Thursday, May 30, 2013

what do i say?

how many times are we faced with a situation and we don't know what to say?
someone confesses that they are having an affair on their spouse.
 someone tells you that they are stealing from the cash register at work.
someone tells you I want to kill myself.
why don't we know what to say in these situations?
or is our response a gut level reaction stating the obvious?
or are we abiding in the vine so that even our responses are linked to the keeper of the vine?
John 16 tells us that "apart from Me you can accomplish nothing"
the thing about nothing, is its nothing.
nada.
no thing
not a thing.
not a job.
not an activity.
not even a response.
wait.
not a response.
if we can do no thing, nothing, not a thing without him, then even how we respond apart from him is incorrect.
ouch.
if you can't say amen, sometimes you have to say ouch.
how many times have a responded in my flesh. thinking it was God. but knowing, that is probably not the way God would respond.
this is my point and my passion.
I am a branch.
we have to stay abiding in the vine (Jesus) to accomplish anything, even a response to a situation.
how do we abide?
I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
could this be the key, the clue to abiding.
its not just sitting there saying or singing 'abiding in the vine'
it's an action.
the word has to dwell in us, so that we do not sin against Him.
the word has to abide in me.
how does the word abide in me?
by reading it.
by meditating on it.
by consuming it.
study it.
when the word abides in us, we will know what His response is, and what my response is.
we can even pray the word.
Jeremiah 1:9 says: then God reached out and touched my mouth and He gave me His divine message. Look I have placed my words in you. You will know what to say now, for you will be my voice.
you can start with that.
pray that verse,
God, reach out and touch my mouth to speak your words, place your words in my mouth and I will be your voice.
do you see that?
that is abiding.
that is the word of God richly dwelling in you.
it's a promise from God.
and as I pray, I have a response to the situations I am faced with.
Is your boss treating your like dirt?
God, I bless those that persecute me
I bless my boss.
2 Thessalonians 2 - may our Lord and God our Father who has loved you, comfort your heart and establish or strength your will to accomplish every good work.
notice it doesn't say He will get you out of the situation , but strength you though it.
so when your friends, family and coworkers come to you, let your response be from that place of abiding in the word.
what do I say?
I say what He is saying
His word is still speaking the answers.
abide in me and my words will abide in you
this is what I say.
 
 
 
 

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

defriended and dismissed

ahh.
the pain of being defriended on facebook. ditched.
the agony of being dismissed in public.
admit it.
 the minute you are defriended or dimissed
 you feel the pressure of "I'm not liked anymore"
"They never really liked you"
"no one loves you"
 
I experienced that feeling just today.
several times actually.
it brings shame.
it brings humiliation.
 
is this real? is this truth?
no
no it isn't
 
if the enemy is whispering these lies into your ear, then he is too close to you.
 
when I begin to believe these lies, that are fueled by the enemy, they then become ungodly beliefs
then these ungodly beliefs become my reality,
and this reality is not in the word of God
the devil is a liar
he is out to lie to you
 
The truth is God will never leave or forsake you
God says you are the head and not the tail
we get to take every thought captive and
surrender it to God..and then my thoughts become His thoughts
He calls me friend.
 
 
defriended?
dismissed?
impossible!
 
 
 
 

Monday, May 27, 2013

Freedom

I am thankful to God for the freedom that comes through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 7:25

Today, as we reflect on our freedom, most of us think of our politic freedom. And I am so very grateful for all branches of military and those who served to bring us this freedom. May God bless all of you, past, present and future.

But, how many of us think on a daily basis of the freedom we have in Jesus? Or maybe you really don't feel very free spiritually?

When I think of the ultimate price that Jesus, as a man, paid for us, today to live free, it brings me to my knees. Every drop of His blood was for freedom. Every piece of flesh that was ripped off of him, was for my freedom to love and be loved by Him. Every nail that was pounded into his body onto a the cross, was for me, so that I would never have to take that pounding, but could freely come to the cross and die. die to my shame. my sin. my past. my guilt. my freedom. yes. even my freedom isn't free if I do not know how I received it.

so today, are you free. truly free.

it was for freedom that Christ has set you free.

live loved and live free.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

His majesty, my desire

I am reading psalm 145 today. one of my faves.
 
Your majesty and glorious splendor captivate me (verse 5)
 
are we really captivated by His majesty? His Glorious?
 
everything which has to do with God is majestic, honorable and glorious. His very nature is glory. His very being is majestic. do we ever just look into the sky and think, My God you are so majestic!
 
There is nothing about the infinite Lord that is unworthy of His royalty
nothing is wanting to the splendor of his reign (CS)
 
I think sometimes, we think we are adding to His worthy or majesty by our spectacular shows on Sunday. like our simple services could somehow add to the worth or the creator.
we are worship because He IS altogether worthy
He IS altogether wonderful
 
I can't add to His worthy. He is worth.
 
His least is greater than man's greatest
His lowest is still higher than man's highest
 
He alone is worthy of ALL praise
 
I am man. He is God. I am a branch. He is the Vine.
 
His open hand satisfies.  (verse 16)
The desire of every living thing are met by Your open hand.

yesterday I defined open hand - and it means showing power, direction

How are Jesus hands open that he can satisfy every living thing?

His hands were open on the cross.

all my desires are fulfilled by His open hands (of power and direction) on the cross
His hands are still open
doesn't this put a different perspective on what my desires are?

all of you who revere (fear) Him
God will satisfy your desires  (verse 19)

how many times have we misquoted this verse.
God will give ME the desires of my heart..
I want shoes, I want a job, I want, I want..

do you notice that there is a condition attached to this promise?

we forget that most of the 3000 promises like this one are contingent on our action

When I live a life that reveres Him, then he will satisfy your desire

the greatest desire in me should be, to be like Him !

revere: to show devoted deferential honor to : regard as worthy of great honor

are we showing devoted honor to Him
are we regarding Him as worthy
do we treat Him with great honor

It is only by His open hand that I can now fear and love God
His open hand made the way for me to revere, honor and see His majesty and worth, and as I see Him in this place...my desires become all about him.

His majesty
my desire
 
 
 

Friday, May 24, 2013

He trains my hands ?

blessed be my rock, the Lord, let him be praised. he trains my hands for battle and my fingers for warfare.

what does that even mean? or what does that look like?
He trains my hands for battle. my fingers for war ?

the word train or teach means: to be taught, to be learned, diligent, expert, skillful

so He teaches, diligently teaches me, expertly teaches

the word fingers or hands: from the root word yawd - meaning the open one, indicating power, means and direction !

He diligently, expertly, skillfully teaches my hands...
He trains my fingers to be open in power and direction...

I want to challenge your thinking from the natural to the spiritual for today.

we read these verses and immediately think of a brawl, or a street fight? but I think this fight is way deeper than that.

David was a man of war, but also a man of prayer.

so could this be a training in prayer ? in spiritual warfare?

duet. 3:2 I'm going to defeat him and his whole army for you, 3:22 I your God will do the fighting for you, 11:22 He will drive out all the nations for you.

do you see the pattern? God has the battle and the victory (proverbs 21:31)He promises that the battle belongs to the Lord

all through the psalms we see how prayer/worship was the weapon. (psal 7, 149, 91)

in Zecheriah 14:1 and Jeremiah 20:11 we are told God will do the battle

Even Romans 8:31 tells me that if God is for me who can be against me

so what then is the training of my hands for  battle and my fingers for war?

is it that place of the secret place where my hands are lifted in total surrender to Jesus the warrior king,

is this the place where my fingers learn to interlock in prayer ? to dance in worship?

are my hands and fingers being trained in a posture of prayer and worship?

He trains my hands to be surrendered in prayer and my fingers to worship...

isn't prayer where the battle is ?

so for my hands to be trained in battle, could it be possible that it is a position of prayer?

let the training begin.




Thursday, May 23, 2013

shipwrecked. beaten. prosperous.

shipwrecked. beaten. prosperous. what do these 3 words have in common? This is who Paul describes his life, or one of his journeys. Just to get to Rome, which he considered a prosperous journey, he was in chains, beaten, and shipwrecked, yet considered this prosperous?
do we consider our lives prosperous ?
 do we understand the word as it tells us; Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
what does that look like? to have your soul prosper? can my soul be rich? is it all about what we are looking at and what we consider prosperous?
what would you think if I told you, you are part of your life being prosperous?
Psalm 141 tells me to 'let my gaze be fixed upon you'. What does that look like to fix my gaze on Jesus, to look contently at him, to focus on His face, to meditate on Him. Is this the key to being prosperous?
by keeping my focus on him. if blessings come from obedience and obedience comes from hearing his voice, don't I have to gaze at him to hear?
if prosperity is a blessings as written in Duet. 28 and the command was to obey the voice, wouldn't it be easy to hear if I was fixing my gaze on him?
wow - revelation !! can't you always hear someone better if you are face to face?
"But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ "
(jer. 7:23)
let's dig in. for it to be well with me, I am to obey the voice of God, and walk in that obedience.
this blessing of prosperity comes from hearing and obeying.
 Isn't this the example that Paul is giving us? hearing. obeying. prosperity. notice it doesn't say comfortable and lots of stuff. maybe prosperity is a state of being rather than a level to reach?
so today I am shipwrecked. beaten. but prosperous.

i am a branch..

I am the true vine, and my Father is the keeper of the vine. Abide in me and I will abide in you. I am the vine and you are the branch. Without me you will accomplish nothing.
I think sometimes we forget that we are the branch. Jesus is the vine that connects us to the Father, the keeper of the vine.
We race all around doing things doing things, busy things that aren't connected to the vine. A branch cannot bear fruit if it is disconnected from the vine. Even our redemption, our reconciliation, our salvation comes from being the branch, connected to the vine, held together by the keeper of the vine.
If you abide in me, and my voice (the hearing and obeying of the word) abides in you, THEN anything you ask will come to pass. If you abide in me THEN you will bear much fruit. HOWEVER the Father cuts away those who do not bear fruit. The word for hear is the Hebrew word "shema", which means hearing AND obeying. So you can literally replace the word listen, or hear with obey.
This brings a new question. Am I bearing good fruit? Is my fruit bringing glory to the Father or to myself? Is that how you tell good fruit, it all points to the Father and not myself. I see a lot of self fruit out there.
How do we know we are abiding?
Abide in my love. Follow my example in obeying the Father's command and receive His love. If you obey and you will stay in my love. Does that mean the opposite is also true? If I do not obey Him, am I not loving Him? ouch ! Jesus then says; I want you to know the delight I experience, to find ultimate satisfaction, which Is why I am telling you all of this. Jesus is telling us this so that we can know like he did what it looks like to have ultimate delight and satisfaction in this life as we live as a branch connected to the vine. Is this the same delight that he says, I will give you the delights of your heart. And that delight is really to be connected to him.
If anyone does not abide in Me, he is like a branch that is tossed out and shrivels up and is later tossed into the fire to burn. Do you feel like you are shriveled? do you feel like you are being tossed aside? are you abiding? are you a branch ? or trying to be the vine?
I want to be a branch.