{"id":4079,"date":"2011-02-16T04:49:19","date_gmt":"2011-02-16T12:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wordpress\/?p=4079"},"modified":"2011-02-16T06:25:13","modified_gmt":"2011-02-16T14:25:13","slug":"the-inspiration-of-spiritual-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=4079","title":{"rendered":"The Inspiration of Spiritual Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Arise from the dead . . .\u2014Ephesians 5:14
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Not all initiative, the willingness to take the first step, is inspired by God. Someone may say to you, \u201cGet up and get going! Take your reluctance by the throat and throw it overboard\u2014just do what needs to be done!\u201d That is what we mean by ordinary human initiative. But when the Spirit of God comes to us and says, in effect, \u201cGet up and get going,\u201d suddenly we find that the initiative is inspired.
\nWe all have many dreams and aspirations when we are young, but sooner or later we realize we have no power to accomplish them. We cannot do the things we long to do, so our tendency is to think of our dreams and aspirations as dead. But God comes and says to us, \u201cArise from the dead . . . .\u201d When God sends His inspiration, it comes to us with such miraculous power that we are able to \u201carise from the dead\u201d and do the impossible. The remarkable thing about spiritual initiative is that the life and power comes after we \u201cget up and get going.\u201d God does not give us overcoming life\u2014He gives us life as we overcome. When the inspiration of God comes, and He says, \u201cArise from the dead . . . ,\u201d we have to get ourselves up; God will not lift us up. Our Lord said to the man with the withered hand, \u201cStretch out your hand\u201d (Matthew 12:13). As soon as the man did so, his hand was healed. But he had to take the initiative. If we will take the initiative to overcome, we will find that we have the inspiration of God, because He immediately gives us the power of life.<\/p>\n

Journal 2 16 11 DJR<\/p>\n

Good morning, Lord. \u00a0 I didn’t know Mike personally, but we’ve been praying for him. \u00a0 He passed from this life to the next yesterday. \u00a0 From what JD had shared, \u00a0I knew a little of his life. \u00a0 \u00a0Over the last weeks I learned of a man who served. \u00a0Red, White & Blue. \u00a0 A decorated soldier with medals of bronze and silver and purple … medals of valor. \u00a0 But exposure to Agent Orange set up a sequence … that ended yesterday. \u00a0Not really ended. \u00a0 Just began the next adventure. \u00a0 \u00a0So here is for Mike, In Living Color.<\/p>\n

The Colors Of Mike
\n<\/strong>Sadness today.
\nMike went away.
\nHe was my brother’s brother,
\nSo I knew him that way.
\nA colorful life,
\nRed, White & Blue,
\nBronze, Silver, Purple
\n& That damn Orange
\nSeemed to win at the end.
\nExcept Mike had a Savior
\nWho turns death into life
\nSo we soldier on
\nWith shades of grey,
\nBut now with his Captain,<\/p>\n

It’s the whole<\/p>\n

Rainbow for Mike<\/p>\n

_______________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

February 16, 2011<\/p>\n

Journal for Today-JDV<\/p>\n

It somehow does not seem right that I feel a sense of relief at my brother\u2019s passing, but that is the prevailing sense. Whether the relief comes from knowing he is no longer suffering, or it stems from the end to a family dynamic and controversy surrounding the hospice choices and location\u2026..I am not certain. I just know that I feel loss and relief and while I will miss my brother for a time You reassured me Lord many times.<\/p>\n

And God says\u2026.\u201dMike is with Me now I hold him in my arms even as we speak. There is much rejoicing here with his dad, uncles, aunts, grandfather, grandmothers and comrades. He is amazed at the weightlessness of this life, and you know he really did love to fly. He feels the prayers of his family and friends as do his friends and family there on earth. I have presented Him to the Father and he has been found perfect in Me. Rejoice.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arise from the dead . . .\u2014Ephesians 5:14 Not all initiative, the willingness to take the first step, is inspired by God. Someone may say to you, \u201cGet up and get going! Take your reluctance by the throat and throw it overboard\u2014just do what needs to be done!\u201d That is what we mean by ordinary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4079"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4079"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4088,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4079\/revisions\/4088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}