PROGRESS OR PRESENCE?

OH PILGRIM, WHEN PROGRESS IS BOUND

BY DISAPPOINTMENTS YOU HAVE FOUND

WITH COURAGE WANT AND FAITH DEPLETE

EVERY DAY SMACKS BITTERSWEET

HARSH MORSELS OF THE CONSTANT PAIN

THAT HINDER WALK AND STYMIE GAIN

AND BRINGS IN EBB AND FLOW OF GRIEF

THAT CAUSES HOPE TO EVER CEASE

THE WONDERS OF HIS LOVE ERASE

DISMISSING CRIMSON BLOTCH WITH GRACE

AND MAKING SMOOTH THE CREASE OF SCAR

YOU’LL FIND THE PATH OF JOY NOT FAR

SO JOURNEY ONWARD WITHOUT FAIL

HIS PRESENCE GOES BEHIND THE VEIL

THE DARKNESS THAT ONCE SEEMED SO BLEAK

BREAKS DAWN WITH MORNING AT HIS FEET

NO DARK NIGHT OF SOUL WILL WIN

FOR GREATER IS HE WHO IS WITHIN

NOW, SET A WATCH AND KNOW HE’S NEAR

WITH ARMS TO HOLD AND EAR TO HEAR

HIS GENTLE WHISPER IN YOUR HEART

REMINDS THAT HE WILL NEVER PART

HIS LOVE IS STEADFAST, STRONG, AND TRUE

THE HOPE OF GLORY, CHRIST IN YOU!

by Tami McNulty

2014 The Year Of Love

You celebrate 2/14 as a day of love, but I say that 2014 is The Year of Love.  This is a time of restoring My Bride back to her First Love.  Those who love the world or the things in the world do not have the love of the Father in them.  Those who love Me seek My will and keep My Word.  If you will seek Me, you will find Me if you seek Me with all of your heart and all of your soul.  

As you draw close to Me you will find the grace to release the things of the world that have had held you. You think that bringing order to the worldly (natural) things will release My spiritual Kingdom, but the truth is that releasing the worldly (natural) things will bring My spiritual Kingdom order.  The spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.  This present work involves both a leaving and a cleaving as I bring proper alignment through integrity of heart.  There will be an increase of righteousness in My people and in the earth through First Love renewal.

This is a year of redeeming and restoring broken relationships where there is a willingness for aligning with truth and love.  There will be new marriages and remarriages, new friendships and restored friendships, first love and true love for many who have longed for it. 

I have set you as a seal upon My heart, for love is as strong as death; its flames of fire cannot be quenched by waters or floods.

1John 2:5-6,15-17; Deuteronomy 4:29; 1 Corinthians 15:46; Song of Songs 8:6-7  

Hope

Prepare the way of the Lord.  Prepare your hearts to receive from the Lord.  The Lord is not slack concerning His promises to  you as some count slackness, but there is an appointed time for everything.  Those promises and visions that have been sown into your spirit long ago, that have grown dim will surely come, though they tarry.  I AM not a dilly-dallying God.  There is purpose in everything that I do.  It is impossible for God to lie.  You are heirs of promise.

Lay hold of your hope as an anchor of your soul.  Your hope is not in your circumstances.  Your hope is not even in the promises.  I AM your consolation and your hope.  Take refuge in Me because I AM present with you in the waiting and I AM your reward.  I AM with you and in you as the hope of glory.

Isaiah 40:3-5; 2 Peter 3:9; Habakkuk 2:3; Hebrews 6:17-20 

JOY!

I love a cheerful giver!  Give a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over out of your own substance.  Seeing My children graciously, generously and joyfully sharing your blessings brings delight to My heart.  With the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.  You may feel that you don’t have much to bring to the table.  You may feel that what you have to offer is just a pittance, but I delighted in the widow’s mite because I saw that she gave what she had.  That is all that I ask of you ...to give out of what I have given to you, knowing that I AM your Provider.
I have given gifts to each one and as you give your pittance, your mite, it becomes worship to Me.  Giving what little you have shows that you know and trust Me as the One who is the Giver of all.  It shows that you believe that every good and perfect gift comes from Me.  You become like Me as you give as I have given.

Bring your pittance, your mite and offer it joyfully, cheerfully knowing that I AM the one who multiples the seed that is sown.  Cheerfully, graciously, generously and joyfully give your mite of talent, time, energy, finances and resources.  You have a rich inheritance and can afford to be generous! 

2 Corinthians 9:7; Luke 6:38, 21:1-4; James 1:17  

The Gift Of Grace

You have been freely given all things through the gift of My grace.  It is the gift of God to you.  It costs you nothing, but it cost Me everything.  I give to you freely, lavishly, abundantly all things because I love you to infinity and beyond.  I loved you that much before you even knew Me because you are My creation, My workmanship, My masterpiece.  When you were ungodly and still without strength, I gave you Myself.  I gave you God, the One who is all in all, so that forever and ever I might show the excellent riches of My grace toward you in Christ Jesus.  I breathed life into your lungs and then, when you were dead in your sins, I breathed life into your spirit and raised you up again to sit with Me in the heavenly places.

So do you get it yet?  Do you see the great lengths that I will go to in order to have peace with you, in order to have you with Me, in order to make you one with Me?

In giving you this grace, I give you My pleasure, My beauty, My favor, and My joy as well as My riches, My strength, My power, and My glory.  I have given you all things that pertain to life and godliness through the intimate knowledge of Me, the One who has called you by the revelation of Myself and My excellent nature.  Freely you have received, freely give.

Rest in the contentment of My gracious love for you.  Be still and know that I AM God!  Stir up your faith to access this grace in which you stand so that you rejoice in the hope of seeing the glory of God.  I will be exalted in the earth; I will be exalted in your life.

Romans 5:1-2,15; Ephesians 2:5-8; Psalm 46:10; 2 Peter 1:3; Matthew 10:8

Faith To Finish

You have each been called to run a race of faith, to fight the good fight and to obtain a crown of righteousness.  The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor favor to men of skill.  Falling does not cause you to lose your race; failing to finish will cause you to lose your race.  The race requires endurance against weariness in order to finish.  The battle is against discouragement and condemnation.  The victory is solely by faith in the finished work of MY race and the strength of MY resurrection power in you to finish your race.  It is MY righteousness that will cause you to obtain your crown, not your own efforts. 

Today, I speak to those who have fallen, who are discouraged and weary in your soul to remind you that you have been made righteous by MY blood which flows through your veins.  A righteous man may fall seven times and rise again.  Seven is not a number of limitation.  It is the number of perfection and completion.  It represents however many times you rise again in order to complete your race of faith, to fight the good fight and to obtain a victor’s crown.  Do not allow your weakness to cause you condemnation, but rather allow it to bring you to the place of humbly receiving My grace so that the power of My strength can rest upon you to rise again. You are loved completely; cast off fear.  Receive My strength and courage to get up again, persevering to the end, believing that I AM the Author and Perfecter (Completer, Finisher) of your faith.  Arise and let’s go on from here.  

2 Timothy 4:7-8; Ecclesiastes 9:11; Hebrews 12:1-3; Proverbs 24:16; 2 Corinthians 12:9

RELEASE AND CLING

This is a transitional season where many of the things that have had the lifeblood of the Spirit in the past are beginning to fade.  Although the beauty and attractiveness of these things may remain for a time, the life-giving properties of them do not.  The temptation will be to try to clutch them tightly so that they don’t fall away from your grasp; but, I tell you now to let them go because they will no longer be beneficial for you or others.  I’m telling you once again that the former things are passing away and I AM declaring new things to spring forth.  That which has been life-giving in the past season can not sustain you in the new season.

You must cling only to Me and hold everything else loosely.  Do not spend time and energy wondering what things to hold on to and what things to release because they are not understood by the natural mind, rather they are spiritually discerned.  My Word is Spirit and it is life.  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  I AM the way, the truth and the life.  Cling only to Me and you will stay in the flow of all that is life-giving.

Isaiah 64:6b, 42:9; 1 Peter 1:3-8; 1 Corinthians 2:14; John 6:63