Eze 43:5 Net.Bible Translation

Then a wind lifted me up and brought me to the inner court; I watched the glory of the Lord filling the temple.

2Pe 1:3 Net.Bible Translation

I can pray this because his divine power has bestowed on us everything necessary for life and godliness through the rich knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence.

The great early American preacher Jonathon Edwards once said, " There is very great delight the Christian enjoys in the sight he has of the glory and excellency of God. How many arts and contrivances have men to delight the eye of the body. Men take delight in the beholding of great cities, splendid buildings and stately palaces. And what delight is often taken in the beholding of a beautiful face. May we not well conclude that great delights may also be taken in pleasing the eye of the mind in seeing the most beautiful, the most glorious, the most wonderful Being in the world ".

What is it about the Glory and the Excellency of God, that delights the believer in such a special way? I believe it is the fact that in so many ways His Glory has come to be known by His very presence abiding with us ( Exodus 40:34, Ezekiel 10:4, Luke 2:9, Exodus 24:17 ).  Which leads to the idea that God is WITH us, not a million miles out  somewhere in the cosmos, but actually HERE in the now.  This allows us to grasp his abiding presence and majesty and helps us to acknowledge His Excellency as Lord of all.

But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently toward heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" ( Acts 7:55 ). I will never forget being in a church service in Houston, Texas many years ago. As I sat in that pew and we sang and worshiped God, it seemed that God's presence became ever so close. With every minute of worship and praise God seemed to descend into that tabernacle in a profound way. Then R. L. Mitchell, the pastor of the church, asked us all to just forget about everything else and focus on the Lord for a few moments. Minutes later after I opened my eyes, I saw a cloud inside the building. I don't know if anyone else did, but I did. I knew it was the Glory of God that came down to us in a very personal way. That church's dedication was that day and God was really making a statement.

I want you to know that God wants to make a statement in your life today, just as He did back then. He wants to abide in you and reveal to you the Excellency and power of His name. Yes, God wants to be personally recognizable in your life. Maybe not visibly like that day back in Houston. However, just as real as anything tangible in this life.

Too often our God has become the God "out there, somewhere". Nevertheless, it doesn't have to be that way.  If we but read His Word, spend time in prayer, or in the house of God our worship is like incense being burnt and rising up to Heaven. He is taking it all in. He is looking on an open heart and He will make time to reveal himself to you in a personal way.

I don't know what challenges you are having today. Maybe God seems as far away as across the wide divide of the sea, or as far off in space as the furthest galaxy. However, if I know my Jesus, He is as close as the mention of His name. So if you take some time to know Him, He will take time to express His love to you in the now, in this time and space, with His grace being poured out in the power of His name. 

Don't give up. Don't give in. Give Him a chance to turn things around and show forth His Glory in your life today.

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Spent a few days out of town in North Platte. Got a lot of work done on the home back there, and enjoyed a good time overall. 

Was really impressed with the work Father Jeffrey is accomplishing at Our Saviour Episcopal in
NP, with a lot of exciting new and refreshing ideas being put to use. The Presiding Bishop will
be there in July as the church has some wonderful Historical events they are going to offer the 
public at large.

Blessings to all. I'm back in Omaha and will be working at getting the ministry website updated and archives uploaded in the days to come.

Have a great Wednesday everyone.

John 1:12,13 KJV
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Have you ever noticed how much we talk about the word " power ". It doesn't matter what your doing in life, that word can find its place in your conversation: from the power attributed to a politician, a car that has lost it, or the government that wields too much. The various uses for the word can be just about endless.  In a Christian sense its more defined but still has a variety of meanings. However the Greek word translated "power" in this passage from John's gospel refers to a granting of permission or right to do something.  Now this means a lot to the Christian. For its shows us the trust and the authority He has placed in us with the understanding that we remember that HE gave us the Power. To become what? The sons of God.  That all of us, female and male, can become adopted children of God, born again not of this world but by the power of God. 

Verse thirteen goes on to tell us that we weren't born into this kingdom by blood, flesh or man.  We were adopted or translated into the Kingdom of Light by the power of God, not by might or the power of man, but by the Spirit of the living God. Now the reason I am pointing this out is that I believe we to often forget our spiritual roots. What started out with humility, repentance, and acknowledging His Lordship begins to get comfortable and complacent in our churches and spiritual routines and we soon stop listening to Spirit of God, forgetting the very dynamic that set us free and help us to become the daughters or sons of God.

Sometimes I like to be reminded of children and how they receive the things of God with such openness and sincerity of heart; no posturing, a false sense of humility or a pretentious set of Christian virtues. Rather raw honesty before the throne of Grace, allowing God to mold us into the children of God he always wanted us to become. He wants us close to Him, desiring His presence, knowing how precious it is to just spend time with the Father as any son or daughter should..

Andre Crouch sang a song many years ago entitled , " Take Me Back ".  The song that talked about the Lord taking him back to where He first received Him, taking him back to that raw and open moment where God just meant everything to him. Sometimes we need to remember those moments not as nostalgia, but to remember the power that gave us this life as a child of God.

We do plan on trying to transfer as much of our previous audio, video and ministry files we held previously at our cgmfinc.org site. The truth is I am not sure what all is available and was not compromised. We are going through that now and will edit and use what is possible. The Foundations of Faith study and Covenant Worldview should not be a problem as we hold multiple links to those I believe.

Part of the reason for changing to Weebly is the simplicity of the software for anyone on our staff to use. It is amazing what we have accomplished in just a few days after making our decision. With that in mind I think we should be having our archives reestablished in no time.

I believe a lot of folks were starting to doubt we'd get this together. However, with patience and perseverance the ministry of CGMF has its own website again. It was alright to try to use our Facebook and Twitter pages to make our announcements, but needless to say that wasn't the same. I tried to use my personal ministry blog to help as much as I could, but it was not as fluid our efforts previously. Well, patience is a virtue and I thank each one of you for your efforts in seeing site back up and running again.

Please note we have a new web address, as the old one is not available to us. For now we are using the one supplied by our new hosting service cgmfinc.weebly.com, as we are not sure how we want to proceed considering a  personalized web address at the moment. Plus, the elders of the ministry believe the new address is simple enough to pass along.

Thanks guys! I'm excited you were able to bring this to fruition after some serious changeover at the ministry. I know my not being involved in various aspects of the ministry has hindered some. Nevertheless, it was time to see us all grow and I certainly am learning a lot through the past few months experiences of life's ups and downs, amen. I believe we all will see God's wisdom in it all in the days to come.