A DAILY DELIVERANCE

Our pastor pointed out a scripture Sunday from the Amplified Bible that is powerful. Romans 5:10 says, "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more certain, now that we are reconciled, that we shall be saved (daily delivered from sin's dominion ) through His (resurrection) life." The message of that verse holds such hope!! Your salvation is a daily deliverance from sin's dominion! What are you struggling with right now? Are you saved? Well, here is awesome news! Your salvation is working in you a daily deliverance from that struggle! The love that caused Christ to die is the same love that sends the Holy Spirit to live in us and guide us every day. The power that raised Christ from the dead is the same power that saved you and is available to you in your daily life! Just think, you have a reserve of power to call on each day, for help to meet every challenge you have.

God uses the strangest things to illustrate principles to me. The other day I was outside and the polaris kept getting stuck on the ladder and I kept going over and moving it off and into the pool. After several times I was frustrated and on the way to it, I said to Emilee exactly what the Holy Spirit was saying to me. "There is a whole pool out there and you just want to keep getting stuck on the ladder. It's the same with us when we just keep returning to that same sin, or that same struggle when God has given us so much freedom on the other side." WOW! Isn't it true? Why do we do that? He tells us right there in Romans that He has already done everything it takes to be delivered on a daily basis from sin's dominion. He also promises us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that, "No temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin, no matter how it comes or where it leads) has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man. But God is faithful (to His Word and to His compassionate nature), and He (can be trusted) not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will (always) also provide the way out (the means of escape to a landing place), that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently." (AMPLIFIED) What a word!

I am praying this over you today! You can know that you do not have to fall into the traps that satan has set for you! He will and He HAS ALREADY planned a way out for you, a landing place (don't you just love that?) Picture yourself in a plane (a situation or a struggle) with no place to land and just at the moment that you think you are going to crash and your end has come, you see a landing place! WOW! I love that picture. I will leave you with this wonderful promise: "The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress and my DELIVERER; my God is my Rock, in Whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation"....He is your DAILY DELIVERER!!

I love you and I am praying for you!

Wendy

I JUST WANT TO BE WHERE YOU ARE!

Our cat had 4 kittens on Memorial Day! I could go all into how much Andy DOES NOT like cats, or how tired I am of taking care of one more thing!, but I am focusing on the positive in order to illustrate a point! :) We have been keeping them upstairs in a big closet area until the owners come for them. Bella, the mother is getting rather tired of being a mother and is ready for her freedom! I guess we can all relate to that at times....anyway, the other day the door was left open accidentally and I looked up to see 4 of the cutest faces all up and down the staircase! They had found their freedom from the confining closet. They were all timidly making their way down the stairs to explore all of this newfound freedom. Just about the time the last one reached the floor, Bella decided to come back in to check on them. As she ran past them, each one of them turned and dashed back up the stairs behind her right back into the closet that they were earlier so anxious to leave.

As I watched them follow her back, the Lord brought Exodus 33:15 to my mind. "Lord, if Your presence doesn't go with us, do not send us up from here." As badly as they wanted out of that closet, as inviting as that "whole new world" looked to them, they ultimately just wanted to be where Bella was! That is my prayer for each of us today, "Lord, may we just want to be where You are! May we want nothing more than to dwell daily in Your presence. Lord, we don't want to worship You from afar, we just want to be where You are!" AMEN!

The greatest part of that passage in Exodus 33 is that the Lord speaks and His response to Moses is, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest!" What a promise when our heart's cry is Him! He will not only be there, but there will be rest and I believe that's something we are all in much need of!

Rest in Him!

I love you,

Wendy

THE GOODNESS OF OUR GOD!

Hello friends! It's been a while and I have missed you! This entry will be more of a blog than a devotional, but I must tell you just how good our God is in my life and I would love to hear how good He is in yours as well!

First of all, what a privilege it was to be able to be a part of the making of Sherwood's 4th film, Courageous. We watched God do one amazing thing after another on a daily, no hourly, basis!! He showed up and showed out in ways that we never would have dreamed. It will be hitting theaters some time early next year and I ask you to pray that it hits the target of the hearts of dads all across America and the world! May it be one of the most powerful tools that we have seen to date to bring the men of this world to their knees to God!

The week after the movie was wrapped, I had the awesome opportunity to go with our youth to Student Life camp in Orange Beach, Ala. WOW!! David Platt is the most Spirit-filled 31 year old I have ever seen or heard! His new book "Radical" just hit the shelves and I dare you to read it AND live it out!! What a challenge for us all! I am praying that as we head into another new school year, our youth do not forget thehead-on collision they had with God in that place!

Well, as incredible as all of that was, I must say, the highlight of my summer was witnessing the marriage of our oldest son Jason! He and Meagan had the most beautiful, God-centered wedding! What a surreal experience to sit there and watch everything that you have prayed for 24 years come to pass!! I literally had flashbacks of his childhood and all the things we prayed over him during the entire ceremony! All praise and glory to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for every good thing about Jason McLeod!! Our awesome God gets all the credit!! Now the prayers are for everything about their marriage to glorify God and point others to Him! The best thing about it was that I gained another daughter without all the morning sickness, dirty diapers and those awkward teenage years!! But, just like you, I wouldn't trade not one of those minutes with my others because as we all know time goes by WAY too fast!

Thank you for letting me share part of my summer with you and please let us know how God's goodness is showing itself in your life as well! Please know that I pray for you continually and I love you!!

Wendy