Living Above the Sun Ministries

Martin Luther has stood as a hero in the eyes of many Protestants over the centuries. His works and words have been carefully studied and shown to be a beacon of direction and foundational truths to the believer. He was a man who stood by his convictions, and in doing so is still impacting the world today. As Luther observed the corruptions within the church, it lead him to write 95 theses based out of the book of Romans addressing the corruptions in which he observed, and things the church was doing that was not in the Bible. Immediately the Protestant Reformation impacted the entire world as they knew it. As Luther was called time and again to recant his writings and teachings, he stood by what he believed. As a result he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church, and sent into exile with the permission from the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to kill Luther without consequence. The events leading up to Luther’s unction to write The 95 Theses was mainly church corruption am...

"From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I." -Psalm 61:2 The Lord gave me the verse above this week, and I have repeated it over and over crying out for God to help me and hide me in the cleft of the rock. Rock is a title or description of God, it is the Hebrew word "tsure." We could read this scripture as, when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to yourself, God, the One who is higher than I. I have pictured this as Mt. Sinai and Moses with the children of Israel. We read in Exodus 19 that God surrounded the mountain with a thick smoke and spoke in an audible voice to the children of Israel. When we go to the rock we hear from God, and meet with Him face to face. We see Him work, we feel His touch as we never have before. But we must want it...desperately. Whatever is bothering us, we must give it to Jesus. When we go to Him, we should go to Him in surrender. God who is higher than...

"For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come." Ephesians 1:15-21 Last week I recived a note from a very special person in my life. Some concerns have ari...

In the above picture is how the majority of people live, survival mode, especially in this economy. However, we were not created to merely make it, to barely get by. It feels that way at times, but the more I study His Word, the more I am seeing that as we obey Him and submit to His will and walk in His ways everything we need is already given to us. We do not realize the full power we posses as Christians through the Spirit. We live below our means spiritually because we have not yet learned to fully obey and love Jesus. I've been reading Deuteronomy 8 over and over here lately, it talks about obedience. This is something God has been teaching me lately, and something I've had to put into practice over the last several months, and should always walk out. Obedience is more than not doing bad things anymore, we obey with our heart, mind, body, finances, and will (we do have freewill as human beings). Obedience leads to blessing, HE does honor our obedience. As we read i...

...."be still and know that I am God".... -Psalm 46 If you have read my blog for some time, back in February and March of last year we started a series on the prayer of St. Patrick. In that prayer we were studying how Christ is our Companion through life. I recently started reading the book again. One of the many things I have been my whole life is quiet. Ask anyone who really knows you and they will agree, but laugh at the same time because, I'm not that quiet around people I love. God wants us to be still and quiet before Him. In our hectic day to day lives it's hard for us to do. You take a music lover like myself and there is not a lot of silence. If you're a mom there is not silence in your house. It is in the quietness and silence before the Lord when we can hear Him speak to us. He waits to meet us in the quiet. It is in silence that we discover an "imitation of Christ" who withdrew often to the wilderness or garden to pray and seek His F...

"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God..." -Romans 12:1 This passage of scripture has become my life verse. I first came to learn and memorize it when I was 12 years old which amazes me because at 12 I was such a problem child and had so many issues. One would not believe that it was my favorite scripture. However, I believe God planted this very special verse into my heart, and I have continued to hide in my heart for the past 11 years. Little by little He reveals and speaks the depths and mercies of this verse into my life. With that said, I find it interesting, as we look at verse 1 that the only vocabulary Paul can use to capture the essence of Christianity is the language of sacrifice and transformation. Paul begins with characteristic passion. Lets start with the first word, "Therefore" wow! That is a word with a lot of power behind it. Therefore is an adverb, meaning it often tells when, where, why, or under what conditions something h...

"Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose[a] and have come to worship him. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy." -Matthew 2:2,10 Worship originates within the Trinity. God is a worshiping community of one. The three persons of the Trinity continually exist with a ceaseless outpouring of love, communion, and joy. Being made in the image of God we too are ceaseless worshipers pouring ourselves out for something or someone. The question however is, who and how do we worship? When we worship God, we receive joy! As we look at the Christmas story you'll quickly notice how both are happening with all who are involved. Romans 11:36-12:1 lays out a perfect picture of what worship looks like: "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. I appeal to you therefore, brothers,[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and accept...