Tag: alive

faith in action

Karla Lees

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For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.  James 2:26

Life cannot exist when the body and the spirit are separated.

Both are needed for life to happen.

Faith without works isn’t alive.
It too is dead.

The spirit may be willing, but if your flesh isn’t following suit, you don’t get it done.

Our faith is to represent the living God we serve.

Everywhere, serving everyone, every moment.

If we are followers of Jesus, we are to do as He did. We are to go everywhere we are lead and serve everyone He asks us to — every opportunity we can.

Faith in action comes alive.

Today, ask Him to awaken your desire to have a living faith which permeates every area of your life.

Let faith arise, and may those around you be blessed as you follow where He leads you to be His hands and feet to all He loves.

This post first appeared as a Drop of Encouragement at Remade Community today.

Reason #5 to Give Thanks: Because You Can

Karla Lees

The last my top 5 reasons to give thanks ends with:

Because You Can (also known as Why Not?)  🙂

If you are alive, you have a reason to give thanks.

If you have anyone on earth or in heaven who loves you, you have a reason to give thanks.

If you can eat, breathe, sleep, sing, walk, talk, create, move, see, hear….

you have a reason to give thanks.

The Word is full of verses about why to give thanks, but here are my fave four as to why we can, besides the fact we are alive (as I outlined above):

1. Because you are made by His hands:

Oh yes, You shaped me first inside, then out; You formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—You’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, You know every bone in my body. You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, You watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before You; the days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.

Psalm 139:13-16

2. Because He is the Only God!

I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.

Psalm 7:17

3. Because He is not only good, but He loves us FOREVER!

Give thanks to the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

Jeremiah 33:11

4. Because of who He IS, Holy, Mighty, Awesome, Just, True, Good….

We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was…

Revelation 11:17

Every day, we have a reason to thank God.

Every day, we can offer Him thanks, even on those days when almost everything seems to go downhill… 😉
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under water

Karla Lees

One of my favorite memories as a kid was being by the water. Even better, to be swimming, especially underwater.

Seeing everything so clearly, removing all other distractions. Just me, underwater, awake and aware to the wonder around me.

The thrill when I could first do a somersault underwater, then two in a row, then three.

Learning to hold my breath, and swim back and forth between the sides, all underwater.

Throwing weights then diving off poolside to retrieve them, trying to make as little splash as possible.

The brightness of those memories had faded a bit, hiding in the recesses of my memory, until today.

My cousin posted a few pictures of my beloved goddaughter this morning, and one picture especially caught my eye:

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And all the wonder I remember came flooding back in a crashing wave of longing.

I haven’t been swimming for over a year now. I have allowed a few physical setbacks and my own mental mindset of feeling like a beluga on display rob me of that joy of being in the water.

My love for the water was drowning without attracting my attention as it slowly tried silently slipping away.

Our relationship with God can slip away just like that, when we take our eyes off of Him and look at the storm surrounding us, or those we are in the boat with.

He calls us to step out into the water. To wade in to the new depths of relationship He has for us, to trust Him and not focus on the unknown of what may be ahead.
To dive into His love with reckless abandon, no holds back, and find ourselves there, soaking in His presence. New with possibility. Alive and aware of all the wonder happening around us.
Some have been called to walk on the water, to place their trust in God and walk out miracles.

If you are feeling way over your head without a lifeline to reach out to, you are in the wrong pool.

Pools are man made.
God is calling you into His ocean.

Into the love He has for you its foundation.
His support its rocky shores & sandy beaches.
His presence the refreshing waters.

He is all over, around us. Above, below, beside, before, with us. Alive.

The waters in the pool you chose instead will not overtake you if you ask for Him to throw you a life preserver.

He is in the business of new life.

And yours is just waiting.

The Son’s radiance is glinting off the top of the water. You can just hear the murmuring of hope the Spirit is whispering over the crisp air. The love of the Father is drawing you home.

Are you ready to jump into His waters, and all He has for you?

hope is a person

Karla Lees

After many years of living without hope, surviving as best i could, I reached the end of myself.

I knew something had to change, because life was empty, and so was I.

I had brief moments of glimpses of real living, usually through song lyrics or a brilliant sunrise…but nothing that lasted.

Until I came to the end of myself one night.

I heard a song taking about heaven, and decided I wanted to know more.

After many conversations with friends, a lot of reading and study….it came down to whether Jesus was who He said He was.

And I couldn’t disprove it.

A God who sent His son to live under tyranny and oppression?

A Man who fully depended on God to supply for not only all His needs, but His source of power?

The One who gave His life out of love for all, so that all could live?

Who rose again, revealed Himself to those who knew Him best, defeating the grave?

The writings and history of that time are not at odds with one another. They don’t contradict, but seem to complement.

Which leads truth to be the likely outcome, as lies are usually full of holes and far fetched incidents, unlike Jesus’ entire time here on earth.

Predicted in the Old Testament by numerous sources.
Witnessed by thousands, those He lived with.
Lives touched with freedom, healing, restoration, love.
Words spoken from a heart on fire to please His Father, and walked out for 33 years on display for all to see.
Crucified for no crime other than being God.
Died, buried under Roman guard, abandoned to death by the church leaders of His day.
Announced by the stone rolled away, the grave is now empty. The guard nowhere to be seen.
Heralded by angel that He is risen.
Revealed to one woman crying at the gravesite.
Shown to two disciples walking on the road, feeling hopeless.
Seen by His closest friends, eating and chatting together.
Restored to be fully human and fully God all rolled into one.
Jesus.

A living hope.
The one who can raise from the dead is able to make new all that need new life.
From the inside out.

Hope.

We cannot live a full life without it.

Jesus is alive.
He is with me.
I am His.

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My hope is alive.
Jesus is my hope.

He has shown Himself to me in too many ways to list.
My life has never been the same since our first encounter, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The moment I gave my life to Jesus, and asked Him to help me live for Him instead, everything changed for the better.

My hope is alive.
And I am not trading Him in.
I am holding on to Him, His Word & His promises.

Hope.

Living without it for so long makes me extra thankful for having it.

Don’t live without hope any longer than you have to.
PS. You don’t have to.

Hope is waiting for you to invite Him in.