Pure Glory

by Hazel Straub

Our lives are letters read by everyone. We are letters from God.

2 Corinthians 3:1-3 (The Message)
“Does it sound like we’re patting ourselves on the back, insisting on our credentials, asserting our authority? Well, we’re not. Neither do we need letters of endorsement, either to you or from you. You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God’s living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives—and we publish it.”

by Hazel Straub

You have cried to me due to the pressure that you have felt. It is I, the Lord God, who is stripping you. You are like a piece of beautiful furniture that has the old finish stripped and sanded then the new finish applied. You have much beauty inside that this process reveals. Submit to the process and you will see wonderful results. Those things that you have not been able to conquer on your own get conquered, as I refinish you. My glory will shine out of you.

by Hazel Straub

Our sins separate us from God. Jesus our Messiah, gave his life for us. He is our High Priest who sprinkled his own unblemished blood to cover our sins. His blood makes us right with God and purifies us. What was impossible for us to do, Jesus did for us. Thank God for the blood of our Messiah that atones for our sins! Draw near to God on this Day of Atonement.

Hebrews 9:11-15 (The Message)
“But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven’s “tent”—the true Holy Place—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.”

Terebinth Blossom From en.wikimedia.org

by Hazel Straub

Rejoice! This is the year of the Lord’s favor and a new day. You are a terebinth of victory!

Isaiah 61:1-3 (Tanakh)
“The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me.
Because the LORD has anointed me;
He has sent me as a herald of joy to the humble,
To bind up the wounded of heart,
To proclaim release to the captives,
Liberation to the imprisoned;
To proclaim a year of the LORD’S favor
And a day of vindication by our God;
To comfort all who mourn-
To provide for the mourners in Zion-
To give them a turban instead of ashes,
The festive ointment instead of mourning,
A garment of splendor instead of a drooping spirit.
They shall be called terebinths of victory,
Planted by the LORD for His glory.”

by Apostle Christiana Robinson

What are you complaining for?

To complain means – to express dissatisfaction, pain, uneasiness, censure, resentment, or grief, to find fault, to tell of ones pains or ailments, to make a formal accusation.

When I saw a homeless man on the corner holding a sign for work or food or help, I couldn’t complain.

When I saw a man staggering, as he walked down the street with one-half of his body  weak from a stroke, content and happy that he was still alive, I couldn’t complain.

When I heard and saw the news about earthquakes in other cities, destroying homes and taking lives, I couldn’t complain.

When my foot hurt because I stubbed it or my hands hurt because I played the keyboard too hard, but a neighbor dies of a heart attack, I couldn’t complain.

When I see a paralyzed man in a wheelchair, coming home with groceries in his lap, although he can’t walk, he’s happy to have dinner for the night, I couldn’t complain.

When I have a day at work that doesn’t go so well, I know there are those who want to work and can’t. There are those who can work but choose not to. But I couldn’t complain.

When I look at my life and see how much God has done for me. Then I look and see many who don’t even know him. I couldn’t complain but I am available for Him to use me as a blessing to someone not as a curse to someone.

Are you complaining about bills?
Are you complaining about church folks?
Are you complaining about your life?
Are you complaining about your ministry?
Are you complaining about your dreams not yet coming to pass soon enough?
Are you complaining about people?
Are you complaining about not having enough money?

What’s there to complain about? Jesus was ridiculed, embarrassed, betrayed, beaten, persecuted, perplexed, talked about, abused, lied on, and people tried to secretly revolt against him. These people said they loved him, and claimed closeness to him. But, he still went to the cross with all of our sins on his back and not once did he complain.

So, why would you complain, if you say you want to be like Jesus?

Philippians 2:14 (NIV)
“Do everything without complaining or arguing.”

James 5:9 (New American Standard Bible 1995)
“Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.”

by Hazel Straub

My Dearest Child,

Unload and cast all the heavy baggage of cares, worries, fretting and all anxiety that you have carried, on me. It is time to get rid of all that heaviness. My master design for you, my child, calls for giving me all your frustrations and stress. Release the responsibility for handling everything and everyone that troubles and concerns you, to me, Daddy God.

Cease striving, struggling, staggering and working so hard, in your own strength. I am calling you to rest in me, while I work on your behalf. Relax and snuggle close, resting your head over my heart. Listen, as I sing with delight and love over you, my dearest child. Receive my presence, peace, provision, refreshment,  and restoration, while you rest in me.

Love you so much,
Daddy God

by Hazel Straub

Believe in God.
Believe in his promises.
Believe and have faith.
Faith takes firm action to obey God’s will.

Habakkuk 2:4 (Amplified)
“Look at the proud; his soul is not straight or right within him, but the [rigidly] just and the [uncompromisingly] righteous man shall live by his faith and in his faithfulness.”

by Apostle Jacques Cook

God says quit trying to become a finished product, without going through the process. You must let God slow cook you, as the sacrifice. Otherwise, you will be raw or undercooked meat that can poison people. Let God complete the process of you, dying to your flesh.