Listen

I’m not sure who this message is for, but whoever it is, I pray that you receive it in Jesus Name…

You are looking for God to do something big, to be loud, to make Himself known in a strong way, but He is saying, “Hear me My child I am speaking to you. The gentile whispers that have been flowing across your heart is My voice. I AM giving you the answer. It might not be in the way you thought, but it is in My perfect way. Be still and listen, hear my voice, and act accordingly.”

Sometimes we pray and pray and pray and look for God to come in a certain way because of what we want, but we can’t do that. We have to be open to God in any way He might come, and be ready to hear anything He might speak. Sometimes it is hard when we don’t understand why He comes in the way He comes, or why He says or does certain things. We don’t always understand when His answer is no, instead of the yes we long for, but know this, He ALWAYS has our best interests at heart. He knows us better then we know ourselves, and He knows what we need. Allow yourself to go before God today and say, “Here I am Lord, I’m open, willing, and ready to hear your voice, and whatever you have to say.”

1 Kings 19:11-12 (NIV)

¹¹ The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” 

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 

God bless!

Tracy Houston

Passion for the King

Psalm 63:1-8 (The Message)

¹ God—you're my God! I can't get enough of you! I've worked up such hunger and thirst for God, traveling across dry and weary deserts.

 ^2-4 So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open, drinking in your strength and glory. In your generous love I am really living at last! My lips brim praises like fountains. I bless you every time I take a breath; My arms wave like banners of praise to you.

 ^5-8 I eat my fill of prime rib and gravy; I smack my lips. It's time to shout praises! If I'm sleepless at midnight, I spend the hours in grateful reflection. Because you've always stood up for me, I'm free to run and play. I hold on to you for dear life, and you hold me steady as a post.

I read this passage of scripture today and it took my breath away. What passion for God, what love for Him! Often times when we talk to God we are focused on ourselves and others, but how often are our prayers sent up to just show our love and passion for the King. I know I need to improve in this area. I love God so much, but often times my prayers are so me focused instead of God focused. I just wanted to give us all a reminder to turn our hearts and our lips to God in worship. Let our passion for the King pour out of us and straight into His heart.

God bless!

Tracy Houston

Dive Deep

The other day during prayer God gave me a vision of the body, where we are, and where He desires us to be. He showed me this body of water to which there was no end which was His Spirit. Then all of a sudden there were people everywhere in the water swimming around and treading water. He showed me that many people in the body of believers are content to swim on the surface of His Spirit. Knowing the foundations and who God is, but never really going a lot further with that. They are content with surfacey messages about how to be happy in life, and how to get the things that you want. Many of their focuses are inward and self-centered.

As you know if you’ve ever been on the ocean it’s nice to be on the surface, it’s beautiful there, but the treasures don’t lie on the surface, the treasures lie within the depths of the waters. If you dive down you will discover life, beauty, and things you have never seen before. There is so much under the surface of the water that we can’t even imagine. We could explore the ocean’s depths for years and years but still not discover everything that lies within it. It is the same with God’s Spirit, we can swim on the surface and that’s fine and good, we are with Him and we are immersed in His Spirit, but if we don’t choose to dive beneath the surface and discover His depths, discover all the treasures that lie within Him and within the Kingdom then we are missing out on so much. God’s desire is that we begin to dive deep and discover His treasures. That we are each accountable for our own walk with Him, that we are not depending on others, our Pastors, etc. to help us grow and mature. Of course I’m not knocking those things, there are people put in place to help us, but we are too dependent on them for our walk with Christ. Those people are put in place as “travel guides”, they can lead us around and talk to us about what they see and know, but it is up to us to explore the places they lead us to. It is up to us to dive deep, to spend our own time learning from the Holy Spirit, to spend our own time reading the Word, to spend our own time praying. In the end when we come before God we won’t be able to say well God I didn’t do this or that or know this or that because my Pastor never taught me. No, we won’t be able to say that because we have the greatest teacher of all with each of us every day and He is just waiting and desiring to teach you what He knows. 

So I just want to encourage all of you out there today to begin to dive deep into God. Let Him know that you don’t want to swim on the surface anymore, that your desire is to know His depths, and you just watch and see what He will do.

“So come on, let's leave the preschool finger painting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on "salvation by self-help" and turning in trust toward God; baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment. God helping us, we'll stay true to all that. But there's so much more. Let's get on with it!” Hebrews 6:1-3 (The Message)

God bless!

Tracy Houston