June 2009
Monthly Archive
View from The Towers Monday
Posted by Paul on 29 Jun 2009 | Tagged as: Coffee Thoughts, General, Hope, Ponderings, Video Posts, Writers
Out of The Ashes!
Posted by Paul on 21 Jun 2009 | Tagged as: Coffee Thoughts, Encouragement, General, Hope, Ponderings, Remembering
If there is one thing that I have learned, over the last six years, about the Father, is that He will bring us to the place He wants us, to fulfill His call and purpose in our lives. Hill Country Thoughts – My writing and Coffee Cup Ministry was birthed out of the ashes of what look like defeat!
Life came forth because Our Father brought me through the furnace of affliction and He is in the process of taking what was birthed in the ashes, brought it out of the fire and is polishing it, putting on the finishing touches so that when He is through that which will be seen, will be the Christ within, that others will see the reflection of that new life, that new creation.
I want to encourage you my friends today, to not turn back, do not flee from these times of going through the fire, for when you come through you will be able to look back and see from where you came, to where you are now and that time of mourning will be turn into joy, that the reflection will be the Lord, That we are in a place of knowing Him and not just about Him.
He is bringing us to a place of intimacy, to a place of walking and being one with Him on a dailly basis!
Blessings my friends,
Writing for the King,
Paul
My Isaack’s Moment Again!!
Posted by Paul on 05 Jun 2009 | Tagged as: Coffee Thoughts, Encouragement, Friends, General, Hope, Ponderings, Writers
As I look back, today, June 5, 2009, and it is good to look back at times, who would have thought that sitting at Isaacks Restaurant, in Junction, Texas, in 2004, in a booth drinking a cup of coffee and reading “Moving God Moving Mountains by my friend Luanne Hunt, would forever become in my mind, my Isaack’s moment, that sitting there I would experienced the presence of the Lord and the beginning of Hill Country Thoughts, A Coffee Cup Ministry!
I was utterly in awe and aware of my Father coming and fellowshipping with me, right there, right then, that my Father and I had communion.
We never know where God will meet us. For the Apostle Paul, it was on the road to Damascus, for this Paul, it was sitting there at Isaack’s in a booth. It was a breath taking experience.
Reading Luanne’s book was a blessing to me and I know that it will be a blessing to anyone who reads it. For me it revealed the Heart of God, the importance of ministering to Him and the fruits of such a relationship.
It is as I have shared before, when we learn to listen to the songs we hear, or the words that we read, as we really listen, the Lord will reveal Himself and we will be forever changed.
It is a book that you will pick up and re-read over and over and see a different aspect of our Heavenly Father. It is a book that will put you in touch with the heart of the Father. It is a book that honors our Father, that it is all about Him and not about us.
One of the things that spoke to me was when she talked about our gifts, our talents that He has given us, that they are meant to be shared: “Even if the Lord has blessed you with many gifts and talents,
They’re not meant to bring us fame and fortune or exalt us to a lofty position in the world’s eyes. They’re not meant for us at all.
What? I’m not supposed to enjoy the gifts God has given me?
Yes, you can enjoy them, and should. But they would mean very little if we kept them to ourselves. Surely the Lord enjoyed designing the earth and all the wonderful things in it. But His work was not complete until He shared it with all of us. Had He not created man to revel in His glorious dwelling place, it would have remained empty.
Our gifts and talents are also empty works until they touch another’s soul. They are blessings that bring others joy, satisfaction, comfort and healing. They are reflections of all that God offers to every individual. This is why painters and musicians are so willing to go penniless in pursuit of their artistry.
Something about their sensitive natures lets them see the priceless, spiritual value of their work and how transforming it can be to those who come in contact with it. The need to express love through their art is what drives their very existence.
So it is that God has this same need. We are His masterpieces, created to expose His intense love for all mankind. It’s humbling to think of ourselves in this way and gives us a whole new perspective on why we exist. We are magnificent creatures, sculpted by the Master, for the sheer purpose of bringing His beauty and light into the world.”
Right there in Isaacks, in 2004, like a bolt of lighting, I began to see, to understand that the Creator of Heaven and Earth, our heavenly Father, see’s us as His masterpieces.
It was literally breath taking. It was a revelation of my Father that I have never seen before. To realize we are created for His pleasure, to fellowship with Him.
To be literally caught up with the thought of the Lord, as she shares in one of her songs, is transforming, life changing, awe inspiring, a revelation that will never let you go back, but will cause you to pursue Him, to pursue Him with your whole heart, with your whole being.
This may not make sense to some, but this is the way the Lord brought it to me as I was sitting there in Isaacks. I know, I truly know, even this day, Friday, June 5, 2009, that I am doing what I have been called to do and I have an excitement and an anticipation within!
That it is not something that I am trying to bring about myself. I feel as a birthing is taking place. I know that is an unusual term for a man to use in reference to what he is experiencing but I am filled with an expectancy and I feel like my heavenly Father is pleased and that He, this day, at this moment and time is reminding me that I am right where He wants me.
It has become like a consuming fire. A new passion has been re-birthed, that I am learning what it truly means to be born again as the Lord meant it!!
It is all about the Lord, always has been and always will be and the awesome part is that we get to be part of what He is doing and that too is awesome.
And I know, that I know, that on this day, June 5, 2009, sitting here at Starbucks, that I am right where the Father wants me, here in Smyrna, Georgia, and like my Issack”s moment, that the Lord has taken me to a new level in my walk and relationship with Him and it continues, a consuming passion to follow after the Lord, knowing that what He begins, He will finish.
This is what He wants for all of His children, for us to pursue Him, with our whole being, totally, completely, knowing that this day, we are walking with Him into His purposes, for this day and time.
Let us be His masterpieces, let us be used for what He created us for, to reflect Him!
Till later,
Paul
Are you Contagious?
Posted by Paul on 01 Jun 2009 | Tagged as: Encouragement, General, Hope, Ponderings
Yes, that’s right!
Are you contagious? Do you have something that others want or do they flee with they see you coming?
Do they see in you the rest, the peace, the comfort that comes from knowing the Lord or do you reflect the attitude to them that if that is what a Christian is, then thanks, but no thanks, I am much better the way that I am!
Sad to say, most Christians, including myself have been so heavenly minded at times that I have been no earthly good.
I had all the right religious words, all the right phrases, I would never complain and when asked I would put on my most religious face and say, everything is ok, when I was in such turmoil in my life and I was afraid to admit that I needed help, you know, after all I am a Christian.
But over the last couple of years I would say the Lord has allowed me to have a real wake up call in my life and I am learning to know Him all over again, to truly get to know Him as my Lord and Savior and learn to spend time with Him, in the word, in prayer and in His presence.
I learned to let the Lord know what was going on in my life [He already knows ] but He likes it when we come to talk to Him and then listen.
And I think one of the things that the Lord has been teaching me, is that He wants us as Christians to live our life in Him in the world, to be real, not to put on our “religious faces” but to allow Him to use us where we are, that others will see in us the Living Christ and sense His presence and want to have that same peace and rest in their lives and that they see that we are living in the real world, dealing with real problems.
That our life will line up with the words that we speak and the life that we live, and that we are what we say we are!
Again, are you contagious or do others flee when they see you?
Till later,
Paul
Originally shared July 2004
