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Showing posts from November, 2009

November 30, 2009, "The Comfort of Love"

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written By: Teresa Criswell "But now I am going to Him Who sent Me, yet none of you asks Me, Where are You going? But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts [taken complete possession of them]. However, I am telling you nothing but the truth when I say it is profitable for you that I go away. Because if I do not go away, the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you [into close fellowship with you]; but if I go away, I will send Him to you [to be in close fellowship with you]." ~ John 16 (Excerpt from John 16:5-7 ~ Cold day. Blanket. Hot Chocolate. Praise Music. What do these words describe? Comfort in the midst of uncomfortable situations. As I thought about this, I also thought of my Amazing Father God. Jesus Christ when He ascended to heaven to be with the Father God, He promised The Great Comforter. The

November 28, 2009, "Loyalty"

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written By: Teresa Criswell "Never let loyalty and kindness get away from you! Wear them like a necklace; write them deep within your heart." ~ Proverbs 3:3 ~ He laid down near the door waiting patiently for Tim. I went around the house picking up, making beds, and bringing down dirty laundry when I noticed he was still waiting near the door. With compassion, I called out his name, followed by a light whistle. Our dog "Jack", a smooth fox terrier, came over to me, sat real pretty and then went back to where he was lying down before. Sure enough, a few minutes later, I could hear the garage door opening and saw that Jack was whining excitedly at the door. Soon I could hear the key turning the lock and at the same moment the crescendo of excitement as Jack let out a constant bark as if he was saying, "Dad's home, dad's home, dad's home." As the door opened, Jack barreled through th

Celestial Odyssey, By Freddy Hayler

This is one of my favorite songs...if you have a moment where you can just focus on the presence of God...give way to 10 minutes...I promise you won't regret it! This is amazingly awesome...Our God is so awesome...all the time! Happy Thanksgiving and "Behold the Son of God, Worship Him"...woooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

November 24-27, 2009, "Words from a Child"

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written By: Teresa Criswell Guest Writer: Tristin Criswell (my daughter, age 9) :) "But the LORD said to me: "Do not say, 'I [am] a youth,' For you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, for I [am] with you to deliver you," says the LORD. " ~ Jeremiah 1:7 , 8 ~ "Mom, every day I am going to write a devotional. I am going to talk about the miracles from the day. I am starting in Genesis." With great joy I said, "Really?!" "She said, "Yes". I found that she wrote her first devotional last night. I was so blessed by the one sentence she wrote. The sentence exuding with great power. Wow! I realized through this how we can never limit God. Just as God told Jeremiah; so I am reminded that no matter our age; young or old. No matter our education; 'drop out' or possessing a PhD.

November 23, 2009, "I Am An Honored Carrier"

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written By: Teresa Criswell "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." ~ Romans 5:3-5 ~ Random thoughts of the awesomeness of God were circulating through my mind. My mind kept hitting these 'vanishing points' where I had to reel myself back into my reality, even though I didn't want to; however, I had to before I 'fell off the edge' of craziness; pondering the awesomeness of God. I became so enveloped in the thought of the Holy Spirit living on the inside of me. The Holy Spirit! The Spirit of God! The Revealer of Jesus Christ living on the inside of me! Wow! I couldn't help but literally be humbled by such a powerful truth! When I accepted the gift of Salvat

November 21 & 22, 2009, "Passion To Win..."

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written By: Teresa Criswell "But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it. " ~ I Corinthians 10:13 ( New Living Translation )~ School. Peers. Quizzes. Tests. Sports. What do these words describe? A student/athlete. Today is Cody's first wrestling tournament. To watch the discipline of our son, a junior in high school, and a wrestler (rated number four in the state of Texas, weight bracket 152) is utterly amazing and convicting. Especially one that is still growing into his body; the aches of hunger and the workouts before school, during and after. Conditioning and preparing his body for the season. The preparation before his first meet is grueling and

November 20, 2009, "Not to Harm You"

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written By: Teresa Criswell "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." ~ Jeremiah 29:11 ~ I don't know who this devotional is for, however, as I was trying to sleep this great 'unction' on the inside of me from the Holy Spirit led me with great fervency to write the following words. I pray that it ministers to you and you feel the hope of God rising up on the inside. It was June 15, 1944. Bodies lay scattered on the ground. The bodies of 30,000 Japanese, Korean slave laborers and original inhabitants of Saipan; their bodies strewn throughout the island. They jumped to their death as they would rather die than surrender; especially due to speculated fears that they were told by their own people that our American soldiers would torture and kill them and their children. One particular father in his desperat

November 19, 2009, "Fretting and Stressing"

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear , but of power and of love and of a sound mind." ~ II Timothy 1:7 NKJV ~ Frantically looking for the folded envelope. The fearful thoughts, "Did I throw it away?" "Did it fall out of my purse?" Looking all through the house; in cupboards, drawers, dressers, trash cans. It even went as far as my friend, Breckin digging through the outside trash can with me. Bless her heart. I would pray real quick, yet was frantic, fretting, stressing, my head was filling up with a cold, coughing and tired. I thought, "My husband is going to get so upset with me." I walked back into the house after digging into the trash. I must have had the look of despair as my husband was in the kitchen preparing dinner. He called out to me and said in a calming voice, "Teresa, just walk away from it for a while." I was upset. I said, "Tim, you know me; I can't just stop thinking about this; I'm feeli

Noovember 18, 2009, "His Voice"

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written By: Teresa Criswell "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, he who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way (elsewhere, from some other quarter) is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The watchman opens the door for this man, and the sheep listen to his voice and heed it; and he calls his own sheep by name and brings (leads) them out. When he has brought his own sheep outside, he walks on before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will never [on any account] follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they do not know the voice of stranger or recognize their call..." ~ John 10 (Excerpt from John 10:1-5) ~ "...And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire [a sound of gentle stillness and] a still, small voice." ~ II Kings 19 (Excerpt fro

November 17, 2009, "TV?"

"Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed." ~ Proverbs 16:3 ~ Where or how do I start? Hmmmmmm...I'll just write it...Ok...For about four years I have had a dream hidden in my heart. The dream? To start a television show. You may be saying, "What? Are you kidding?" I know I say, "Just Kidding" a lot, but no, I'm not kidding...haahaahaa! First, let me 'rewind' you to about 3 or 4 weeks ago. Ok...I was eating lunch at home in the afternoon. I was walking over to the refrigerator when at that moment I was reminded of the dream. As the dream was in the forefront of my mind; my heart revealed the agenda...to want 'notarity' more than the fervent desire to reach people for the glory of God . It drew me to a place of repentance. I remember saying something like this to the Lord, "L

November 16, 2009, "Trust"

"Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in ALL your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths." ~ Proverbs 3:5-6 ~ Today I am reminded of the life verse of my mom and dad. Growing up, everywhere we lived, it was etched in the cement of our driveway, the cement where the basketball goal hoop was placed, on the walls in our home, any card that was ever signed; that scripture verse was etched as a reminder of how to trust...with ALL our heart. I am led to this heart provoking question that I was asked today by the Spirit of God. Do I really trust God, revealed by Jesus Christ? Do I trust Him when He says, "Go!"? Do I trust Him when He says, "Be Still, and in the being still; KNOW that I AM GOD!"? Do I trust Him when He leads me to open my home? Do I trust Him when He says to receive His healing; as I question if it is truly His will? Many times what we see in the natural realm; we determine it as 'God

November 14 & 15, 2009, "Random 'Thoughts and Jots' of a Nine Year Old"

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell Also an insert from Tristin's school project (public school) :) "Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger." ~ Psalm 8:2 ~ As we walked into our home after our daughter's day of school; we went about our normal after school routine. She emptied her school bag with homework that had been graded and some other assignments that she had written and laminated. One of the interesting things I came across was a laminated eight and a half by eleven inch piece of paper. As I started to read the words on the page, I could have melted in the sweet surrender of her innocence towards Almighty God and the dreams within her heart. The random 'thoughts and jots' of a nine year old... "I Am" By: Tristin Criswell "I am smart and a peace lover. I wonder if

November 12, 2009, "God Used A Coffee Craving"

"He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and that which he has given He will repay to Him." ~ Proverbs 19:17 Amplified Bible ~ "Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days." ~ Ecclesiastes 11:1 Amplified Bible ~ "For God is not unrighteous to forget or overlook your labor and the love which you have shown for His name's sake in ministering to the needs of the saints (His own consecrated people), as you still do." ~ Hebrews 6:10 Amplified Bible ~ About two weeks ago, I received a phone call from my youngest sister. She told me of one of her best friends named Breckin who was moving with her family from Colorado to Texas. She didn't know their whereabouts, however she wanted to know if she could give her friend my number. I said, "Sure, go right ahead." Now Mary Kay had been friends with Breckin since 1994 their eighth grade year. However, I had never met Breckin before; I had only heard about her. Well

November 11, 2009, "Out of Control and Loving It" (Lisa Bevere)

"Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy ~ meditate on these things." ~ Philippians 4:8 ~ Today was a day where I truly needed to 'get away'. My husband looked at me and said, "Teresa, go get some Vitamin D; just go outside and enjoy the outdoors for a little while." At first I was irritated as I thought, don't you see all the things I need to get done? Then, as his suggestion sunk in, it actually became an 'appetizing' thought. So, I took his advice. I ran upstairs, placed some summer clothes on (Yes! The beauty of Fall in Texas), walked into the office and grabbed a book, ran downstairs with great anticipation to 'get away'. I opened up the back door, grabbed a chair and a small table dragging it out to the area of the backyard whe

November 10, 2009, "Consume or be Consumed By..."

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written By: Teresa Stevens Criswell "Praise the Lord! I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them. His work is honorable and glorious And His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and full of compassion." ~ Psalm 111:1-4 ~ The parking lot filled with cars. Customers sporatically placed throughout the store. Employees working; stationed in their zones. Employees at their registers, others sweeping, some stocking shelves, several going through the inventory, three people at the customer service center, one in the bakery, a few in the deli, a manager going through the schedule. Every day, like clock work, the stage is set, the doors are unlocked and the Open sign comes on and ACTION! It's another work day. Today, I intentiona

November 9, 2009, "The Story We Get To Be A Part Of"

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell "You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed." ~ Psalm 139:16 ~ Flipping through the pages of the leather bound book left me in great wonder. The pages filled with words making up the beautiful, redemptive, love story. The leather bound book? The Bible. It's truly a history book, filled with characters possessing personalities bigger than life. These people that came before us; saw the wrath of God, the great love of God, they saw His great exhortation of words over their lives, they saw great favor. They saw and experienced His great grace and mercy. The great tests and trials that impacted their lives as they relied on God. Many took unimaginable unknown journeys in their faith in God. The characters in the New Testament that got to walk with God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, it leaves me with th

November 7 & 8, 2009, "God is Awesome"

"The highest angelic powers stand in awe of God. He is far more awesome than those who surround his throne." ~ Psalm 89:7 ~ (New Living Translation) I sit here puzzled in awe as I truly digest to Whom I get to pray to. I am left in amazement to wonder with great, incredible 'profoundness' to know Who we are loved by. More than anything to be recipients of His Great Passion! He is Almighty, Awesome God! The only way I can describe this amazement is in comparison to a pin ball in a pin ball machine. Everywhere I go and turn is another reminder of my frailities and my 'nothingness' in comparison to His great ETERNAL 'EVERYTHINGNESS'. Please excuse my improper verbage as I am unable to articulate the awe of Who I get to serve today. I was watching some footage of the late Rich Mullins last night in which it brought me to this place of desiring Rich's heart for God like I have not seen. The way he articulated his awe of God is so 'heart opening'

November 6, 2009, "Lord You Are Amazing"

TRIUMPHANT VICTORIOUS REMINDERS Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written By: Teresa Criswell "O Lord, my Lord how excellent is Your name in all the earth. Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants; you have taught them to praise You. When I consider the heavens the works of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of Him and the son of man that you would visit him?" ~ Psalm 8:1-4 ~ O Lord you are so excellent! Your name is More than Worthy to be praised! You alone are God! I am in awe of Your Majesty! To know that we will never figure You out is utterly amazing. All the knowledge and wisdom of man put together does not come close to Knowing Who You Are. You are indescribable, You are limitless. You have no boundaries that can even attempt to contain You; yet You bid us to come to You, as You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ to become one of us; so that we could touch You and know You. Wow! I am so in awe of this matchless gi

November 5, 2009, "Life Situations"

TRIUMPHANT VICTORIOUS REMINDERS Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written By: Teresa Criswell "Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again-- my Savior and my God!" ~ Psalm 42:11 ~ His family fervently prays to God in the Intensive Care Unit for a miracle of life over his body. He is in a coma resulting from a major car accident. This event has changed the course of this families plans, dreams of great hope and enjoying every day life with him. O God, may your great peace be upon this amazing family and we pray a reversal and restoration over his brain functions and bodily functions that he may live long on this earth. Father God, we pray your great plan and completion over the lives of this family and other families going through similar life and death situations. Lord, we stand in the gap for them at this very moment and call Your perfect plan forth in Jesus name. A husband and wife feeling as though they have nothing left to give. Th

November 4, 2009, "Breathe in Intentionally"

"In my search for wisdom, I tried to observe everything that goes on all across the earth. I discovered that there is ceaseless activity, day and night. This reminded that no one can discover everything God has created in our world, no matter how hard they work at it. Not even the wisest people know everything, even if they say they do." ~ Ecclesiastes 8:16-17 ~ As she scurried and hurried through each aisle; she had no time but to grab the essentials for her recipe. She walked in a fast pace over to the cash registers and as soon as she paid, she was out of the store. In that moment of hurriedness, there was a little girl watching her every sudden move. Her beautiful blue eyes full of innocence yet revealing a sadness of her own reality. This sweet little girl thought so thankfully of her mommy who is surviving breast cancer every moment of every day. I realized that this little girl was grateful because of the moments of time that she and her mommy attempt to soak in

November 3, 2009, "Jerry's Request"

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written By: Teresa Criswell "Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O LORD, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things." ~ I Chronicles 29:11 ~ He sits in awe and wonder of God's majesty. He reflects back on his life and sees what a blessed life he has been able to lead and live. He reflects back to the hardships he went through as he sees in hindsight they were opportunities for growth and in that growth it was an opportunity to give glory to His God. As I sit in great awe of this man's life, I think of the verse that says, "I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord." ~ Psalm 118:17. I have never met this man personally; however what I know of him is that he has lived a life of leadership motivated by great integrity and character. He is a husband, a fathe

November 2, 2009, "Faith as the Children"

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the Shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust...A thousand may fall at my side and ten thousand at my right hand; but it shall not come near me. Only with our eyes shall we look and see the reward of the wicked"... ~ Psalm 91 ~ "See, God has come to save me. I will trust in Him and not be afraid. The God is my strength and my song; He has become my Salvation." ~ Isaiah 12:2 ~ We were all seated after singing praises to the King of kings. We had just expereinced God's presence in a corporate setting and it was incredibly amazing. Our pastor did something that I know was led by the Holy Spirit as he called forth people to share one of their favorite scriptures of what the Word of God had done in their lives. The testimonies of God's unfailing, loving Word that was established in each person as they shared was reve