If I had a Favorite, This would be It.

So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. (Luke 15:20, NLT)

This morning, my girls and I studied the parable of the prodigal son. We were all brought to tears (so much so that my eight year old couldn't even speak) when we read verse twenty in Luke chapter fifteen, 

So he got up and went to his father.

But while he was still a long way off, 

his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; 

he ran to his son, 

threw his arms around him and 

kissed him.

Is there anything more filled with power than that? Just meditate on that for a while, meditate on it until it becomes part of who you are. Write it down on a card and read it throughout the day over the next coming weeks and months or however long it takes for it to become part of your very core.

First, the son came to himself, (Luke 15:17) then he got up, and went to his father.

The father's reaction:

• filled with compassion
• ran to him
• threw his arms around him
• kissed him

The bible says the father ran to him. The father didn't wait until the son walked up to the porch. The father was so excited to see his son, he couldn't wait and so he ran!

That's true unfailing love…

That's the love our Father has for us!

No matter who tells us what (even if we are the ones telling ourself), no matter where we've been or what we've done….God, our Father always wants us!

That's the love our Father has for us!

Father, thank You for this parable. Thank You for being filled with compassion for us. Thank You that when we "come to ourselves", You are always approachable and willing and desire to wrap Your arms around us even when we've rolled around in pig stuff! I pray for every reader right now, as well as myself, that from Your glorious, unlimited resources, we become empowered with inner strength through Your Spirit! We are rooted and grounded in Your great love! I declare we have the power to understand and we will all come to know how wide, long, high, and deep Your love is! You are able, through Your mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think! All glory, honor, and power to You Father, in the name of Jesus, Amen!

A little side note: Please don't ever ask me to study this verse with you face to face because it makes me bawl every time...yep, every time! And I must have been teaching it with much emotion because my ten year old sincerely said, "Wow...you should be teaching this in a stadium right now."

She always thinks in terms of huge, just like her father, earthly and Heavenly!

Life: The 8 Second Ride

From time to time, we host a guest and invite them to write a blog post. My husband, Mike, the love of my life and God's gift to me straight from Heaven wrote today's post. Enjoy!

Life is like an 8 second bull ride! (James 4:14)

You have to ride like there's no tomorrow! (Psalm 90:12)

You have to hang on for all you've got! (Matthew 6:33)

You have to live for the moment! (Philippians 4:6, 7)

And don't wait around to hear the buzzer! (2 Corinthians 5:8)

Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray for every reader today. We understand our life is compared to a vapor, we holdfast to You and Your law of love. Continue to teach us to number our days, our heart's desire is to have a heart of wisdom. We commit to seek You and Your kingdom first in the name of Jesus! We are bold and strong! We are not anxious for or about anything, but in everything we make our requests known to You with prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving! Thank You for peace! Your peace that surpasses all understanding that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus! 

Excavating

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.  Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another. (Galatians 5:19-26, NLT)

Last night I had a dream about excavating. In the natural, I know very little about excavating. In fact, I know next to nothing about the subject. I can use common sense to piece together how it might work but I don't even know the name of the heavy equipment that would be used in excavations so please bear with me as I try to explain the dream. 

I saw top soil that was dry, hard, and rocky. Then I saw a big excavating machine, like heavy machinery, digging down and pulling up dark, rich soil. The bucket on the machine would dig deep down through the top of the ground, then slowly pull it's contents up as bugs, roots, and rocks fell out of the bucket. Underneath was pure, fresh, life giving, mineral and nutrient filled soil that would be used to grow life!

One definition for excavate provided by Free Online Dictionary states, "to remove by digging" and "remove earth carefully and systematically from an area in order to find buried remains".

Once we received Jesus, we were given a new heart and a new spirit! Our stony, stubborn heart was taken out. Now we have a tender, responsive heart. (Ezekiel 36:26) We may not have known that prior to today. We may not have been taught that prior to today. We may have been taught that but forgot about it. But today is a new day! Now we've heard it, seen it in His Word, and now we do it because we are wise! We immediately begin practicing what we learn, never to return to yesterday! (James 1:22, Isaiah 43:18, 19)

As we allow the Holy Spirit to systematically remove rocks (sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these)

from our lives, what is left is pure, fresh, life giving, mineral and nutrient filled soil (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control)!

He is the vine and we are the branches. We remain in Him, producing much fruit. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. Today is a new day. We've been taught the Word, we abide in Him, and we produce much fruit because He is teaching us to number our days and we are gaining a heart of wisdom! (James 1:22, Psalm 90:12)

We practically apply this to our daily lives in the following manner. When we are tempted to be hostile, we crucify that by producing gentleness. When we are tempted to quarrel, we nail that temptation to the cross and we replace quarreling with kindness! When we are tempted to operate in dissension, we refuse to feed the lustful nature. Instead we operate in the Spirit and pursue peace! (Psalm 34:14)

Brother Kenneth E. Hagin gives powerful advice in his book, Growing Up Spiritually. He writes about sitting at a table with his son and a pastor, when the pastor, "got to talking about some of the church members, airing some of their faults and failures.." Brother Hagin responded with, "I would rather you'd curse in front of him." (Hagin's son) "That wouldn't register on him." But for the twelve years I pastored, he always thought every member we ever had was an angel." "They weren't-any more than all his members were." "He never heard his parents say one word about any deacon, Sunday School teacher, superintendent, or church member. You need to be careful what you say around children, and other people as well." 

Interesting side note: 

In 2 Timothy 3:16 through 17 we are taught, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."

I believe it is important to deeply examine the fact that, sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, drunkenness, wild parties, are all clumped together in the same passage as hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy…….and other sins like these.

That's food for thought and a whole other blog post. 

Most loving, faithful, and gracious Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, we welcome You to come and excavate our hearts and our lives! Thank You for this wonderful new day, a new day to abide in You producing much fruit! Thank You for removing the rocks in our lives and replacing them with pure, fresh, life giving, mineral and nutrient filled soil! Instead of producing rocks, we shall produce life! We are hearing and doing Your teachings and we are gaining wisdom! We are building our homes on our Solid Rock! We operate in Your law of love completely excavating all religious law. We belong to You Christ Jesus and we have nailed the passions and desires of our sinful nature to the cross and crucified them there! We live by Your Spirit and we follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives! We are never conceited and we do not provoke one another! We continually stand amazed by You, King of all Kings, Jesus! 

Matthew 7:24:29
Galatians 5:19-26, NLT

Crisis Pregnancy

See what [an incredible] quality of love the Father has given (shown, bestowed on) us, that we should [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! The reason that the world does not know (recognize, acknowledge) us is that it does not know (recognize, acknowledge) Him. Beloved, we are [even here and] now God’s children; it is not yet disclosed (made clear) what we shall be [hereafter], but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall [as God’s children] resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He [really] is. (1 John 3:1,2)

Last week, I stopped by to catch up with a friend who works at a Crisis Pregnancy Center. It had been a while since I had seen her and she lives out of the way so I stopped by her office because I drive by the center on my way home.

I had my two youngest girls with me, ages eight and ten. It didn't even occur to me we had never discussed a crisis pregnancy nor did it occur to me they would even read the sign.

After leaving the center, on the way to the car, my ten year old seemed very distracted. I asked if she was alright. She sadly said, "Mom, how can a pregnancy ever be a crisis?" 

I must say, I was nearly floored by her comment as well as her demeanor. 

I must also say, I'm so thankful she will never know the fall out of being unwanted by her parents.

This is not a stab at abortion, or medical professionals who perform them. 

This is a bold statement to decree and declare to you, two undeniable, impenetrable, absolute truths.

1. God loves you. (John 3:16)
2. God has such an amazing quality of love, He loves you and calls you His child! 

If you have been told or if you've found out, you were/are not wanted by:

• your earthly parent(s)
• a spouse
• a friend

Today, that all changes along with all the baggage that accompanies it because the Creator of Heaven and earth wants you, loves you, and calls you His child!

Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray for every reader in this situation today. I thank You for taking what the enemy intended for harm and working all things together for good for those who love You! I thank You for causing them to triumph in Your perfect plan for their lives! I thank You for being strong in their weakness and I thank You for sending Your word and healing and rescuing them! Thank You for giving me the boldness to proclaim, "It is finished!" because I do not waver! I am not tossed to and fro! I ask You and You do anything for me because of Your great love for us! 

Please make this confession out loud with me.

"Independent of who wants me and doesn't want me on this earth, I am thankful God wants me! The enemy intends rejection to harm me but he is a liar and I thank God for working all things together for my good! I praise God who causes me to triumph in Christ Jesus! When I am weak, God is strong! God sent His Word and healed me of everything that attempts to rise up against me. I thank God, no weapon formed against me shall prosper! I thank God He never leaves or forsakes me and enables me to be strong and courageous! THANK YOU KING JESUS!"

Genesis 50:20

Romans 8:28

2 Corinthians 2:14

Jeremiah 29:11

Psalm 107:20

Isaiah 54:17

John 8:44

John 14:14

James 1:6

Deuteronomy 31:6

The View Up Here!

Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. (1 Corinthians 13:7-8, AMP)

I had a dream last night about how we view ourselves. In the dream, I saw an extremely beautiful woman who was very educated, experienced, and wealthy. She consistently operated with a pure heart in all her relationships, personal and professional. She was very gentle, giving, always quick to help others, and she was one who refused to give up, ever. She viewed others through a love filter but she did not view herself through the same filter. She found it easy to give love but difficult to understand how someone could love her. 

The dream prompted me to attempt to explain the importance of viewing ourselves through the filter of love.

God is love, as a result He views us through the love filter. (1 John 4:8) 

The God kind of love. 

Not Hollywood love, or tabloid love (do people actually read those?), or romance novel love, 

or "reality" tv show love, 

or I love my kitty cat love or I love pizza love. 

True love is ever ready to believe the best of every person. (1 Corinthians 13:7-8). "Every person" includes ourselves. As born again believers, we are to imitate our Father. (Ephesians 5:1)

When we stumble, God sees through to our heart.  (Samuel 16:7) His love never fails, (Psalm 136:1) so in our best and worse times, He never changes nor does His great love for us. (Malachi 3:6) He loves us, not because of us, but because of Him. Because of who He is, love.

As we consistently view ourselves through the of unfailing love "filter", we become perfected by love. (Ephesians 5:1, 1 John 4:8, John 15:1-14) 

As a result, we view those around us through eyes of unfailing love, even those the world has deemed unlovable. (John 15:5) 

As we are perfected in love (1 John 4:8) by fellowshipping with Love (1 John 4:8, Matthew 6:33) all fear and torment is cast out. God withholds nothing good from us and freely gives us all things! (Romans 8:32) The greatest of all is, love! (1 Corinthians 13:13) He freely gives us love! True love! Please refer back to the kitty cat love comment.

Please allow me to make a bold statement about the most basic truth. It's so simple and broken down, it seems like it needs to go unsaid. But let's lay this foundational truth and move onto spiritual maturity. 

GOD. LOVES. YOU!!! (John 3:16)

Say it, "GOD. LOVES ME!!!" Receive it by faith. Speak it out loud every time you think of it. And if it isn't already currently in your heart, saturating every cell of who you are, it will! (Galatians 6:9) 

Now that we've established how to love ourselves through the love filter, let's address how we consistently view others through the love filter. How do we handle every person and every circumstance insulated with the love filter? 

Before thinking/speaking/acting/texting/tweeting/posting on Facebook, we run it through the love filter. (2 Corinthians 10:5) If we can't filter a person or a circumstance with love, we wait, we spend time with our Father, and then we move forward in love. (Galatians 5:22, 23) 

If we cannot move forward in love, we do not move.

Does it feel good to bash something/someone via conversation/action/social media? Yep, sure does, if we are feeding the flesh. We each individually decide what dominates us. (Galatians 5:16)

What about the ones who are acting out of control? What about the ones who deserve a good gigging? What about when we feel like gig'n 'em up like we would a frog? What about the ones who are having flesh fits against us? 

We do not gig 'em. No, we imitate our Father by blessing them and we pray for them because of love. We walk in forgiveness and if we can help them in any way, we give. We pursue peace and guard our hearts. We maintain a Heavenly perspective and be willing to believe the best. (Romans 5:8, Luke 6:38, Ephesians 5:1, Luke 6:28, John 14:15,John 14:21, Psalm 34:14, Proverbs 4:23, Ephesians 2:6, 1 Corinthians 13:7-8) We walk in peace and patience, allowing them time and allowing the Holy Spirit time to guide them into all truth.  There is a time for everything and we must remember, our timing doesn't rule. (John 14:27, Hebrews 6:12, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Ecclesiastes 3:1, 2 Peter 3:8, Ecclesiastes 3:11, Psalm 90:12) And we remain vigilant in being more aware of our Heavenly seat than our earthly seat. (Ephesians 2:6) 

Well done, good and faithful servant! It's celebration time! (Matthew 25:23)

Until that day comes:

Well done, and welcome to life in excessive abundance! (John 10:10)

I thank God and I thank my friends and family for allowing the Holy Spirit time to guide me into all truth! I've pulled some major doozies in my life and I've had to apologize…a lot, but thank God for friends and family who love God and keep His commands so when I clean up my messes, I am met with open arms and love!

But what about those who are not willing to meet us with open arms when either they or we mess up? 

We shall walk in the awareness of our Heavenly seat!

I often speak and write about maintaining the balance. Balance must be kept while applying the love filter to ourselves. When (please notice that is when and not if) someone brings to our attention of a matter we may be struggling with and need to address, we must keep an open heart and a teachable spirit. Please be prepared, at times things are brought to our attention and delivered out of love. It may even come through the voice of a child. (Luke 18:17) Or someone who hardly knows us. Or someone who knows us very well. Or someone we respect so much, we would never want to disappoint them. Independent of how it is brought to our attention, independent of their motivation, use it as a tool and watch God work all things together for our good. (Romans 8:28) Take it to God in prayer and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. (John 16:13) Seek trusted biblical godly counsel. (Psalm 37:30,31) We are in the process of growing into spiritual maturity so we study and show ourselves approved! (2 Timothy 2:15) We get wisdom and understanding! (Proverbs 4:5) We confess all sin and He cleanses us! (1 John 1:9) We never reject knowledge and will not be destroyed! (Hosea 4:6) We are not a people who strain a gnat and swallow a camel! (Matthew 23:24)

The "ditch side"...dun-dun-dunnnnnn! What if a close friend or relative comes to us and says, "Hey, lets go rob a bank!" Enabling others to do any kind of wrong is not walking love. God raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the Heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. Seated in the Heavenlies, we do not wrongly divide the word of truth. No, we rightly divide the word of Truth! (Ephesians 2:6, 2 Timothy 2:15)

Father, as we all embark on this new season in You, this phenomenal season of a deeper revelation of Love…I thank You and praise You for your great love! 

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the You, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from Your glorious, unlimited resources You will empower us with inner strength through Your Spirit. Then Christ will make His home in our hearts as we trust in Him. Our roots will grow down into God’s love and keep us strong! And may we have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep Your love is!  May we experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully! Then we will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from You, God! Now all glory to God! Who is able, through Your mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think! Glory to Him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen!!! (Ephesians 3:14-21)

Passenger Excitement!

For the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, NLT)

I always have so much fun traveling on inter-island flights between the Hawaiian Islands. The plane is always buzzing with excitement as tourists are amazed at being in Hawaii. Some people who come here have saved and waited for most of their lives just to visit the Hawaiian Islands. Some are staring and pointing out the windows at the beauty of paradise while others are looking over maps trying to get their bearings while others are busy asking locals questions wanting insider information. 

It always prompts me to think about how exciting it is going to be when we see Jesus coming! Can you imagine that day? I sure can and think about it often! Some have waited most of their lives just to see Jesus coming from Heaven with a shout! Some will be staring and pointing at the awesomeness of Jesus while others try to get their bearings while others ask questions wanting information.

Every night when I go to bed, I think…"Well, Jesus didn't come today, hopefully we will see Him coming tomorrow." Jesus is coming soon! I shout, "Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20)

What will you do when you see Jesus coming down from Heaven with a shout? If I'm able, I want to dance like king David danced, but I may just stand still in awe. Until we see Him coming, may the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you! (Revelation 22:21)

Have you accepted Jesus? If not, I encourage you to receive Him now. He came so that we can have life and have it in excessive abundance! (John 10:10) Make the decision today to make Him Lord of your life! Eternal life starts now! If you want to receive Jesus, please contact us by emailing us at keytovblog@gmail.com and will be help you. We will also help you connect with a bible based church near you. If you feel uncomfortable contacting us, we highly suggest www.faithman.org for more information. 

Know the Drill

For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong. (Hebrews 5:13-14, NLT)

My girls have been traveling since they were three months old. Currently, they are eight and ten years old. When they were younger, I had to instruct them how to maneuver through airports. I taught them how to stay hydrated, take advantage of every bathroom location, keep an eye on the monitors for flight changes, locate departure gates, and how to successfully get through security screenings.

On one occasion while in the Kauai airport, my scuba dive computer (which also serves as my watch) caused me to alert TSA and experience a pat down. I cannot define the joy of the experience as Mikea loudly protested with all the drama she could muster up, "She's innocent, she is innocent!" Although I found her antics quite amusing, the TSA agent did not. Thankfully, now Mikea understands there is a time and place for everything. (Ecclesiastes 3:1) Through training, she now now skilled to know what to do…and what not to do, when dealing with TSA.

Helpful hint: TSA pat down is not the time for joking.

Traveling with an eight and ten year old is a whole lot easier than it was back when I had my baby in the front pack, while wearing a back pack full of baby supplies, and pushing my toddler in a stroller. I no longer have to instruct my girls step by step on airport travel. Through training, experience, and maturity they know the drill. Much in the same way, as we study God's Word, we grow from "milk to solid food" every day bringing us closer to knowing the drill (spiritual maturity). 

Traveling with an infant may be difficult, but that never kept me grounded. While my girls were infants, I front packed one, carried what they needed in my backpack, and pushed the other one in her stroller. Thankfully, I am not currently front packing an eight year old, they no longer need a backpack full of diapers, and I'm not pushing a ten year old in a stroller. But I didn't expect them to get out of the front pack, diapers, or stroller before the time had come. On the other side of that coin, I certainly taught them when and how to get out of the front pack, diapers, and stroller as they matured. 

It is through training that spiritual infants gain the skill  to know the difference between right and wrong. Spiritual infants must be taught how to stay well hydrated (John 4:14, John 7:37--38), take advantage of every bathroom location to dump what needs to be dumped…no pun intended, (Matthew 6:14, Luke 17:1), keep an eye on the monitors for flight changes, (Matthew 24:4), locate the gate (John 14:6), and how to easily get through security screenings (Matthew 24:42).

Lord God, thank You for calling us out of darkness into Your marvelous Light! Thank You for being forever faithful toward us and never slack! Thank You for surrounding us with favor as a shield! And thank You so much for placing the spiritual mature in our path to give us milk and then solid food at Your appointed time. And thank You for teaching us to not only hear but do what as Your Word instructs us. I pray for every reader right now, both the believers on milk and solid food. May the ones on milk rise up and receive training becoming skilled. May the ones on solid food be strong in You and the power of Your might! And may we all walk in everything You have called us to walk in, and never grow weary in doing good. I pray all these things in Your Son's name and I thank You for all things You are working right now together for our good!

1 Peter 2:9

2 Peter 3:9

James 5:16

Ephesians 6:10

Galatians 6:9

Romans 8:28