John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
What does it mean to hear God? Seems like such a simple question. You would imagine that no Christian would object to “hearing,” God speak to them. That still small voice, the voice of the shepherd speaking to His sheep, and His sheep recognizing His voice. The Holy Spirit whispering into the hearts of believers. The Holy Spirit leading and guiding and magnifying the Lord Jesus in our hearts.
A man went into the supermarket to buy his wife a rose. It was his practice to do this every week. He picked the rose that he wanted and made for the checkout lane. As he walked toward the line, the Holy Spirit spoke to him, that still small voice from the Shepherd. “Give the rose to the old lady over there.”Immediately the man resisted. “Lord that makes no sense. What if she thinks I am hitting on her? What if she thinks I am crazy? What if others hear and think I am a weirdo?” There was great resistance in his flesh, yet he knew the voice of the Lord, and he knew he had to be obedient. So, he took a deep breath and walked over to the lady and said to her “The Lord wanted you to have this rose.”
The woman looked at him for a second, then looked at the rose, and as she reached out to take it, she began to weep. She explained. ”My husband died several months ago. Every week, for years, he would buy me a rose. This morning I was feeling so lost and forgotten, I cried out to God and asked Him if He had forgotten me, I told Him that I needed to feel loved.” The man cried too. You see how the Lord loves us? You see how He speaks to His people?
God not only hears the cries of His people, He speaks to them and they know His voice and they hear Him. We need to pray for ears to hear and eyes to see what the Lord is saying and doing. God knows His sheep. He sees you. He hears your cries, he sees your afflictions, he sees the tears that no one else sees, He knows. He Himself was despised and rejected, He was a man of sorrows, He was well acquainted with grief. He bore all our griefs and sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him according to Isaiah 53. By all of theses things He secured for us peace and healing for our sins and transgression. The sheep had gone astray and now, by His stripes the sheep were healed of their transgressions. Now we know His voice and He bids us to follow His lead. Perhaps if you asked for a rose today you will find yourself in a garden. Listen for that still small voice today, He often talks to us in ways we do not expect. His word is a lamp unto our feet in the darkness and His still small voice assures us that we are known and that He sees us.
A poem for all the people who grew up in less than perfect households
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He who walks upon the sea of tears.
I am fragile I can be broken
Broken by the words spoken
Can't you see your words are clawing me apart?
Can't you see how you're crushing my heart?
How my heart longed to hear warm words spoken
To be warm and whole and not to be broken
Why didn't you just reach out and touch me?
And cover me and hold me in love.
The broken child in you
Now breaks the child that you can see
Two broken children collide
Only wanting to be free
I am fragile I can be broken
Broken by the words left unspoken
And this brokenness is now a void in me
That is deeper and wider than the deepest sea
What can fix a broken heart?
And fill this vast expanse in me
What can fill an endless void?
That's deeper than the deepest sea
So many tears, enough to fill an ocean
Shed by all the children, broken
A Saviour comes and walks upon this sea of tears
He calms the stormy sea and quells the fears
I have come to mend the broken heart
To heal the wounds where you were torn apart
I have come to set the captive free
To dry up every tear that fills the deepest sea
I hold the universe in the palm of my hand
I cause the blind to see and the lame to stand
And all the stars in the heavens, I know them all by name
And I will touch you and you shall never be the same
The words I speak they are life and they are love
I know every sparrow that falls from above
I created the sun and the moon and the pouring rain
I still the stormy seas and I take away the pain
Come and bring your emptiness to me
And I will fill you with a love that's deeper than the sea
Come all you that are broken and contrite
And I will heal you and set you free this night
And so I came and took my Saviour's hand
Out of the pit on the solid Rock I stand
A broken heart replaced and reconciled
Standing whole and new, I am my Father's child
And every word spoken, they are life to me
Your love and Your kindness, they have set me free
And by thy Spirit my eternity is sealed
And by thy love my broken heart was healed.
Php 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Oftentimes when things become more accessible they become less desirable. There is a fundamental flaw in humanity, you can call it the Adam and Eve flaw. We desire what we cannot have and oftentimes take for granted what we do have, until of course we do not have it. The object remains the same, what determines the attitude depends upon whether we have it or not. The ability to be thankful for what we have is a gift that must be learned practically. It can only be learned in the classroom of life. Many never learn , a fortunate few discover that there is great peace and contentment within the heart that is full of thanks.
The great danger is that we take our relationship with the Lord for granted. Time and time again we see Israel drift away from the Lord in times of prosperity. When we are in battles in life, or struggling to survive, we have a high dependency upon the Lord. We stay close to Him and we cry out to Him to keep us. The key for our walk with Jesus is to stay close to Him whether we are full or whether we are hungry, whether we are clothed or whether we are naked. In short, we must learn to be content in whatever situation we find ourselves in.
Staying thankful, staying intimate, spending time with the Lord lies at the heart of our relationship with Him. Thankfully we have been called to a battle-field and not a playground. If we are living Godly in Christ Jesus we will experience persecution and this persecution keeps us close to our Lord. That is why it is important to thank God in everything, to rejoice in Him at all times and in everything. Not for everything but in everything. For the steps of a righteous man and woman are ordered of God. We are His servants and it is He who keeps us. He keeps us when we go through the waters, He keeps us in the midst of the fires and He keeps us in quiet tranquil days when there is not a cloud in the sky. If He is the center of all things then we shall be grounded and centered in Him no matter what the circumstances of our lives.
When all around us are being devastated by circumstances and tossed like waves in a sea overcome by storms, we can stand above those waves when we fix our eyes on Jesus. Rather than the circumstances of life tearing us apart, with the right attitude of our heart, they become elements which make our faith deeper and stronger and actually propel us further into the heart of God. It is the will that keeps us. The will rules the emotions. Jesus in the garden, by an act of His will, submits to the will of His Father. It brings Him great peace when the matter is settled. Indeed it brings Him joy. You must settle in your mind if you will trust Him in all things. If you do that and then put it into practice, put flesh on the bones of what you believe, then you will be able to say with Paul that you have learned to be content in every situation.
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
I have a GPS system in my car. I simply put in the address and follow the blue line and I inevitably end up at my destination. Yet even with this system in place you can take wrong turns and the system will automatically “recalculate,” and give you new directions to get you back on track. This almost always involves “taking the next exit,” or doing a “legal u-turn when possible.” Sometimes when you take the wrong road but it runs near to or initially parallel with the correct road, the system still believes you to be on the right road.
As the wrong road slowly veers away from the correct road, the system at some point finally figures it out and re-directs you. Much of Christendom has taken the wrong road. Initially it runs almost parallel to the correct road and, without discernment it is almost impossible to know that you are on the wrong path. Most will simply plow ahead down the road they are directed and it’s at a point of getting lost that the person realizes that they have went astray.
When Amelia Earhart attempted her epic flight, it is reckoned that she only had to be a tiny fraction off in her calculations to miss the Island that was in the middle of the vast Pacific ocean, by hundreds of miles. To continue flying and being slightly of course, would take her ever further away from her destination. Today, Christendom is moving further and further away from its destination.
When the destination ceases to be God Himself, and the destination becomes something other than His presence, His Tabernacle, His alter, His throne room, then we simply get further and further away from Him and the narrow path that leads to Him. Only by getting off at the “next exit,” or doing a “legal u-turn” can we get back on the narrow path. The address, the destination itself must always be God Himself. Are you headed in that direction, is that what is plugged into your spirit, is He alone your destination?
Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me
Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not be afraid because I know that your Spirit goes ahead of me. A fire by night and a cloud by day. This fire that burns at the center of my soul, consumes the all-consuming darkness and lights the way in the blackness of my many deserts. It warms me against the night cold that would sap me of my strength. And your cloud oh Lord covers me from the searing heat of my many trials and afflictions that would drain me and cause me to stumble and fall.
You are the very essence of my life. You are the wellspring of life itself. You are my Jesus. It’s at the name of Jesus that the demons flee. It’s at the name of Jesus that the world shakes. The thunder roars and the lightning flashes at the name of Jesus. Mountains fall down at the name of Jesus, the birds themselves sing of your fame. Even the very darkness is light to you my King.
Even if I make my bed in hell, even there the name of Jesus is high and lifted up and all shall bow their knees. Where could I go oh Lord, where could I flee from your Spirit? In the darkest moments of my life, when my downcast soul cried out, all seemed lost and gone and suddenly,suddenly you are there in all your glory. The seas that roared and the winds that blew, they bowed their knee to you and all was calm.
Even when I lay bloodied and defeated in the battle-field of life, it was you Jesus, who rode on a mighty stallion through the debris and the fire and the destruction and plucked me from the jaws of total defeat and Calvary’s victory won the day. When I had fallen to the bottom of the bottomless pit and cried out with all that was left within me, you came for me, right where I was, the gates of hell itself. You picked me up and you lifted me out of the darkness of hell and you put me down and made my feet to stand in a sure place. Praise you today Jesus and be glorified.
Rev 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
There may be many Christians alone in this world or feeling isolated. Yet, there is coming a day when all brothers and sisters, as children of the living God, will gather around the throne. There will be millions, perhaps tens of millions from every tribe and every tongue and every nation on earth. As far as the eye can see they will stretch out and with one voice they will sing of the glories of their God.
And if we could shut our eyes and imagine the wheat fields of Kansas that stretch for endless miles in every direction, then one can begin to imagine that day when we gather around the throne, swaying as the wind of the Holy Spirit moves through us, individual yet as one. One Body, enraptured in the unadulterated presence of the Living God and continually praising Him. The trials and tribulations of this world at an end.
Every tear wiped away. No more sin, no more death, no more separation, only the glorious light that emanates from the throne itself.Yes, even in the very depths of our trials, we can call upon that name, the name of Jesus, the name that is above every name. The name by which everything must bow. Darkness becomes light in the name of Jesus. Hopelessness becomes hope in the presence of the Lord. Bitterness becomes forgiveness, strife becomes peace, captivity becomes freedom
2Co 3:17 And the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Freedom to praise Him. And all of this because of Calvary. The way has been made. The gulf has been spanned. Our vision is ultimately an eternal vision. Look again, the endless miles of wheat, each stock moving and swaying in the wind like billows on the sea, are actually saints around the throne. Moving as one as the wind of the Spirit moves in and through us. One in mind and spirit praising the Living God with all the host of heaven. They cried “Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.”
Psa 97:5-6 The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.
No one stands in the presence of God, all are silent before His majesty, all are hushed as awe descends like a blanket upon the heads of His people and their heads are bowed and their hands raised up and trembling. Not because they were instructed to bow their heads or raise their hands , sit , stand ,or jump . No, no, not in the presence of God. One assumes a position before the living and the mighty God just as a natural instinct. No instructions are required as one is prostrate in His holiness. Every part of who you are is penetrated by light. It is glorious and traumatic all at the same time.
And the oil that dwells within your chest is set aflame by this light, this fire from the throne itself. “Did not our hearts burn within us as we walked with Him?” Yet we are not walking now, we are in the throne room itself, God has come down. Our whole body burns with a beautiful warmth. All things are possible, eternity stretches out before us and we never want to leave this place. The candlestick burns. God speaks, sin melts like wax, refining, yes refining. We offer ourselves and the dross that lies within and the Lord says “Come.”
What we have today bears no resemblance whatsoever to what God initiated. We have man centered church. Programs of men. Teachings of men. Musical programs. None are bad in and of themselves, they are just not God ordained. Religious social clubs. I believe that shortly, God’s people will come out of the social clubs because they will be desperate to rediscover the glory and the majesty of God and they will seek Him where He can be found.
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!!!!
A Call To The Remnant 