God Has Got A Plan

We all know Jeremiah 29:11 about God’s plans for us.
In the King James Version we read: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
In the Amplified Bible we read: For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.
I love the way this verse and several verses after it read in The Message Bible.
“I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out --- plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.
When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” GOD’S DECREE.

God knows what He is doing where your life is concerned. He had your life planned out before the foundation of the world. He knows what He is doing, but we must line up with Him to be on the track of what He has planned. And how do we do that? By spending time with Him and His Word, praying much in the Spirit and listening for His instructions daily.

We are here with a purpose and plan in line for us, already established by God. We must trust Him to work it out for us as we are obedient to do what He tells us to do, and obedient to walk in line with His Word. What a wonderful assurance that God is in charge.

Now a word of caution here; He is only in charge as much as you and I allow Him to be in charge.

Sometimes we want to get ahead or lag behind Him. Or we think we can do it ourselves. We want something and we go crashing into the fullness of it without God’s direction or provision. After all, we know that is what God has for us. Sometimes what happens is that is the direction of the plan of what God has for us, but He needed to prepare us to step into what He has for us. And we are not always mature enough yet to take it on when He has not perfected us to assume that role and responsibility. For example, in the ministry, there are things I am just now walking into that I could not have handled 20 or even 5 years ago. He has been maturing me for the plan He has for my life.

With every plan comes certain responsibilities which only maturity can handle. The same is true of marriage. The same is true of parenthood. God prepares us for what He wants for us. And when we get in too big a hurry and want to get it done NOW, we do get what we want, but out of God’s time line. And as the old expression goes: “That do make a mess of things.” So be patient and allow God to perfect you for His time line and His plan in your life.

God has perfect timing and perfect plans. We are the ones who mess them up. But we don’t have to mess them up. I know people who have walked in the spirit all their lives and have genuinely wonderful lives, walking with the Lord. All their lives, they have obeyed Him and they have had days of heaven on earth. It is a wonderful place to be. Don’t you just love it when you are right on target with Him! He loves it also.

So, where are you today? If you are out of the will of God, it is certainly simple to get back into His perfect will. Repent of your own self-efforts and your own willful actions and ask Him to take over. He forgives and He forgets and He moves you right on target again. It is not like you have to go back and start over. You took a detour but even on the detour you were going forward. You are further ahead than you would have been if you stood still and did nothing.

There is one more thing I want to address here. Don’t be so afraid of being out of God’s will that you do nothing but fret about whether you are in God’s will or not and never take any action. It is better to take some action than to stand still and never take any action at all. Don’t let fear stop you from fulfilling God’s plan for your life. You may make some mistakes but he will help you to correct them. Go forward in God!

Psalm 112 - Part 4

Moving right along, today, let’s look at verse 7 of Psalm 112.

The man who reverences God and delights greatly in His Word shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. His heart is fixed and steady. His heart is established. His heart is steady, not wavering. His trust is in the Lord. He leans on God. His confidence is in God. He puts his confidence in nothing or nobody else. His total trust is in the God Who created him. He trusts God to bring him through when an evil report comes his way. Why? Because his heart is fixed on the goodness of God, upon the surety of His Word. And the surety of God’s Word makes a person sure of the outcome of circumstances and situations in his life.

In Psalm 57:7-11 we read what a person with a fixed, steady, confident heart after God does. He sings and makes melody to the Lord. He praises God and thanks Him among the people, for God’s mercy and lovingkindness is great. His truth and His faithfulness reaches everywhere. Be exalted, O Lord, above the heavens; let Your glory be over all the earth. Of course, as we praise the God of our salvation, His glory (His Presence, the Holy Spirit) is given freedom to flow all over the earth. We are the ones who release Him to do His work. On this earth, He has placed the authority in our hands. He has made Himself subject to the faith of man. What a love that must have taken. He loves us that much that He would allow His Presence and His work to depend on our faith, our confidence in Him.

And then in Psalm 108:1 in the Amplified Bible, we read: O God, my heart is fixed (steadfast in the confidence of faith); I will sing, yes, I will sing praises, even with my glory [all the faculties and powers of one created in Your image]!

The one whose heart is fixed and confident in God sings praises to God because he is sure that God will take care of him. His heart is that steady. And praise is the highest form of faith. It is a song of confidence to the Lord. Praise is saying: God, I trust you and I love to sing to you, because I am trusting you to take me over to the other side of this place in which I find myself. Praise is the ship that takes you to the other side.

And finally we look at verse 9:

This righteous man has dispersed; he has distributed freely. He has given to the poor and needy. His righteousness endures forever. His horn (emblem of excessive strength and stately grace) shall be exalted in honor.

In this verse we see that a righteous man is not greedy. He is a giver. He gives as God directs him. If we look at 2 Corinthians 9:7-11 in the Amplified Bible,we see this man who is a giver. We are told that he is enriched to all bountifulness, which causes him to give thanksgiving to God. And who is the one who enables him to give? God Himself! God makes all grace, every earthly blessing come to him in abundance, so that he is always and under all circumstances and whatever the need self-sufficient, possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation. God ministers seed for him to sow. And God ministers bread for him to eat. And God multiples his seed sown and increases the fruits of his righteousness. What promises! You say, I don’t seem to be in that place. Just keep on obeying the Spirit of the Lord in your giving. You will see Him move on your behalf. Don’t give up, cave in or quit. God is mindful of your giving and particularly your giving of your significant seed (that which is given out of your need).

We finish by talking here for a moment about the word “horn.” When horn is used in the Bible, it is an emblem of power. It signifies power. It is the anointing of God. His anointing is for every one of us. His power is for every one of us. He desires that we walk in His resurrection power, His dunamis, dynamite power to set the captives free. That is His desire. In Psalm 92:10 in the New Living Translation, Reference Edition, it reads: How refreshed I am by your power. We are refreshed by the Holy Spirit. We are anointed with the fullness of His power. We are blessed with His ability and His love and His strength. Meditate on this Psalm.

Psalm 112 - Part 3

As we continue our study of Psalm 112, we are still remembering that this psalm is talking about a man who reverences the Lord and delights greatly in His Word.

In verse 5 we read: A good man shows favor, and lends; he will guide his affairs with discretion or good judgment. What is favor? There is so much in the word favor. On the Elijah List the other day, there was this statement. It is so good. “Faith will move your mountain but favor causes others to move your mountain for you.” What a statement! Favor is receiving special attention, receiving special treatment because you are God’s child. Why would this be so? Because He thinks you are special. He loves to do things for you. He enjoys giving you special treatment. He delights in giving you a parking place close to the store when you are ask. He delights in giving you a place at the front of the line in the store. He delights in giving you the job you desire. There are so many good books out now on favor. You ought to buy one and read it. It will change your way of thinking. The person that comes to my mind who walks in so much favor is Jerry Savelle. He walks in great favor and teaches on it with clarity. As God’s children, we are highly favored, given preferential treatment, not because we are better than anyone else, but because God loves to do things for us. Every child of God can walk in this favor. It is part of His giving to us. He loves to give. And we as His children love to give also. Right!

We as God’s children have our affairs of life, our life guided by Him, guided by His Holy Spirit. We have our affairs guided with discretion. What does discretion mean? It means we know what we are doing when it comes to doing the business of life. We are not deceived. We have God’s wisdom. Man does not deceive us with telling us ”what a deal I have for you” mentality. We deal only with people and business that God guides us to do. Even when it comes to buying a car and especially a house, we should have our buying guided by the Spirit of God. We can make some BIG mistakes when we buy based upon our senses---oh, it looks so good and I feel so good in it. I know that is the one for me. No, no, no! We are guided by what the Spirit of God says to us about our purchasing. I even ask the Lord to guide me as I buy groceries or a new piece of clothing, things which would appear insignificant to other people to ask for advice. Since all of the money I have belongs to Him, then He would like to have a “say” in what I do with it. It is a partnership. He loves to help us. It really is fun to have His help in everything we do and spend or don’t spend. Try it. It really is a wonderful cooperation between the two of you.

I love what verse 6 says.
Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.
Do you hear that? Surely, yes surely, most definitely, absolutely, we shall not be moved forever, eternally. You and I do not have to be moved off our stand on the Word of God. We shall not be moved. Remember that song: I shall not be, I shall not be moved. Yes indeed, that is the song we sing. We shall not be moved forever. We will never be moved. We will not be moved off what God’s Word says about us. It is true! And it will be true forever. We must stand on that which will not be moved and then we will not be moved. If we are standing on something that moves, then we will be moving with it. The temporary, temporal word of man shifts and moves and we shift and move with it. But God’s Word is solid, stable, unmovable. And if we are standing on that, we don’t move.

And the last part of verse 6 is good. The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. We are ever in God’s memory bank. We are indelibly stamped on His memory. We are His children. He remembers us forever, eternally. We are ever on His mind. We also are in everlasting memory on this earth. People remember the righteous ones and what they do. Our prayers continue even after we are gone, because the Word of God that is prayed on this earth lasts forever. It shall come to pass. Remembrance is a strong word. It denotes being stamped in the memory, and memory is forever. The only memory that is not forever is the sin that we commit and repent of. That sin is washed in the blood of Jesus and is as if it never happened. God will not remember it. He does tell us, however, to put Him in remembrance of His Word, of what we have done with His Word. He enjoys being reminded of that. So today, put God in remembrance of who you are in His Son Jesus. He has you do that, not for His sake, but for your sake, that you might remember who you are in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 112 - Part 2

As we continue our study of Psalm 112, let’s look at verse 2.

We are still referring to verse 1 as the kind of person who will have the benefits of the rest of chapter 112 of Psalms. This is a person who delights in God’s Word and reverences God. His seed shall be mighty upon the earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.

Now we are talking about the fruitfulness of our womb replenishing the earth and be blessed, prospering and succeeding in what they do. Our seed, our children, our offspring shall be mighty upon the earth. Mighty here means: powerful, strong, valiant, champions, warriors. The seed that God places in a woman’s womb is designed by God to be powerful men and women of God, doing great exploits for the Lord. According to the Word of God, our children are to be disciples taught of the Lord and obedient to His will. Great is to be their peace and undisturbed composure. If your children are not in that place in the natural, speak God’s Word concerning them. His Word will not return unto Him void, without producing any effect, without producing the results it was sent to produce. The seed of the womb is blessed. The seed of the womb is to be mighty upon this earth. Your children are destined by God to be blessed men and women of God.

Verse 3 tells us that the righteous person shall have wealth and riches, prosperity and welfare in his household. Wealth here refers to goods, substance, enough; in other words, it is the money system of the earth. Riches here refers to wealth, to grow rich, to become rich, to make rich. Once again, it is referring to substance. In the dictionary the word rich means wealthy, possessing a large portion of land, goods or money, or a larger portion than is common to other men or to men of like rank. The word abundance, abundant, abounding, full appear in every definition of the word. Now I can assure you that those who have this world’s goods, riches, substance, wealth, abundance are not contented if they do not know Jesus. Why? Because the riches will have them. Even Christians can fall into this trap. But, those who have the riches of the Lord in combination with the riches of the earth are God’s conduits for Him to get the job done of bringing in the harvest of those souls that are lost, without any understanding of the abundance of God’s love they can be experiencing.

The last part of verse 3 tells us that the righteousness of a righteous man endures forever. Of course, it does. God endures forever, and He is the One Who is righteous, who gives to us as His children His righteousness. We are righteous because of Him. We are made right and walk right and do things right because of His righteousness in us.

Verse 4 tells us that for those who are righteous, light arises in the darkness What a wonderful statement for the days we are living in as the dark gets darker. We know that the light is also getting lighter. We are walking in the light. We are children of the light. Wherever we go, God is with us and shining the Light of His Presence on our pathway. He has given us His Word which is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. His Presence will shine the way for us to walk in this world now. Instead of focusing on what is happening in the world of darkness, focus on what is happening in the world of the Light of God. You are His Light shining in a dark world. People will be drawn to His Light in you. Let your light shine that men may be drawn to Him.

In the last part of verse 4 we read that the righteous man is gracious, full of compassion and righteous or just. The man who reverences the Lord and delights in His Word is gracious. He is kind to others. He has God’s grace upon Him to extend to others. He takes no account of the evil they do and pays no attention to the wrongs they try to inflict upon him. He extends grace to them just like God extends grace to him. This man is full of compassion. It doesn’t just say he has compassion. He is full of compassion. God’s compassion is not full of pity as the world’s compassion is full of pity. His compassion is such that He sees the need and does something about taking care of the need, supplying what is necessary to take care of the need. It is His mercy, His love which takes care of His children. That is what you and I as His children are full of. We are full of our Father’s nature, and part of His nature is compassion, love, mercy and justice.

Psalm 112 - Part 1

We are doing a study of Psalm 112 today. In my Bible the heading of this psalm is: The Prosperity of the Righteous.

So, it seems to me that if we want to know how to prosper, it would be a good idea to see what this psalm has to say. And remember, prosper means to go to the highest level in something desired. As Christians, as children of God, if we are walking with Him, walking in the Spirit, then the desires of our heart are those placed there by the Lord. Too many Christians are so afraid that the desires in their hearts may not be from the Lord. If you are living right, God-like desires come in your heart. If you are in sin, obviously, there will be desires not of God. And you know if you are living right or not. Your heart will tell you. No one has to tell you. When we delight ourselves in the Lord, He gives us the desires of our hearts.

This Psalm starts with praise. Every day of our lives, we should start with praising the Lord for His goodness, for what He has done and continues to do. Praise Him. Why praise Him? How about for starters? He loves us so much that He suffered and died in our place, as our substitute, saved us from satan’s hell and gave us access to Father again, reconciled us to Him. What a point to stop right here and praise Him. That is what His goodness is all about. He ever has you and me on His mind, on His heart. His desire is to be with us, to bless us, to take care of us.

Look at the next part of that verse: We are blessed who respect and hold in awe and worship the Lord. We are blessed who delight greatly in His commandments, His Word.

Blessed is what God did with man in the beginning. It says in Genesis 1:28, after God created man in His own image: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.

What is The Blessing of God? It is God’s impartation of His nature to you and me so that we can prosper, succeed in carrying out our destiny, the plan of God for us while we are here on this earth on assignment. And what is that general plan? It is spelled out in verse 28 of Genesis 1. Be fruitful, multiply, replenish or fill up the earth and subdue it. You have dominion from God. What is dominion? Authority.

Here are God’s instructions. And it doesn’t mean having babies. That is part of it. He is talking here about our overall life here on this earth. It should be a life of fruitfulness, multiplication, filling up others with God’s life and love and light. It should be a life of taking authority over that which comes against us. It should be a life of multiplication, not subtraction and division. It should be a life of filling up to the full until it overflows, not emptying out to the max until we are dry. This was God’s original intention for mankind as He outlined in the Garden of Eden. In essence He was saying: Duplicate Me; duplicate My nature, and My nature is one of multiplication. That is all God has. He cannot produce what He does not have. All He has is fruitfulness, multiplication, filling up, dominion. There is nothing else in Him. And there is nothing else in us, if we are His children. But do you know what happens? We allow the lack, the unfruitfulness, the dismalness, the disease, the fear, the doubt of this world’s system to come and dilute and contaminate the very beauty of what God Himself put in us as His children. Dilution, contamination, sin, deprivation happens to those who don’t understand or look to God as all-sufficient, all-powerful, capable of handling all affairs of life.

Let’s focus on what a great and mighty, powerful God we have as our Father. Let’s focus on the fact that His power is in us to overcome in this world. We are to be duplicating God’s nature while we are here on this earth. We are to be the ones in authority over the mess of the world system. We are the ones who are to be walking in fruitfulness and filled up to overflowing.

Jesus said in John 10:10 in the Amplified Bible: I have come that you might have and enjoy life, have it in abundance to the full, until it overflows. That is what Psalm 112:1 is talking about. Let’s focus on that today and every day. That should be what is in our thought life.

The Reign of His Presence

Let the reign of God’s Presence rain on you today. I was thinking about what people do when it rains. Everyone seems to like beautiful sunshiny days, full of warmth and brightness. But do you know, I love rainy days, when I can lean back and relax and enjoy reading God’s Word and feel all snug and secure and wrapped in tightly with His Presence. I know that is a different story if you are having to drive to work in the rain and if you are having to walk in it and get wet. But do you know, as children, we used to love to play in the rain. Isn’t it interesting that when we become adults and “grow out of” that silliness, adults tend to be anxious, stressed out and worried. What happened to that childlike enjoyment and lack of care or concern?

Yes, what did happen to our childlike trust, our enjoyment of the simple things of life? We “took on” responsibilities. After all, isn’t that what it means to be an adult? Really! Where did we learn that? Jesus said that except we become as a little child, we will not inherit the kingdom of God. A child trusts. A child enjoys life. A child has very little fear, unless it is taught him. A child loves unconditionally. A child sees no faults. A child thinks you can do no wrong. Do you get the picture? Unless we let go of all of the things that hold us back – fear, anxiety, worry, concern, fretting –we cannot enter into the fullness of God’s kingdom while we are here on this earth. And what is His kingdom? His kingdom is His way of thinking and doing things. His way of doing things, His way of thinking is all based upon faith----that simple, childlike trust. In this case, we are talking about faith, confidence in Him and His way of taking care of us.

It makes no difference what direction we go in, faith is the key, isn’t it? Without faith it is impossible to please God. He gives to us faith when we are born again. It is our job to develop it like we develop a muscle by meditating on the Word of God, by hearing the Word of God, by focusing on the Word of God. The Word of God teaches us how to think like God thinks and act like God acts. If we come to the Lord as adults in life instead of as children, we have a whole new system of operation to learn, to put into practice.

What a joy it is to know that we can depend on the Lord to guide us, to direct us, to take care of us. He will take care of you --- that is His promise in the Word over and over. When things hit your life, when it seems that there is more cloudy weather than sunshine, remember that the son shines on you all the time and the presence of the Holy Spirit rains on you all the time. God is with you. That is a simple statement that most of us have yet to consistently believe. He is with us. What a simple, yet profound statement. Jesus said: Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the earth. HE IS WITH US!!!!!! We must meditate that simple phrase until it becomes a part of our thinking, a part of our very being, a part of our very way of living.

Let the Spirit of God reign in your life today in the midst of life’s cloudy moments and stormy situations. Jesus is in the boat with us and will take us over to the other side in victory. There is no such thing as defeat where God’s children are concerned. Why? Defeat is not in His nature. He only knows success. He only knows victory. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.

The Lord told Joshua the secret to living the victorious life. In Joshua 1:8 we read: This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you shall meditate therein day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.
To have good success means to deal wisely in all the affairs of life----ALL. To be prosperous means to go to the highest place in something desired, and it doesn’t mean money. It includes money, but does not refer exclusively to money. It means to go to the highest level in your spirit, your soul, your body, your relationships, your finances, your life as a whole.

And finally, we know Proverbs 4:20-22 so well. We are told to pay attention to God’s Word, to listen to His Word, to look at His Word, to keep His Word in the midst of our heart. Why? God’s Word is life to those who find it and health to all our flesh.
We are victorious, successful overcomers in this life, regardless of the clouds. The sunshine is above the clouds. Purpose to see the son shine today in your life.

Shout Grace!

The Holy Spirit has a never-ending supply of God’s love, God’s power, God’s grace for each one of us. He never runs dry. He is always there. He is never too busy for you. He listens intently to you and cares deeply for you as the third member of the Godhead. He is ever mindful of you. He ever has you on His mind, just as the Father and Jesus do.

Let’s look at Zechariah 4:1-7 in the Amplified Bible.
And the angel who talked with me came again and awakened me, like a man who is wakened out of his sleep.
And said to me, What do you see? I said, I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl [for oil] on the top of it and its seven lamps on it, and [there are] seven pipes to each of the seven lamps which are upon the top of it.
And there are two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side of it [feeding it continuously with oil].
So I asked the angel who talked with me, What are these, my lord?
Then the angel who talked with me answered me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord.
Then he said to me, This [addition of the bowl to the candlestick, causing it to yield a ceaseless supply of oil from the olive trees] is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit [of Whom the oil is a symbol], says the Lord of hosts.
For who are you, O great mountain [of human obstacles]? Before Zerubbabel [who with Joshua had led the return of the exiles from Babylon and was undertaking the rebuilding of the temple, before him] you shall become a plain [a mere molehill]! And he shall bring forth the finishing gable stone [of the new temple] with loud shoutings of the people, crying, Grace, grace to it.

I see so much in this passage that we can apply to our relationship with the Lord, to understand the Holy Spirit.

Of course, the lampstand with the bowl of oil and the seven lamps with the seven pipes to each of the seven lamps is us, filled with the Holy Spirit. We are the ones who need the Holy Spirit, who is represented by the oil. And all of us are joined together in the Body of Christ. The olive trees continuously supply the oil, feed it to the lamps. What a picture of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He continuously supplies us with what we need to live our lives here on this earth to the fullest. He never runs dry, so to speak. He is always there. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. What a comfort to us. What an encouragement. What a reassurance. He is always with us. He cares about us deeply.

It is not by our might; it is not by our power; it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we overcome, that we succeed, that we live a life of victory. And we can have constant victory, going from one victory to another as we go forward in this life.

Before you, as you walk out God’s plan for you here on this earth, mountains of obstacles become mere molehills. What a contrast! Any obstacle—sickness and disease, financial lack or lack in any area, relationships with spouses or children or friends, challenges on the job, grouchy people etc.---becomes a mere molehill. What does that mean? No matter how big the problem seems to you, in God’s eyes, it is so small, so insignificant, because He is much bigger than the problem. His power is in us to overcome that situation. Remember that GREATER is HE who is IN YOU than he that is in the world. Greater, greater, greater, greater. We must get that in our inner being. GOD IS GREATER!!!!!! Of course, if we depend on our own abilities to handle the problems, we won’t overcome. W will be frustrated and upset and have a defeated attitude.

Our instructions are: SHOUT GRACE! SHOUT GRACE! to the problems in our lives. And what are we doing when we shout grace? We are saying: God’s ability, God’s power, God’s might is released on my behalf, for me, extended to me even though I don’t deserve it and I have not done anything to deserve this extension of God’s power (love) toward me. What a God we serve! What a provision He has made for us to overcome whatever comes our way! Isn’t that awesome! He has already made provision today for what will come your way tomorrow! Rejoice!

New - Part 2

We are continuing today with our study of the word “new.”

According to 1 Peter 2:2, as new babes in Christ, we are to desire the sincere milk of the Word of God, that we may grow up and become mature people that God can use in His Kingdom to bring in the harvest of those who are still out in the world, without Him.

When we are born again, given a new spirit, there is another aspect to our relationship with the Lord. It is the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. We see in Mark 16:17 that we will speak with new tongues. Just what are these new tongues for? Why do we need them? We need the new tongues to speak to our Heavenly Father in His language, a language that our enemy, the devil, cannot understand. It is our personal communication between us and God for ourselves and those for whom we pray. It is our language to use when we need building up in our spirit man. It is the language we use to pray out the mysteries and secrets of Heaven for our lives, to establish God’s plans for us. And, at the right time, He lets us know these mysteries and secrets that we have prayed out in tongues.

And the greatest new thing that is to operate in our lives as a result of being born anew is the Love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Jesus told us that He was giving us a new commandment. It is not an option. It is a commandment from our Commander-In-Chief. John 13:34,35 A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another. In Matthew 22:37-39 again Jesus is speaking and He says: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. In 1 John 2, John writes that this commandment is really not a new commandment but an old one that we have known from the beginning. It is just a new place that we are in. In the new covenant, Jesus has given us the ability, through Himself, to love as He loves. We cannot do it in our own human efforts, but He makes it possible as we yield to His work in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And now let’s talk about our praise of Him, our worship of Him, as His children. Psalms is full of the phrase “a new song.” Let’s look at some of these verses. Psalm 33:3 tells us to sing to him a new song. Psalm 96:1,2 tells us to sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord, all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless his name, show forth his salvation from day to day. Psalm 98:1 tells us to sing unto the Lord a new song; for he has done marvelous things; his right hand, and his holy arm, has gotten him the victory. Wow! That’s something to sing about. God has gotten the victory for us through Jesus, Who is now sitting at His right hand. The Lord has done marvelous things for us. Then in Psalm 144:9 we can state with David: I will sing a new song to You, O God. And in Psalm 149:1 we are told to praise the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song and His praise in the congregation of the saints.

Look at Isaiah 42:9,10. What a wonderful promise from the Lord and then our response. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them. Sing unto the Lord a new song and his praise from the end of the earth, all you peoples of the earth.

And finally we have the book of Revelation, the final book in the Bible, which opens up for us all kinds of new things----new songs being sung, a new Jerusalem, new heavens and new earth, and then the capstone in chapter 22:5 is a promise from God: Behold, I make all things new. Everything God touches becomes new because of the complete life that He is. He is all life, all light, all love. There is nothing old in Him. Every time we see Him, we see a new facet of His nature. Every contact with Him will bring forth a new understanding of His omniscience and His omnipotence. What a God we serve! And just think: Throughout all eternity we will have untold opportunities to know Him in newness of life-----live forever, eternally.

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

New - Part 1

New---what comes to your mind when I say that word? When I think of the word “new,” I think of something that has never been used, something that is fresh and untouched. It is something that I get to use that no one else has ever used in their possession. For example, on Amazon, they have new and they have used books. I prefer new rather than used, even though used is cheaper in price.

In God’s Kingdom every day is a new day with newness of life for us. Let’s start at the beginning. John 1 tells us that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Without Him (the Word) was not anything made that was made. If you want to change your life, to take on the life of Jesus, you must take on the Word of God, which renews you and gives you a new heart and a new way of doing things.

In Ezekiel 11:19 and 36:26 we read these words from the Amplified Bible: And I will give them one heart [a new heart] and I will put a new spirit within them; and I will take the stony [unnaturally hardened] heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh [sensitive and responsive to the touch of their God]. That they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances, and do them. And they shall be My people and I will be their God. 36:26 A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinances and do them.

In these verses we see that God is the One Who gives us a new spirit, a brand new spirit. In the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 5:17, after Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection, we see how this is possible: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And in Galatians 5:15 in the Amplified Bible we read: For neither is circumcision [now] of any importance, nor uncircumcision, but [only] a new creation [the result of a new birth and a new nature in Christ Jesus, the Messiah].

In order to have the newness of life in God, we must become born again by accepting what Jesus did for us on the cross as our substitute, taking our sins and sicknesses and diseases and all that would steal our peace. He took on satan for us and defeated him forever for us, so that we might go free and become the new creations in Christ Jesus that we were intended to be all the time. It is our choice, though; God will not force on us this newness of life. Only we can choose. If you have a loved one or a friend for whom you are praying, it is only they who can choose life in God. You can pray and keep the door open for them to make the right decision, but you cannot make the decision for them. You can take authority over any demonic forces that are holding them back in the old life. And your prayers will be answered if you stand firm on God’s Word for them.

There are so many new things that God has for us. In Lamentations 3:23 we see that His mercies, His compassion is new every morning. That we can all use every day to start the day.

In Matthew 9: 17, Mark 2:22, and Luke 5:38, we see that there is new wine, the Holy Sprit, to put in new wineskins, the new creature in Christ Jesus. In Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20 and 1:Corinthians 11:25 we see that Jesus’ blood that He shed for us is for us to walk in the New Covenant. What is the new covenant? It is the open door for us to access all that God has for us. As we all know, a covenant is an agreement between two people that says that all I have is yours and all you have is mine. It is very unbalanced where God is concerned. He has everything to give us. All we have is ourselves. That is what we bring to Him. And that is all He wants. He is so desirous to have His mankind back with Him in Father’s household, with Him again. What a glorious celebration there is in Heaven when another child comes home. It is like the celebration we have when one of our children comes home who has been away for a while. What a time of rejoicing. It is the same in Father’s household. He rejoices over you.

We will continue tomorrow with the word “new.”

Dine In His Glory

Today’s Pearls comes from what the Lord showed me as I sat in my church on Sunday morning.

I had a vision, a beautiful vision, not just regarding my church, but regarding the Body of Christ. I saw Jesus in all His splendor as if He were suspended in the sky, the atmosphere, and as His arms were outstretched, brilliant crystal clear, bright light emanated from his hands and exploded in the atmosphere all around Him. We see in Habakkuk 3:4 Amplified Bible the scripture for that vision: And His brightness was like the sunlight; rays streamed from His hand, and there [in the sunlike splendor] was the hiding place of His power.

Then there was a second part to the vision. There was a banqueting table on which was spread an absolute feast, everything you could ever want in good food. The table was so long that I could not see either end of it, long enough to serve everyone.

The God of Glory is presiding over the banquet. His lightning-like splendor is everywhere. His Presence is very obvious in this scene. Exodus 25:8 Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. Then He started speaking to me with four key words and then gave me the scriptures to back up the words. The words are Set, Prepare, Call, Come.

First of all, regarding the Glory that permeated everywhere, we must remember that Colossians 1:27 says that Christ (the Anointed One and His anointing) is in us, the hope (earnest expectation) of Glory (His Presence manifested in the earth). The Anointed One, Jesus Christ Himself, is the Glory of God. He is in us with all His power, every bit of it. We have within us, through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the resurrection power of God. That is resident in us. His power has been given to us to live in this earth. We have His power to operate in His Kingdom while we are residents here on earth. He has given it to us for our enforcement of the victory He has purchased for us from sin and all of its consequences---poverty, lack, sickness and disease, etc.

Also, in Psalm 23:5 we have the very familiar scripture that our good shepherd sets a table before us in the presence of our enemies. On this table is all that we will need to have a full spiritual life, satisfied in every respect. There are all kinds of fruit – the fruit of the spirit. There are all the gifts of the Spirit. There is God’s power in abundance. There is everything that His Kingdom contains. All of His attributes—all that makes Him God---is on this table.

According to Deuteronomy 30:19 He has set before us life and death, blessing and cursing; choose life that both you and your seed, your children, may live.

According to Matthew 25:34 we have inherited the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world.

According to 1 Peter 2:9 we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people that we should show forth the praises of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

According to Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is thirsty come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. There is also water on that table that is spread, the water of life, the water that Jesus referred to when he was here on this earth. Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water. Those rivers of living water are flowing from the throne room of God and if He has been allowed to take up residence in your heart, to make your heart His throne, out of you are flowing the rivers of living water, the very water of the life of God Himself, what the world needs to quench their thirst.

Our Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit have set a table before us and prepared all that we need for life. He calls us and says: Come to the table I have prepared for you. It is set with everything that you will ever need. Come and dine; the Master calleth. Come and drink deeply of His Presence. He says: Come away with Me for a time of refreshing.

Challenge

The word “challenge” has been on my heart for several days now. I hear people say about their present situation that they are overcoming a challenge or that they are challenged. According to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, the Greek root word for challenge is “call.” The definition of challenge is: “Literally, a calling, or crying out, the primary sense of many words expressing a demand, as claim. Hence appropriately, a calling upon one to fight in single combat; an invitation or summons, verbal or written, to decide a controversy by a duel. Hence the letter containing the summons is also called a challenge. A claim or demand made of a right or supposed right.”

Well, now, isn’t this whole definition interesting. We have an enemy, satan, who challenges us to a fight, who demands our rights, to take them from us in combat. And many Christians answer the call to fight him. And you think I am going in one direction, don’t you, when I am actually going in another. Jesus has already fought him and won the victory, won the battle. There is no more combat. If we allow ourselves to be pulled into this particular kind of fight, we will accomplish nothing other than a lot of bruises and battering. Satan is a bully and he doesn’t fight fair or alone. He brings his gang of demons with him. And actually, most of the time, you are not threatening enough for the big boy to come. He just sends his little fellers, those low-level demons. He knows that they are enough to “do most people in.”

Since when does a king go to battle. He sends his troops to do the battle. We are kings according to the word of God. Jesus is King of kings. Who do you think these kings are? They are all those who are born again, those who have accepted the King Himself. As kings we do not fight an enemy who has already been defeated. In the natural, in real life, if a king fought a defeated foe, we would think there was something wrong with him for wasting his time on such a battle. Jesus has won the battle. He took on satan in every category in which we would need victory—sickness and disease, poverty, lack, unbelief, doubt, fear, defeat, failure, failed relationships, all manner of sin, etc. Victory is ours because of what Jesus did for us.

What we do is turn the tables on satan and challenge him with our letter, the Word of God, which states that we are the victors, that we have won the victory through Christ Jesus our Lord. Over and over in the New Testament, particularly Paul tells us about our victory and what we got as a result of that victory. We use the Word of God as our weapon to maintain the victory that has already been won. The Word of God is our offensive weapon to stand our ground and not let the enemy take it. As we all know, it is called the good fight of faith. Faith is saying the same thing that God says, thinking the same thing that God thinks, doing the same thing that God does. And what is God doing now? He is resting. We enter into the rest of faith. That rest of faith is our statement that we are resting in what Jesus did for us and continues to do for us as he sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven, which, by the way, is where we are seated. We are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus.

So, what are we to do when we are challenged? Are we to run quickly to the Word and start spouting a lot of scriptures in machine-gun style? Are we to drop to our knees immediately and start praying in tongues as fast as we can? Are we to grab a praise CD and start praising as loudly as we can to drown out our fears? Just what are we to do? Here’s what we are to do. Act as if nothing has happened. That drives satan crazy. Just start laughing and thanking God for what He has done for you. Then ask the Holy Spirit what you are to do to maintain your victory in Jesus. He will show you, and the victory for that situation will manifest on this earth. Sometimes it is not always as fast as we would like it, but there are things in our own lives that have to be moved out of the way in order for the Lord to get to us what we need.

What we all must do is trust our Father. Some of you won’t remember this, but during my younger years there was a program called, Father Knows Best, which all of our family loved. That program says it all. Our dear Heavenly Father, Who loves us dearly, knows best for us. And best is always health, happiness, well-being, prosperity, families in order, financial stability, relationships of love and order. He has already supplied all of these things for us by the death of His Son Jesus in our place. What we have to do is to trust Him to get them to us, even in the midst of seemingly impossible situations.

Release God's Love

Today we are going to talk about releasing God’s Love to others and around others. When you know that someone is against you or talking about you, release the love of God into their lives. Release God’s awesome, sweet love on them. They need it. They must make themselves miserable with all that they say and think.

Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-48. This is a passage that many of us want to pass over in the Bible because it speaks to us where we live many times. I don’t know about you, but there are times when I in my fleshly nature want to tell other people that I don’t appreciate their attitude or what I know they are saying. Have you ever been there? You want to correct them. You want to set them straight. One of the greatest examples in human flesh that we all ever knew was Bro. Kenneth Hagin, who set the example for all of us to follow when it came to releasing God’s love for all of mankind. The man was persecuted greatly and by members of His own, the Body of Christ. But He just smiled, blessed them and walked on in love. And what a legacy the man left for all of us.

Of course, Jesus has left us our ultimate legacy of love for all of mankind, regardless of whether we like certain people or not, regardless of whether they agree with us or not, regardless of what religion they are. We are to release God’s love into every person’s life here on this earth. I didn’t say it was easy. It is only easy as we rely totally on the Lord for our daily walk. By nature, I am a very expressive, “want-justice-done” person. But with my new nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, I want everyone to come to know the wonderful Jesus I serve and experience His great love for them. The only Jesus they see here on this earth is me as His representative.

No, I haven’t forgotten about Matthew 5:43-48. Let’s look at it in the Amplified Bible.
You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
To show that you are children of your Father Who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes the rain fall upon the upright and the wrongdoers [alike].
For if you love those who love you, what reward can you have? Do not even the tax collectors do that?
And if you greet only your brethren, what more than others are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles (the heathen) do that?
You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as you heavenly Father is perfect.

That’s quite an assignment, isn’t it? In my own self, in your own self, you are not capable of carrying out that assignment. It is only in yielding our flesh to the Spirit of God that we will accomplish these verses. We will fail time after time if we depend on ourselves, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will be people of love, walking in God’s love, releasing His love to those who deserve it and those who don’t.

And then Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:37-39 in the Amplified Bible:
And He replied to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect).
This is the great (most important, principal) and first commandment.
And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself.

Here is these verses we see how it is possible to love others. First, we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind. Then we can love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Most of us have tried to do both of these at once, and we have become discouraged and failed time after time after time. First, let’s focus on loving God and growing in Him. Then His love in us will help us to love others. Only His love can love others. We have nothing in our own selves to love others, especially those who persecute us, those who have done us wrong, those who hate us, those who are our enemies. His love in us will help us to take no account of those who harm us but to love them unconditionally, not based on what they do or don’t do to or for us.

Overcome With Praise

We overcome the world by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. I am going to focus on “the word of our testimony” in today’s Pearls. The true way we overcome any negative thought or word is with the praises of God on our lips, based on the Word of God. Have you ever said to someone: I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying what I wanted to say? Or how about this one: I had to bite my tongue when I knew what they were saying was wrong? I have been there and done that.

There is a far better approach to this. When you know that what someone is saying is wrong, first of all, you are not going to convince them that they are wrong. And, second, the Word of God says to avoid vain and foolish arguments. A better way is to praise God for the truth becoming reality in their lives, to think on the good things of how God’s Word of Truth will set them free.

And you may be thinking or even saying: Yes, Kialeen, that all sounds good but you don’t know them. No I don’t. But you don’t know the people I have encountered in those situations either. Neither you nor I am responsible for the way someone else thinks or speaks. We are responsible for our thoughts and our speech. As we praise God for these people and praise Him for the eyes of their understanding being enlightened, we are doing it God’s way. And it takes care of our attitudes and our way of thinking.

Praise sets the tone for the whole day for you and me. Suppose you get up in the morning and you start thinking on what somebody did to you that was not very nice. Or suppose your husband/wife snaps at you and is in a grumpy mood. Or suppose you go to work and the boss assigns you a task that he knows you don’t like. What an opportunity to praise God with your thoughts and your words. Praise will keep you free of the entanglements that satan likes to set up for you throughout the day. Praise will keep you free from strife and harsh words. Praise will keep your mind clean of the debris of having to be right about everything. Praise will keep you free of all that would cause upset in your life.

Praise is a wonderful tool that God Almighty gave us to combat the situations and circumstances that this world sets against us, that satan sets up for us, that our flesh wants to react to. No wonder the Bible tells us to praise Him in the morning, praise Him at noon, praise Him when the sun goes down. Praise Him all the time.

I have known some people in my lifetime who have praised their way through some very tough situations. I have known other people in the same type of situations who grumbled all the way. The first group of people came through to the other side without ulcers, worries, stress and defeat. The second group of people had a terrible time trying to get through. They got sick. They couldn’t sleep. They turned against other people and became bitter at God and the world. They came through, but with bad attitudes and with a chip on their shoulder that they just dared anyone to knock off.

Every day we all have these wonderful opportunities to get even, to be right, to lash out at the one who is nasty to us. And every day we have choices to make. Will we praise God and watch Him work on our behalf or will we grumble and complain and try to work it out ourselves.

In Psalm 33:1 in the Amplified Bible it says that praise is becoming and appropriate for those who are upright in heart. That means you and me, God’s righteous ones, who are born again. Psalm 34:1 says that I will bless the Lord at all times and His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

And here is the result of rejoicing lips and a joyful heart. In Psalm 5:11,12 we read: But let all those who put their trust in the Lord rejoice. Let them always sing and shout for joy. And look what happens here: The Lord defends them (makes a covering over them, protects them). Do you love His name? Be joyful and be in high spirits. The Lord will bless you and surround you with favor.

Let’s keep ourselves focused on what He does for us and not what others do to us.

Position of Power

As I was making my bed this morning, the Lord spoke to me and said: Position of power.

We are to live from our position of power. Let’s explore that.
In Ephesians 2:4-7 we read:
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

The word places is in italics, indicating that it was put there by the translators at their discretion.
Verse 6 has a reference to chapter 1, verse 3. We cannot read verse 3 without including verses 4-6.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Again, the word places is in italics. In my King James Bible there is a reference that says “things.”

What a storehouse is in these verses. First, Ephesians 2 in the KJV and the Amplified Bible tells us that because God loved us so much and so intensely, because of His rich mercy toward us, even when we were completely without His life, in a life of sin, He made us alive together with Christ (when He was raised from the dead). He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him. The Father Himself saw us raised up to a new life in Him when Jesus was raised from the dead after having become sin for us. Jesus was raised totally free from the sin that He had taken on for us and totally righteous. That is the way the Father saw us, even before we accepted Jesus. What a visionary! What faith He has! Even when people reject His offer, He still sees them free. And it is by His grace (His ability extended to us that we don’t deserve and didn’t work for) we are saved.

In the Father’s eyes, He saw us raised up together with Christ and sitting with Christ in the heavenly sphere as joint heirs with all that Jesus Christ has. Why did He do this? The Amplified Bible says it the most clearly. “He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor) in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus.”

And then we look back at Ephesians 1 in the KJV and the Amplified and see that in His love the Father chose us, actually picked us out for Himself as His own in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love. Is that too much for you to believe for yourself? The Father believes it for you. In His eye, it is an accomplished fact. Take this verse and meditate it today and see yourself like that. That is how the Father saw you before He ever created you and still does see you that way after He created you, even with all the mistakes you have made and still make and all the “messes” you create. He still loves you and sees you as perfect before Him, robed in His holiness, without blame, spotless. Is that too much for you? It is what the Bible says. Until we see ourselves the way He sees us we are not in position. It is not a feeling of being there or not. It is a choice we make of being there, whether we feel like it or not, whether we have messed up or not.

He destined us, planned in love ahead of time for us to be adopted as He own children through Jesus Christ. This was the Father’s purpose, His will. It pleased Him. It was His intention. Why? So that we might be a display to the world and to the enemy of our souls, satan, of the mighty grace of God which He bestows on us freely and lavishly, without end or measure.

That, my Christian friend, is our position. We are seated with Christ in heavenly places with all the benefits of our seating with Him. He has it all. We have it all.

Position of Power

As I was making my bed this morning, the Lord spoke to me and said: Position of power.

We are to live from our position of power. Let’s explore that.
In Ephesians 2:4-7 we read:
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

The word places is in italics, indicating that it was put there by the translators at their discretion.
Verse 6 has a reference to chapter 1, verse 3. We cannot read verse 3 without including verses 4-6.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Again, the word places is in italics. In my King James Bible there is a reference that says “things.”

What a storehouse is in these verses. First, Ephesians 2 in the KJV and the Amplified Bible tells us that because God loved us so much and so intensely, because of His rich mercy toward us, even when we were completely without His life, in a life of sin, He made us alive together with Christ (when He was raised from the dead). He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him. The Father Himself saw us raised up to a new life in Him when Jesus was raised from the dead after having become sin for us. Jesus was raised totally free from the sin that He had taken on for us and totally righteous. That is the way the Father saw us, even before we accepted Jesus. What a visionary! What faith He has! Even when people reject His offer, He still sees them free. And it is by His grace (His ability extended to us that we don’t deserve and didn’t work for) we are saved.

In the Father’s eyes, He saw us raised up together with Christ and sitting with Christ in the heavenly sphere as joint heirs with all that Jesus Christ has. Why did He do this? The Amplified Bible says it the most clearly. “He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor) in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus.”

And then we look back at Ephesians 1 in the KJV and the Amplified and see that in His love the Father chose us, actually picked us out for Himself as His own in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love. Is that too much for you to believe for yourself? The Father believes it for you. In His eye, it is an accomplished fact. Take this verse and meditate it today and see yourself like that. That is how the Father saw you before He ever created you and still does see you that way after He created you, even with all the mistakes you have made and still make and all the “messes” you create. He still loves you and sees you as perfect before Him, robed in His holiness, without blame, spotless. Is that too much for you? It is what the Bible says. Until we see ourselves the way He sees us we are not in position. It is not a feeling of being there or not. It is a choice we make of being there, whether we feel like it or not, whether we have messed up or not.

He destined us, planned in love ahead of time for us to be adopted as He own children through Jesus Christ. This was the Father’s purpose, His will. It pleased Him. It was His intention. Why? So that we might be a display to the world and to the enemy of our souls, satan, of the mighty grace of God which He bestows on us freely and lavishly, without end or measure.

That, my Christian friend, is our position. We are seated with Christ in heavenly places with all the benefits of our seating with Him. He has it all. We have it all.

What Are We Seeking?

Are we seeking His Presence or His Power? Are we seeking Him or what He can do for us? Are we seeking healing or are we seeking the Healer? Are we seeking to get out of debt or are we seeking the Provider? Are we seeking relief from a desperate situation or are we seeking the Prince of Peace? These are some tough questions we must pose to ourselves from time to time and do a checkup on our spirit and soul (mind, will, emotions).

As I was pondering especially this first question this morning, I knew God would not ask this question unless He wanted me to take a good look at where I stood. It was as if He were saying to me: What do you see my Body seeking today? Are they seeking Me or what I can do for them? Do they really love Me or what I do for them, the things I give them, the relief I bring to them? Of course, there is “stuff” He gives to us because He wants us to be abundantly supplied. Of course, there is health for us because He wants us to have His divine health. Of course, there is peace for our stressful situations because He wants us to have His peace. Jesus came, died and rose again so that we can have health, prosperity, peace, righteousness.

Matthew 6:33 tells us that we are to seek first His Kingdom (that is Him and what He represents) and all these things spoken of in the verses before that verse will be added to us (earthly comforts). Hebrews 11:6 tells us that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Colossians 3:1 tells us that we are to seek those things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

In 1 Corinthians 1:22-31 we see that Christ is the power of God. When we seek Him, His power is made available to us because He is the power of God. My determined purpose is that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. My aim is to please and honor Him, to become more intimately acquainted with Him, to KNOW HIM. When we know Him, when we have Him first in our lives, all that He is, is ours. And that is His power. Did you know that His love is the greatest power in the universe? He told me that 30 years ago. Of course that is true, since that is what He is. God is love; we see that specifically spoken in 1 John twice. He doesn’t have love; He is love. So, it stands to reason, if we seek Him and He is in us, then God love is in us and God power is in us (not God’s love, not God’s power but God love, God power because He is love; He doesn’t have love; He is pure love.).

In John, chapter 6 Jesus told the people that they were seeking Him for what He did for them and not for who He was. It is so easy to seek the things instead of Him, especially when we are in a desperate situation. I know. I’ve been there more than once. But what we must realize and understand is that when we seek Him, when we have the fullness of His Presence dwelling in us, we have all that we need, all the things, all the wisdom, all the power. It resides in Him.

Jeremiah 29:13 tells us that when we search for the Lord with all our hearts, we shall seek Him and find Him. We will find the One Who loves us with all of His being. We are His children, born of Him, carrying His name.

Psalm 69:32 in the Amplified Bible tells us that those who seek God as their first need will have hearts that are revived and live. Psalm 22:26 also says that those who seek the Lord as their greatest need will have hearts quickened now and forever.

We end today’s Pearls with Psalm 42. This is my prayer and should be the prayer we all pray. As the hart pants and longs for the water brooks, so I pant and long for You, O God. My inner self thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? (verses 1 and 2) Later on in this Psalm we see the results of seeking God. Deep calls unto deep. My spirit within me calls unto the Spirit of God.(verse 7) Ephesians 3:18 says that we will know His love—the breadth, length, height and depth of it. In verse 8 we see the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime and in the night his song shall be with me, a prayer unto the God of my life. In different versions that verse reads: God entrusts me to His unfailing love day and night alike. He makes His unfailing love shine forth. God promises to love me all day and sing songs all through the night. His love is only a heartbeat away. SEEK HIM!!!!!!!!!!

Whose Voice Are You Listening To?

Whose voice are you listening to?

When I ask you that question, you would undoubtedly say: Oh, I listen to the voice of the Lord. I quickly answered that question the same way when the Lord asked me. I very confidently quoted the scripture from Matthew 10: 4 that I was His sheep and I follow Him and I know His voice, I hear His voice.

Then the next questions was: If you listen to me, why do you pay attention to symptoms of sickness in your body? He might ask you a different question. For example, if you listen to me, why do you pay attention to the few dollars in your pocketbook or checking account? I am learning daily that there are places in my life that the Lord is not my total source. How about you? I believe the Lord is preparing His Body to see Him as their source totally because of the way things are in this world today. Regardless of what is going on, He is our source.

When gasoline prices rise, when bread is $3 a loaf, etc. etc. etc., who is your source? When symptoms of a terminal disease come to your body, who is your source? When you hear that your child has been involved in something they shouldn’t do, who is your source? When it looks like things are not that great in your marriage, who is your source? When someone doesn’t like you and comes against you, who is your source? This is our leading question of the day. Who is our source and who are we listening to? It is good to get counsel from our spouse and counsel from our pastor and counsel from those who are wise in the spiritual things of the Lord. But, ultimately, all the counsel must be presented to the Lord. And we must ask: What is it Lord that You are saying? The only way we can hear what He is saying is to get quiet in His Presence. And if we have not been used to doing that, it will take some time before we hear anything because the noise of the world is pressing in on us too much. The thoughts in our head are yelling too loudly to hear God’s voice.

It is not an option to become sensitive to the voice of the Spirit of God. We must learn how to hear Him and then to obey what He tells us to do. Some people hear Him but then delay in obeying Him. Delayed obedience is disobedience.

We remember that in Romans 10:17 faith comes by HEARING and HEARING by the Word of God. So, we see that hearing is mandatory to faith coming. What ear are we talking about here. Actually, we are talking about two ears---our physical ears that hear sound and our inner spiritual ears that hear the voice of the Spirit of God. The basis for our inner spiritual hearing should always be the Word of God. Whatever we hear must line up with the Word of God or it is not the Lord speaking but our enemy, satan, the imposter.

Let’s use a simple example here about hearing. You get up in the morning and you have a scratchy throat. This voice says: You’re getting a cold. You had better take something for it. Or, worse yet, you’re getting the flu. You better stop by the drugstore and get some medicine. That’s one voice. There’s another voice that says: By His stripes I was healed. And if I was healed, then I am healed. Which voice are you going to follow?

Unfortunately, many members of the Body of Christ will follow the first voice out of fear of something happening in their bodies. One of the things we must learn also is that when we follow the voice of the Lord, the voice of the Word, it is not an instantaneous turnaround. It takes time to learn to trust God’s Word for our lives. It is a process that most people don’t want to fool with. In America it is so much easier to go to the doctor and take medicine and get it over with. That is why healing miracles happen in other countries so much easier. They don’t have easy access to doctors, hospitals and medicine. Christ is their only answer. And they receive immediately. Here in this country, everyone tells us that we are foolish if we don’t go to the doctor, if we don’t take medicine, if we don’t adhere to the medical community’s advice. Now, don’t get me wrong. I know there is a need for doctors and medicine. We must have them, because most people are not at the place in faith where they can do without the medical community.

My point is, whose voice are you and I following? It is a personal thing where we must follow the voice of the Spirit of God in our particular situation. And if you are not used to hearing His voice, then you won’t recognize it when He speaks. Practice hearing Him until it is as easy as hearing the voice of your spouse or your children or your best friend. When I pick up the telephone, I recognize my husband’s voice immediately. I know my son’s voice immediately. Why? Because I listen to their voices all the time. That is the way it must be with our Lord. We must be as familiar with His voice as we are those of the people we love here on this earth.

We are His sheep and we DO HEAR HIS VOICE!

Who Is In Charge?

The Spirit of God has been speaking to me for a while regarding control and whom we serve in the Body of Christ. The honest question we must ask ourselves is this: Is The Holy Spirit of God in control, in charge of every area of my life (and that includes our thought life)? Am I serving Him in every aspect of my life? I realized from searching the scriptures that the Lord is very frank about who we serve. We can be Christians and be in bondage (in other words serving the enemy of our lives) to certain things in our lives. One of the greatest bondages I see in all of us is fear in one or more areas of our lives. And we know that fear is of the devil. So in that sense, we would be serving the devil in the areas that we fear. It is not that we are not saved. It is not that we are not children of God, but we serve the one whom we give the most thought and attention to.

There are two areas of fear in my life that I have turned over to the Lord. He is helping me because I have made Him Lord of those areas, by the words of my mouth and by the thoughts of my mind. I may not “feel” any different where those two areas of fear are concerned, but I know that the Word is true, and when I turned it over to the Lord, that is it. As far as I am concerned He is now Lord of those areas. Joyce Meyer tells us in one or more of her books that we are to do it afraid. In other words, we are to confront our fear and do that which would overtake that fear. It is probably one of the biggest things we as Christians must do. Why is that? Because fear contaminates our faith and we won’t receive from the Lord. We have to remember that it is only faith that pleases Him and it is only faith that will bring to us what we need.

What a deception the devil has perpetrated on all of us by introducing fears in our lives and seeing how we would respond. He knows that he is the author of fear, the king of that realm of darkness, and if he can get us to buy into a fear, he is then the one in charge, actually the lord of that area of our lives. And that is a tragedy that Jesus does not want to happen.

I always thought Jesus was very harsh with Peter in Matthew 16:23 (when he said to Peter, after Peter had rebuked Him about going to Jerusalem and fulfilling what He was called to do) Get thee behind me, satan: you are an offence unto me: for you savor not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. In the Amplified Bible it says: Get behind Me, satan! You are in My way [an offense and a hindrance and a snare to Me]; for you are minding what partakes not of the nature and quality of God, but of men.

That is a very strong statement that Jesus made. What He was saying was this. Peter, this is serious business when you mind the things that are of men and not of God. When we pay more attention to the things that are of this earth, when we give our thoughts to things that are earthly, we are placing ourselves in satan’s hands to do with us as he pleases. That is why God is so adamant about placing our thoughts on things which are above and placing our lives in the arena of seeking first God’s kingdom (His way of doing things).

You know, there are areas of every one of our lives in which we, with out thoughts and our actions, are serving ourselves and not God. What we are doing is playing right into the hands of the enemy. Two of the biggest areas we must guard our hearts are in the area of our bodies (sickness and disease) and in the area of our pocketbooks (finances). Those two areas are the two that trip up most people. They involve trust. By our actions, can people see who we are trusting where health is concerned? Can people see who we are trusting where our finances our concerned? God is to be our source in everything. I have been asking myself these questions lately. Do we depend on our paycheck or do we depend on God? Do we depend on the doctor’s report or do we depend on God’s report (His Word)? It is a trust factor. And it is a big one.

I have had an awareness in my spirit man of the sadness that God must feel when he sees us struggling with areas of fear and unbelief. He has an abundance set aside for us in all aspects of our lives. And so many Christians never have access to that abundance until they go to heaven. What a waste of the spiritual resources God has placed at our fingertips as a result of the death of His Son on the cross. Yes, it is a fight to maintain what Jesus has purchased for us because we have an enemy. And he does everything he can to keep us from having what our dear Savior purchased for us. But we have a Savior Who is greater than our enemy. We will trust Him.

Passion

Has anyone ever said to you: What is your passion? And did you have an answer for them? If you didn’t, what do you think your passion in life is? What should your passion be in life?

The kind of passion I am talking about is defined as eager desire, zeal, excitement. I used to have many passions as my natural personality is one of being an involved, intense person, fully devoted and focused on whatever I am excited about. God has used that outgoing personality to temper me with His passion for people to come to Jesus and once they do come to Jesus, to teach them how to live the victorious life. So, my main passion in life now is to love Jesus and the Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit and to allow that love to flow through me to those around me. When I look at myself, I know I have so much to learn about God’s love, but I am asking Him to teach me. His love has nothing to do with our emotions. His love is a decision we make to love someone, regardless of how they respond to us or how they treat us. Only God can create that kind of love in any of us. We cannot do it in our own efforts.

I have a passion to do the Father’s perfect will while I am here on this earth. Jesus said that He came to do the Father’s will. That’s what I want to be like. The Heavenly Father has a perfect plan for each one of us to accomplish while we are here on this earth. His word tells us that He knows the plans He has for us, to give us an expected end; they are plans for good and not for evil. His purpose for us will stand. His plans for us will be performed as we yield our vessels to Him, as we let go of our pre-conceived ideas of what we are supposed to do and allow Him to perform for us what He wants happening in our lives.

I have a passion to be obedient to the Lord, to follow His directions, even when it is not what I would prefer, even when it is not comfortable, even when it looks different than the picture I would like to paint. Don’t get me wrong. Following Jesus and being obedient to the Father’s wishes doesn’t have to be hard thing. We are the ones who make it hard with our resistance in the flesh. Sometimes our flesh doesn’t like what it has to do. But our spirit soars in the heavenlies when we are doing the Father’s will, when we are obeying His instructions. Have you noticed that when you obey God, the anointing, the Presence of God is much stronger in your life? Check it out. It is true.

I have a passion to know Him intimately, to know the power of His presence. I never want to seek His power. I always want to seek His Presence, to seek His face. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you (earthly things). In His Presence is fullness of joy. In His Presence is peace beyond measure. He said that He gives us His peace, not as the world gives. His word says that His joy is our strength. In His Presence is love immeasurable, and we can know the depth and height and breadth and length of His love. In His Presence is such a beauty of holiness and awesome grace. His grace (His ability to do what we cannot do in our own efforts because He loves us) is always more than enough for us. His holy Presence is always beyond what we can fathom; when we enter into one realm of His Presence, there are so many other places in Him that we have not even gone into. There will always be facets of God that we are discovering throughout all eternity. He is like a perfect diamond, many-faceted, light coming from His being. His very nature is one of light, life and love. What a wonderful, beautiful Lord we have.

I have a passion that others will know Him as I do. I have a passion to tell them about my Jesus, how much He cares for them, how much He loves them, how much He wants to give them a life full of abundance in every area.

Our passions are what make up our dream. So, today what are your passions? What is your dream? What has God placed in your heart to fulfill? What do you see for yourself? And what are you doing about it? Are you pressing in to Him? Are you doing something with your passions? It’s time to get excited about the things of the Lord. It’s time to pursue God with an enthusiasm, an excitement, a zeal, an eager desire. The world needs to see a people who have a passionate life in Jesus. We need to make them h-u-n-g-r-y for Him, to the point that they can’t wait to get to know Him. That, my friend, is the result of passion, fire for Him burning in our spirit.

The Light of the World

I truly believe we are living in the last days before Jesus comes. All indicators are around us everywhere we look. The dark is getting darker and the Light of the world, Jesus Christ Himself, is getting Lighter every day. And who is that Light shining through----you and me as God’s children. What an exciting time we live in---we are the ones who are appointed to bring in the massive harvest God has waiting for us to reap. People are coming into God’s Kingdom in portions unheard of before. Don’t limit God where your own personal witnessing is concerned. If all around the world, each one brought one, can you see what a great harvest that would be. Yes, there are those who bring in multitudes, but there would also be multitudes if each one brought one.

In John 8:12 Jesus tells us He is the Light of the world and that His Light is Life for us. He is called the true Light in John 1:9. in 1 John 1:5 we read that God is Light.

Let’s talk today about Jesus being in you as the Light of God. And you are His Light shining in a dark world. Jesus said in Matthew 5:14-16: You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it gives light to all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. We see from this passage of scripture that we are to let Jesus shine through us so that others may see Him and want Him for their own lives, to light their candle of life. As we share God’s Word with others, we are sharing Him and His Light. In Psalm 119:105 God’s Word is called a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

In the beginning of creation in Genesis 1:3, God literally said: LIGHT IN ME, BE! And His presence was manifested in this realm that He would create----this place called earth----for the man that He would create in His own image, breathe His own life into (His Presence, His glory, His power), and set in the position of authority as the lord of this earth that God gave to him. It was to be a Father and son relationship, a work of togetherness, union with one another, one with each other. But instead, Adam chose, in a moment of time, to give all that away. He had no idea what he was giving away until after he had done it.

How many times do we unknowingly in this present time give away what God has given to us-----health, relationships, prosperity in our soul, finances? We must focus on what He has given to us for our benefit. He daily loads us with benefits. We have been given the abundant life. Jesus said so Himself in John 10:10. He told us who steals from us and He told us Who gives to us. You would think such a simple statement would be understood by all. But how many times do we focus on what the devil is stealing from us, when we should be focusing on what Jesus has given to us! Our problem is that when we don’t see something with our natural eyes or feel it, we say that we don’t have it. We need to wake up to the fact that we are not a body. We are a spirit and live in a body. We must heed our spirit and live being guided by our spirit.

The Light of God in us is to shine brighter and brighter every day. In Proverbs 4:18 we read: The path of the just (that’s you if you are born again) is as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day. I like the way it reads in the Amplified Bible: But the path of the [uncompromisingly] just and righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines more and more (brighter and clearer) until [it reaches its full strength and glory in] the perfect day [to be prepared].

What I find interesting about Proverbs 4:18 is that the next verse in 19 talks about the way of the wicked being deep darkness and the very next 3 verses talk about the Word of God. That is no accident. Pay attention to God’s Word. Incline your ear unto His Word. Don’t let His Word depart from your eyes. Keep His Word in the center of your heart. FOR HIS WORD IS LIFE AND HEALTH AND HEALING TO ALL OUR FLESH. In Psalm 119:105 in a previous paragraph, God’s Word is referred to us as light. So, the more of His Word you have in you, by meditating His Word day and night (Joshua 1:8), the more of the Light of God will shine through you for all the world to see and be drawn to Jesus.

Spirit-Led, Spirit-Governed

Today let’s discuss spirit-led, spirit-governed lives. Recently I have been speaking that I am led by the Spirit of God and have been having you confess that as well. We all are to be led of the Spirit of God.

If we look up the word “lead” or “led” in the dictionary we find these definitions (1828 Webster Dictionary).
To guide by the hand; as to lead a child.
To guide or conduct by showing the way; to direct.
To conduct to any place.
To precede.
To guide showing the method of attaining an object.


We see that when one is led, someone takes him by the hand, leads him, guides him, conducts him to a place and precedes him on the path. The Holy Spirit leads us; He guides us.

In John 16:13, Jesus told us that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth and He will guide us into all the Truth. He is our Guide.

In Rom. 8:14 we see that as many as are led by the Sprit of God are sons of God.

In Gal. 5:18 we read that if we are guided, led by the Holy Spirit, we are not subject to the law.

From all these definitions and these scriptures, we see that it is important to be led, to be guided by the Holy Spirit because He will guide us into Truth; He will lead us by our spirit man and we will not be subject to the law. What is the law? Rules and regulations for the flesh to follow. Rules and regulations are easy because they put us within parameters and we don’t have to think for ourselves. Rules and regulations are especially necessary for children. Children need to be regulated. But when we grow up, we are regulated by our inner man, where the Holy Spirit dwells. Being led of the Spirit is not always as absolute as rules and regulations are. There is that element of trusting that rules do not require. If there is a rule, you either obey it or you don’t. When we have to depend on our inner man, our spirit, where the Holy Spirit dwells, there is more of a letting go of control over our lives and relying on Him.

Governing is the word for our overall life 24-7. It is the word for direct, steer, regulate. Being led is part of governing. But governing is for the mature in Christ. It is the word for Jesus being the Lord of every area of our lives, no closed doors anywhere to Him. He has charge of all--- spirit, soul, body, socially, financially. There is no one area He is not allowed to be over. It is a place of surrender and trust for the Spirit of God to be in charge because we trust Him completely.

In Rom. 8:4-6 in the Amplified Bible we see that we are not to move in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit, our lives governed and controlled by the Holy Spirit and not by the standards and according to the dictates of our flesh. Those who are controlled by the flesh set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who according to the Spirit of God are controlled by the desires of the spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the Holy Spirit. The mind of the Holy Spirit is peace. Follow your pathway of peace. In verse 2 and 3 we see that the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. The power of the law is strengthened by the flesh, the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit. The power of the law is overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit living in our spirits and governing our lives.

In Colossians 2:6-10 in the Amplified Bible we read that as we have received Christ Jesus the Lord we are to regulate our lives and conduct ourselves in union with and conformity to Him, having the roots of our being firmly and deeply planted in Him, fixed and founded in Him, being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith, just as we were taught, and abounding and overflowing in it with thanksgiving. We ourselves are to see to it that no one makes us captive by their co-called philosophy and intellectualism and vain deceit, idle fancies and plain nonsense, following human tradition, men’s ideas of the material rather than the spiritual world, just crude notions following the rudimentary and elemental teachings of the universe and disregarding the teachings of Christ. Paul goes on to say in this chapter that we are not to let anyone defraud us by their sensuous notions and inflated by their unspiritual thoughts and fleshly conceits. But we are to hold fast to the Head, Christ, and not indulge in practices that have indeed the outward appearance popularly passing for wisdom, in promoting self-imposed rigor of devotion and delight in self-humiliation and severity of discipline of the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh, the lower nature, which serves only to indulge the flesh.

The bottom line is this: When we allow the Holy Spirit of God to govern our lives, He will direct our every action and thought. What we have to do is trust Him enough to totally submit to His will for our lives, regardless of what our flesh may be saying to us. It is not always the easiest thing to follow the spirit rather than the flesh, especially when those around you are following their worldly wisdom, which disguises itself as Godly wisdom. Yes, there will be times when we make mistakes, but I would rather risk making a mistake following the Spirit of God than to follow a set of rules that control me only outwardly but never deal with my heart issues. Heart issues are hidden issues that must be brought to the surface and dealt with. Many people do not want to do that because it means we have to swallow pride; we have to admit when we make mistakes; we have to admit that we have wrong attitudes; we have to admit our inadequacies and most of all, we have to admit total dependence on the Spirit of God. I want my life governed by the Holy Spirit and not my flesh. How about you today? Let’s allow Him to do a heart assessment for us.

He Cares For You

Today has been a beautiful day in our neighborhood. The sun was shining. The birds were singing. The snow was almost all melted. Spring is coming. And we are all moving forward to new heights in Christ Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s take some time right here and stop and thank the Lord for all He has done, is doing, and is going to do in our lives.

He is moving us to new levels of maturity. We are growing up. We are becoming like Him, created in His image and likeness. We are just like our Heavenly Papa. He is so good to us.

Let’s take this portion of our day today to speak scriptures concerning our Lord’s care for us.

2 Corinthians 9:8 in the Amplified Bible reads:
And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation].

Look at that verse. God Almighty, the One Who created the universe and then you and me, is able (and I might add, quite willing) to make every favor and earthly blessing come to us in abundance. And what is the reason for that? So that we may be furnished with all we need to supply ourselves and all those around us. Wow! What a God!

And in Galatians 3:13,14 we see that Christ purchased our freedom, redeemed us, released us from the curse of the law (sin, sickness and disease, poverty, all that sin has brought) so that we may live in the blessing.

Philippians 4:19, a very familiar verse in the Amplified Bible
And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 2:9,10
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily
And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.

God will liberally supply our every need. He will fill us up with His fullness, to the full. How? According to His supply, His riches in His Presence, His glory, in Christ Jesus.

I am preaching myself happy here with this Word of God. Listen to this one in 2 Thessalonians 2: 16 and 17 in the Amplified Bible.
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, Who loved us and gave us everlasting consolation and encouragement and well-founded hope through [His] grace (unmerited favor)
Comfort and encourage your hearts and strengthen them [make them steadfast and keep them unswerving] in every good work and word.

Did you hear that? Jesus and the Father love us. They give us encouragement, hope, comfort, strength, steadfastness. They keep us steady and unswerving in the word of God. I see something here. They keep us steady in the Word of God. Did you see that? Have you had some challenge with wavering lately?. Take that verse and carry it with you and pull it out when you feel like you are wavering where God’s word is concerned for your situation. The Father and Jesus establish us and keep us steady in the Word of God. First they give us the word and then they keep us steady in the word as we pray and speak it and stay steady on that word until we see it come to pass in our lives on this earth. It shall come to pass. Do you hear me? It shall come to pass. It shall come to pass. It shall come to pass.

Psalm 37:5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.

A Higher Place

It seems that we have a theme this week. It is about going to a higher place, a new level in the Lord Jesus Christ. I firmly believe He is calling each of us in the Body of Christ to a higher level in Him, in His Kingdom, in understanding Him and walking in the fullness of His power in us.

One thing I realize----we all have places of weakness in our lives, and many times those very places of weakness become our places of comfort that we don’t want to leave. We will never go to a higher level if we are content to stay in our place of comfortable weakness. What is it that you are comfortable with today that you can’t seem to leave behind you to go to God’s higher places?

Do you know that one of the most comfortable places is our desire to be around people all the time instead of spending quiet times with the Lord? I love to talk, as any of my friends can tell you, but there are times when I have to curb that desire and go into my study and shut the door and leave the telephone on its cradle. That can turn into a weakness that I am comfortable with. It actually would be classified as a weakness of the flesh.

There are times in our lives that God is calling us to a place of solitude, devoid of all human contact. Why would we resist being alone with the wonderful Lord of our lives? I know why. It’s because we are not comfortable sitting for hours, not always knowing what to say or hearing anything from Him, especially in the beginning of our time of solitude. I believe the Holy Spirit is calling us to places of quietude and prayer and fellowship with Him. What are we doing about that call? Are we responding with a yes, Lord, or are we responding with a no, Lord, I am too uncomfortable with silence and no human contact. I can guarantee you that once you make the decision to leave your comfort zone behind and be with Him, there are realms of His Presence and His Glory that you will enter into that will leave you with a breathless desire for more and more and more and more of Him. I know. I am learning to go there more and more often. It is oh so wonderful!

I must go back to the verse we have already explored, but I can’t get away from this verse for us to ponder this week.

Paul’s desire in Philippians 3:13,14 KJV
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

We see here, if we leave out the italicized words put in for more clarity by the translators, that this verse reads: I count not myself to have apprehended but one thing: forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.

We must leave behind those things that we used to be and do and press forward, reaching, stretching with everything in us for the high road, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. There is a high life and there is a low life. The low life is one of fleshly desires and submission. The high life is one of pursuing the desires of the Spirit of God for our lives. We all must make choices every day, aiming either for what God has or what we want in our own humanity. And what God wants is always far superior to anything we would ever want in our own natural selves.

God is calling us upward to His goals, higher than anything we can ask or think or desire, infinitely beyond our highest fleshly pursuits. We must completely forget the things that are behind and stretch intensely for that which is in front of us. In the J.B. Phillips translation we read: “I forget all that lies behind me and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead I go straight for the goal ----my reward the honour of my high calling by God in Christ Jesus.” In Moffatt’s translation we read: “my one thought is, by forgetting what lies behind me and straining to what lies before me, to press on to the goal for the prize of God’s high call in Christ Jesus.” We must keep pursuing that which is before us and forget what lies behind us. We can’t go back. We must go forward. That is where the prize, the fulfillment, God’s destiny is for us.