January 18,2009

Saturate Your Soul in the Oil of the Spirit
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair.  2 Corinthians 4:8

The everlasting power of the Godhead is incarnate in My chosen ones.  Is it not written that the kingdom of God dwells within you: I will bring to pass miracles--when you walk in uprightness and with mercy.
Come to me with a clean heart and a right spirit, in sincerity, in honesty.  Saturate your soul in the oil of the Holy Spirit, and keep your channel of communication always open to your Heavenly Father.
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I like that last thought 'keep your channel of communication always open to your Heavenly Father'  It is no different than our channel of communication with our family or our spouse.  It just doesn't work, when we get an attitude toward the ones who are closest to us, we end up hurting ourselves and hurting them.  I remember years ago reading something that Lowell Lundstrom had written about families.  When there are two of you, you just have to get along with each other, and for each additional person there are just that many more relationships that you need to get along with so if there are three of you, four of you....it gets more complicated.  So whether at home or where you work, it is about relationships.

Come to me with a clean heart, it is so easy to allow our attitude to discolor our heart, it is so easy to allow attitudes to happen, soon some little thing mushrooms and we have a major crisis.  We have allowed an attitude to discolor how we feel and we end up hurting the ones we love.  I reflect on my past and it is overwhelming, lots of wrong attitudes, etc.  But I am thankful that God is forgiving when I asking for forgiveness, and that today , he wants me to press forward. (not to dwell on the past)

So what is a burden for you today?  even if you don't feel that your heart is clean.  God tells us to come to him, Many a day I pray, "Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit"  When our spirit is "right" because of what God has done in us, we can deal with what is near us, what is troubling us, what is distressing us.........

Father, today we desire to be your vessels and live in such a way that is pleasing to you,  Living our faith starts in our home with our family.  Father, give us a heart of compassion towards our family, help us to keep the lines of communication open right in our homes.  Help us to be sensitive to our loved ones that we live with.  Saturate us with your presence.  Create in us a clean heart and renew in us a right spirit.  In Jesus name.  Amen/

Yesterday,  I had a Daughters of the American Revolution meeting at Devils Lake.  In October my records were approved, so our relatives on Grandpa O'Brien's Mothers family date back to the American Revolution.  It obviously is a time when I am with a very different group of women, but since I am interested in history I enjoy learning.  Yesterday one of the ladies read from a journal that is in her family, it dates back to the beginning of our country, very interesting.  After that meeting I went to hospital and saw Frank, actually he was sleeping and Dorothy was with him.  She feels that he is a bit better.  He had his harmonica there, and had been playing it one evening.  A patient in another room had expressed appreciation for his music.  One day Naomi and Paul and Loretta Stensland came to see him, Loretta brought her guitar and played and sang for him.  She is very good, and God uses her in this way.  Audrey Vang's family asked if they would come and sing for her in another room, and they did and Dorothy said there weren't any dry eyes.  Audrey probably died that night.  After this visit I drove to Munich to help with a benefit for Jake Fickert.  The plans for this were started before he died Christmas Day.  I don't really know them, but their grandchildren go to Starkweather School.  Derek Klein, a boy from camp, spearheaded this event and he had gone to a lot of work,  I probably did it because I care about him.  They had a silent auction of a lot of nice items, and a spaghetti meal, but very few people came.  There had been basketball games all day at the school.  I don't know that this family had developed a lot of relationships in the community, but I feel that God did some good things and it was in his hands.  The people that came blest the Fickert family.  It was a long day and when I came home Dad and I talked about what had happened....