But she chooses not to because her story is about redemption and restoration and she chooses to praise the one God who brought her from the darkness into light.

Heather sings from the depths of her soul. You will love her music and learn from her life story.

My prayer for you (and me) today is that God will give you the power to forgive those who have hurt us and that He will reign in our hearts and shine His love for humanity through our lives. May the Maker of the Heavens and Earth give you peace, a peace the passes all understanding. "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."-- Philippians 4:7 (New International Version, www.biblegateway.com)

In Jesus name I pray, Amen. 

God bless you!

Love,

Alexis

Blessings Unlimited from God

"It is in the quiet crucible of your personal, private sufferings that your noblest dreams are born and God's greatest gifts are given in compensation for what you've been through."-- Adventist Preacher and Singer Wintley Phipps.

Unconditional Love

Dear blog readers,

I hope that you will enjoy this sweet, tug-at-your-heartstrings devotional which I found online (via Our Daily Journey.org). It speaks for itself so here it is: 

“Love . . . keeps no record of being wronged” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5).

One of my school textbooks had a mother-and-son story that I still remember. The mother was a harassed housewife with so many things to do, and she expected the boy to help her. He had his own priorities in life and resented doing what the mother wanted. One day he decided to ask his mother to pay for the services rendered by him. So he prepared a bill and placed it under her pillow. It was something like this. Drawing two buckets of water from the well: 2 annas; buying groceries from the market: 3 annas; dusting the furniture: 3 annas; going to the neighbour’s home to borrow sugar: 1 anna; and so on. He could easily earn a rupee for just a day’s labour, he thought, or mother may just stop asking for his help. He went to sleep dreaming of a better future for himself either way. 

When he got up he was delighted to find a rupee coin under his pillow, but along with it was a bill. Carrying you for nine months prior to birth: nothing; giving you birth at the peril of my own life: nothing; nursing you for a year: nothing; teaching you to walk and talk: nothing; caring for you when you were sick: nothing; and so on. It was a long list but the total bill was nil. The son rushed to his mother and wept in her arms.

I Corinthians 13:4-5 says that love does not keep an account of other people’s wrongs, nor does it flaunt or boast about one’s own good deeds. But the human brain maintains a detailed log of every event in our life, records every conversation that we have had, retains every image that our eyes have captured. We can recall words that hurt us even many years after they were spoken. Nations go to war over issues that are centuries old. How convenient would it be to selectively erase our memory like that of a computer!

I Corinthians Chapter 13:1-13 talks about the great strength of love, but it also cautions us about its fragility. Resentments, grievances, ill-feelings, complaints, and hurts have no place in the record book of love.

(Note: In the old Indian currency, 16 annas made a rupee. Now one rupee is made of 100 paise.)  — Submitted by R. R., India

God's love reaching hearts through human hands

One of my absolute favorite Christian recording artists, Sheila Walsh writes another book that speaks to the soul. Available in February 2011, see the video trailer for the book here:




GOD says, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
-- Matthew 28:19-20 (New International Version, ©2010, www.biblegateway.com)