Mat 14:14 And Jesus went out and saw a great crowd, and He was moved with compassion toward them. And He healed their sick.
There is a great multitude today who are desperately hungry and thirsty. All over the world the people dwell in great darkness and the darkness increases every day. Hell has opened its vaults and is beginning to spew out evil with increasing speed and urgency because it knows its time is short. There is desperate darkness coming and it is coming at us with alarming speed. Yet, as in the time of Noah, the world is mostly ignorant of the impending disaster about to befall it. Like the children of Israel when Jesus cries ” O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to her, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!”
How do you feel about the world? Do you fear the world? Do you avoid the world? Do you deliberately keep your distance from a people you know are plunging headlong into darkness? Perhaps you fear the confrontation that would take place if you challenge the world or even just stand your ground? There are a couple of things I know about the world. God so loved it that He gave His only Son for it so that they could find deliverance from their captivity and their darkness. Jesus had compassion toward the multitude, the crowd. The very same crowd He knew would be calling for His blood soon. The very same crowd He knew that were hurtling towards destruction.
Only a mere 35 years after the crucifixion Israel was destroyed as a nation. Do you love the world as our Father in Heaven loves it? Will you demonstrate that love today if the Lord points one of the crowd out to you to minister to? Be ready, the Lord is looking for wiling hearts who want to walk in divine appointments. If we hate and despise the world because of its wickedness then we will never be ready to share the good news of the Gospel. It is the heart of love, ever steadfast in the truth, that is ready for divine appointments. We can be fierce in our stance for Christ, but it must flow out of a loving heart. Lord, increase our love this day for what you love.
“As soon as they had come to land they saw a fire of coals there, and fish on it, and bread.” (John 21:9)
All night long the disciples had fished and had caught nothing, yet one word from the lord and the nets were full. Notice that when Peter jumped overboard and swam ashore, there was already fish cooking on a fire of coals and there was bread. There was food that Jesus had prepared. The food Peter was about to eat was not from his own catch. Even his own catch had been enabled by the Lord. In every way we are reliant and can depend upon the Lord.
Remember when the disciples were rowing across the waters in the midst of a great storm and were getting nowhere? They were exhausted and frightened. Then Jesus comes walking on the water through the storm and enters their boat and suddenly they were at the other side. As soon as Jesus entered the situation all their striving ceased. Have you found such rest in Jesus? Do you get caught up with this life and its constant demands? It’s exhausting isn’t it?
To be content with where you are is not to be passive at all. One can work as unto the Lord but still have the focus on Jesus. When we are close to Jesus everything becomes sanctified. Even if all my hard work does not produce the results I was looking for, there is still fish cooking on a fire of coals and bread from heaven to eat. To walk in a place such as this is to walk in a sanctified place breathing rarefied air.
In God there is peace. Shall we not invite Him in to our boat today? Simplify your life today and simply follow His instructions. By doing this, by seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. If we learn to be content with a fire of coals, some fish and some bread, then the Lord can safely fill our nets. Be at peace in Him, let Jesus be the delight of your heart and all these things shall be added unto you.
2Sa 12:10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.
King David is in a very bad situation. He has committed adultery with Bathsheba, he tried to cover his tracks when she got pregnant, but a foreign convert , Uriah the Hittite , the husband of Bathsheba was more honorable that David. Therefore David’s attempts to cover up his adultery was foiled so David had him killed. This is such a low state for the man after God’s own heart. And after Nathan the prophet comes to David and exposes him, God speaks. God speaks brothers and sisters, one should be very afraid when God speaks, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. And here is the charge that God levels against David, His beloved. ” You have despised me.”
Now this word despised in the Hebrew is ” baw-zaw,” meaning to disesteem, to think lightly off. It is the same word used in Gen 25:34 to describe Esau’s selling of his birthright for some bread and some soup. Can you imagine selling your birthright just simply to satisfy your immediate needs? Can you imagine that food on the table would be thought more highly of than the Living God and the birthright that He has given to us? And yet, do we not live in a day and age where our immediate needs, meaning the basic needs of this world and our day-to-day living are thought more highly of than God?
Are we not encouraged to live our best lives now? Have we not allowed our desires and hungers to be elevated above our love and desire for God? And are we not blind to it, so terribly blind to it? If David needed a prophet to reveal his wickedness, and this a man after God’s own heart, beloved of God, are we so proud as to think that we would not need this level of rebuke?
Christendom today has despised God in the fullest sense of that word. They are as blind to their sin as David was to his. And unless they hear God directly and acknowledge and repent of their sin as David did, they will be hopelessly lost to, and be entangled by the cares of this world. I praise God that He never leaves us without a witness, whether it is one crying in the wilderness or a remnant that refuses to bow the knee to the gods of this world. God will have a spotless bride, He will raise up a generation that will follow Him and Him alone.
Rom 4:18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
In this particular case we see that Abraham and his wife are well beyond the age of bearing a child. Sarah’s womb was dead, it could carry no life. And so in life we oftentimes run into situations that defies hope, that stands diametrically opposed to hope. All the evidence of the rational world and the finest expert opinions dash any worldly hope upon the rocks of hopelessness and despair. Yet brothers and sisters, it is a glorious thing to remember that our hope is not the hope of the world. Our hope is founded upon our God and His word, His promises. His word is not broken, His promises cannot be broken. And it is this hope that is a wellspring of joy and peace and love and a sound mind.
Abraham, the father of faith believed God that life would spring forth from death. Now from the first promise until the fulfillment it took 25 years. Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 when Issac was conceived. This defied all the evidence of the rational world. In the world Abraham would have had no hope. In the world we too would have no hope, yet praise God we may be in the world but not off it. We walk according to the Spirit of God, we stand upon the Word of God. we believe in the promises of God and we walk in the Kingdom of God. This kingdom is and always has been a place of miracles and a wellspring of hope.
The birth of Issac is the birth of a nation. It is this line that would give us Jesus, the seed that would bless all the nations of the world. It sprang forth from the impossible which is the realm of the miraculous. This realm has a throne and upon that throne sits our heavenly Father. Can hope come forth from hopelessness? Yes indeed. Just as Jesus came forth from His heavenly realm and stepped into our world, then sight can come forth from blindness, joy can come forth from despair and Lazarus can come forth from the grave. Jesus is my blessed hope, all other ground in sinking sand.
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
It’s a terrible thing to be held captive by our own thoughts. How exhausting it can be when we allow them to consume and overwhelm us? They can begin to eat away at us. They can even rob us of sleep and leave us tired and weary and walking the floor at night. I thank the Lord that He freed us and gave us the ability to take every thought into captivity and focus on Him. If a specific situation or trial has taken hold of your mind today, know that there is a way of escape, you are no longer slaves to the flesh but bond-servants, willing servants to the Lord of power.
If you have been set free by the Lord then you are free indeed. You now have the power to take those thoughts captive, they must bow to the Spirit of God in you. By an act of your will, take your eyes off of that situation today and turn them to Jesus and draw close to Him and peace will flood your soul. “Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” (Matt. 11:28-30)
Commit your heart to trust in Him today. Determine in your heart that you will no longer walk in fear. Give it to the Lord of hosts, let Him take the burden. He will take it if you will give it to Him. Your situation may not change but your attitude in the midst of it will. It will give you clarity of thought and the ability to focus and speak to the Lord. As your mind is drawn away from the pressing situation and the darkness of it, and you are drawn to the light of your Lord who loves you so much and is jealous for your thoughts, His light will begin to fill you. God bless you this day as you begin the task of taking your thoughts captive.
Heb 4:10 For he who has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His.
In 2nd John 1:4 John says that he rejoiced greatly to have found some of the saints walking in the truth having received the commandment from God. To walk in the Truth is to rest in the peace of God. In 3rd John 1:4 John says that he had no greater joy than to hear that his children are walking in the truth. Imagine that, the Apostle John’s greatest joy is to see the saints walking in the Truth. And why? Walking in the Truth is how we overcome the flesh and walk in peace and in victory.
There is a people in every generation, a remnant people, who choose to believe God and in doing so find themselves in a place of rest, a place of peace, a place of joy that is quite apart from their circumstances. These people have walked through fields of fire. These people have suffered great loss. They have traversed the deep waters and they discovered that the Lord was with them as they passed through these waters. In their suffering they have discovered a peace that surpasses understanding.
God taught Job the truth in the midst of the most dire circumstances. He took the children of Israel into a place of death, the desert, the wilderness, to show them that what is truly important in this life is to walk hand in hand with their Lord Their great war cry was the war cry of Job “Even if He kills me, yet shall I trust Him.” Life, true abundant spiritual life, flows from a place of “believing.” Believing what? Believing that God has called us and that we are His servants. And that no matter if it be fire or flood, that God will be with us and that eternity awaits.
If our relationship with God is tied to our physical circumstances, we can never enter His rest. We can never truly walk in peace and joy. If we cannot find God in the desert, we will never truly find Him in this life. If, like the world, our joy is tied to our circumstances then all we really have is the joy of the world and not the joy of the Lord. If our peace is determined by our circumstances, like the world, then all we have is the peace of the world and not the peace that surpasses all understanding.
In every generation, God has His witnesses. And so, when the accuser of the brethern comes, and the Lord said ” Have you considered my servant Job,” likewise our Father in heaven can say in our day, to the accuser, ” have you considered my remnant?” If you could close your eyes and hear this conversation between the Lord and our accuser, could you hear the Lord say to the enemy of our souls “have you considered my servant ( fill in the blank with your name)?
Php 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
It can be very difficult in times of peace and prosperity to stay as close to God as we should like. I wonder if it might be near impossible? I think about the Scripture ” My grace is sufficient for you.” There is, it seems, a unique grace to be had in times of trouble. The memory of that grace, the knowledge and the experience of knowing that no matter how difficult our situation was, the Lord never left us nor did He forsake us, is an attribute of the mature saint who has learned to be content whether in the stormiest of seas or tranquil windless days and is able to rejoice in the Lord his God.
The closeness and the dependency that we discover in the midst of troubles and sufferings is a resource that we carry with us as we move along the narrow path. When we come across others in similar situations we are then able to comfort them with the very same comfort we ourselves were comforted with. Living waters flowing through us, through tried and tested vessels, brings life to those who receive it. Broken vessels cannot withhold living waters. By nature of its brokenness, it allows waters to flow freely from the depths of who we are and who we have been shaped to be by the one who dwells in the very depths of us. From whom all living waters flow, from whom all blessing flow, from whom all mercies flow. In this, we can rejoice always, and again, I say, rejoice.
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.(2Pe 1:5-8)
Life and Godliness. Do you have life? Do you have an abundant life in Christ? Do you have Godliness? What is Godliness, have you ever considered what that means? The Greek word for godliness was used by ancient pagans to describe those who kept in close contact with their gods. When Peter uses this word he is talking about the need for Christians to be constantly aware of God’s presence in their lives.To walk in the awareness.
Now Godliness is the abiding knowledge of God’s presence in your life, the constant awareness of God in you and before you and behind you. It is different from experiencing God’s presence for a moment in time, or moments, it is to literally walk with the full awareness of God daily. If you are not walking virtuously and coming into the presence of God that produces self-control and cheerful endurance, then you cannot expect to walk in Godliness.
It is Godliness that leads to true brotherly kindness, for how can we claim to love God if we cannot love our brothers and sisters in Christ? And of course at the end of it all is love, which over-arches everything that we do, without this we have nothing. Everything ends, just as everything began, with love.
1 Peter 4:12 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of God and of glory rests on you. Truly according to them, He is blasphemed, but according to you He is glorified.
God is raising up, making ready a people on whom the “Spirit of God and of glory rests,” on. This is a people who have learned to rejoice that they too were counted worthy to be “partakers of Christ’s sufferings.” Oh how this flies in the face of today’s heresies. And the purpose of it all? That God might be glorified on the earth. Do you want the Spirit of glory to rest upon you? Do you want to ready yourselves brothers and sisters? Then reject all self-serving religion. Reject every voice that would tell you that there is no need to ready yourself, no need to humble yourself, no need to repent and ask for forgiveness.
Reject every voice that would encourage you to live your best life now, who would encourage you that God wants to enrich you with the treasures of this world, that you do not have to suffer, reject them all for in doing so you will counter the enemy who is disarming the people. You will stand strong in the armor of the Lord so that you may stand in that evil day. God is arraying His people for battle, He is calling and He is equipping. The time is drawing close brothers and sisters, be vigilant and do not be deceived.
Mal 3:1 Behold, I will send My messenger, and He will clear the way before Me. And Jehovah, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Angel of the Covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He comes, says Jehovah of Hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap. And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. And He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may be offerers of a food offering in righteousness to Jehovah.
He is building a temple, not by human hands, we, His called out children are that temple, who can endure the day of His coming? Those whom He has readied.
Phil 4:11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
Paul is a great example to us when he tells us that he had “learned” to be content. There is no magic wand to arrive at this position. We must “learn” And we learn by walking through the fires and the floods. Giving ourselves over and surrendering in every situation so that we can find the freedom that is found in the darkness. What do I mean by that? Well the greatest freedom ever wrought was formed and delivered to us from Calvary.
It is on the tree that Jesus set us free from the laws of sin and death. Gethsemane, Calvary, the cross, the resurrection, this is the path. There has to be a willingness to take up our crosses and die. I do not believe it is every forced upon us. Well I remember the day in 1995, four years after I came to Jesus, that I cried out to my heavenly Father” whatever it takes Lord for me to be useful to you.” One of those prayers that you know that you know that was heard before the throne.
The next 20 years there was one trial after another. The kind of trials that make you fall to your knees. Over and over again. Yet, I began to discover deep truths in these trials. After so many of them it occurred to me how faithful God was to me in the midst of them. How He was always there. How disappointed I was by my lack of total trust in Him as I walked through them. How I was determined in my spirit to walk through the next one, which I knew was coming, with more faith and trust in the faithfulness of God.
I discovered that this journey was a journey not about my own faith but about discovering just how faithful the Lord was to me. It was all about His faithfulness!! And the light bulb began to come on. I was “learning.” And my own faith was strengthened in the midst of it all.
Psa 46:4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High
There is much noise in the land brothers and sisters. There is much professional worship that makes a great noise. In the world’s eyes it sounds great and is somewhat familiar to their ears because much of it is fashioned after the music of the world. It is designed to entertain. Yet can I suggest, that if the Lord does not inhabit it then it is merely noise and it actually drowns out the still small voice that would whisper to us “He is beautiful beyond description, too marvelous for words, to wonderful for comprehension, like nothing ever seen or heard, who could grasp His infinite wisdom, who could fathom the depths of His love. He is beautiful beyond description, majesty enthrones above.”
As God gathers His people together, a hush will fall upon their hearts. They will catch their breath as the King of glory comes in, comes in in all of His fullness. As He begins to flood the dry creek beds with a mighty rushing river then the saints will begin to rise up and minister in the overflow of His presence. There is a fresh wind beginning to blow in the hearts of Gods saints. There is a fountain rising in their hearts. And the source of this fountain is God Himself in all of His majestic glory. And out of this river flows an everlasting abundant love. It fills us with light and this light is the life of men. Look unto God and see what it truly means to live an abundant life in Christ.
Perhaps you can relate to the dry river bed? Perhaps it has been a long time since you have experienced the river of God that makes glad the hearts of men? Is the Lord calling you today in that still small voice? Will cry out to Him today so that the weight of His glory may fall upon your life today? Can you seek Him out in the silence? Remove all of the distractions of life, the noise and the clamor and the demands. In the end, without His presence, what does any of it mean? Outside of Jesus and His presence all we are doing is marking time until our final day. The Kingdom of God is found when we seek it first above all things. Seek it out today brothers and sisters. The horse must go before the cart, God must be first and when He is then everything that we do finds purpose. Make Him first today.
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. ‘
Brothers and sisters, when I look up to the cross I see humility. I see my Lord humbled and naked for the whole world to see. Nothing hidden. When I look up to the cross I see justice. I see sin condemned. O brothers and sisters when I look up to the cross I see mercy. Mercy for me. I do not see my own condemnation, I see my Jesus condemned and rejected by the world, willingly taking my place. There is therefore, now no condemnation, because He took my condemnation, to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
O what a glorious freedom. Free indeed. Free indeed to stand and fight. To battle even unto death, with my fellow freed men. I pray today that those whom the Son has set free will catch a glimpse of who they are in Christ. Royal priests in a royal priesthood. Children of the living God. Loved and redeemed and reconciled and called to walk in the beauty of holiness. That the world may know that Jesus was sent by the Father. That the world may see something of the glory of God which was given to Jesus and which He has given to us. Rise up and shine today saints of God, rise up and shine, for you are loved so much. How much? Look up to the cross!!!!
Zec 4:3 And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
One hot summers day as I was walking and talking with the Lord, I thought about how important it is to be filled, to be constantly filled by Him and with Him. I had been reading recently in the Scriptures about the two olive trees in Zec 4. I read that the candlestick was constantly supplied by oil from the bowl that was connected to the two olive trees on either side of the bowl.
Now, it seems clear from Scripture that these trees represent for us, Jesus on one side and the Holy Spirit on the other. And when we are connected to Jesus by the Holy Spirit, then our bowls, our vessels are filled with a never ending source of power, the power of God and the grace of God. In that same chapter we see, and it is such a well know Scripture, that “It is not by might, nor by power but by Spirit says the Lord.”
Then Psalm 133 came to my mind. I thought about the precious oil that anoints the head of the priest. An abundance of oil, so much so that it flows down from the head, onto the beard and covers the garments of the priest. Can I ask, do you have such an anointing brothers and sisters? Do you long for it? Are you intimately connected to the source of such oil? Does it cover every part of you as it did the priest in the Psalm?
As it was early in the morning that I was walking everything was dripping with a heavy dew. Even although it had not rained for many days, the grass was totally soaked and to walk through it meant getting very wet. Here I was, in the middle of a Kansas summer, soaked by the dew that fell from heaven. This is how it is likened in Psalm 133 ”Like the dew of Hermon that flows down the mountains of Zion : for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forever more.”
Oh brothers and sisters I thought about that life, that life that is in me, that abundant life that overflows out of the abundance of my heart. Unless our heart is like a vessel, connected to the two trees, how can it ever be filled? How can the light of Christ keep shining in us unless we are abiding in Him, connected to Jesus and His Holy Spirit? And how can this oil of gladness, this oil of unity, this oil of life overflow and pour down our garments unless our hearts first be filled to capacity? In this the Lord Himself commands a blessing of life. Only in this is life. Can you see the importance of the two trees? Can you see how important it is to be connected to both?
Psa 17:15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
The true power of those who walk the Kingdom walk lies not in an alleviation of circumstances but an elevation of Spiritual awareness.To enter into the Glory. Just one glimpse of His glory elevates us high above the circumstances of our lives. His Glory is the updraft that raises us high above our circumstances. To look into the eyes of Glory means to rise above the storms of this world. There is no set of chains that can restrain the child of God. There is no trial on earth that can hold our bodies down. When we see His Glory, when we fix our eyes on His majesty then no matter what our circumstances are we begin to rise up.
There is a heavenly choir of glory that beckons us to come up. The only thing that can hold us down is our own hands. When we let go of our circumstance and lift our eyes up to Jesus that name which is above every name, then we begin to rise up. Will you lift your eyes towards heaven today saint? The Lord sees you in the midst of your trial, can you see Him? Will you let go today? Will you release your grasp today from the circumstances which threaten to destroy you? No matter how terrifying this may seem, will you let go today? Glory awaits you. Lift you voice in praise today, let it rise up to heaven itself and suddenly you will find yourself in the midst of Glory.
Psalm 11:3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
Brothers and sisters, even now the fires burn all across Christendom. The vandals have entered the gates of the cities. These spirits have come to invade every heart and every mind and every church in the land. These are hordes that have poured forth from the bowels of hell, foul defiling hordes. Yet, they are only the pre-cursor for what is to come. Their job is to tear down everything that is called holy. Every part of society is to be torn down stone by stone. This is the spirit behind the forces who turn wrong into right, who turn day into night. Now brothers and sisters, we can see evidence of this all around us and we see the rapid disintegration of society.
The forces that align themselves against Christianity are gaining momentum. They are making a way for their own master to enter onto the world stage. How shall we react to such forces and events? Many without eyes to see, struggle greatly against this incoming tide. As they see the loss of everything they know and hold dear they have a great desire to fight back. They want to fight against the immoral forces that are tearing down the culture that they love and have created. Fear rises up in them, panic even.
That fear and that panic compels them into the arms of many would be leaders. Some cry out that we need a great revival, others cry out that we need more Godly men in political leadership. Others even consider arming themselves for what they see as a coming cultural war. What is to be the Body of Christ’s response to a society that seems to be in moral free fall? God’s children must worship the Lord their God with all of their hearts, all of their minds and all of their souls.
They must decrease and He must increase. Now is the time for the people of God to trim their lamps and light up the way in the great darkness that is falling over us. Our singular goal must be to press in close to our Lord. He and He alone is our deliverer. Only in Him can we know true freedom, a freedom that can praise God even in captivity. Men prefer another kind of freedom but the freedom that we find in Jesus cannot be taken away by any force.
What the world gives, the world can take away. What was given to us at Calvary can never be taken from us, even if we ourselves were to be crucified. What freedom do you desire today? Choose wisely, one is eternal, the other is fleeting. One is of the Spirit, the other is of the flesh and oftentimes those who follow the flesh do not even know what spirit they are of.
To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you might be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph 3:19)
A.B.Simpson says “Being filled with the fullness of God is like a bottle in the ocean. You take the cork out of the bottle and sink it in the ocean, and you have the bottle completely full of ocean. The bottle is in the ocean and the ocean is in the bottle. The ocean contains the bottle, but the bottle contains only a little bit of the ocean. So it is with Christians.”
Can you see what brother Simpson is saying? The ocean is God. Have you sunk into the depths of the ocean? The only way for a bottle to sink into the depths of the ocean and not remain just at the surface, is to be full of the ocean. The only way to be full of the ocean is for the cork to be removed. Have you removed the cork? Have you allowed the ocean of God’s being to rush into you and sink into His depths? Many followers of Jesus will remain on the surface of the ocean all the days of their lives, never truly giving themselves over to the ocean.
The cork in the illustration is the heart. Will you open up your heart and allow the Lord to flood your very being? Most of us are very comfortable existing on the surface. Yet, He has called us to the deep. The air inside the bottle must be replaced. The atmosphere has to change. We must be full of something all consuming. And that something is God. We cannot contain all of God but we can be contained by Him. The verb contain is defined as to hold or include within its volume or area.
If we are floating on the surface of the waters, then most of who we are is out of the waters. On the other hand, if we become full of the waters of life then we slowly sink into its depths and become one with the waters. We find ourselves filled with the fullness of God. This is God’s plan for His children. Open up your heart today and let Him flood in and plunge you into the depths of His heart.
Eph 6:18 Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.
Each whisper, every God-ward thought, every word spoken, each moment of silence spent in His presence is like a musical note to the Lord. The Scriptures refer to the Lord as “He who sits above the circle of the earth.” And so He who sits above the circle of the earth, sees each and every one of these musical notes from around the world from the Body of Christ, rising up in a majestic symphony of love and worship and it is a sweet, sweet sound in His ears. This day, become part of that symphony, let your days be filled with thoughts of Him, release whispers of love to add to the music of prayer.
Simply whisper the name of Jesus all throughout the day, remind Him of how much you love Him, thank Him for the day, no matter what kind of day that you’re having. Rediscover that bond of love and joy and peace that comes simply by being in His presence. When you do this brothers and sisters, your prayer life will change dramatically, but not only your prayer life, your life itself. For when we walk in continual prayer we begin to see the beauty of the Lord everywhere. If it rains, we see His beauty in the raindrops.
When the sun shines we see His beauty as the flowers turn themselves around to face the glory of the Son. When it is cloudy we see his beauty break through the clouds in beams of light that remind us that despite the momentary darkness, He is not finished with us and that His light is ready to break through. Pray without ceasing brothers and sisters, it is not a bondage, rather a glorious privilege that enables us and empowers us to be over-comers in a dark world that is desperate for a manifestation of the light and the love of our Lord Jesus.
1 Sam 17:48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.
For Christians, victories are won in the depths of the valley for this is where strongholds are broken down and conquered. This is where the fight is taken to the enemy. This place is his dark domain. This is a place that we would never voluntarily go to. We would never come to this place willingly. Yet this place is where we see the gates of bronze broken down and the bars of iron cut in two.
Perhaps you are in the depths of a deep valley today and surrounded by darkness? Be of good cheer and be encouraged, for this place where the enemy would see you destroyed is actually the place where you will see victory in Christ. Your mourning shall be turned in dancing and He will put upon you a garment of praise and this spirit of heaviness shall flee before His presence.
The Christian walk is a violent one spiritually speaking. There is nothing passive about what you have been called to. There is an enemy of your soul and the Lord is the Lord of your whole life. Under no circumstances will He allow a stronghold of the enemy to exist in the depths of who you are. Consider young David as he runs towards Goliath. David runs to where the enemy is and destroys him. The Lord takes us to places that in the natural we would not go. Confrontation is the way of the Lord. It is no surprise that most folks hate confrontation yet the Lord leads us into confrontations.
Will you confront your fears today? Will you stand for the truth today? As Christians we are spiritual soldiers. We have been called to battle. And even although much of modern Christianity has been feminized this does not change the true nature of who we are. There can be no co-existence between light and darkness, whether that is inner darkness in you or in the world. Light will have its way and in this place there can be no room for darkness.
Psalm 42:1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.
As the deer panteth for the waterbrooks so my soul longeth after thee oh Lord. It cries out in a dry and thirsty land. Revive me oh Lord. Feed my soul that hungers after heavens food, refresh my spirit that longs for waters that flow from heavens throne. I have tasted this food, I have drank of this water. I am ruined for all of life’s food and all other waters are foul tasting to my spirit. Lord Jesus, you are beautiful beyond description, to marvelous indeed for words. The moments I have spent in your sanctuary rob me of all of my words and render them all perfectly meaningless. I feel heavenly words running through me, it’s in my very essence.
When I am in your presence you penetrate my very DNA. I know that I cannot dwell there for I would that I would never leave that place. And so that I can go on living I must only dwell there for a moment, but oh what a glorious moment. It is these moments that help strengthen me to endure all things for I know that there will come a day when it will not just be moments anymore. Eternity will stretch out its arms and usher me in and there will be the eternal moment, the eternal now, the eternal Lord my God. And it makes me tremble all the more when I realize that this place of eternity, this uninterrupted unadulterated presence of the living God has not even entered into the hearts of man.
No eye has seen nor ear heard nor spirit experienced the full measure of our God. It is above and beyond human description or even imagination. I come to the end of myself and it thrills my soul to know that at the very end of everything that ever was, everything that has ever been or ever will be experienced by man is the very beginning of you. My soul’s journey into eternity renders all mere trials momentary and light, I shall count them all as rubbish for the goal that is set before me. to be found in you. Oh the glorious wonder of a world that cannot be imagined.
You tell me oh Lord that it has not even entered into the hearts of man what you have prepared for us and I compare that with the moments I have spent in your presence and based on this alone my mind is staggered to a point that I cannot even comprehend the beginning of what you have said. Today brothers and sisters, God is ready to be encountered by the man or woman who has readied themselves, who has a desperate thirst for Him, who would draw near to Him. Do you hunger and thirst after the Glory of God? This great treasure is found by those who diligently seek Him, pray today to God to give you such a hunger and a thirst.
Rev 12:11 ” And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Brothers and sisters, are you ready to wash your robes and make them white by the blood of the Lamb? How shall we overcome the wicked one? Rev 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” The devil has a short time left. The Son of man, the Bridegroom is coming back shortly for His bride and the devil knows it. This is why a worldwide persecution of the saints is coming upon us soon.
Yet the devil is going to run head-long into a people prepared by the Lord through many trials and afflictions, refined by many fires, having been brought through many deserts. They are shining bright and they love not their lives unto death. Imagine an army of saints who would rather die than give one inch to the devil. They will reflect, in the very midst of the great tribulation, the glory of God in every nation. Out of every tribe and every tongue and every peoples God has called His remnant so that in martyrdom they will be a witness to every single person on the planet of God’s glory.
In this sense, God’s glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea in the very midst of judgement. For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2:14) How many of us know that when the sea moves it moves with incredible power? The waves rise higher and higher as the wind blows stronger and stronger. Can you see it saints? Can you see walls of incredible water rise up like the glory of God rising as the winds of the Holy Spirit roars. One can only look on in awe, nothing can stop these waves.This is our calling. We were born for such a time as this.
A Call To The Remnant 