Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,

let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,

for our “God is a consuming fire.”

Hebrews 12:28-29

Wow. The God whom we worship—the God who came to us as a helpless baby…the God who chose to die for us as the full and final sacrifice for our debt of sin…the God who rose from the dead and intimately and powerfully places His Holy Spirit within us and promises us eternal life with Him—this is the God of all creation…the God who is “a consuming fire.”

And it is the One and Only True God—Creator of all that exists…LORD of all eternity—whom we are to worship with thankfulness and acceptable reverence and awe.

How much more honestly, sincerely and humbly our worship would flow from us if we were to acknowledge, admit and truly understand that everything in our world—our homes, our jobs, our finances, our possessions, our physical bodies—EV-ER-Y-THING can and will be shaken! EV-ER-Y-THING can and will pass away. None of these are eternal. Not one.

But! Our God who is “a consuming fire” will bring to us His eternal kingdom that can never be shaken…His eternal kingdom that will never pass away. Our God—the All Powerful, Fully Intimate—LORD of all creation offers eternal life for all of us who will put our faith in His Son Jesus Christ as our Savior and King over His eternal kingdom. And when we do, a response of thankfulness and worship filled with acceptable reverence and awe for our God should flow!

Take some time even now to really think about who our God is. Stop the rushing and the worrying and even the check-it-off-the-list-of-religious-duties-kind-of-worshipping. Just stop. Breathe. And recognize just a little bit more that only God and His eternal kingdom will never be shaken. Then thank God…and worship God with acceptable reverence and awe…and ask God to help you keep this mind-set…this eternal perspective of thankfulness and reverence and awe.

I know I have to continually ask God to move my eyes off of what is temporal—off both the good stuff and the yucky stuff—and move my eyes to see His Eternal Being…His eternal kingdom. Our God—who is “a consuming fire” and offers us His eternal kingdom—deserves and desires this kind of thankful, reverent and awe-filled worhip from me…from all who are His children!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 34:22

There is such hope, such peace, there is such certainty for us who have been redeemed by the Holy One of all creation.

Our LORD Himself is our refuge from the condemnation we deserve for choosing sin instead of choosing to love, trust and obey our Creator. Our LORD Himself—our Savior Jesus Christ who took on our condemnation and conquered the power of sin and death through His blood shed on the cross—is our certainty that we will never be separated from the love of our LORD.

By faith in Jesus, in His death and resurrection for us, we belong to the LORD—as His servants…as His children—and we can be absolutely certain of our LORD’s redeeming, refuge-providing love for us—for our lives now and for all eternity! Do you live in that certainty? Really live—day by day—in the certainty of God’s redeeming, refuge-providing love for you?

If not, you can ask our LORD even now to be your Savior. Even now to accept you as His child because of the sacrifice of His Son Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins…and His resurrection for our promised eternal life with our Heavenly Father, our Holy Abba. Ask our LORD for His salvation…His redemption…His refuge—and it will be yours. The LORD is always faithful to His Word.

And if you did ask for these great gifts of salvation, redemption and refuge from our Holy LORD, tell someone about your decision…and rejoice! 

And for those of us who are certain of our LORD’s amazing gifts of salvation, redemption and refuge, we need to ask our LORD to show us how that certainty—that full trust in Him—can be more fully expressed and made more clearly evident to others in the ways we live—in the ways we think…speak…and act out—our lives.

Having certainty in our LORD should certainly make a difference in us!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Do y’all get tired sometimes? I do.

I absolutely love my life. And I am so very thankful for what I have the privilege to do through the ministry of Transformed by Grace. I’m so thankful for the speaking events that I and other TBG speakers are blessed to lead as we minister alongside others…and watch how powerfully God works to transform people’s lives with His love, Word and Spirit. I’m so thankful for all of the different ministry contacts and communications with people—all over this nation and in a few other nations as well. I’m so thankful for the counseling ministry that I and the other TBG counselors have been given to walk intimately with people as they allow the grace, truth and love of God to take greater hold of their heads, their hearts and their whole lives.

I love what I do. And I still get tired!

Thanks be to God that He never gets tired! And He will refresh us and strengthen us moment by moment…day by day…as we hope in Him—as we lean into His love, His will and His power!! God wants us to know this!! And do something about it!

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:28-31

So! Now that you know this! What are you going to do about it??? Personally, and very necessarily so, I’m going to let the LORD—the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth—refresh my tired old head! How ’bout you??

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

I know you’ve heard this before, but this is a continual, perpetual truth for each of us: WE HAVE CHOICES TO MAKE!

Our peace…our health—of mind, body and spirit—really has so much to do with the CHOICES we make. Choice of thought. Choice of words. Choice of actions. Choice of reactions. Choice of perspective.

CHOICE of trusting God. And it is in choosing God that we choose our very life!

I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life

Deuteronomy 30:19-20

 What LIFE CHOICES will you make right now…today…tomorrow…the next day and the next day and the next…that will be clear evidence that you are CHOOSING LIFE? This is God’s greatest gift…God’s greatest desire for you! 

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:17

If we really believe in the Lord Jesus as our Savior then our lives should look very different from those precious souls that are still lost and dying!

If we have put our trust in Jesus then everything within our lives—everything we do and say—should be more and more reflective of His transforming, healing, softening and strengthing grace and truth.

In whatever we do, say and think the love of Jesus should be what rules in our hearts, our minds, our mouths and our actions—more and more and more—as we live like the children of the King that we are! And how thankful we should be that we are children of the King—whatever our earthly circumstances are!

May our loving, powerful God get hold of each of us—more and more tightly—so that we will refect His love and power in the lives of the broken, lonely, angry, hurting and hurtful, lost people who share this world with us. In all circumstances—whatever they may be—let us do, speak and give thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

There is so much going on in this world on a grand scale that hurts and destroys lives—from natural disasters, like this most recent horrendously destructive earthquake in Haiti, to flooding, fires, famines, snow and ice storms. And there are so many ways that we people destroy our world…and other people in our world—both on the grand scale and within our most intimate relationships—with hatred, prejudice, cruelty, self-focused righteousness and ugly selfishness.

BUT!!! These truths never have to have the last word. Never. Because Jesus is the Word—the Living and Active Word of God. Jesus is the Alpha, the Beginning…and Jesus is the Omega, the End. Our world can get rocked literally and physically, our hearts can get broken. BUT!!! In Jesus and because of Jesus that is not the end of us. Never! We must choose to fix our eyes on Jesus right now—and over and over again…each and every day…each and every moment—so that we may see with His eternal perspective and receive His conquering all-surpassing power!

…this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed;

perplexed, but not in despair;

persecuted, but not abandoned;

struck down, but not destroyed.

…Therefore we do not lose heart

…for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.

For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:7-9, 16-18

So! Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus, the Eternal One because His loving eyes are always fixed on us. And let’s receive His all-surpassing power that He offers to us always for all that we experience in this world and in our own personal lives!

Our choice: Let Jesus have the last word!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                     Sylane

This is what the LORD says:

“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.

Where is the house you will build for me?

Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?”

 declares the LORD.

“This is the one I esteem:

he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.”

Isaiah 66:1-2

Magnificent worship of our Magnificent LORD is not based on where we worship—either geographically or architecturally.

Magnificent worship of our Magnificent LORD is not based on the music that is played, the songs we sing, the rituals in which we participate or even on the sermon message that we hear.

The place of worship—and all that goes on there—is not what truly matters or what truly makes for magnificent worship of our Magnificent LORD. Rather it is the placement of our hearts, spirits and attitudes that matter very, very much. 

Magnificent worship comes from a heart and spirit that look to the LORD and respond in awe-struck humility to the LORD’s greatest—or at least as much of it as our limited minds can even begin to grasp!

Magnificent worship comes from a heart and spirit that look to our LORD and respond with a sincere and repentant—contrite—attitude in view of our sins and the LORD’s great love and sacrificial mercy!

Magnificent worship comes from a heart and spirit that look to the LORD and respond to His Word with a trembling recognition that His Word is filled with grace and truth, love and life…and must be trusted and obeyed!

Magnificent worship—humble and contrite and trusting, obedient worship—is what our Magnificent LORD deserves from each of us…and it is the only kind of worship that our Magnificent LORD will esteem from each of us.

Have you worshipped our Magnificent LORD magnificently today??

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                     Sylane

Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’

Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’

I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend,  yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you…for everyone who asks receives…”

Luke 11:5-10

Ask God. Ask God with faith and fervency…with passion and persistence. If what you are asking for comes from a heart that is seeking to offer love…and welcome…kindness…and rest and refreshment for another—then what you are asking for lines up fully with the loving, welcoming, kind, rest and refreshment giving heart of our Holy Living Lord. Ask. And keep on asking. These prayers—this kind of asking—God loves to answer.

Are you coming to God on behalf of others? For their salvation? For their being welcomed into the Kingdom of God? For their deeper freedom, fuller peace and greater understanding of the transforming love of our Lord Jesus Christ? Are you coming to God asking for these things for yourself???

I have seen the gates of hell and the strongholds of sin stormed and destroyed in my own life and in the lives of those I love and for whom I have relentlessly gone before my Abba to plead for their salvation, healing and restoration! God wants us to care enough about ourselves and others to ask for His power to be fully released in our lives and in theirs!

So! Ask passionately and persistently for those things that line up with the grace and truth and the unfailing love and perfect will of God. Ask! And it will be given. That is God’s Word. That is God’s promise.

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                     Sylane