Tag Archives: Trust

Act of Marriage

Possess Your Own Vessel (Body)

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“Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to HOW YOU OUGHT TO WALK AND PLEASE GOD (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. For THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD, YOUR SANCTIFICATION; that is, that you ABSTAIN FROM SEXUAL IMMORALITY; that each of you KNOW HOW TO POSSESS HIS OWN VESSEL in sanctification and honor, NOT IN LUSTFUL PASSION, like the Gentiles WHO DO NOT KNOW GOD; And That No Man Transgress And Defraud His Brother In The Matter Because The Lord Is The Avenger In All These Things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So, HE WHO REJECTS THIS IS NOT REJECTING MAN BUT THE GOD who gives His Holy Spirit to you” ~ 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8.

Sexual immorality is rampant in our day, even among those who belong to God. Adultery, fornication, incest, pornography, homosexuality, rape and molestation of innocence: all these are addressed in God’s Word as being against His will for us, and we see it all in our day, in ever increasing prevalence, even among the people of God. I believe all these perversions of God’s ideal way sicken the heart of God who calls us to sanctification that has a vital purpose.

The institution of marriage and the act of marriage, as God intended it to be, is a picture of what our relationship is supposed to be like with our Holy God. It is the giving of oneself fully to one person, able to so greatly trust that person that we can be “naked” – fully exposed before them. Such intimacy is not meant to be shared with any other than the one we are intended for, the one we are to spend our life with. In likeness to our relationship with the One True God, we are to be saved and kept for the one we are meant to be with for all time.

Even to look on another so as to lust after them, which is the business of pornography, is to sin against God and against His holy institution. Premarital experience and fleshly lust rob of experiencing God’s best for us in our relationships and it hinders our ability to trust each other, which is vital to true intimacy. I know this for a fact, not only because of what the Spirit has taught me in God’s word, but unfortunately because of personal experience.

I was sexually active in my youth, not having anyone to teach me these things. I married unwisely to get out of that lifestyle and that marriage ended in divorce. When God brought my husband into my life – and He did! He has made this clear to us in many ways through our years – I struggled over my past as I began to learn the truth of God’s ideal. It hindered our intimacy for a long time, until God healed me of the consequence of my sin, delivering me from the guilt and shame, and set me free indeed. It is my hope in sharing these things that I can spare some of you the pain and struggle.

The pre-marital impurity done by or to those still waiting for their mate-in-Christ is the commission of sin against our Holy God and that intended mate. It is also sin against one’s own flesh, and I am not just talking about STDs or out of wedlock pregnancy.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases and the potential for pregnancy are just part of the consequences we can face. Sexual intimacy with another gets into the depths of our being. When we do find our mate, flashbacks of previous experiences can hit our hearts to bring us to shame. It can keep us from satisfaction with our mates and hinder our healing from that past.

With every act that is not sanctified and set apart in keeping self for one’s future partner, we do harm to these vital relationships as it affects our very personalities and expectations for marital relations. Needing to “practice” so we will be ready for our mate, knowing how to satisfy them, is a lie straight out of hell.

No two people are alike. What one likes and expects, another will abhor. If you “practice” with one and like certain things, then marry another who does not like those same things, you will be constantly dissatisfied with your mate, ill-equipped to satisfy them, and frequently tempted to go back to where your desires can be met. Sexual relations is one area where ignorance is bliss. If you come together in innocence and learn to please each other, you will be satisfied together. When you grow in your intimacy together, learn what each likes, and minister to each other’s needs, that very intimacy satiates desire and makes you one flesh together, protecting you from desire for another.

Realize, beloved one, that until a couple marries, they do not yet know that they will be married. Anything can happen to stop our plans for marriage between the proposal and the “I do”; so “we are getting married” is not a license to take to ourselves the privilege of marriage before we are legitimately wed together. TRUE LOVE WAITS! This false belief that “engaged” is the same as “married” has ruined the gift of purity for many young couples. From the instant of that first kiss of longing that makes one want to touch, all the way to the actual penetration, all of that act of intimacy is sex! It is a gift to be given on the wedding night, AFTER the “I do” is done. Scripturally, marriage does not begin until the parents give the bride to the groom and all human legalities that define marriage are fulfilled.

The next portion of our passage, “That No Man Transgress And Defraud His Brother In The Matter Because The Lord Is The Avenger In All These Things” speaks to me of the insult we do to others through failing to possess our own vessels in sanctity for our marriage partner.

Defraud: to use deceit, falsehoods, or trickery to obtain money, an object, rights or anything of value belonging to another. From the premarital encounter that destroys the gift of purity meant for another, to rape, sexual immorality done with another’s mate or against one’s own mate, any sin of immorality that is done by force against another ~ all of these are transgressions that defraud another. And all of these defraud God, for in that instant we insult the One who loves us most and rob Him of our wholehearted intimacy with Him as God and Lord.

If we are His child, such acts grieve and quench the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. Since God is always with and for the believer, we cause pain to His Holy Presence, who is made to experience our sin by virtue of His intimate knowledge of us. Such acts do great harm to our relationship with Him. And it is an act of blasphemy, as it gives God’s name in us, “Christian”, a bad reputation.

I believe the “brother” in this statement toward those we defraud could be translated “brethren,” which would mean: our brothers and sisters in Christ; our family and those we are kin to; those of the same people group; any people whose lives are touched by our sin. Even the angels in heaven who are watching God’s people and the triune-God with whom we are one are adversely affected by our sin.

When we commit adultery, we sin not only with the person we partner with in the act, but we sin against their present or future mate, their children, and all who will be touched by the pain of the consequences brought about by the sin done and exposed to light. And what does it say? “The Lord is the avenger in all things.” So the consequences that come against us because of our sin come from the very hand of God. STDs that destroy our bodies; out of wedlock pregnancies that sideline our plans for the future; marriages ended because of hurt and lack of trust; these consequences and more are allowed by God because of our sin. HE WHO REJECTS THIS IS NOT REJECTING MAN BUT GOD.

Pray as God leads you today for yourself, those you love, and all God brings to your heart today. If you have committed these sins already, repent, stop what you are doing, get right with God and seek godly council to help you correctly deal with the sin done.

Pray for the body of Christ to be sanctified and set apart in purity, delivered from perversion, and to know how to possess their own body in obedience to the Father. It is better to be a eunuch by choice than to commit acts of such sin and face the wrath of our Holy God.

Jesus-Bride006If you are one who has been hurt by such sin, forgive for your own sake, so that you can be in right standing with God, able to get His perspective on the issue, and seek godly council to help you find healing and strength to carry on. Unforgiveness, bitterness and anger will hurt you! Do not hold on to these but seek the healing power of God to equip you to entrust these hurts to Him.

Whichever side of the insult you are on, beloved, whether the sinner or the one sinned against, God will heal you. He will enable you to love and to trust again as you seek His face and His grace, which is sufficient for ALL THINGS. And, as I can attest to, His healing can establish your ability to experience true intimacy with your mate, renewing the gift He intended you to give to each other alone.

The Stand ~ Hillsong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV5iZBTNYrk&list=PLfiEjLIYhJ9BycuYe34CTDe-q9HZzszNs&index=4

Relationships

Destructive Heart Issues

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I miss my daddy. I have missed him for a long time. You see, my dad was the most loving, caring, giving man I have ever known. He would give the shirt off his back if it would help. And he was often trusting of others to his own harm. He tried to see and think the best of people.

It was not until his elder years that I was also introduced to his insecurities and hurts. He had many hurts in his heart because of things others did or did not do. And those hurts sat there, hidden, until he could hide them no longer.

In his latter years he became increasing less trusting, and the bitterness that came of the festering heartache became more evident. For those closest to him, his bitterness and anger and suspicious nature became difficult to see day after day. His lack of ability to trust and his bitterness that came out more and more incessantly through his words, facial expressions, and actions began to erode his relationships. It was the saddest thing to me, to see this very sanguine tempered, outgoing man, close himself off more and more from life and from people who loved him.

Such is the way of anger, bitterness, and contention. It is destructive, and it robs us of life and love and joy and peace. And, as we observed with my daddy, it robs us of who we are and always have been. Bitterness and anger robs of the ability to see things as they truly are. Lack of trust leads to slanderous statements given out of obscured observations. The one who is hurting becomes the one who hurts.

I am not telling you this to put my daddy down. I love my daddy. Father took him Home last November and freed him from the pain and heartache he carried. And Father graciously removed the pain and heartache that has such potential to rob me of the memory of the man I knew my daddy to be. He has replaced the hurt and heartache with memories of the good days, freed me through His Spirit-given ability to forgive. And in the areas where daddy’s obscured accusations crushed my heart, God has filled me with understanding that He knows the truth and I can stand before Him with confidence when my day comes to meet Him in the air.

I do tell you this to bring you to alertness over your own heart. Hurts and heartaches need to be dealt with in right ways that free us from anger and bitterness. Having courage to address issues with those we are hurt by; having ability of Spirit to forgive “for My Own sake” as Father forgives, so we can let it go and continue on in relationships unhindered by bitterness, anger, etc. (Isaiah 43:25): These are vital skills to develop in our day.

I urge you, if you are one snared by such destructive heart issues to seek sound counsel from godly people who can help you grow past the hurt to healing in Christ. In the words of Paul, I implore, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you” ~ Ephesians 4:31-32.

Relationships can be hard work, but broken relationships brought about by inability to forgive and show grace are destructive to all concerned, and mostly to the one bearing the grudge within themselves. If you are in such a state, I pray the Lord will equip you to love, forgive, and live life to the full in good relationships with those who so long for that love connection with you.

Body of Christ, Faith, God's Faithfulness, Godly Principles, Holiness, Kingdom Living, Overcomers, Practicing His Presence, Prophetic Word, Protection, who I am in Christ

Word of Life: Kingdom Reality

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“…Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever” ~ 1 John 2:12-17.

“Do not love the world, nor the things in the world.” The longer I live, the more I understand how important it is to have His Kingdom as our daily reality. The only way we can overcome the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life that leads to loving this world and its ways is to come more and more fully into Kingdom Reality.

This passage states that the love of this world—being in love with it so as to be led away by lust of the flesh and the eyes, and the boastful pride of life—reveals that we do not have the Love of the Father ABIDING in us. Abide means to live in so as to remain in. God desires to live and make His home within us, abiding there. Why?

In my more recent experience I am finding that to be true, not just so He can control me, because He does not force His control on me; but so that I have an Anchor that stabilizes me in the waters of His Kingdom.

His presence with me reminds me constantly of the oneness He desires with me. I am in Him; He is in me; we are one together and my true residence is with Him where He is even now and always. My eternity started the day I said “I do” to Jesus, becoming part of the Bride of Christ and made one with the Father as a Child of God. I am a member of God’s Kingdom.

Realization of that unity and position with Him anchors my soul, protecting me from letting the desire for the things of this life pull me away from Him. The stronger that reality is in me, the less I feel of the pull of this world.

l109149486I was watching Deadliest Catch this past week. One of the boats was docked when a major storm rolled in. As the captain in charge at that moment felt the waves tugging and pushing, he realized that if he did not reposition the boat, they would be pulled away and made a wreck by the waves. That is the way it is with us. As we come more and more into the reality of His Kingdom that is in us and with us, we can more readily recognize when there is a threat to our position so we can make needed adjustments and reestablish the lines that hold us in security.

There is another thought we can take from that Deadliest Catch episode. The captain of the boat wanted to get hold of the owner of the boat to get clearance before doing what he knew needed done, because if one person involved failed to do their part, the move needed could be sabotaged and lead to the wreck they were trying to avoid. Because of the storm he was unable to reach the owner. So he had to make a decision based on what he knew from past experience and what he knew of the owner.

Sometimes, when we are in a storm, we feel like we can’t reach God. Now that thought is another that can lead to a whole other study, but John helps me to stay on track with this thought as we return to pick up the first of our text:

“I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. …” ~ 1 John 2:12-17.

In times when a decision must be made but we struggle to feel like we can hear from God, this is what I see in this passage that gives us instruction. The children of God living His Kingdom reality:

Have experienced forgiveness – they know what repentance is and have understanding of God’s grace sufficient. These know because they know Him that His grace will always be sufficient.

These know God – having been and still being in intimate relationship with Him. Though they may feel that they can’t hear Him at this moment, they know Him: how He thinks, what His will and purpose is, and the actions He takes.

These are overcomers – that have been in bad situations before and have won victories. They have experience in dealing with the challenges the enemy of God sends, and they know God always leaves them with help they can rely upon. Thus…

These have strength – this strength is God-powered, because their faith and hope are in Him. They trust His presence with them even when they may not “feel” it or know it experientially in that moment.

These have the Word of God abiding within – though they may not feel they are hearing His voice right now, they have His Word to direct them and give them a future and a hope in their final outcome.

Beloved, when storms hit, it can be difficult to hear God’s voice speaking. We must have experiential knowledge of Him and that comes as we live with Him as His Kingdom dwellers. I believe that God always hears us (Isaiah 59:1). But sometimes God is silent, testing to see if we have faith to trust Him enough to do what we know needs done.

God brought this passage to mind for us today ~ Matthew 25:14-30 ~ The parable of the talents. You remember the story. The master goes on a journey and leaves his possessions with his servants, expecting them to be good stewards. He did not tell them what to do with the wealth entrusted to them. All indications are that he expected these to bring increase to him out of their knowledge of him and his ways and priorities. Apparently he trusted these servants, which tells me he had reason to believe that they had enough experience with him to be able to make wise and discerning decisions on his behalf.

You know the story. Two of these acted out of faith and did what they felt the master would want done based on what they knew of him. The third Jesus-Bride006held back in fear. What did he say?

“Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.”

Now obviously the master knew this one was often driven by fear, so he did not give him much to squander. And what was his response? “You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.”

God brings increase to us as we prove to be faithful stewards, leaving us with greater resource to use on His behalf. That fact tells me there will be times when God will entrust us with His wealth. His wealth is not just the “talents”, Beloved. His wealth is the knowledge of Him – knowing His ways, His purposes, His thoughts, His words.

It is vital that we know our God experientially so we may have the faith needed to take action in due season when His voice is not evident. We must know Him, know His word, and have experience of Him that can direct our path. That experiential knowledge of God comes most to those who realize His Kingdom is in us and we are in it even now. We abide in Him and He in us. Beloved, read Revelation 21 and note the following:

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them’ … I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. …”

Note beloved…WOW!!!!!!! Note the oneness found here. Just in the few words of this chapter shared above we see “the new” come down for the old has passed away. Note the new Jerusalem, beloved. It comes down into the new heaven and the new earth, and what is its appearance? It is “made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.” We are it, beloved and it is us.

Jesus-Bride001Then note the temple. It is not there as a separate structure because God in all His fullness and the Lamb, who is the veil, are the temple. The whole city is in the temple. And the Temple is in the whole city, becoming for it the Light that replaces the sun.

And the Light enlightens every man (John 1:9). The Kingdom is in us, and we are the Kingdom, Beloved of God. We can know Him now experientially, having the Light of His glory within us; and what is the light?  The light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth (Ephesians 5:9).

So as these storms come upon us in these days, Beloved, draw ever nearer to God, submit to God, resist the devil who will use the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the boastful pride of life against us IF WE LET HIM, just as he always has done. But he must flee as we draw near to God through submission to Him, which puts us instantly into resistance against Satan and his minions. Choose God and live for and with and in Him day by day, breath by breath. When hearing Him is difficult, follow what you know of Him in faith, trusting Him, and do the good you know to do as a good steward of His Light.

He never leaves nor forsakes us. He is with us and for us. By faith, believing, go forth and prosper, for you who are in Him and He in you are The Kingdom of God.

Body of Christ, God's Faithfulness, Godly Principles, Holiness, Kingdom Living, Practicing His Presence, Prophetic Word, Protection, who I am in Christ

Word of Life: “BE” ~ As He Is

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“Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes” ~ 1 John 2:7-11.

At first my eyes fell on the obvious, but God quickly led me to the deeper. As His chosen people, meant for Light, to be His Light, being in the world but not of it, we are called to “BE”: Be as He is.

Yes, we could easily go to “love” as our topic for today. We are called to love one another, especially our Christian family members, but we are also called to love our enemies, as previously discussed in this study. Jesus said it is easy to love those who love us, but we are called and equipped to do that which seems impossible to the rest of the world. We are called to love even the unlovable of this world, those who actively hate us and are out to do us harm. Why? Because we are to love as God loves so that we are His Light to dispel the darkness around us.

And how does God love? God loves because HE IS LOVE, therefore He can do no less and still remain true to Himself. God loves all mankind, all His created beings – yes, I believe even the one we call the Devil, Lucifer, Satan. He loves all His created beings because He is love. He does not love all our ways of being and doing, but He loves us. He comes against evil, hating evil, but He does not hate the one doing the evil. I believe it hurts His heart to have to destroy one He loves who is attached vehemently to evil ways. I believe it grieved God to have to cast Satan and those with him, who are part of His created angel-forces, casting them out of His kingdom because he would not turn from his sinful pride. God will tarry long over a person, giving that one every chance to come to the knowledge of God through Christ, because, though He hates the evil, He loves the person, and I believe He tarried long with Lucifer before finally dealing with Him. We know Lucifer was awhile in his sin because he had time to turn 1/3 of the hosts of heaven to follow him.

Evil continues in the earth not because God does not care, but because He does! God so loved the world – all mankind, whether or not they have chosen Him, that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever – WHOEVER – believes so as to put their trust in His Son and the sacrifice He became on our behalf, shall be saved. Therefore He tarries, giving each individual every opportunity to turn in faith and receive this gift of grace. God’s purpose to reach all who will join Him in His kingdom through His gift of grace found in Christ stays the Hand of punishment against those who commit the evil until their decision against Him is set and the time allotted for them to turn is up.

God loves because of who He is and He loves all. Boy, I could get off on a discussion of love real easily, and God is leading me to do a study of love for posting here, but for now, as we prepare to weather the things that are unfolding, we need to realize Jehovah – “I AM” – is who He is, He cannot be any less; and we are called to “BE” as He is (1 John 4:17). We can grow stronger in who we are as His people, called and equipped for such a time as this, as we learn who He is and how He functions out of the resource-pool of His character / nature. We are to be as He is so we have confidence in the Day of Judgment. Discovering His character and developing it for ourselves, functioning out of the resource of His Spirit who makes us as He is, is vital to our traversing the days coming upon us.

There are two things I see that determine God’s actions and reactions: His sure knowledge and practice of Who He is, coupled with His sure focus on His purpose and plans for all things. If He took action out of who He is with no purpose to help direct His actions, I can see one of two things happening. His love would hinder punishment of evil; or His righteousness would destroy all despite love, because all mankind sins and fails to achieve His glory. God is true to His word and will not go against His promise / purpose. God knows who He is and He knows His purposes, and these two aspects work together to direct His actions and reactions.

An example of how His character and purposes work together in His decisions is found in Numbers 16, when Korah and those with him came against Moses, claiming a holiness that was not true, leading to God opening the earth to swallow up him, his family, and all with him. Seems harsh and overboard and certainly does not seem to fit with God being a God of love who is patient toward us, not wishing any to perish, but all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9): that is until we break it down.

God, who is love, is patient and will give every opportunity to those who have potential to change their mind and heart attitude. But God knows the heart of every man, and He knows when a person has made their decision and will not turn to His way of thinking and being, or to His purposes. Besides being love and patient, God is also Protector. He protects those who are His. Korah and those with him were set in pride and arrogance against God’s chosen, which put them against God and His purposes. Their attitude and falsehood were acting like leaven in dough, spreading and putting the lot in danger of falling away from God. So out of love for those who still had a heart for God and His ways, He removed the leaven of sin so as to protect the rest from it.

A modern day example is seen in what is going on in Iraq. Is it God’s will for us to go against ISIS? I believe it fits with His ways. ISIS is threatening the very lives of God’s people. It is like Him to send His disciplining hand against those who are arrogantly coming against His chosen people, those surrendered to Him as God, threatening to turn His beloveds away from Him to follow after evil spurned by pride.

Some would say, “Well, let Him swallow them up then!” But God does not always work that way. We have more examples of God sending the sword through His army of people to bring the destruction of those who stood against Him and His ways, than we have of Him sending a natural disaster. Thus I believe that our armies being led to go against ISIS to protect God’s people there is His response in this hour. God often calls on His people to be His hand of protection for these who do not have resource or strength to fight for themselves. Should having to take this action grieve us? Yes! We are love, desiring those ensnared by the philosophy found in those of ISIS to find God through Christ. But knowing that their leaven of falsehood is threatening the lives of those who are His, He is forced to take a stand, and we are part of His response.

Beloved, God is still working a plan in the earth that is bringing about His eternal purpose. It is vital in these days that we develop godliness by: one, learning to know who we are in Christ and developing those characteristics. We are a new creation, having a new resource pool of characteristics to dictate our actions and reactions. And two, we are His representatives, called and equipped to work with Him in fulfilling His eternal purpose. So it is vital that we learn His heart for every situation that comes upon us, having understanding of His purposes, so we act and react in ways that represent His interests and work His plans out to fruition.

We must be as He is, in character, yes, but also in purpose, thought and action. We are to represent Him well in the world, while working alongside Him to fulfill the purpose of creating for Himself a people after His own heart that will be with Him for all eternity.

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Word of LIFE: Faithful ~ Our Reliable Advocate

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“If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is FAITHFUL and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us” 1 John 1:8-10.

“FAITHFUL” is the word of Life that stands out to me in this portion of today’s passage that is vital for us to latch on to in these days as what is to come unfolds before us. As things unfold to reveal the truth of His prophetic word to us concerning these end-time days, and as we see much evil grow in this world and many atrocities come, especially toward those who believe in the Jehovah of our Holy Bible, both Jew and Christian, it is imperative that we remember our God’s faithfulness. He is faithful and righteous, and He will keep His word of promise to us who believe in, trust in, are confident in and rely upon Him.

This combination of words used to describe the faith we are to have is seen often in the Amplified version of scripture: faith ~ to “believe in, trust in, be confident in and rely upon Him”. It is the full and true definition of what faith in God is and how it looks on those who truly believe that HE IS FAITHFUL.

One of the main reasons I see for our need to grow strong in our trust of His faithfulness is that, as evil grows in the world, so will the temptation to fall before it. God’s word instructs us that even our greatest good can be as filthy rags before our Holy God. Why is that? Isaiah, in chapter 64, says:

“For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on Your name, who arouses himself to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and have delivered us into the power of our iniquities” ~ vs. 6-7.

Look at what Isaiah says is the reason for the filth: “no one calls on Your name, who arouses himself to take hold of You.”

Do you realize that there are many people who could be called “good people” in this life? They treat parents with respect, they are faithful to their mates, they do not steal, kill, or covet; and they speak truth at all cost, never bearing a false witness against another. But what are the first three points of God’s law given by Moses (Exodus 20)? Are they not laws that call us to have faith in, trust in, believe in, be confident in, and rely upon One Who is the only True God, taking hold on Him as our own and remembering to keep Him and His ways of first priority in living out the remainder of the Law?

And how many times does God promise those who seek Him that, if they will seek Him with whole heart, they will find Him so as to be His people and Him their God; and they will find Him faithful as God? Even those seen as “good people” sin against a Holy God when they do that good with no thought of Him or desire for Him.

True goodness requires reliance upon God, just as Jesus relied upon Him:

“If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [EVERYTHING NOT IN CONFORMITY TO HIS WILL IN PURPOSE, THOUGHT, AND ACTION]” ~ verse 9, AMP

Jesus’ righteousness was perfect righteousness because He always conformed Himself to God’s will, seeking first to accomplish His purpose, having His thoughts, and taking action as God instructed so all was done to His glory and the fulfilling of all things just as Father planned it. That is why He willingly went to that cross. He believed God and trusted His way was THE BEST WAY; thus while quaking over what He knew He was about to suffer, He prayed before going to that cross, “Yet not My will, but YOUR WILL BE DONE” (Luke 22:42).

Jesus knew that Father-God is the Architect and Builder. All the good we do that is NOT done with God’s will, purpose, and thought in mind, taking intentional action as instructed by Him in the power of His Spirit, failing to couple action with relying upon Him in the doing of the good, that good is made evil in His sight. Without reliance upon God and His Spirit, we too easily fall to the desires of our own flesh, the unenlightened wisdom of this world, and the lies of the demonic. Thus we need our Advocate, Jesus, to help us through these days as we seek after God to honor and glorify Him.

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the PROPITIATION for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” ~ 1 John 2:1-2.

Jesus is Propitiation: Following fully the will of God, trusting in and relying upon Him, Jesus stood in our place at our punishment, taking the penalty on our behalf, as full and complete payment for our sins. And it tells us here that He paid the price of the sins of the WHOLE WORLD.

The minute Father laid all sin on Jesus’ shoulders on that cross, all sin ever committed since His hanging on that cross was completely paid for by Christ. It is a gift that is available for all who will receive it with believing faith and full reliance upon His payment. It is not Jesus plus anything that saves. It is Jesus alone, and that requires us to RELY upon Him who paid the price, TRUSTING that payment to be all that is needed for our entrance into fellowship with Father, as part of the people of His Kingdom.

Once we enter into this new covenant of TRUST in Jesus as the Savior who purchased the right of redemption at Calvary – giving Him the right to deliver us from slavery and set us free to discover and serve God fully, we are then called to renewed FAITH in God through Christ Jesus, given full rights of access to God as His children, rebirthed in Christ to a relationship with and reliance upon God as God and Father. We are then to be His witnesses, telling others of the gift found in Christ, ready in season (when it is easy) and out of season (when it is not easy or popular) to give an account of this hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:13-17; 2 Timothy 4:1-4).

Because of our relationship with God through Christ, we are to be His ambassadors, representing His interests in the earth. Being brought by our new birth through faith into relationship with God through Christ to be His children, we are delivered into His Royal Priesthood, to be His worshipers and leaders of worship, worshiping the Father in Spirit and in truth through our daily lives and choices, setting an example for others to follow. And we are set on a course of being possessed by God, able to enter more readily into His will by receiving through our relationship of reliance on Him the purposes of His heart for our situations. We are given by His Spirit in us the very thoughts God thinks, so we are able to think as He does. And we are then able to take actions as led by Him in the power of His Spirit to the fulfilling of His purpose and plan, in one accord with His will and way.

If you are getting anything out of this series of study, beloved, it is NOT because I am a great author, able to put words together well. It is because, through reliance upon the faithfulness of God to be God, He spoke to my heart and was able to make it clear to me. He told me a storm is coming—I know not what, only that it will set the nation, and indeed the world in turmoil. And He gave me instruction through the passages we are covering and through those we are yet to cover in the days ahead that give us His Word of Life that will help us to weather the storm and to possess His heart in it.

I have awakened with a headache, being dull of thought each morning so far, not knowing what to say to you or how to say it, but having clear direction as to where in His Word I would find the thoughts and being fully surrendered to be His conduit through which the thoughts may flow. Any instruction coming clearly to you is because I have succeeded in relying upon God to pour it forth to you as He wills it to be so, and He has faithfully instructed your heart, giving you understanding of these things. By His grace sufficient, you receive it with understanding.

A storm is coming that will put us to quaking, just as Jesus did. Like Jesus, as we sincerely cry out, “not my will but Yours”, we can trust that God is God and He will have His will and His way in the earth. We can come through the storm, no matter what it brings to us on a personal level by abiding in and remaining in Him and in His Light. And we can come through every temptation this season will bring to us by trusting His faithfulness and relying fully on Him who is God to be our God, leading us to the fulfillment of His will for us in purpose, thought and action.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Beloved, if you do not know God through His gift found in Christ and Him crucified; I implore you to reread the paragraphs above, covering His propitiation. Seek His forgiveness for sin today, especially for the sin of seeking to be good people without relying on God for that goodness, and receive His gift of grace sufficient found in Christ’s sacrifice, given to pay the price for all your sin.

If you are a Christian who has fallen into the ways of the world and failed to rely upon God for every purpose, thought, and action, remember He is for you and not against you. God, by His Spirit, is continually working to perfect You through Christ (Philippians 1:6) who ever stands before the Father as your advocate.

Today is the day and NOW is the time to trust Jesus to be your Advocate, Who will forever intercede on your behalf before the Father (Romans 8). Be filled with His Spirit so you can know the will of God and walk in His ways with reliance upon Him to lead, direct, instruct, and empower you for success in fulfilling His purpose for your part in this season of His eternal plan.

Read Galatians 5-6 for teaching on what reliance upon the Spirit of God rather than on one’s own flesh looks like; and be sure to talk with a Christian near you who has proven themselves to be a faithful follower of Christ (we know them by the fruit of their lives, that of true goodness coming from relying upon God in Christlikeness). Tell them of your decision regarding Christ and seek their assistance in growing strong as His follower.

Assurance, Body of Christ, Choice, God's Faithfulness, Godly Principles, Kingdom Living, Overcomers, Practicing His Presence, Prophetic Word, Protection, Sanctification, The Righteous Lot, who I am in Christ

Word of Life: Prophetic Alert and Series Introduction

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“…what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ” ~ 1 John 1:1-3.

Yesterday, excited to get ready for church,  I woke early with a beautiful and powerful song flowing through my mind over and over – not an uncommon occurrence, but this day’s episode was different. As the words flowed through my heart, reminding me that God is and He alone is God, I began to discern that there is a reason the Spirit is singing such to me. In the car for a leisurely, peaceful drive to church where quiet and stillness allowed for hearing, I discerned that something devastating is about to hit. I do not sense this to be a personal warning, but national-global / global-national – it is for all of us and not just me and mine.

Now this is not news to us. Most all who know and follow closely to God are watching as we see end-time prophesy unfolding every day. But as this beautiful song coursed through me, I realized what God was saying to me through that song and in my quiet time reading that morning. The thing He wants me to tell you is this:

As we see things unfold and the devastation hit, it will make many hearts quake and put us in a panic. The only thing that will protect us from reacting in ways that will do more harm than good is to remember that God is; that He is God; that He is for us and not against us; that He is doing a good thing in the earth; and that He will be with us in the storm. With eyes on Him, we will come through to His glory.

These days are already testing the hearts and faith of God’s people. I see many already falling away because of feeling that, “A God of love would not allow such travesties in life”. Some are young and unexperienced in the ways and presence of Father. Others are trapped by fleshly, worldly, and demonic wisdom, with thoughts of feeling that there is “a better way”. These fail to realize and remember that God is God, the Architect and Builder who is working an eternal plan, building a people for the place of His eternal dwelling (Hebrews 11:10).

Let’s consider this on an architectural standpoint. Say an architect or engineer draws up plans for a huge, building. He carefully and strategically positions each support beam in his blueprints, placing each beam and wall where it will not only be most functional, but where the support is most needed for the building to stand, firm and secure on its foundations. Then a worker, charged with following the blueprint to build his section, thinks, “That looks awful placed there. The wall will be prettier and the room bigger and better if that beam is moved here.” He fails to follow the instructions, feeling he has a better plan, not considering weight bearing or the end result. What happens next? The building falls in on that section.

Beloved, we must begin now to realize and remember that God knows where all the support beams need to go, and He has the end product in mind. He is the only one with all the pages of the blueprint at His disposal. We only have bits in pieces and are only able to see in part what will be the end result.

Consider also the construction of a building. My In-laws live in an area that is growing, with new builds popping up around them. As we watch each building go up, for the longest it is difficult to even imagine what it will look like, and it even looks plumb ugly for a time, all those beams and pipes sticking up, followed by ugly, green walls. But suddenly it begins to take shape and we can tell more about what it is going to look like and just how big and beautiful it is going to be.

We are in a building phase in God’s plan that is looking pretty ugly right now, and it is vital that we remember that Father-God is the Architect and Builder of a city in which to dwell for all eternity. It will be huge and beautiful, filled with all good things. But to get there, fields must be cleared and leveled, forms poured, and beams set in place. And we, beloved, who trust in Him, are the workers. We have to decide whether or not we will trust the Architect and do it His way. That is what this series will cover. How do we live life in these days?

“What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, CONCERNING THE WORD OF LIFE—and THE LIFE WAS MANIFESTED, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us…” ~ 1 John 1:1-3.

God did not leave us without a blueprint to follow. We have the Word of Life, not only written in His Book, but manifested to us through Christ. We have His Word, written in our hearts:

“You are our letter, written in our hearts, KNOWN AND READ BY ALL MEN; BEING MANIFESTED that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” ~ 2 Corinthians 3:2-3.

If you have the Spirit of God living in you, He has testified with me in your heart, confirming the truth of the things I say now and am about to say through these days of study. If you have the Spirit of God living in you, and if you are alive in this season of time, that is no accident. You are not here to suffer through what is about to be a time of trouble in the world, but you are here for a purpose as a worker, following the blueprint set by the Architect, observing the instruction of the Builder of all things good and glorious, so as to become the manifestation of His glory in our day.

We are here in this season, chosen and set apart for such a time as this, in order to manifest the foundation found in Christ. We are here to manifest the beams and walls that are set in Him. We are here to show others how to build using precious stones, silver, and gold that will stand the test that is coming to us. We are here to observe and manifest within ourselves the WORD OF LIFE that sustains and empowers us to live life to the full even – and especially in times of trouble and hardship. And it begins with realizing experientially, in the depth of our being, that GOD IS GOD! And we are not. Our first decision to make as we begin this journey together is, WILL WE TRUST HIM?

It was awesome as I got to church yesterday morning and received the word given by our pastor, all of which confirmed for me that I am hearing correctly concerning the coming storm and our need to firm up our foundations and make sure the support beams are in the proper place. He talked about our need to “HOLD ON” and get ready for God, ‘cause when the storms of life hit, God is getting ready to do something great.

One thing he covered in his message to us was the time when Jesus said, “Let’s go over to the other side.” He and the disciples climb in the boat and head that way. A storm rises and these veteran fishermen become afraid as it appears to them that the boat is sinking.

You remember the story: they cry out to Jesus, finding Him ASLEEP in the stern of the boat. He was unwearied by the tossing waves; and He was unafraid because He had said, “We are going over to the other side.” He knew that is where He was to go; it was God’s calling and God’s timing; so He knew they would reach the other side and fulfill God’s purpose (Mark 4:35-40).

When God calls us, beloved, He will get us there. What He tells us to do, He will provide for us to do it. We will not perish one second – one breath – one instant before it is His time for us. The thought that hit my mind when the pastor was talking about Jesus sleeping in that boat was this, “UNTIL JESUS PANICS, THERE IS NO NEED FOR ME TO.”

The time will come when Jesus will say to this storm coming upon us, “HUSH! SHUT UP! Be peaceful, still and quiet.” Until then we can find the place of the eye as spoken of in the series on Ponderings linked below, and we can live the Word of Life that will make us workers with Him in this season, bringing about the completion of all things in our time.

Are you ready, beloved? Prepare your hearts to hear with an attitude made ready to follow the manifestations of Christ for our day, becoming His hands, feet, and light in the world.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock” ~ Matthew 7:24.

Pray for me, beloved, as I seek the heart of God in writing the things He is showing me to give you by way of teaching or reminder, as we prepare to weather the soon arriving storm. “These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete” ~ 1 John 1:4. See you in the next post.

You are God! ~ Katinas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE-IdstEdTI&index=2&list=PLfiEjLIYhJ9D1tHHJ_Ep1m340430xSaMe

(For wisdom on weathering the storms of life, read the series, “In the Hearing of the Lord” beginning with the intro to that series and following the links to each part for that 6 day study: https://darlenesponderings.com/2014/03/25/in-the-hearing-of-the-lord-series-introduction/).

Assurance, Faith, Godly Principles, Kingdom Living, Practicing His Presence

Made for MORE

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“We were made for more than to just survive. We were made to THRIVE!” ~ Casting Crowns (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jNJ59o4QgE).

These words keep coursing through my veins as I write you this morning. They have led me to dance with joy and anticipation as they flow through my soul. “We were made for MORE! We were made to THRIVE.”

Thrive, according to Free Online Dictionary, means to make steady progress, prosper; to grow vigorously, flourish.

We are not meant to settle in to status quo and fail to grow. We are to be in a constant state of maturing and becoming all God intended us to be, bearing fruit to His glory (Galatians 5:16-26).

l109149486I don’t know about you, but sometimes, beloved, the difficulties of life can so weigh me down that it feels like “surviving” is a good thing. But what the enemies of God mean for harm, God always intends for my good and His glory. There is something there for me to benefit from that will carry me from survival mode to that of one who thrives; I have only to discover it and make it mine.

An infant can have food and water, get their diapers changed and be given all kinds of pretty toys and noises to stimulate their senses, enough so that they survive. But to thrive and become all they can be, they must know the presence and touch and voice of someone who loves them.

We need the same as the Children of God. It is those who cannot discern His love, His touch, and His voice with assurance of His presence who too easily fall away and fail to live the life He supplies us, especially when trouble comes to life. To thrive, we must grow to know Him and His faithful, loving hand in our lives. Difficulty gives us opportunity to draw still nearer to Him and trust Him more, growing strong to thrive in our assurance of His presence with us, His love for us, and His care in time of need. And believe me, beloved, with the things going on in this world and the difficulty even His strongest followers are experiencing, without His Reality, we will not do more than survive.

Thus, to thrive we are to grow:

In the knowledge of God, that He is who He says He is (Philippians 4:8-11, AMP; Exodus 33:12-23).

God is real, and He desires to be our greatest reality. In order to fully experience His reality, our greatest desire must be to know Him. As we grow to know Him, we will grow in understanding of who He is, what He does, and how and why He responds to us / situations the way He does. The more we know Him, the more we know His heart, the better equipped we will be to BE like Him. The more we understand His ways, the faster we will be to respond in likeness to Him, becoming all He intended us to be as representing Him and His interests in the challenges we face.

We thrive as the BLESSed when we know Him best. Thus, to thrive we are also to grow:danny-hahlbohm-power-of-prayer

In knowledge and discernment, being secure in the things of God, in His ways and in His promises (Matthew 10:16; James 3:13-18).

We live in this world for a time and purpose set by God, but we are not to be of this world (having its priorities and ideology) for we are the people of God, purposed to be like Him and sent out for His glory. To do this, we must be secure in Him, in His Word, and in His promises.

Our flesh, this world and the demonic can be deceptive and alluring, robbing us of assurance of faith and destroying security in God’s reality. Thus, while we live in the world, we must “Be wary and wise as a serpent”, but “innocent (harmless, guileless, and without falsity) as doves” (Matthew 10:16, AMP). In other words, know your surroundings and how it works, but don’t become part of it. Be the people of God’s possession, His Kingdom representatives, emulating Him in life.

When we know God and His ways, as we see the way of things in our surroundings, we can discern the fleshly, the worldly, and the demonic found there. We don’t have to “learn of the world.” We just need to “know God”, having assurance in Him and His ways: that He is, and that He is the reward for those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6; Genesis 15:1; Jeremiah 29:12-14).

When we know God, we will be equipped to recognize that which is not of Him, discerning whether it is fleshly (coming from our old nature), worldly (stemming out of the world’s ideology), or demonic (a ploy of God’s enemy, sent to distract and lead us away from God and His ways). Recognizing the enemy warfare and walking in the victory of His Presence and wisdom, we grow in our security that He is, and that He is with us and for us.

We thrive as the secure when in Him we mature. Thus, to thrive we must also grow:

walking-with-godIn the knowledge of the Presence of God and the filling of THE Spirit of God (1 Chronicles 16:11, 27; Psalm 27:4; 1 John 3:1-19; 4:6-8; Ephesians 5:18; Galatians 5:16-26):

We are called to walk daily in His Presence and be filled with His Spirit. Draw near to Him and He will draw near to us. Submit to Him and the devil must flee (James 4:6-10). It is this real life experience of Him that protects us from falling away to other “gods” found in this life; protecting us from deciding there is no God at all.

I am saddened by the number of professing Christians who, out of some fear of the “charismatic”, do not know how to discern the voice of God. Even sadder those who refuse to be filled with the Spirit of God for some fear of what they do not understand, and cannot understand until they surrender in faith to the experience of His Presence and Power. I am not talking tongues here, or running around the room barking like a dog; I am talking about experiential surrender to His indwelling Presence and Power that works within us so that we have experiential understanding of His Presence, His touch, and His voice, possessing with assurance His love that endures and ensures us that we will thrive.

I was greatly saddened the other day when, sharing how God led a loved one to discern a truth that brought wisdom to their heart, someone said, “Well they were just listening to / practicing their wisdom.” True wisdom is from God. He tells us when we seek Him for wisdom with full faith, He will give it to us. When we have been seeking Him for it and wisdom suddenly dawns on us, that is God’s voice and we best not lay claim to it as if it did not come from Him. The Presence of God assures our hearts and leads us to His wisdom.

“Not everything we hear is God speaking,” she said. And that is true. But when we know the Presence of God and the filling of His Spirit, we can discern the true from the false, and know when it is Him speaking. Only by faith to trust His reality and discern His leading can we fully follow in His ways. And only when His power indwells us will we experience true power for life that thrives despite circumstance. To do less is to just survive.

We were made to thrive, beloved. We are to grow strong in the Lord, knowing Him, knowing His ways, discerning His Presence, and hearing Him with spiritual ears that discern His voice (John 10). Filled up with Him and empowered by Him, we are to go forth as mature representatives of His glory with full faith in all His good word and promises.

We were made for more than to just survive, beloved. We were made to THRIVE.

Body of Christ, Choice, who I am in Christ

The Reigning Royalty of God’s Kingdom (Pt. 3 of 3)

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“And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, HE SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE MAJESTY ON HIGH, HAVING BECOME AS MUCH BETTER THAN THE ANGELS, AS HE HAS INHERITED A MORE EXCELLENT NAME THAN THEY” ~ Hebrews 1:3-4.

King Jesus is trustworthy, being found faithful in following Father God, keeping Him as of first importance and His purposes as first priority. King Jesus is trustworthy, found faithful in keeping the letter and heart of the very Word of God; knowing it with full and comprehensive understanding; and making God’s Word His own mantra for life more abundant and full. And King Jesus is trustworthy, pursuing – eternally – Father’s Kingdom Purpose in all things: today’s final point in this series, revealing the trustworthiness of Christ and the reason He is King above all.

anointing5Jesus Christ, the Messiah was faithful to pursue Kingdom purpose, proving Himself worthy to be the eternal King in the eternal Kingdom of God.

Though He lived as a good citizen in the world where He was stationed, He lived first and foremost as a good citizen of God’s Holy Kingdom. He kept Father and His purposes as first priority and this fact is heard in words spoken by Him and seen in the actions He took, as revealed in these few samples of His proclamations to us:

“Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them” ~ Matthew 5:17, AMP ~ We too are to fulfill and complete the Law in His name and power for the purpose of God to be fulfilled in our time.

“I have come down from heaven not to do My own will and purpose but to do the will and purpose of Him Who sent Me” ~ John 6:38, AMP ~ We too are to find God’s purpose for our living and being in this time of history.

“He said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ So the disciples were saying to one another, ‘No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work’” ~ John 4:32-34 ~ We too must have desire for accomplishing God’s will in God’s way, seeing it as our greatest sustenance for life more abundant and full.

Jesus knew why He was here and He often told us what the purpose of His life and ministry was. It always was directed and dictated by the will and purpose of God for Him, not for His own desire. He denied Himself daily to take up His cross and follow God to accomplish His purpose, denying Himself His own fleshly desires in order to fulfill His greatest desire, that of accomplishing God’s will in God’s way. And we know He had desires of flesh because we are told that He was a man, just as we are; and He was tempted in all things as we are. As Leader of all He calls us to have this same purpose and take action in His likeness by denying fleshly desire in order to accomplish godly purpose.

Our greatest picture of the lengths Jesus would go to in fulfilling the purposes of Father God are revealed in such words and actions as these:

“Now My soul is troubled and distressed, and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour [of trial

But for this hour, I have come. Not My will, but Your will be done.
But for this hour, I have come. Not My will, but Your will be done.

and agony]? But it was for this very purpose that I have come to this hour [that I might undergo it]” ~ John 12:27, AMP.

“And He said to them, ‘My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.’ And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. And He was saying, ‘Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will’” ~ Mark 14:34-36.

Jesus went through many a trial and testing, being tempted in all ways as we are, yet without sin; for, despite the struggle that might come to His flesh, He kept God and His purposes of first priority in every choice He made. Though He agonized over the hardship He was to undertake, He chose death over disobedience to God and failure to fulfill His good will and way for the completion of all things God desired to accomplish through Christ. And He tells us, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).

Jesus sat the example then called us to do the same. He tells us that He came in the Name of the One True God, as representing Him and His interests, and He calls us to be His ambassadors, following His example in being the people of God, called by His Name. Jesus, our example in leadership, also taught us to pray to the Father in the name of the Son, Jesus, as representing Christ’ priorities and purposes in furthering His ministry in the earth. To accomplish living, breathing and praying in His Name, we, too, must be people of purpose, having the heart desire of Father God as our compass for life’s choices.

Body of Christ, who I am in Christ

The Reigning Royalty of God’s Kingdom (Pt. 2 of 3)

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“And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, HE SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE MAJESTY ON HIGH, HAVING BECOME AS MUCH BETTER THAN THE ANGELS, AS HE HAS INHERITED A MORE EXCELLENT NAME THAN THEY” ~ Hebrews 1:3-4.

WALK-WITH-GODJesus is our example in all things, especially as leaders in our sphere of influence. He set the example as one who looked to God as God, keeping Father first in all things, intent on fulfilling His will and purpose where he traversed. Jesus is God, though we cannot fully understand that, and though He made clear His unity and equality with Father, He took a back seat position, teaching us to keep Father as of greater importance and value. Jesus made a clear distinction between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thus, we follow Jesus best when we seek and follow Father first in keeping with the way of Christ.

One of the main things God expects of us is to be people whose hearts are fed by His Word, bearing the fruit of It. We are to know His Word and be keepers of His Law, being people of our Word as He is His.

“When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love” (John 15:10, NLT).

One thing the kings of old were called to do was to write out their own copy of the Law of God (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). And they were to do so before the priests, I believe so that training, instruction and correction could come in areas of need. They were to know it for themselves, understand its heart intent, and keep it as their own truth and way of life. And we are called to do the same because we love the Father and He loves us.

Jesus was found at an early age, sitting with the priests in Jerusalem, asking questions and astounding them with His understanding. Jesus was crowned the Eternal King of kings, fulfilling God’s promise to David, because He followed Father, keeping Him of first importance, and:

He was faithful to the Letter and to the intent of Law, proving Himself trustworthy as a keeper of God’s will and way ~ Jesus often called the people down on their interpretation and practice of Scripture, especially the Pharisees and Sadducees. He pointed out that they knew the letter of the Law but not the heart behind it.

He expressed the Heart in issues like, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” ~ Matthew 5:27-28.

Those in positions of authority were often guilty of condemning the actions of another while they, themselves, had the same or some other sin in their heart desires. I believe this fact is why, when the leaders sat before Jesus a woman caught in the very act of adultery, He pointed them to look at their own hearts. They brought only the woman out. Where was the man? He knew their heart was following the letter, and only a portion of it at that (Leviticus 20:10), while their own hearts were in sin.Kin-Jesus2

Jesus imparted greater understanding of God’s heart on many issues, including it being easy to love someone who loves us, but the greater depths of the love God calls us to extend love even to those who are enemies (Matthew 5:43-48). In a populace that believed only the godly were blessed with wealth, He taught the greater sacrifice and blessing of the poor (Mark 12:41-44; Matthew 19:16-25); and that the true treasure we are to have is laid up with God in Heaven through our righteous choices for life instead of death – blessing over curse, good over evil (Matthew 6:19-21). We could go on—and on, but as John said, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25)

Jesus knew the heart intent of the Laws of God and amazed the people with His teaching because He was faithful in His relationship with the true Author of the Law. He was intimately in tune with the Father, and He has provided for us to have this same intimacy through the power of His Spirit that He sends into our lives to be our Teacher and to bring us heart to heart with the Father (John 14:26). Jesus enlightens the heart of every man and woman who sincerely and wholeheartedly seek Him as, in the power of the Holy Spirit, He grants them true understanding of the heart intent of God and His word to us.

This right and privilege is not to a select few, but is promised to each individual of us who seek His face with faith to believe and receive His word sent to us in our spirit-interaction with His Spirit. It is awesome to my heart when God speaks some deep understanding or revelation to my heart, and then I start hearing the same teachings coming out of the well-known leaders of our day, thus confirming for me the understanding I found.

We each have within us the ability to touch and be touched by the very heart of God and be inspired by the greater depths of understanding that will make us leaders where we are as we follow faithfully the true teachings of God, becoming people of His Word, following hard after King Jesus. His Spirit within us makes us one with Him and with each other. It is those who excel in this area who are worthy of being leaders among us.

Jesus kept God first in all things, and He fulfills the law regarding the rule of Kingship in His knowledge and understanding of the Law of God, therefore He is worthy of the position given Him at the right hand of God. And He is worthy of our allegiance to Him as King of kings and Lord of lords. In our next post for this series, we will see another exemplary area in which Jesus proved Himself to be trustworthy in all things, winning the Crown of Glory that gives Him right to the throne of The Kingdom of God.

Body of Christ, who I am in Christ

The Reigning Royalty of God’s Kingdom (Pt. 1 of 3)

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“And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, HE SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE MAJESTY ON HIGH, HAVING BECOME AS MUCH BETTER THAN THE ANGELS, AS HE HAS INHERITED A MORE EXCELLENT NAME THAN THEY” ~ Hebrews 1:3-4.

It has been way long since my last post, much longer than I like to see between posts in a series. Sometimes life feels like interruptions, but what I find is generally true in such instances, this being one, is that the time of interruption is either training ground that gives experiential thought for the writing; or it is a breather time where direction and greater depth of understanding are birthed as I get God’s heart for what is to be said.

Jesus010Jesus came representing Father and His interests in the earth, earning for Himself the crown of David, ruler in his bloodline as eternal King of kings and Lord of lords, fulfilling the promise of God for there to always be a King on the throne through the lineage of David. He came as an example to us and calls us to follow, giving to us the authority of those who are of His royal household, so we are adequately equipped to represent Kingdom interests in the world. But what example did He set that we are to follow? Here is the direction that came during my time of breather for these final posts in this series.

Where there is a picture written for us for every area of leadership, there is one trait that stands out to me: that leader is to be found trustworthy. There are many other traits that are important, but none so great as this. Even in today’s society I am grateful for those who are found trustworthy in their post. I think one of the main hurdles our current President has before him is the doubt brought to the table before he won the first election that told those watching that he is not trustworthy. Questions still today float around that he is not even legal as a citizen, and therefore has no right to the roll he has won. Further incidences throughout his tenure just increase the suspicions.

Every leader seems to have their moment(s) of dealing with suspicions that bring question to the veracity of their actions; but not Jesus. Even king David, proclaimed to be a man after God’s own heart, fell in trustworthiness in the instance surrounding his lust for Bathsheba. But he proved the sincerity of his heart toward God through repentance, and God raised up between him and Bathsheba the great king Solomon, who brought peace to the people and was God’s chosen man to build His temple in Jerusalem.

Jesus, however, kept God first, being found faithful in all His ways, always having Kingdom purpose at the heart. We can learn much to help us at whatever level of leadership we hold if we will look to Jesus’ example. The first thing I see that we will cover today:

He was faithful to Father ~ Jesus kept God first , holding to Him as the one and only God and Lord in all things. He says of Himself, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. …I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will” (John 5:19, NASB; 5:30, NLT).

Jesus proved Himself faithful in keeping God and His will first and foremost, in all things. He was intimately acquainted with Father-God, revealing to us that we can be as well, showing us that intimate knowledge of God, His will, His ways, and His heart intents are ours to discover and follow above all else.

I am reading the Old Testament right now, reading the stories, lives, and legacy of the kings of Israel and Judah. One thing that I am noticing throughout is that no leader can lead a nation to a greatness that reaches even the least of the kingdom apart from that found by first following the One True God. Every leader would follow some god, but only those who were intimately acquainted with the One God and following Him lead the nation to true greatness. And the God or gods followed by the king is the one(s) the people would gravitate to. Our nation is in decline right now, and I believe it is because the majority of our leaders and the majority of the people of the nation are not whole hearted toward Father-God, Jehovah.

Jesus was a faithful leader, trustworthy in all His ways because He knew what Peter discovered and called us all toJesus_103 realize:

“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” ~ 1 Peter 2:9.

We, like Jesus, are a people for GOD’S OWN POSSESSION. He has called us and chosen us for a royal priesthood, to be a holy nation, set apart to the One True and Only God. In this we are to be found faithful in proclaiming His excellencies, being trustworthy and faithful stewards of our God’s creation, keeping Him first in all things as we dispel darkness by being His light in the world.

Jesus is our perfect example of faithfulness as one who was intimately acquainted with Father-God, being whole hearted toward Him, keeping Him and His ways of first and foremost importance in life. It is the first and most vital, trustworthy act of any leader, and it is one thing that won Jesus the crown of glory and led to Him being seated on the throne of the Kingdom at the right hand of God the Father.

Body of Christ, who I am in Christ

God’s Rainbow Ready Followers

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“And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and UPHOLDS ALL THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS (FATHER’S) POWER. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they” ~ Hebrews 1:3-4.

The rainbow is a symbol of God’s faithfulness to His Word reminding us that He is the promise keeper. Jesus upheld all things by trusting the Word of God’s power. God spoke all things into existence and Jesus knew God’s word would come to pass. Jesus never stood on His own word, but on the Father’s word to and regarding Himself, and in knowing the Father and His will and way. He believed God and stood ready, watching for the fulfillment of all things to come to pass, and He worked with the Father toward that end.

He also knew when a danger was no more than a threat because it was not yet His time. He walked out from the midst of an angry mob without fear for his life because He knew His end as prophesied in God’s word and He believed God, therefore He was unafraid. He slept in the midst of a storm tossed boat because He believed and trusted God with regard to His destiny. He refused an earthly crown, knowing the Father had so much more in the works.

It is by knowing God’s word and His purpose and plan for us that we, too, can stand the test, the storms and the threats of this life. Are we Rainbow Ready: watching with earnest expectation and hope in the fulfillment of God’s promise and plan? Are we standing on His Word to us, trusting in His will and way?

I was asked just yesterday how to know we are hearing from Father in our personal situations and I have been thinking of how to respond to that. There is no sure outline to follow that works for every person. As I think of my own journey to discerning the Father’s voice, here is what I see:

Faith to believe: We are told to ask when we need wisdom, and if we ask in faith to believe, He will give it. What I have found and believe true is that God always responds to the sincere heart that is seeking Him. The problem comes when we second guess God and fail to receive His word to us with faith to believe it is Him who is speaking.

My journey to know the voice of God and trust it became strong when He pointed John 10 out to my heart, telling me through it that those who are His KNOW His voice and follow Him. I latched on to that and decided, God’s word being true, that I could trust that. So I told Him of my faith in His word and that when I discerned what I recognize as His voice instructing me, I would follow that in faith unless He made it clear to me that I was misinterpreting the voice. I called God to remembrance of His word and expressed trust in Him to be keeper of His word in my life. Wow, has He ever been faithful to grow my understanding and comprehension of how He speaks to and works with me.

I don’t believe any one person can say, “This is God’s voice.” In my experience, He works different with each individual, as Proverbs 22:6 (AMP) says, “in keeping with his individual gift or bent”. It takes faith to believe God’s faithfulness for a person to know His voice, and following His instruction requires…

Trust in Him: We can have faith to believe what He speaks to us, but fail to have trust in Him to work His will in the situation. Jesus not only had faith to believe the Word of God toward Him, but He trusted God to make things happen in accord with His will. We too often fail to follow through with faith filled trust because we don’t know the outcome.

Trusting God requires realizing that He sees the bigger picture and has a purpose for the outcome of our situations. Hearing God’s voice requires we have a faith that obeys His lead while leaving the outcome to Him. Even if the outcome of following His directives is not what we hoped for, we can trust and know that God is working a plan and purpose that will ultimately achieve much more than we can see and know this side of eternity. People too often fail to follow God’s instruction to their seeking for fear of the unknown outcome, and usually there is a possibility of things going in a direction we see as bad.

Paul’s experience when the Spirit kept him moving toward Jerusalem despite warnings that the outcome would not be good on the earthly realm of things is an example (Acts 21-28). He knew the outcome of his continuing forward had great potential to bring a hardship he did not desire, but he also knew that God had a good purpose for the outcome and that He would work great things out of his willingness to follow with faith-filled, believing trust in His power to accomplish good.

Stopping to think about that, how can it be any different? To always follow only the directives we discern to be God when we know the outcome will be what we want requires no faith to believe in and trust God. What kind of God would He be if we never had opportunity to walk with faith in trusting Him to be bigger than life?

Faith to believe that trusts in God so as to follow without being able to see clearly is vital. When we can trust God, no matter the outcome, that is when we have the strength of His power to see it through to the finish. This is the faith Jesus had that allowed Him, in His darkest hour, to say, “Yet not My will, but Thy will be done.” He knew the cup of hardship He was about to partake of would not be easy; but He trusted God for the outcome and was strengthened to drink of the cup. Trusting God to be God despite what we see in the earth. That is the Good Shepherd’s call.

Father, You are our hope. No matter what this life brings to us, You are faithful and will have Your way. Jesus walked through and out of trouble without fear because He knew His day, ordained by You, had not yet come. Father, pour forth our measure of faith a hundred fold and empower us to “only believe” so we may enter Your rest and find help for the times of good and the days of trouble. Grant us to be rainbow ready followers, having faith to believe in You and trust to follow You, knowing You will work good for our eternity whether or not our earthly outcome is what we desire. May we know Your voice and faithfully follow You into eternity. In Jesus, amen.

Body of Christ, who I am in Christ

The Representation of God’s Nature

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“And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact REPRESENTATION OF HIS NATURE, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they” ~ Hebrews 1:3-4.

CrossDaily05Jesus is our example of One representing the very nature of the Father, and He calls to us, “Come. Follow Me.” When we choose to follow, we become His living stones. Just as Jesus is the Living Corner Stone, we are being chiseled into the very image of God in Christ Jesus. Peter expresses our call as image bearers in 1 Peter 2, telling us that we, as living stones, are…

“a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation” ~ vs. 9-12.

As royal priests, we are representatives of God and His interests in the world. The more we know Him, the better our understanding and comprehension of His nature will be. In knowing His nature, the better we will know His ways. And the better we know His ways, the more clearly stated will be our representation of Him, His glory, and His interests.

This is what I believe was the problem for the people of God in Moses’ day: they refused the invitation to experience God for themselves, preferring instead for Moses to relate with Him on their behalf (Exodus 19:16-20:26). Failing to choose to know Him for themselves, they did not have relational experience of His presence to help them stand firm in His ways, and they wound up falling away from the Living God. God calls us to individual relationship with Him still today. And still today, the choice is our own to make, whether or not we will walk with Him.

Paul tells us that once we choose relationship with God through Christ, we become His representatives in the world with a charge to be His light where we are. As God’s representatives, we are continually stripping off the old, unregenerate self in order to put on the new, spiritual self, “which is ever in the process of being renewed and remolded into fuller and more perfect knowledge upon knowledge after the image and likeness of Him Who created it.” And as Paul continues in Colossians 3, He implores us:

“Clothe yourselves therefore, as God’s own chosen ones – His own picked representatives, who are purified and holy and well-beloved by God Himself, by putting on behavior marked by tenderhearted pity and mercy, kind feeling, a lowly opinion of yourselves, gentle ways, and patience, which is tireless and long-suffering, and has the power to endure whatever comes, with good temper. Be gentle and forbearing with one another and, if one has a difference, a grievance or complaint against another, readily pardoning each other; even as the Lord has freely forgiven you, so must you also forgive. And above all these put on love and enfold yourselves with this bond of perfectness which binds everything together completely in ideal harmony. And let the peace – soul harmony which comes from Christ rule and act as umpire continually in your hearts, deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state to which as members of Christ’s one body you were also called to live. And be thankful, giving praise to God always. Let the word spoken by Christ have its home in your hearts and minds, and let it dwell in you in all its richness, as you teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence and wisdom in spiritual things, and as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to God with His grace in your hearts. And whatever you do – no matter what it is in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus and in dependence upon His Person, giving praise to God the Father through Him” ~ vs. 12-17, AMP.

This is our calling and equipping, beloved, as true representatives in Christ, fulfilling the purpose and bringing to completion the interests of Father in the earth. But this is only a beginning of our knowledge. For more clear understanding, each individual of us must seek to know Him for ourselves; and one main place He is found is in the pages of His Word. Learn it so as to have it dwelling within so that you may live it.

Father, as Jesus represented Your very nature, so are we to follow His example. You not only call us to be Your representatives in this life, but You equip us for it, filling us to the full with all that You are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and more. We are fully supplied to shine Your nature to the world so that they may know You and so they may know Your ways. Grant us to walk by the Spirit so that we will not carry out the deeds of the flesh. In Jesus, glorify Yourself in our very nature. Amen.

My Desire Playlist (8 songs) ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=113H_ySsBYg&index=3&list=PLfiEjLIYhJ9AfidNKH4ify2vg0Z5t-SSj

All scripture is in New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise stated.

Body of Christ, Church, Kingdom Living, who I am in Christ

Be Strong and COURAGEOUS! ~ Part 2

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“Then He (the Lord) commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, ‘Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you’” ~ Deuteronomy 31:23, (authors note).

We are called and equipped, Beloved, to be strong and courageous in life, being as God is, living as Jesus lived – in the world but not of it, so others may come to know Him for themselves and find His promises for life. Jesus said…

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself (his fleshly lusts, worldly desires, and ungodly demands), and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life (by denying self and the desire to be in control above even God) for My sake, he is the one who will save it” ~ Luke 9:23-24 (Authors note).

When we choose to live as God desires, walk in obedience to Father as Jesus did, and live as His Eternal Kingdom CrossDaily05People in the midst of a world that denies Him, it will be difficult for us to do. Just as Jesus sweat blood before taking up His cross, there are times when we will feel we are doing the same (Hebrews 12:4). Here is the upside, Beloved one. Following the will of God even when we have to bear the cross of going against cultural norms and beliefs, sometimes even standing as if alone in order to obey Father and do His bidding, that cross bearing produces eternal fruit with great reward.

Every time we do right before God, though it puts us in difficult situations where we are, we add gold, silver and precious stones to our immortal structure that will not burn away as we enter His presence on the day of Bema seat (the judgment of the works of those who are God’s through Christ) (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). Accomplishing this in a society that promotes self (self-centeredness, self-reliance, self-fulfillment) will require faith in God, hope for eternity, and love, “and the greatest of these is love” ~ 1 Corinthians 13.

We are called as God’s people to love: loving Him first and foremost, above all else and with all that we are. We are called to love Him and others as He loves us, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. The question is, “How does He love us?” I believe the answer to that is best revealed through 1 John 3-4, especially chapter 4, verses 7-8:

sm34“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, FOR GOD IS LOVE.”

God is love, and that is the goal for our love-walk, to learn of Him so that we may be love as He is love. Everything God does is dictated by love – EVERYTHING – even what is known as His wrath. His wrath is not self-centered, it is us centered. When He came against the evil a person did in scripture, it was because He, knowing the heart and outcome of man’s choices, the path they would choose, protected those who had a heart to follow Him by removing from their midst the tempter – those dead-set against God’s will and way. God is love and everything He does and allows stems out of that sincere care for us, His created beings, as He works with us to build a Kingdom of people who have a heart for Him as He does for us.

Beloved, just as there is a Bema Seat to judge the works of our lives here on earth, how we loved and lived in His name, there is also a White Throne judgment. Those who refuse His gift in Christ will stand before that White throne and be cast out of His presence with no hope remaining for their eternal, immortal being. Love will compel us to live in a way that shows that we care about that fact.

Hear me, Beloved of God. Put your eternal-minded ears on. God will one day remove all evil from its ability to influence and lead His creation away from His purity—His essence. But here is the thing: as we stand before whichever judgment seat we are headed for, not only will there be full revelation of who we are within our being and what we have done in this life, but in that instant each will fully see and know Him as He is. All His glory, all His purity, ALL HIS LOVE will be evident to us all. Those who stand before Bema will enter in to enjoy His essence for all eternity. Those who refused His gift of grace through Jesus and stand before the White throne will be cast into outer darkness to never experience the light of His essence or touch the hem of the knowledge of His love for them again.

The burning of hell is not just flames and heat for all eternity. I believe with all my heart that the greater burning will be desire to stand before Him and to simply be able to touch the hem of His essence one more time.

FEEL THAT, BELOVED BROTHER AND SISTER! With every fiber of compassion you have in you, let that soak in to motivate your life. It is vital for us to understand that those who fail to choose to follow Him now will enter into eternal separation from Him knowing full well all they are missing out on. Loving compassion should move us to be as He is for the sake of bearing a testimony of love to a lost and dying world in need of the knowledge of their Savior, God and King.

It is vital that we overcome our fear in this life: fear of persecution, fear of standing out, fear of rejection, fear of being different. If we, out of love, do not overcome our “self” so as to take up our cross of self-denial in order to love others at any cost, we put those given to our charge, as being in our sphere of influence; we put them into jeopardy of eternal longing for God, all for lack of a witness to draw them into His eternal arms.

Our love-walk, not as the world loves, but to learn to be love as He is love and allow those around us to experience Him through us, is vital! “The greatest of these is LOVE” will impact those around us, bringing them to knowledge of Him and to a relationship with Him that will protect them from missing His presence with a longing that burns unfulfilled forevermore.

~*~

“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. LOVE NEVER FAILS….” ~ 1 Corinthians 13.

Grace, Hope, Salvation

Is There Anyone God Cannot Save? NO!

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“Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things” ~ Romans 2:1.

The practice of homosexuality is a big controversy in our day as those who live that lifestyle make themselves known and push for their rights, and as people of “the church” speak out in opposition. Homosexuality is only one of many sins, grouped together as seen in those who refuse the will and way of God. It is named with adultery, fornication, gluttony, gossip, slander, and many others; and in more than one passage of scripture.

A Spark acquaintance put a goodie note on my SparkPeople.com page that truly disturbed me, because they said that God cannot save this particular people group because of their practice of the homosexual lifestyle, which is against God and His way. Do we have scriptural proof text that God stands against homosexuality? Yes. But He also stands against all sin that works as leaven to spread throughout society and lead many astray from the will of God. That does not mean that He cannot and will not save those snared by that sin.

All sin is that of refusing God as God in that area in which we struggle against Him in our life, failing to surrender to Him as our greatest treasure and desire. Can God save sinners such as us? To such a query, Jesus said, “With men this is impossible, but all things are possible with God” (Matthew 19:26).

There is only one sin that the Father will not forgive, and that is the sin of refusing the gift of His Son’s sacrifice at Calvary. Jesus paid the price of sin, all sin in all its flavors. The only sin that will win hell for us is the sin of refusing the Savior. But there is proof of the sincerity of our acceptance of His Salvation that is found in our ability to realize and turn from sin. Repentance is required, though we may struggle to surrender all our days. Paul struggled against the desires of his flesh, but his hope was in God for victory in Christ (Romans 7:1 – 8:1). He did not doubt his salvation because of the struggle, but he had hope because he trusted God.

Once God’s gift of grace is received, the Spirit comes to the life of the sinner and begins the work of transformation.Lean on02 That work progresses within the sincere believer, “continually perfecting them until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6), when all who believe will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account for their deeds. God will be working with us on our transformation until Jesus comes for us, when all will be brought to completion in the twinkle of an eye.

Before entering the eternal kingdom, our works will be tested as by fire. That which is as wood, hay and stubble will burn away. Only that which is as gold, silver and precious stones will pass through the gate. Some of us will get there with little to show for His glory, but we will get there, though smelling like smoke, not because of our works, but because of Christ’s work at Calvary (Ephesians 2:1-10).

All sin is sinful in God’s eyes, because sin, though it comes in many flavors, is sin because it goes against the grain of God’s will and way. Are there varying degrees of sin? Some say no, but Jesus told Pilot that the sin of those who turned Him over to Pilot was greater than the sin of Pilot’s participation as the judge, whose judgment was locked in by law. The defining character of sin is all that goes against or is contrary to God’s will and way, refusing to bow to Him as Lord and Master. It places us in a position of standing in opposition to Him. The homosexual is not seen as any worse than the adulterer. Both are against God’s way in the area of sexual sin. They each, who are so snared, likewise can be forgiven and brought to right standing in Christ.

Should the homosexual person, saved by grace, turn from their homosexuality? The Spirit-Teacher will bid them to turn from all that is contrary to God’s will and way, just as He bids me, convicting me of sin, righteousness and judgment. Some will break free. Others may have to take up the cross over and over again as they struggle against the will of the flesh, the world, and demons.

I have seen those snared by sin who, though sincerely saved by grace, struggle with that sin all their days. I am one who daily has to fight my fleshly desire to eat in ways that are harmful to the temple of God, my body; that is just one of the many things I have to watch against. That sounds simplistic compared to the headlines the homosexual lifestyle is getting, but my bad habits in my diet still stand against the will of God every time I deny Him as God in order to partake in my fleshly desire. Am I lost and going to hell because I struggle to surrender all to God? No, because I do struggle just as Paul did, trusting God to win the battle. Those whose faith in God through Christ is real and sincere and the fruit of the Spirit is real and growing even as they struggle are still saved by grace through faith even as they fight the good fight of faith (Hebrews 12:1-12).

CrossDaily05Throughout scripture we see the apostles pleading with those who are sincerely secure in Christ, yet continue to struggle with the nature of sin in the earth. We are called over and over in scripture, in various ways, to take up our cross daily by dying to fleshly desires in order to follow Christ’s example (Luke 9:23). It is something we have to strive toward every day. Some days we fly and others we falter, but we keep pressing forward to grasp the ring at the finish line (Philippians 3:7-16). And when we stand before that throne for the judging of the righteous in Christ, we are assured in scripture that Jesus will be by our side as Advocate. Our sin is not what He will point God to as He stands as Advocate, but our clothing of righteousness in Christ is what God’s eyes will rest upon.

Yes, there will be no homosexuals, or adulterers, or gossips, or slanders or gluttonous-sweet-aholics or…in heaven, for that will all be burned away as wood, hay and stubble, and all that will remain is Christ in us, our hope of glory and our Eternal Righteousness.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me’” ~ John 14:6.

“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” ~ John 11:25-26.

Godly Principles, Kingdom Living, Practicing His Presence

In the Hearing of the Lord: Firestorm! ~ Part 2

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Passage Recall:

“Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord; and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. The people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord and the fire died out. So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them” ~ Numbers 11:1-3, NASB.

In Part 1 of Firestorm we looked at what I see and understand about God that brought God’s firestorm to the camp of God’s people on the day He was provoked to take action against their grumbling, complaint of distrust and discontent. Have you ever wondered why, out of two people with the same propensity to sin, one seems to have to suffer consequences more than another? Could it possibly be that one, though they keep stumbling over similar stones, is at least open to God and agreeable to learn what is needed for change? God sees the heart and is looking for those with a heart after His own, whole toward Him.

The people of God in our passage are an example to us of a people who would not learn, thus they failed to believe God and come to one heart with Him. As some have said, they kept going round and round the same mountain, having to go through the same life lessons over and over again, facing more devastating consequences. They did so because, despite seeing His might work on their behalf over and over again, they failed to believe.

It seems to me that those who realize quickly their sin and turn to God often face lesser consequences than those who rebelliously refuse to learn and change; or if they do have a firestorm hit, their heart toward God equips them to get through with fewer burns. When we see someone going round a mountain over and over, one of our main prayers and words of encouragement for them needs to be that they develop a teachable spirit that seeks after God and believes in Him, becoming one who is easily moved to change by God.

It also seems to me that those who find themselves in the same situations over and over are those who have little or no understanding of God. The more we know of God, the more we trust Him. The stronger our trust in Him, the easier our faith comes. The easier our faith, the more likely we are to follow His lead with hope in Him despite our situations. If the people of Israel each had a personal knowledge of God, their griping, complaining rebellion would have lessened. But they struggled with an unteachable, rebellious spirit. They often seemed to avoid close proximity with God, asking Moses to do that for them, while they failed to fear going against His ways, so they faced a firestorm.

Thus we learn that to avoid a firestorm, we must avoid ungrateful griping and complaining, and move far away from rebellion against God, instead turning to Him with a receptive spirit to learn His ways. So why would God send a firestorm and what might His purpose in it be?

Fire is a source of light used of God to light up the dark places. Because of the fire, the people’s attitudes and lack of faith was made clear and grace was sought for and received. Fire rises up within us and around us still today, sent by God to reveal our struggle with sin and doubt, leading us to repentance that finds grace waiting.

Fire made God’s opinion of their attitudes and actions evident to the people. God was provoked to righteous anger by His people. Here is the thing, though. God’s anger, even His most vehement wrath is never out of control like ours often is. He is always in control of His response when angered, always has a purpose in what He allows to come as a disciplining rod. Though He may appear to our way of thinking as being unreasonable, His vengeance, unlike ours, is righteous and always based on truth, and His disciplining rod is always just as He is patient toward us.

God is always purpose driven, protective, and proactive (pressing forward to the goal). His anger comes across to us as harsh, in my opinion, because in times of lacking ability to acknowledge our sin, we fail to see how long He tarries with us before turning up the heat. We see Him take what seems to us to be quick, overly harsh action against people who come against Him and His ways and we think that He cannot be pleased. It is vital that we understand how long suffering Father is over His children; then maybe we will realize when we keep running around a mountain and change our ways before the storm worsens.

Fire is cleansing. Fire is cleansing: example – removing bacteria from medical instruments, making them safe for use; removing hidden organisms from the food we eat. God reaches to us, wooing us to Himself. When we continue to refuse Him and walk farther from Him in the process, we eventually reach a point of no return. Firestorms come to those who are in danger of an infectious rebellion that will lead them to that point.

We must remember that God knows the heart of a person. He knows when they are set in their way and set against His in a way that will bring destruction to those around them. God removed people and groups whose hearts were so set against Him and His ways that they would be like leaven to the whole; spreading like infection to bring all to destruction. When He sent His fire or the destructive force of His wrath, He did so to protect and purify the whole camp.

Fire, at its highest temps, will melt the most precious to release from it the dross that soils and spoils the brilliance of the pure. God was, in these passages we consider in scripture, creating a pure lot out of which to save the world. Was He harder on Israel than on those nations surrounding them? To us it would appear to be so, because He was leading them to be the people of His purpose. Will God be harder on us who profess to follow Him in Christ but live like the world? I believe so, for He is still in the business of raising up a holy lot that will be the Kingdom of His Presence. God cannot remain among those of a sinful, unrighteous nature. So He requires much of us who profess to be His, for we are the righteous leaven meant to influence the world for good and glory.

When the fires of adversity come, jump in. God’s fire purifies, revealing the dross that dulls our shine, and removing from us the impurities that affect those around us. Cooperating with God when He sends His purifying fire our way is a whole lot easier and less painful than fighting against it. God’s fire is not meant for our destruction, but it will destroy the few if that is what must be in order to protect the whole. His fire will purify that which needs cleansing if we will but brave the heat to grow in our knowledge of God and be like He is in purity, holiness, truth and righteousness.

Beloved, if our hearts are pure toward God and if we are pliable in the Master Potter’s capable hands, it is doubtful we will ever have to face a God-generated firestorm of our own making. And though the flames sent against the rebellious in our midst may lap around us who are part of that camp, we can take heart in knowing that, just like with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Father will be with us in the fire when our hearts are pure toward Him.

~*~

“Faith in the Lord to handle any and all situations we are faced with is the ONLY way to get through them and end up a winner” ~ Sarah Doe (An anonymous writer of a real letter).

“Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” ~ Isaiah 55:6-7.

Godly Principles, Kingdom Living, Practicing His Presence

In the Hearing of the Lord: Firestorm! ~ Part 1

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Passage Recall:

“Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord; and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. The people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord and the fire died out. So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them” ~ Numbers 11:1-3, NASB.

We looked these past several days at consequences wrought out of our choices. Consequence is the fruit born from choice, whether good or bad, bringing to us the blessing, or the curse. Do searches through this blog sight alone and you will find many devotionals and articles on the subjects of “choice” or “choose.” Right practice of our God-given right to choose is vitally important, and God’s people write about it often.

In my understanding and belief, our ability to choose was important to Father so that we could know our need of Him in life, and so that we have the option to love Him by choice, just as He chooses us. Love without choice is no love at all. From the first tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden, to the last tree of Calvary’s Christ Cross, God allows us to choose to align ourselves with His prodigy or not to.

“Consequence” stems out of natural law set up by God for all, so our choice will reap a just reward or punishment. Once we choose Father through the Savior, Jesus Christ, we become the children of God and heirs with Christ, having a responsibility to represent His interests in the earth. As the children, God often uses consequences to discipline and train us in righteousness vs. unrighteousness. This understanding of God’s discipline / training that stems out of love for all and desire for us to know Him and live with Kingdom purpose is vital for us in comprehending His allowing such difficulty to come.

How many of us are happy with the outcome of allowing our children to run amuck without any instruction on our part that will help them to become people of worth who do good in the earth? God desires our good, so He trains us up to choose good and blessing by all the means available for His use, and sometimes that puts us in very uncomfortable position in life (Hebrews 12).

It is sometimes difficult for people to believe God is with them and for them when they read the Holy Writ and see His wrath displayed. Add to that the storms of life and the difficulties mankind faces, and faith becomes a dried up mustard seed in a hurry if we fail to understand that His wrath is never out of His control and that it is always coupled with eternal purpose.

Understanding God with knowledge of Who He is and the ability to see things from His perspective with His purposes in mind is vital to our ability to weather the storms and nurture faith in Him. That understanding stems from relationship with Holy Spirit, who is sent to every child of God in Christ as the Teacher and Instructor. Learning to seek the Spirit and trust His voice is vital for us who seek to weather the storms of this life, accomplishing His purposes, with hope of reaping the reward found in this life and the next.

Before we consider the firestorm in our focal passage, to learn what we can learn that will help us avoid or deal with a firestorm from God in our own lives, here is what I know of Him and see about Him that led to the firestorm in our focal passage:

God – Holy, Righteous, and True – at this point in history was raising up for Himself a holy people out of which He would birth the Christ. That Christ would pay the price of sin for the whole world, saving those who believe from the sin and death that was birthed into the world through the fall in the garden. It was vital for the gods of Egypt and their reliance upon that place to be worked out of their system so they would be able to connect with God as their God and so they would trust His provision for them. God’s presence and protection was visible to the people as a cloud by day and a fire at night.

The cloud by day provided visible proof of God’s presence with them and His leading them on their journey to the Promised Land. It also provided shade to protect from the heat of the desert place in which they found themselves as they followed God.

A column of Fire was there to protect them through the night, providing light in the darkness and revelation of His presence with them. It also was there to protect His work in them that God purposed to bring to completion. His fire was not there to do them harm, but to protect them and to provide light in the times of darkness.

An enemy entered into the camp of God’s people, presenting itself and its destructive force through grumbling, complaining, discontent, and a sundry of emotional upheavals that hindered their faith to trust in God. That was leading the people to look back to Egypt, denying faith and God’s trustworthy ability to lead them and care for them. That enemy flowing from their fleshly desire, worldly understanding, and demonic influence, was leading the people to greed and covetousness, looking with wanton pleasure to things of their heart’s desire, refusing gratitude for what they had and hope for the greater things to come. So God sent a firestorm against the enemy of God.

We are told that this particular firestorm lapped around and consumed the outskirts of the camp. There may have been destruction of people, but we are not given clear indication of that in this version of scripture. But the fact that the camp was surrounded by God’s fire, I am sure, got the attention of the people.

God’s firestorms are against His enemies: fleshly indulgence, worldly wisdom, and demonic prodding: those given over to these enemies put themselves in danger of facing the wrath of God as allies with them. Even in the deliverance from Egypt, the plagues God sent was not just against those people who were abusing and using God’s people, but it was against the false, demonic gods behind those people. Each plague was directed against one of Egypt’s many gods, and, God, knowing the heart of every man, seeing those who would refuse to turn in repentance, consumed many of them as part of the enemy camp. The same is true in the camp of God’s people, when those allied with the false god of this world infiltrate it and refuse to turn to God and His way.

So, what do I see that we can learn in the firestorm that hit the camp of God’s people that day? Fire has purpose in God’s hand that is for our good and His glory. What is that purpose? Tomorrow we will finish our series.

Godly Principles, Kingdom Living, Practicing His Presence

In the Hearing of the Lord: The Eye of Calm Waters – Part 3

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Remember our focal passage:

“Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord; and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. The people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord and the fire died out. So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them” ~ Numbers 11:1-3, NASB.

When I find myself tossed by storms of life, there is something there for me to learn. This entire article stems out of the fact that I have learned much in the storms of life. One thing I have learned when touched by consequence, whether my own or another’s that puts me in a storm is to ask Father what it is I am to learn in this place in which I find myself.

God’s Word promises that we will find Him when we seek Him, and we will surly find Him when we seek Him with whole heart. He will respond to us when we seek His face in order to understand our circumstances from His viewpoint and with a heart that desires to improve oneself. And I have learned that if God allows a storm to touch me, there is something He wants to teach me. The quicker I am to seek His face, the faster I am to find the Eye of the storm and the rest that is there: the place where my prayers will be more effective, for they are birthed by God; the place where my actions are God-directed to bear pure fruit that accomplishes much.

And what I learn, I must teach others as I have opportunity or obligation:

We are looking at dealing with the consequences brought about by our choices and how the outcome of decisions made can affect those in the vicinity, whether for good or for evil. Yesterday I was reading in Numbers and a passage there grabbed my attention. It is one that I have often read and thought how unfair that dictate from God seems. But as I read it this time, I had a different understanding hit me that I think we need to realize here. In Numbers 14:32-33, God says to Israel, who is about to face their consequences for rebellion against God:

“But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness.”

Reading this before, I have always focused on the children being punished for the sins of the fathers, but is that what is truly happening? Could it be that God is saying that because they are in a position of being effected by the consequences of the fathers, they will have suffering until the fulfillment of the time: 40 years, in this case? It is vital, as we learn our lessons in the wilderness of consequence, that we teach our children as well, so they may avoid inviting consequences of their own into life.

In the Eye of the storm, God hears me when I call, for in the Eye of the storm there is faith to trust Him more. As God has taught my heart to run quickly to the center of the hurricane, where the winds become still and quiet waters reside, He has also taught me that no matter how great my faith may be, it is never more than a mustard seed when placed against His faithfulness.

As I have lived in the Eye of the storm with God, I have grown to realize that the more I know Him, the more I realize there is to learn of Him. I can never, in this earthly existence, know Him fully. There are always greater depths to fathom in knowing God so as to understand and comprehend.

We trust what we know to be true. And because of what we know to be true of Him, we have faith for our future and for the outcome of consequences. Therefore knowledge of God is vital for trust to grow, and faith for the yet-to-be-seen works out of trust in what we know to be true. It is in the Eye during the storm that we grow to know Him better. There we have trust strengthened and faith secured.

The greatest thing we can do when consequences hit is to discern and own our part in them. As we’ve already addressed, repentance for the things we do to raise the winds of adversity is vital to our ability to enter the Eye and know Father’s presence and provision. When we are quick to seek the Father to discern our part, if the consequences we are facing are not caused by us, we can quickly draw near to God in the eye and let Him prepare us for our part in helping the one in the storm. If the consequences are due to personal choices, we can address the storm quickly as we draw near to God in repentance.

And as discussed above, if I have made a personal, ill-equipped response to circumstances before seeking God and added to the storm caused by another’s consequences, by the grace that God supplies, I can see where my flesh-driven responses to an insult may add to the storms of life and take responsibility for my part. Only then am I able to see with clarity when I need to take Spirit-driven action and when I need to sit quietly to wait upon the Lord, knowing that He will be exalted to have His purpose fulfilled (Psalm 46:10). With my ears attuned to His voice in the quiet, stillness of the Eye, I can receive His word to me and share it with others so as to help them find the quiet waters He provides for those who believe.

Here, I must add that repentance does not always remove consequences. Often we still must deal with the situations brought about by sin: an untimely pregnancy; a broken home; broken relationships; loss of a job; etc. Entering the Eye through repentance equips us to deal with these issues in right ways that do not perpetuate and add to the storm. Through repentance and quiet trust we learn to…

Avoid the Fire-storm. In the hearing of the Lord, I can choose whether to enter the winds of adversity or remain in the stillness trust breeds by choosing my words and thoughts and actions carefully, while following His lead. It is one thing to face consequences with God at our side to help us through them. There we find the greater depths of His person, helping us to grow and become all He planned and purposed. But beware taking actions to try to deliver self from ones well-deserved consequence without acknowledging His Lordship in the life you face, and beware refusing to see and own the cause of the storm our actions birthed.

Getting back to our focal passage, beware complaining, ingratitude for God’s good to us, looking with greedy covetousness to things we deem better, often looking with wanton pleasure to a past we gave up to follow Him, thus dissing Him as God. Failing to own our consequences and to trust God in the storms of life will find us fighting against God, facing a firestorm of His making.

Why would a good and faithful God send a Firestorm? Join me in the next post of Ponderings.

“God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him” ~ James 1:12, NLT.

 

 

Godly Principles, Kingdom Living, Practicing His Presence

In the Hearing of the Lord: The Eye of Calm Waters – Part 2

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Remember our focal passage:

“Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord; and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. The people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord and the fire died out. So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them” ~ Numbers 11:1-3, NASB.

Yesterday we looked at entering the eye of the storm where calmer waters reside by trusting God’s hand, aim and desire toward us to be for our good, to give us a hope and a future. And we enter in by believing God’s word of promise to us in the given situation that is driving the storm. Today we begin to look at what I have learned in storm seasons that help me to remain in the eye, unhindered, and how remaining there equips me to better deal with the storms winds when they reach to me or when God sends me into them for a purposeful time of ministry or training.

In the Eye of many storms in life, I learned:

Spurts of earnest, faith-filled, God-inspired prayer is better than my many words. Through the years of a very long storm in my life, I felt like I was praying little while sitting in the Eye of trust in God, but what I found is that I was truly learning to pray with greater effectiveness. When prayer came to me it was Spirit-led, often Word-inspired, focused, and faith filled as opposed to my fretting cries. I found my own faith strengthened in the praying, knowing the Words were God-inspired, and therefore, were already fulfilled in the heavens. Knowing that allowed me to remain secure in His rest and to know His presence in the storm. As I watch many prayers answered and as I wait for still more, my trust grows stronger and rest comes easier.

It is vital to distinguish what I can do from what God must do, and do that which I can do. Not only has my prayer life strengthened through my storm dealings, but I have learned greater strength for more effective action.

Women / moms usually are “fixers”. We are equipped by God to protect and care for the children we bear. Men / dads are protectors and providers for their families. It is difficult when our children get older and we – still having those attributes ingrained into us, find ourselves hindered from the ability to do and be what we have always done and been because of the right of choice one has as an adult child or a mate. Resting in Father equips me to hear and receive His instruction for what I can do in a given situation. And when He tells us to do something, He equips us in every way and supplies all our need for doing His will. Once the ordained task is accomplished, I return to rest-mode and watch to see the Lord move. I can better hear and receive His promise for what He will do as I sit in quiet trust in Him and believe His Word to me. Ability to trust Him in the things I can’t do anything about and to be more effective in the things I can do to affect a situation further equips me to enter into and remain in His rest.

Consequences belong to the Lord for His use in maturing the one suffering them. There comes a time in the life of every person when they have to begin to mature and make choices for good or evil for themselves; and they, like I had to do, must face the consequences for their choices. Fretting and complaining does not help that fact when we are in the situations wrought from consequence, our own or that of others. They only aid in stirring up the disciplining winds of the storm; and those disciplining winds, if they go unnoticed or ignored in rebellion, can quickly turn to a firestorm as Father turns up the heat of discipline. Trusting that God has purpose to work through the consequences we are watching unfold and doing our part to cooperate with Him equips us to weather the storm, find and remain in the eye.

Realize when consequence is in play and let it do its work. Fretting and fuming often lead to laying blame.

The blame game that began in the garden with the first fall continues in our day to make it difficult when we have to face consequences for our choices. Our world works more and more to remove consequence from the equation by making blaming others acceptable, and by removing the incentive of winners and losers from the equation of life. Both ends of that continuum destroy our ability to benefit and learn through consequences.

The blame game seeks to make the consequence of our choices someone else’s fault, making us the fall guy in our own eyes. That breeds bitterness and anger, and it leads to failure to learn from mistakes we will not take credit for making. We cannot face consequences and grow up when we refuse to acknowledge they are ours to bear.

On that same thread, parents or significant others, trying to protect a child or loved one from their consequences by blaming self for some failure on our part seldom helps them grow up. Some of the consequence may be ours to deal with, but they must face their part to benefit from the outcome of choices made. The blame game hinders the effectiveness of God’s purpose in allowing the storms. Owning ones part and repentance, while allowing others to do the same will win the day. As Isaiah 30:15 warns, “For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, ‘In repentance and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.’ But you were not willing.” A repentant heart and willing obedience are the fertilizer for seeds of righteousness that bears much good fruit out of life’s adversities brought about by consequences for sin.

Never being in a position to work to win anything removes from us the understanding of meeting expectations if we want to win. For us as Christians, our competition is not against one another, so I can see myself as better than you. It is against self, stemming from a desire for Christlikeness, to be as much like Him as we can be. As we defeat our own fleshly desires through surrendered reliance upon God to walk in godliness and in the fullness of God’s ways, we grab the prize of God’s glory and crown. We keep it by continuing to do the same.

Who has to do anything to improve oneself if there is no win or lose? God has winners and losers: winners of crowns and those who lose them; winners of the prize and those who miss the mark and fail to grasp the ring. Consequences help us see where we need to work to better ourselves as the people of God, and the ability to win a crown gives us something to reach for that brings us up higher in life.

When I find myself tossed by storms of life, there is something there for me to learn. And we will continue this segment of this series tomorrow with “In the Hearing of the Lord: The Eye of Calm Waters – Part 3”.

 

Godly Principles, Kingdom Living, Practicing His Presence

In the Hearing of the Lord: The Eye of Calm Waters – Part 1

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Remember our focal passage:

“Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord; and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. The people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord and the fire died out. So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them” ~ Numbers 11:1-3, NASB.

Yesterday, in the introduction to our study, we looked at the journey of Israel during the first one to two years of their travels after leaving Egypt, considering their tendency to complain when storms come to life, as is our own tendency, bringing difficulty to our days and adding to the force of the winds we face. Today we begin our journey to discover what we can learn that will help us to join the Father in the eye of such storms, where calm and peaceful waters reside.

The things I am about to share with you come mostly from personal experience. I went through a season of many storms flying all around me – divorce within the family circle, parental aging issues, etc.: it was overwhelming. These particular storms were brought on by other people’s choices and beliefs, things I could do little or nothing about. Seeing these things so out of my control, I wound up being tossed and torn by them. Hear me now, I was tossed and torn BECAUSE OF my mentality toward fretting, complaining, and the want-to-fix-it. With these emotional responses to the situations, my own decisions in dealing with and coping with the situations did not always lend help in the storm and often aided in stirring up more wind.

One day, as I found myself again telling God all that was going on, I realized that my eyes were so snared by the raging winds that all I was accomplishing was to complain in the ears of God. If you ever feel like your prayers are just hitting the ceiling, perhaps a complaining, ungrateful, faithless spirit is the issue. Realizing that fact about myself set me on a journey in which I learned how to lay such issues at God’s feet and entrust them to Him.

The eye of the storm is made up of trust in and full reliance upon God with confidence in Him to use the situation for good.

On my journey from the point of realizing my complaining spirit – a sign of lack of faith to trust God and one of disrespect for Him and His position in my life – progressing from a complaining spirit to that of entering into and remaining in the Eye, at rest, I went through years of feeling like I was praying little because it was all said and there was nothing left to add. The best I could do was to rest it with God and wait: wait to see what He would do.

I know this is true in all situations and at all times, but in that season of my life, I became acutely aware of “the best I could do”. Many of my prayers consisted of, “Lord, here it is. I trust You.” I might have to lay the situation down several times a day, praying more for my responses in the storms than for the situations stirring them. But as I did that, I found myself resting more and more in the Eye of the storm, under His Wings.

As I think on that, I realize anew that we are called to be a people that remain under the wings of God. Think about that.

In life, the time we most often see a chick under its mother’s wing is when there is an evident and present danger: a predator in the area or in the midst of a storm, or when there is need for provision to sustain life (example: the need of warmth). The enemy lion, Satan, is always on the prowl, roaring to see if he can stir up his prey. And this life, fueled by fleshly desires, worldly ways, and demonic influence, constantly rages to stir up storms all around us. Therefore, as the people of God, reliant on Him, it is vital that we learn to live, remain, and function from the position of His protective cover and provision that sustains Life.

Another important aspect I learned about entering the eye of a storm is that of receiving and believing revealed promises of God, especially those He gives me personally in regard to a particular situation.

It helps me greatly when I can say as, for example, with a prodigal son, “Here he is again, Lord. I trust You; for You have promised me that You will deal with him as with a son and that Your lovingkindness will never leave him” (2 Samuel 7:14-15). We even see this portrayed for us in many of the prayers of Moses, as he often reminded God of His promises toward His people and the need for Him to not give the enemy opportunity to gloat (Exodus 33 *:12-17*; Numbers 14:13-19).

Yes, I have learned much about God through the storms of life, and as I have grown to more quickly relinquish difficulty and enter the eye of the storm, I have learned still more about how to remain there and what to do while there. Now that we have entered calmer waters through trust and belief, calling God’s attention to His promises and to His honor, return to join me in the next posting as we continue to look at being in the hearing of the Lord in ways that keep us in the Eye of life’s storms.

Godly Principles, Kingdom Living, Practicing His Presence

In the Hearing of the Lord: Series Introduction

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“Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord; and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. The people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord and the fire died out. So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them” ~ Numbers 11:1-3, NASB.

Near as I can figure from the timeline of events, and I could be off some on this, but I don’t think by much: God led Israel through the wilderness, taking about a year to get to the Mountain of God which was about a 13 day journey going in a straight line there. He then took most of another year to give the people the laws and instructions they needed before entry into the Promised Land: leading them to build the Temple, and numbering the people for the purposes of service assignments as priests and warriors.

Why so long? Why not just cross quickly and head into the Promised Land before all this complaining began? Not wanting to get too much into this subject, as lead-in to our subject for this writing, here is what I see as the reason for God taking the long way to get to their destination:

  1. The people were weak from their time as slaves and needed to be built up mentally, physically, and spiritually.
  2. The people were divisive, each thinking they knew a better way, and they needed to be brought to one heart and mind, God’s; and to the ability to follow His lead through the leadership of men He anointed and appointed.
  3. The people were filled with the falsehood of Egypt and needed to have Egypt worked out of their system of belief and wantonness.
  4. The people needed to grow in their ability to trust God to do all He told them He would.
  5. The people needed to learn obedience in order to cooperate with God in seeing the promises fulfilled.

Don’t confuse these events on the timeline of Israel’s wilderness experience with the 40 years that follow. It was failure to believe in, trust in and rely upon God with the first approach to entering the Promised Land that led to Israel’s 40 year wilderness wanderings.

At this point, I am sure that there is more that can be gleaned from a two year jaunt to make a 13 day journey. But as I consider where to go in introducing our subject matter in this writing, these things listed above come quickly to mind. The point is that God always has good purpose for any adversity and every storm He allows to touch our lives. Yes. Always. And His purposes are for our good, to give us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11-14).

It has been years since I have not had a storm raging somewhere, at least on the outskirts of my life. It seems when one situation dies down, another flares up or begins again. Sounds horrendous, doesn’t it? It may even sound familiar. But the reason I can pronounce a storm to be on the outskirts of my life – sometimes touching life, maybe stirring things some, but not destroying life, is because throughout all the storms to date, God has taught me how to enter into His rest and remain in the eye of the storm, where calm waters dwell.

Our focal scripture that leads to this writing reveals that frequent complaining over adversity stirs up the winds of the storm, and can even put us in the midst of a God-driven Firestorm. This is the beginning of a rather lengthy, two-part series on dealing with life’s adversity that I believe, if you will read all over these next three to four days, Walking_on_wateryou will find it worth the time.

Through this study, we will look first at the things I have learned that are vital to entering into the Eye of life’s storms and remaining there (see the next two to three posts). Then we will look at this “firestorm” sent by God and discover what it may consist of and why He would send such into our lives.

I look forward to visiting with you again in our next post as we begin to look at “In the Hearing of the Lord: The Eye of Calm Waters”.

God's Faithfulness, Power, Waiting

Glorious Thunder!

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God’s voice is glorious in the thunder. We can’t even imagine the greatness of his power ~ Job 37:5, NLT.

God has me meditating on this verse again today. For several days now He has used its wisdom to remind me that His voice booms out His glory in the midst of the storms of life. He is ever present in our situations, bringing good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). The question is, will we realize Him in the storm and trust Him for the outcome? Will we be open to what He is doing and wants to accomplish in and through us because of the things we learn of Him while in the storm?

thunder002Beloved, whatever you are going through today, be alert to God there, open to hearing from and seeing Him. Realize even in the midst of the storms of life that His power is beyond our comprehension. The storm that overwhelms us is nothing to Him. He will not be overcome, and He who loves us will fight for us to bring to pass the purpose for which He allows the storm to come (Romans 5:1-5; James 1:2-3).

Oh, for the fresh breath that comes with the passing of the storm: Watch for it. He who fights for you will not fail to accomplish His good purpose and plan, and we will be the better for it.

Choice, Practicing His Presence

Drawn to Quiet Waters?

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I closed out my Facebook account yesterday. It is something I have sensed for a while that God wanted me to give up, but it was difficult to surrender to that being God’s will. I use FB a lot to keep up with things going on in family and friends lives and for ministry, so it did not make sense to me. But I know God does not have to explain His directives to me and that there are times when the whole point of an exercise is obedience, so after several days of sure confirmation that it is Him I am hearing, I obeyed. And I knew I was not just to deactivate. I was to close it out completely.

It has been difficult since I left FB. In just one day away from there I have realized that I am addicted to the stimulus and to knowing that people are a typed note away. I find myself wondering, “Wow. What am I going to do now?” I also find that the authors of FB know this fact, and thus they give 14 days for closing out the account. All you have to do to stop its closing is to sign back into your account. Fourteen days to decide “God’s will, or my addiction.” Hum….

WOWThe thing that comes to heart as I think on this is, “I called, but you did not answer; I spoke, but you did not hear” ~ Isaiah 65:8.

God still wants time with His chosen people, just as He did in the garden. And He desires for me to be … “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?” ~ Psalm 42:1-2.

He is calling me to “seek, aim at and strive after first of all His kingdom and His righteousness – His way of doing and being right, and then all these things taken together will be given you besides” ~ Matthew 6:33, AMP.

God always has a purpose for what He calls us to and what He allows us to go through. We don’t always understand it, but we can all know that as we live the words, “We must obey God rather than men,” we will find Him faithful to His promises. For “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Acts 5:29; Romans 8:28)

Thus God is saying to me, “If then you have been raised with Christ to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead, aim at and seek the rich, eternal treasures that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. And set your minds and keep them set on what is above, the higher things, not on the things that are on the earth” ~ Colossians 3:1-2, AMP.

God has called me to the study and writing of His Word. That has been true for a very long time. Our day is strategic and the time of Christ draws ever so near, so the wise use of our time and talents in the place God has placed us is vital. He is calling me to seek Him in prayer for the things going on in the earth. His desire is for me, wanting time with me, so He calls me to lay down the things that hinder me and rob of all He desires for me and to spend the time I have seeking after Him. Thus, “I opened my mouth and panted with eager desire, for I longed for Your commandments” ~ Psalm 119:131. To which He responds, “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it” ~ Psalm 81:10.

“And they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths wide as for the spring rain” ~ Job 29:23.

God often calls us to or places us in situations that are hard for us to understand. He wants us to trust, long Quiet-w-Godfor and seek after Him in those times, knowing that He will bring it to a good end that glorifies His name and works His eternal purpose.

Has God caused you to sit down by quiet waters, Beloved?

“Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart. …For He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good.” (Psalm 37; Psalm 107:9)

Joy / Rejoicing

Joy is Strength. Right?

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I read a devotional thought by Joyce Meyer yesterday that spurred concern for the people of God who might read it without understanding. Now I have sat under Joyce’s teaching for many years and I know her heart was on target, but for someone who may not know the Lord well or be one who will look at the scripture for themselves, this particular devotional fell short of where it needed to be, as I see it.

The_Comforter2In this particular devotion from her “Power Thoughts” devotional book on February 10, Joyce is covering a thought from Proverbs 17:22, “A Happy Heart is Good Medicine.” In her thoughts on the subject, she says, “Joy is vital! Nehemiah 8:10 tells us joy is our strength.”

I agree 100% that joy is vital to us, as vital as unconditional love and peace that passes understanding, both of which come from God alone. We will struggle to make it in this life without these: peace, love and joy. But it is not joy that is our strength, it is the joy of the Lord that is our strength.

“Then he said to them, ‘Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength’” ~ Nehemiah 8:10.

There are many things that can bring us joy: people, relationships, sporting events, hobbies, books, movies, etc. But each of these can also let us down and bring us to much grief. We can feel stronger at the time we are enjoying these, but when some grief comes along, the joy is robbed and strength is gone.

The joy of the Lord transcends all other joy we may have. There are two things I know about the joy of the walking-with-godLord that makes this a joy beyond understanding and comprehension, just like the peace Jesus leaves us and the love that God is. This joy finds its supply in the very storehouse of God. It is not dependent on anyone or anything but God who freely gives it; therefore no heartache on earth can rob us of it. This joy is not even dependent on my emotional state or my ability to possess it. It is found and received when God is our delight, bringing us to seek after and trust Him first and foremost.

Rejoicing in the Lord comes from knowledge of Him that brings us to trust Him despite the trouble that comes our way in this life. Rejoicing in the Lord comes from the knowledge of His presence that is always with us and for us, and will never leave us or be taken away from us. Rejoicing in the Lord comes when we trust His hand knowing that despite the fires of testing that often come, He has a good plan for us and He is working all things for the good of those who truly love Him and are called by His name, as a bride takes the name of the Bridegroom.

There is a teaching in the religious right today that does promote joy in itself as strength. It has people feigning rejoicing in hope of gaining a little strength, then feeling let down by God when the strength they find is fleeting. The only true joy that will be with us despite any grief and will strengthen us is the joy of the Lord, fully focused on and supplied by a close, trusting, loving relationship with Him that transcends to overcome the world.

Act of Marriage, Love

Love is Not Jealous

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“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged” ~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, NLT.

This is one of those passages that, without the Holy Spirit to instruct us, makes scripture look like it is contradictory. Here it says that “love is not jealous”. But “God is love” and God, “whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”. So what’s up with that? (1 John 4:8; Exodus 34:14)

As I read it this morning, I see the movie “Sleeping with the Enemy” in these words of instruction. You see, God does love us fully, and He is only jealous when we take other gods in His place. For example, God does not mind that I really love and cater to my husband, because He knows my heart has Him in first place even as I love on my man. In fact, it is my love for God that thoroughly equips me to love my man in right ways. But when Father slips to second place in my affections and loyalty, that is what leads to Him becoming jealous over me. I have given myself to Him as my First Love. I belong to Him even before my husband. And He has every right to be jealous when I take that part of me that is His alone and I give it to another.

The jealousy spoken of in 1 Corinthians 13 is not a righteous jealousy, like when God is jealous. It is unreasonable. That type of jealousy says, “If you even look at another, though you are innocent in intent, I will lash out at you with jealous fervor.” This jealousy refuses to trust the love of another. It is suspicious, accusing, and vicious. It has nothing to do with truth or true love, and everything to do with unrighteous possessiveness that too often and easily seeks to rule over the object of its wrath, demanding to be as a god in their lives. It is unreasonable and only truly giving of love to self as it either demands its own way at the expense of the need of the other, or it holds oneself back from the other out of false perceptions that breed insecurity in the relationship.

Unrighteous jealousy can lash out in obvious ways, like the enemy Julia Roberts’ character found herself sleeping with, or it can be more subtle, like so many of us who are sneaky in our ire. Joyce Meyer often tells of when she was jealous of the time her husband spent enjoying sports, how she would decide to vacuum the floor in the room where he was trying to watch a game. We can be sneaky in our jealous tempers, but it is as evil toward the one we profess to love as when those who are overtly jealous beat their mate for their perceived offence, because jealousy of this type breeds discord, hardship, bitterness and anger.

Do I have a right to be jealous if my husband enters into a bad relationship with another woman, or even with an overboard focus on sporting events that rob me of him? You bet I do. We have a license that makes us exclusive as a couple both with God and with man, and we each have right to the others time and attention. There are certain ways in which he is mine alone, and I alone have right to him in those areas of life. There has been a time when I had to warn him that I could tell that another woman was after him, and he was shocked when he discovered it was true. Forewarned was forearmed and he stood faithful. Instead of the other woman’s obvious attraction to my man making me jealous in harmful ways, I knew my rights and was used of God to prepare my mate for the challenge by simply mentioning that she was enamored with him and he needed to be on the alert. I did not badger him or make demands of him. I simply warned him. He was honestly shocked and could not believe it, but when her advances took a clear turn, he was ready with the right response.

My husband went from working mostly with men to a job where he is working with a lot of women and there have been times when I had to deal with the green-eyed monster within; but there have also been times when the jealousy I felt had a righteous seed to it. When he started this job he worked with a very friendly, fun loving man, who was very flirtatious toward women. On one occasion I observed my husband seemingly to fall into that flirtatious fun. Yes, I had to fight off a little jealousy there, and with the Lord’s help, when we were alone, I gently told him that his joking around with them came off to me as flirting. I told him those single women are in the market and that they could well perceive the “fun” as flirting, just as I did, and think he is available, which could end in temptation for him. My husband had an obvious Tim-the-tool-man, aha moment that changed the way he behaves.

Jealousy can be a warning that leads us to realize and take action in protecting our rights, or it can be an ungodly emotion that leads us to behave in ways we have no right to. This emotion we often deal with requires the Spirit of God to instruct us in realizing which jealousy we are in and how to properly address the issue at hand.

So there are two lessons in today’s ponderings:

One, jealousy can be a righteous right, but often is unrighteous and destructive when we fail to get God’s heart on the issue. It is important that we discern the difference and follow God’s example and the Spirit’s lead so we give true love to those around us.

And two, scripture can appear to contradict itself, thus we need the Rabbi-Spirit to instruct our hearts so we know the truth that sets free indeed and realize the continuity of God’s teachings.

Holiness, Holy Hands

Hands Not Limp are Hands in Worship

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“You shall slaughter the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear and on the lobes of his sons’ right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet, and sprinkle the rest of the blood around on the altar” ~ Exodus 29:20.

You knew we would get to this first, right? This verse along with many others in Exodus reveal to us that the hands that are not limp are consecrated for the worship of God and in the restoration of God’s people. Here we see that the ears, hands, and feet of the priests are anointed and consecrated to God for His use in leading the people in worship and restoration. Beloved, we too are priests unto God with a holy priesthood through Christ (1 Peter 2:9).

I have found more times than not that when I am ministering to a fellow believer who is struggling and down trodden, they are best lifted up when I express the glory of God over their situation, helping them refocus to see more clearly the One who can walk them out of their situations. When we focus on our struggles in life, we too often find our hearts in defeat and we fail to worship God with gratitude for Him. But when we refocus to see the one who is bigger than our life circumstances, worshiping Him for Who He is, hope abounds and help reaches us to empower us to press forward while waiting for the moving of His hand in our need.

As I read this passage, I note that not only are the hands anointed for the ministry of worship, but so are the ears and the feet and the altar. Our ears are anointed to listen for the wee small voice of God and His Spirit who empowers our worship and feeds us the words those we minister to need to hear. He instructs our hearts in the way we should go and in the changes we need to make in life as we listen for Him. Our feet are anointed, not only to go out in His Name to minister to others, but they are anointed to live life to the full and to press forward in life to His glory, even as happenstance leaves us wanting to lie down in our misery and hide from life.

The true worshiper that worships in Spirit and in truth not only speaks His glory, but is attentive to His voice and ready to press forward as His representative in life, putting feet and hands to work in the ministry of reconciliation. As I see the consecration of the altar in this passage, I see our lives, our very existence consecrated for sacrifice to God’s use as we take up our cross daily to follow Him.

Another picture in scripture of worshiping hands that are not limp is found in Nehemiah.

anointing5“Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, ‘Amen, Amen!’ while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground” ~ Nehemiah 8:6.

When situations in life are difficult, reaching to God in worship that is mindful of His glory, His presence, and His power, care, provision, protection, etc., empowers our hands with strength to persevere instead of letting our hands fall limp in despair. Hands not limp are filled with and used in the worship of God, knowing that the joy of the Lord is strength (vs. 10).

Psalm 26 instructs us concerning hands lifted and made strong in worship:

“I shall wash my hands in innocence, and I will go about Your altar, O LORD, that I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving and declare all Your wonders ~ Psalm 26:6-7.

We are called by God to lift up holy hands in worship (1 Timothy 2:8). That means that in situations where we are tempted to be defeated and let our hands fall limp, evaluating our part in the situation and repenting any sin that put us there is vital. So also is the spirit of thanksgiving in the midst of our difficulties. Repentance and thankfulness are two vital aspects in worship

Thus, beloved, when difficulty comes, “Lift up your hands to the sanctuary (which is God) and bless the Lord” ~ Psalm 134:2 (author’s note). There you will find your help and strengthen your hands for the plow, being equipped to press forward to the glory of God and the fulfillment of His kingdom purpose (Luke 9:62).

Holiness, Holy Hands

Hands Not Limp: Introduction

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“How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? ‘A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest’—Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your need like an armed man” ~ Proverbs 6:9-11.

Reading a devotional thought this morning, my heart was captured by Zephaniah 3:16:

“In that day it will be said to Jerusalem: ‘Do not be afraid, O Zion; Do not let your hands fall limp.’”

LimpHands12“Do not let your hands fall limp!” The Amplified version adds, “Fear not, O Zion. Let not your hands sink down or be slow and listless.” It is the picture of one caught by surprise and standing, stunned, not knowing what to do.

That is not the only way our hands can be caught hanging limp. Laziness, depression, disinterest, falsehood, lack of knowledge, lack of leadership, failure to be alert: all these things and more can find us standing or lying down on the job, with hands limp, not being ready for dealing with the need of the moment.

As I thought on these things, the questions came, “So what are we to be doing with our hands? In what ways can we be found ready for action with strength in our hands for the need of the hour?”

Next post will begin a series of study using scriptures God led me to in helping me find the answer to these questions. There may be more we can add than these I found as I looked from Genesis through Psalms, but what I found is a very good beginning for those of us who want to be found faithful at His return.

Assurance, Gratitude

A Trust that Breeds Gratitude

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“Trust {lean on, rely on, and be confident} in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, trust also in Him and {He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass} ~ Psalm 37, NASB {AMP}.

God began instructing my heart yesterday that fretting over the past is robbing me of now strength, joy, peace, gratitude to Him, assurance, and comfort.

I seek daily to follow God’s instruction to me for each days tasks and activities, and when I fret over things I did not do or things that did not go the way I thought they should, I deny the work of God in and through me in those things and I deny Him gratitude for the things that were accomplished. I forget that God is in control and can be trusted with my every step in life.

Do I fail to hear and obey at times? Yes. And the instant I realize it, I repent and change course. To repent means to lay the failure on the shoulders of Christ and leave it there with the One who sacrificed Himself for this purpose, that I may have true life and have it in abundance; then to press forward from there with the freedom of Christ to live a better life to His glory and crown. Fretting over failures repented is to pick that heavy load back up and be crushed by the weight of it.

The thing God is instructing my heart to realize is that when I focus on my failures, I fail to see the progress made in God’s work of reestablishing in me the image of God that Christ died to provide for me. Marsha Burns writes in this devotional written in the voice of God speaking to the reader:

“Look how far you have come! The difficulties that you have endured and overcome have instructed you and driven you to find Me in a more meaningful and concrete way.  Your days of trouble are not to be disdained; they are to be recognized as a necessary part of your growth process.  Don’t lament, says the Lord.  Rejoice for where you are now and where I will take you from here.”

With the passing of my Daddy and the struggle he was in with paranoia in his last years, it would be easy for me to focus on things I did not have strength to accomplish in my relationship with him. The sense of loss would be intensified and the weight of the sense of failure would throw me into depression and defeat. But God keeps reminding me how He has grown my trust and reliance on Him as Abba, Father. He reminds me of the freedom from a root of rejection that He has accomplished in me during the days of Daddy’s struggle. So instead of hurt and heartache over unfulfilled desires in my relationship with Daddy, I am filled with gratitude and awe toward my Abba who has helped me and done a work of grace in me, freeing me from the growth of a spirit of rejection to finding my acceptance in Him.

Jesus08We are continually being perfected. Looking back on days gone by is natural to us, but as a people for God’s own possession, when we look back our hearts need to settle with gratitude on the goodness of God that worked a plan through the time of struggle that has worked change in me, making me look and act more like the Father and less like the flesh of this world. When looking back, the question to ask is “what did I learn and how has it changed me?” We press forward from the pits in life with greater strength to persevere when our hearts are filled with gratitude for the work of God in our lives. And we find success in the journey when we remember the promise of God:

“I [the Lord] will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you” ~ Psalms 32:8.

And “your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it,’ when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left” ~ Isaiah 30:21.

Therefore, beloved of God, “Trust [lean on, rely on, and be confident] in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, trust also in Him and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart. [Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass] ~ Psalm 37, NASB [AMP].

Assurance, God's Faithfulness

A Time to Trust

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“I am able to do nothing from Myself [independently, of My own accord—but only as I am taught by God and as I get His orders]. Even as I hear, I judge [I decide as I am bidden to decide. As the voice comes to Me, so I give a decision], and My judgment is right (just, righteous), because I do not seek or consult My own will [I have no desire to do what is pleasing to Myself, My own aim, My own purpose] but only the will and pleasure of the Father Who sent Me” ~ John 5:30, AMP.

Trusting God for every step, every desire, every word of life is what Jesus portrayed; relying fully on God who directs our path and is fully in control of our destiny. That is what God is teaching me these days.

We just went through a very trying time as my Dad’s poor health issues were revealed. He went into the hospital on a Monday, went home with Hospice on Friday, and died on Tuesday. Just that fast and he was gone.

I always felt that I would be a main caregiver for him when his time came, but when it came, I was sick as a dog: flu, followed by Laryngitis – Bronchitis and the worst cough I have ever had in my life. I would put a mask on and visit daddy for short periods of time. Though I hoped to get over it good enough to help with his care, it never happened.

The last night of his life, I knew his time was close and I should stay, but my health issue flared with fever and feeling so bad I could hardly stand myself. I knew his current state could end quickly or go on for another day or two, so the decision I came to was to go home and wait. Just minutes before my sis called to tell me he was gone and ask me to come, I had such a hard coughing spell that it tore the muscle in the 7th intercostal space (says my doctor). It hurt so bad I could barely breathe, much less move, so again I had to tell her I could not come. It was the hardest thing I have ever done.

Through the entire two week ordeal of trying to get daddy to the doctor and on through the last week of his life, I was hindered from being the help I wanted to be and always thought I would be. Throughout it all God constantly called me to rest in, rely on, be confident in and trust in Him with assurance that He was up to something. I don’t know what He was working in my sister during it all, but in me, He was helping me to grow stronger in surrendering what I think I should be doing to Him who is the Lord of my path in life.

Only time will tell what He accomplished through the experience, for me and my family. But one thing I know more than ever before, God is faithful and I can rest in Him with full surrender to His working His will out in me in His way that shines some light of glory to all who see.

~*~

“Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths” ~ Proverbs 3:5-6, AMP.

“…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.  …A man’s mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure” ~ Proverbs 16:1-9, AMP.

Faith, Love

Fear Not!

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“The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed” ~ Deuteronomy 31:8.

A quote by Will Smith’s Character, Cypher, in “After Earth” caught my attention. I found it to be one of the most insightful and well-spoken viewpoints I have heard regarding the subject of fear. Thus I quote:

“Fear is not real. The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination, causing us to fear things that do not at present and may never exist. That is near insanity. Do not misunderstand me. Danger is very real, but fear is a choice.”

Wow. That is such a true and thought provoking statement, worthy of meditation. Think about it. Even in an instance of imminent danger, fear comes to the fraction of time in which we allow ourselves to imagine the potential of the next moment that is not yet present reality, and may never be. When we give ourselves to that fear, it brings the mind and emotions to “near insanity,” hindering our ability to think and respond clearly to the danger. Fear, when given a place in our choices, can well lead to destruction. When fear catches our attention, instead of evaluating the danger and how best to address it, we bow to the fear, giving self to its power over us, which leads to running from rather than toward the danger that needs to be dealt with. At the end of the movie, when Kitai was at the point of do or die, he was able to refuse to choose fear any longer. In that instance of calm, he was equipped to face the danger with right priority and discernment of resource to deal with the danger and come out victorious.

It is no wonder that our God tells us over and over to “fear not.” We cannot see the potential for a good outcome and head toward that when fear gets hold of us. And we cannot see clearly the presence and power of our God and His ability to lead us to a right and victorious response when faith to trust Him is hindered by fear.

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love” ~ 1 John 4:15-18, (see also in AMP. Other “do not fear” passages).

Knowing the love of God for us, being assured of His presence and care, empowers us to face danger with good judgment that empowers us to overcome.

Body of Christ, who I am in Christ

In Christ, Empowered to Be Real

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I have struggled to press forward in this teaching, at first struggling with desire to take a particular path with it and being held captive by God to wait until He could make me aware of the first step we must take to come into the reality of who we are because of Christ. Today, as I long to write what is in my heart, I seek the Lord for a jumping point from scripture. That search leads me to Paul’s letter to Timothy.

“I am calling up memories of your sincere and unqualified faith (the leaning of your entire personality on God in Christ in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness)…” ~ 2 Timothy 1:5, AMP. (Other verses in scripture use the words “leaning of the entire human personality…” Read them here.)

God has truly been revealing to me lately that before we can come into all that we are in Christ, we must first realize that we are safe to be real in God’s presence. We can fully trust Him: PERIOD, THE END.

Lean on02We have talked about this before, but God has truly been drumming it into me of late. Adam and Eve, when they fell from obedience to God, sought to cover not just the nakedness of their physical body, but the nakedness of their entire human personality: they were afraid to let God see what they had become as people, so they tried to hide and cover up. And we are still trying to hide from God even today, afraid to be real with Him.

I look at the patriarchs of old and one thing that stands out to me is those who are most well know are the most real with God: Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul. These stood before God, flaws and all, and the scriptures listed / linked above in our text tell us how they were able to do that. They leaned their entire human personality on Him in ABSOLUTE trust and confidence in HIS POWER, WISDOM, AND GOODNESS.

Jesus tells us that without Him we are weak and ill equipped to do anything (John 15). Paul tells us that it is through our weakness that God’s power can show off, making itself known to and through us (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). But if we cannot be real with God, having full faith in Him to use His power on our behalf, granting us wisdom, and doing good toward us, how can we experience the fullness of who we are in Christ?

I sit before you today in a very hard place in life. My precious daddy, whom I have always loved, trusted, and looked to as a strong tower in life, has lost his ability to see things as they truly are. He believes things of his family members that are false and that greatly hinder our ability to minister to him because his beliefs hinder his ability to trust us to do good to him. I love my daddy and I want him to be proud of who I am, but right now he cannot see the truth of who I am in Christ, and his accusations deal a crushing blow to my aching heart. Though I am real with my daddy, trying to do good to him and for him, it is not received because he has no power to receive it, no wisdom to discern the truth of it, and he believes I have no goodness to give him or toward him.

As a result of his inability to trust me, I find myself cowering, unable to trust him. It is a frustrating, vicious cycle that highlights the weakness in me. God has shown me that my struggle when it comes to dealing with daddy in his current state of mind is because I am failing to fully trust
my God. And now that I am working to trust Him more, He is helping me to see that the reason daddy’s beliefs and accusations and actions hurt so bad is because of pride in me. I can’t believe that anyone can see me the way he does, especially not my daddy, and though I know his beliefs are not the true me, pride that wants him to see the truth leads to hurt that hinders relationship. Thus God is using the situation to teach me about the real me and help me to trust Him more so I can be and do better as I again let go of my pride and surrender my reputation to Him who gives me favor with man.

Today, as I find myself again grieving over my dad who is very ill and needs our help but won’t allow us to help him, God is reminding me that He is faithful and trustworthy. He sees me as I am and He still loves me. I can be real with my Father-God, my Eternal-Daddy, and He will be faithful to comfort me, empower me, granting me wisdom in this hour, and He will do good to and for me and my daddy.

Because of God’s love and faithfulness, I awoke this morning with the Spirit singing to me. “Your Love Never Fails” running through my mind, He speaks to my heart, encouraging me that I can lean my entire human personality, all that I am—good, bad, or indifferent—on Him in Whom I can trust, for He is the same through the ages—disease of the mind does not change Him. He loves me as I am, though He loves me enough to help me be better, training me as a child to bear His image. But even when I fall and fail, His love never changes.

~*~

Listen to these words of comfort and assurance and be encouraged with me, beloved. We can be real with our trustworthy, loving Daddy-YAH:

Your Love Never Fails by Chris Quilala and Jesus Culture

Nothing can separate / Even if I ran away / Your love never fails

I know I still make mistakes / But You have new mercies for me everyday / Your love never fails

You stay the same through the ages / Your love never changes / There may be pain in the night / But joy comes in the morning / And when the oceans rage / I don’t have to be afraid / Because I know that You love me / Your love never fails

The wind is strong and the water’s deep / But I’m not alone here in these open seas / Your love never fails / The chasm is far too wide / I never thought I’d reach the other side / Your love never fails

You stay the same through the ages / Your love never changes / There may be pain in the night / But joy comes in the morning / And when the oceans rage / I don’t have to be afraid / Because I know that You love me / Your love never fails

You make all things work together for my good / You make all things work together for my good / You make all things work together for my good / You make all things work together for my good / You make all things work together for my good / You make all things work together for my good

You stay the same through the ages / Your love never changes / There may be pain in the night / But joy comes in the morning / And when the oceans rage / I don’t have to be afraid / Because I know that You love me / Your love never fails / Because I know that You love me / Your love never fails