Sometimes we fight a good fight and wonder why we are still plagued with trouble. If the trouble is sin, this works against our faith, sometimes leading us to doubt we once were saved! Today the Lord had me reading in the book of Joshua and I came upon a lesson that was for the Israelites, and is still good for today. It’s the lesson learned after the battle of Ai.
The campaign against Ai followed the Israelite’s victory against the city of Jericho. Before Joshua led the campaign against Jericho the Lord gave specific instructions about what to do with the contents of the city. He said to “keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury,” (Joshua 6:18-19). But Achan kept a robe, and both gold and silver as plunder and hid it in his tent. Therefore, when the Israelites went to battle against Ai, they lost. When Joshua lamented to the Lord about their loss, the Lord told him that Israel had broken their covenant with God, and that there was stolen stuff in the camp. What stands out about this rebuke is that the Lord also said, “That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.” Here the Lord is talking again about the “devoted things,” (7:12).
I do not believe this lesson for today is as much about physical “stuff” as it is about how we do our spiritual battles. We may gain one victory in a tough area of our life, but in an easier area we cannot seem to maintain victory. At the caution of not blaming God for abandoning us, how do we examine our sincerest efforts in the face of a definite defeat? I believe the answer is found in Achan’s error; he was attracted to things he knew would lead to his destruction . . . attractive things from the enemy’s city.
Perhaps it would be easy for us to spot things if they were physically in our enemy’s city, and there was such a city for us to defeat. However, we do not fight against flesh and blood (people), but “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms,” (Eph 6:12). Our battle is against an unseen foe. Where that may seem unfair for these unseen forces to take pot-shots at God’s people, we do have a description of what their shots are. Paul mentions that the weapons of our spiritual warfare are not the same as the world, but have “divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ,” (2 Cor 10:4-5). Here we learn that our mind is a battle field between our dedication to think truth, and satan’s lying thoughts. Knowing that satan will come to us in battle with thoughts that would be attractive to us, what would those thoughts sound like? What thoughts would cause us to accept our own defeat? And how does satan stop a Christian who is winning the battle?
One effective way to stop a Christian from winning his battle is to accuse him of being self-righteous, and cause him to believe it would be more humble to withdraw from what he is doing. If the person is a worship leader, he would step down from his position. If she is studying to become a pastor, she will let it go and lead Sunday School instead. These people have accepted an accusation from satan; a thing devoted to their destruction. In fact, they are sometimes attracted to it because of the fierceness of the battle, wanting to quit rather than press on into the victory. A person who has quit before victory can often be heard quoting the very accusations satan used to defeat them, such as “I was too full of myself to serve God,” or “I really am seeking to exalt myself, seeing that I’m a woman and would be preaching to men.”
Having lying thoughts that are yet un-acted upon is the precursor to wrong actions. While in the mind they can still be pulled down, and made to submit to the truth. In the case of the accusation of being self-righteous, the truth is that our righteousness is not our own; it’s by faith in Christ (Phil 3:9). In that case, we can serve God in the manner He leads us to. If a man really wants to win the battle against satan he not only needs to pull down the stronghold of the accusation, but he needs to turn away from the attraction of false humility, which is what this example uses as a “devoted thing.” False humility would cause a man or woman to forsake their calling, and it comes from the city of the very enemy we try to defeat.
When a believer acts upon the accusation satan speaks, even repeating it himself, we say it is a “self-fulfilling prophecy.” In other words, what he says is actually happening in his life. He has come to the point where he believes what his enemy said. His agreement with the accuser adds power to the enemy’s attack against him because he is divided against his own efforts to win. And herein is his dilemma; no matter how much he wanted the victory in the beginning, he becomes unable to stand. Just as the Israelites could not win against Ai because there was a “devoted thing” in their midst, he also cannot stand with a “devoted thing” or accusation kept in his thoughts by his own agreement.
To have a complete victory we see that we must have a confession of what is true, as well as pulling down what is not true. Asserting scriptures as a response to satan’s attacks is an excellent weapon for us to use, as is quoting prophecy and revelation about our own lives. This trains us to be attracted to Truth and Victory, instead of lies and defeat. And we will have the glorious reward of obtaining the promises God has spoken over our lives. Joshua and his army went back to Ai and defeated them after eliminating the “devoted things” from their camp. We also will win our battles and obtain the promises of God for our lives, for He wants to fight alongside. Let us encourage one another today so that none of us give up in our good fight of faith. Amen.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Men Miss Me
Men miss Me. They long for My works, those displays of power from My hands. Some remember when I healed, and the many deliverances that changed men’s lives. Others remember the great provisions and projects I did through them. It is hard for them to see so little and hear so little. So they try to change things by taking my Kingdom by faith. Is this a bad thing?
When a man has true faith, it is based on words from My mouth. I may have spoken something, or it is the written scriptures that they are believing. However, without the word from My mouth, it is not faith that they are acting upon. And this is the problem; men miss Me so much that they are speaking their own words and prophesying from their own spirits. They want Me to move so desperately that they believe with all their hearts that when they speak it, it will count as coming from My own heart, and I will move. They desire me so poignantly that they gather to have me come to their purposes, instead of coming to Mine.
Each man has a faith that requires Me to act upon what he believes, yet that is not what I call faith. Faith is a man acting upon what he believes I have said, and without his action, he does not have faith. Faith is not a man acting on what he believes apart from what I have said. Without a word from My mouth, there is not faith.
What have I desired but that Man should come stand in My presence and hear from Me? I have said that Man should live by every word that comes from My mouth. I did not tell Man to live by his own words or desires, but to come for My words and to know My heart. I am good and there is no shame in knowing Me. I am longing even more than Man for fellowship, but not of his choosing. I am longing to bring Man into My plans and purposes. To do this I must get those who are willing to to lay aside their own plans and purposes. I will not come along side people’s projects and leave my own kingdom unestablished. Even the wisest scribe in My kingdom cannot put together the way to establish My kingdom on this earth.
I am going to show My people how strong My blood is by exposing every bit of hidden darkness so that they might put it all beneath the blood. This will give them power over their accuser, the great dragon. I am going to feed them words from My mouth that they might grow large and strong in faith, standing on that by which they were meant to live. And they will traverse the edge of the pit of unbelief, remaining abreast of it and victorious, for their works will portray their surrender to the great faith I have built up in them by My words. Those who revile the spirit of Prophecy will be beneath, in the bit of unbelief. And those who hold the word of prophecy as a shield before them will do exploits.
I am enhancing My faithful with a spirit of holiness and power, declaring them to be My own. It is a time for the church to turn her eyes away from her own needs to the work I am doing. When the church overcomes their enemy the dragon, and the unbelief system known as the harlot is overthrown, then My kingdom will come onto the earth. As important as these events are for the earth, they are only the beginning of My great work, done alongside the saints who have stood in every battle, to reign with Me.
The harvest I seek to reap is from the seeds of My planting. I planted seeds for a Holy Spotless Bride, and church filled with overcomers. That is the harvest I am seeking. If Man will align himself with Me he will find that all the angels in heaven are in line with his works. But this is not a time to look after selfish accomplishments or projects of unity. For there will be only one church remaining after the cleansing, and it is the purification of the Bride that will bring her unity. Amen.
When a man has true faith, it is based on words from My mouth. I may have spoken something, or it is the written scriptures that they are believing. However, without the word from My mouth, it is not faith that they are acting upon. And this is the problem; men miss Me so much that they are speaking their own words and prophesying from their own spirits. They want Me to move so desperately that they believe with all their hearts that when they speak it, it will count as coming from My own heart, and I will move. They desire me so poignantly that they gather to have me come to their purposes, instead of coming to Mine.
Each man has a faith that requires Me to act upon what he believes, yet that is not what I call faith. Faith is a man acting upon what he believes I have said, and without his action, he does not have faith. Faith is not a man acting on what he believes apart from what I have said. Without a word from My mouth, there is not faith.
What have I desired but that Man should come stand in My presence and hear from Me? I have said that Man should live by every word that comes from My mouth. I did not tell Man to live by his own words or desires, but to come for My words and to know My heart. I am good and there is no shame in knowing Me. I am longing even more than Man for fellowship, but not of his choosing. I am longing to bring Man into My plans and purposes. To do this I must get those who are willing to to lay aside their own plans and purposes. I will not come along side people’s projects and leave my own kingdom unestablished. Even the wisest scribe in My kingdom cannot put together the way to establish My kingdom on this earth.
I am going to show My people how strong My blood is by exposing every bit of hidden darkness so that they might put it all beneath the blood. This will give them power over their accuser, the great dragon. I am going to feed them words from My mouth that they might grow large and strong in faith, standing on that by which they were meant to live. And they will traverse the edge of the pit of unbelief, remaining abreast of it and victorious, for their works will portray their surrender to the great faith I have built up in them by My words. Those who revile the spirit of Prophecy will be beneath, in the bit of unbelief. And those who hold the word of prophecy as a shield before them will do exploits.
I am enhancing My faithful with a spirit of holiness and power, declaring them to be My own. It is a time for the church to turn her eyes away from her own needs to the work I am doing. When the church overcomes their enemy the dragon, and the unbelief system known as the harlot is overthrown, then My kingdom will come onto the earth. As important as these events are for the earth, they are only the beginning of My great work, done alongside the saints who have stood in every battle, to reign with Me.
The harvest I seek to reap is from the seeds of My planting. I planted seeds for a Holy Spotless Bride, and church filled with overcomers. That is the harvest I am seeking. If Man will align himself with Me he will find that all the angels in heaven are in line with his works. But this is not a time to look after selfish accomplishments or projects of unity. For there will be only one church remaining after the cleansing, and it is the purification of the Bride that will bring her unity. Amen.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
knowing God's business
Not every trial is sent to teach us patience. If a man thinks he’s to learn patience he will expect God to withhold information from him. He will have no advance information about how to gain his victory, neither how to prepare his steps.
There is a lesson for us to learn about waiting, and we find a good example in David’s life. Though anointed as king David had to wait for this to become a reality. While waiting he was a shepherd. The training for victory came in the form of a bear and a lion who challenged him in his duties. David was faithful to deliver his sheep from harm and asserted himself in the authority of his position as shepherd.
Winning the victories over the bear and the lion prepared David for a very important battle in his life; Goliath, the champion of the Philistines. David had confidence to bring his 2 prior victories to the decision-table when speaking with King Saul, asking for permission to answer Goliath’s challenge. David saw the challenge as an affront to God’s authority invested in the Israeli army, and saw Goliath as being “out of place” to war against them. But more importantly, David saw himself as being set “in place” to take the victory. His past included time spent defending lesser things (sheep) but being faithful in his position (shepherd). With his testimony of victory David was able to step up to the giant and win.
Many of us become content to serve God in our usual manner while we wait for Him to change our circumstances. But there comes a time in our service to God when our faithfulness, like David’s, has been established. It’s when Jesus says to us “because a servant does not know his father’s business . . . instead, I have called you friends.” (Jn 15:15). We walk from a blind servitude towards an inclusion in God’s business. This brings up the question we might ask ourselves while in a trial of waiting; “What if patience isn’t all we’re to learn from our present trials, and instead, God wants to show us His business?”
It takes more faith to receive God’s business than to go on doing things in our usual manner. God’s business for David was that he should slay Goliath. David not only had prior victories, but it was said of David that he was “a man after God’s own heart; he will do everything I want him to do,” (Acts 13:22). This poses more questions, such as “If David brought 2 victories to the decision-table, and would do anything God wanted him to do, what are we bringing, and will we do anything God wants us to do?” This should cause us to look at our past victories. Past victories don’t seem so important when we don’t expect anything of ourselves, other than waiting.
Let us take a look at another scripture about victory, and how to get it. After all, it may not be waiting patiently that is the most important thing in our trials, but gaining a victory appointed to us, so that we can move on. In Revelation 12 we find that an evil dragon is chasing God’s people (12:17) who obey God and have the Testimony of Jesus. How did they get victory over this huge beast? By the blood of the Lamb, the word of their Testimony, and by not loving their lives so much that they “chickened out” (Rev 12:11). Just like David’s testimony about his past victories, the word of their past victories in Christ helped them gain this victory because it became their Testimonies. Jesus’ shed blood gave them into His family, giving them authority over His enemies, and they themselves brought uncompromising courage to the situation.
Perhaps we should look at our trials of waiting as steps of preparation instead. I believe God wants to work victories in us to strengthen us for greater things. But He also wants to add to our equipping. David gained his initial equipping caring for sheep and practicing his sling shot skills. This took time while he waited to become King.
Once we set aside our walk of pure duty and servanthood, we should enter a walk of friendship with God wherein He shows us His business. In 1 Chron 12:32 we see an example of this. We learn that the sons of Issachar “understood the times and knew what Israel should do – 200 chiefs with all their relatives under their command.” If God would give them this special gift of knowing His plans and timing, couldn’t we ask for this also? How would it change our responsibilities in our waiting time if we understood how to use that time personally, and corporately?
Another example of the Lord sharing privileged, or unseen knowledge with Man is found in 2 Kings 6:12. King Aram was at war with Israel, but found that someone was telling his plans to the King of Israel. Elisha, the prophet of Israel, gave his king the “very words” Aram spoke in secret, and so the Israeli army did not suffer defeat. If a prophet of Israel can know the plans of the enemy, couldn’t we, who have the gifts of God’s Spirit, ask Him to show us what our enemy’s intentions are?
I believe it is time to take a second look at who we are in Christ, and where He is leading His people. If we are called to be kings, wouldn’t we need to have testimonies of victories? If we are led into battles, wouldn’t God equip us with gifts to discern the times and to know what our enemy is up to? It brings God no glory at all for His people to be defeated over and over again. Perhaps we are supposed to move on in our concept of authority, passed the point where we wait for God to do things for us and into the place where we are a friend of God, knowing and doing His business. This is a Kingdom walk, and one we are all called to. As the body of Christ, let us encourage each other to use their gifts for the strengthening and building up of the body, and to seek those gifts that might be added to us for victory and growth.
There is a lesson for us to learn about waiting, and we find a good example in David’s life. Though anointed as king David had to wait for this to become a reality. While waiting he was a shepherd. The training for victory came in the form of a bear and a lion who challenged him in his duties. David was faithful to deliver his sheep from harm and asserted himself in the authority of his position as shepherd.
Winning the victories over the bear and the lion prepared David for a very important battle in his life; Goliath, the champion of the Philistines. David had confidence to bring his 2 prior victories to the decision-table when speaking with King Saul, asking for permission to answer Goliath’s challenge. David saw the challenge as an affront to God’s authority invested in the Israeli army, and saw Goliath as being “out of place” to war against them. But more importantly, David saw himself as being set “in place” to take the victory. His past included time spent defending lesser things (sheep) but being faithful in his position (shepherd). With his testimony of victory David was able to step up to the giant and win.
Many of us become content to serve God in our usual manner while we wait for Him to change our circumstances. But there comes a time in our service to God when our faithfulness, like David’s, has been established. It’s when Jesus says to us “because a servant does not know his father’s business . . . instead, I have called you friends.” (Jn 15:15). We walk from a blind servitude towards an inclusion in God’s business. This brings up the question we might ask ourselves while in a trial of waiting; “What if patience isn’t all we’re to learn from our present trials, and instead, God wants to show us His business?”
It takes more faith to receive God’s business than to go on doing things in our usual manner. God’s business for David was that he should slay Goliath. David not only had prior victories, but it was said of David that he was “a man after God’s own heart; he will do everything I want him to do,” (Acts 13:22). This poses more questions, such as “If David brought 2 victories to the decision-table, and would do anything God wanted him to do, what are we bringing, and will we do anything God wants us to do?” This should cause us to look at our past victories. Past victories don’t seem so important when we don’t expect anything of ourselves, other than waiting.
Let us take a look at another scripture about victory, and how to get it. After all, it may not be waiting patiently that is the most important thing in our trials, but gaining a victory appointed to us, so that we can move on. In Revelation 12 we find that an evil dragon is chasing God’s people (12:17) who obey God and have the Testimony of Jesus. How did they get victory over this huge beast? By the blood of the Lamb, the word of their Testimony, and by not loving their lives so much that they “chickened out” (Rev 12:11). Just like David’s testimony about his past victories, the word of their past victories in Christ helped them gain this victory because it became their Testimonies. Jesus’ shed blood gave them into His family, giving them authority over His enemies, and they themselves brought uncompromising courage to the situation.
Perhaps we should look at our trials of waiting as steps of preparation instead. I believe God wants to work victories in us to strengthen us for greater things. But He also wants to add to our equipping. David gained his initial equipping caring for sheep and practicing his sling shot skills. This took time while he waited to become King.
Once we set aside our walk of pure duty and servanthood, we should enter a walk of friendship with God wherein He shows us His business. In 1 Chron 12:32 we see an example of this. We learn that the sons of Issachar “understood the times and knew what Israel should do – 200 chiefs with all their relatives under their command.” If God would give them this special gift of knowing His plans and timing, couldn’t we ask for this also? How would it change our responsibilities in our waiting time if we understood how to use that time personally, and corporately?
Another example of the Lord sharing privileged, or unseen knowledge with Man is found in 2 Kings 6:12. King Aram was at war with Israel, but found that someone was telling his plans to the King of Israel. Elisha, the prophet of Israel, gave his king the “very words” Aram spoke in secret, and so the Israeli army did not suffer defeat. If a prophet of Israel can know the plans of the enemy, couldn’t we, who have the gifts of God’s Spirit, ask Him to show us what our enemy’s intentions are?
I believe it is time to take a second look at who we are in Christ, and where He is leading His people. If we are called to be kings, wouldn’t we need to have testimonies of victories? If we are led into battles, wouldn’t God equip us with gifts to discern the times and to know what our enemy is up to? It brings God no glory at all for His people to be defeated over and over again. Perhaps we are supposed to move on in our concept of authority, passed the point where we wait for God to do things for us and into the place where we are a friend of God, knowing and doing His business. This is a Kingdom walk, and one we are all called to. As the body of Christ, let us encourage each other to use their gifts for the strengthening and building up of the body, and to seek those gifts that might be added to us for victory and growth.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
God builds on His Word
Sometimes we have trouble keeping the things God has spoke to us by faith. We might lack understanding and find that it just doesn’t make sense to believe in what we once thought was God’s spoken, personal Word to us. This lesson is written with that dilemma in mind.
God created the world by speaking His Word. His voice laid the foundations and by His Word He built on it. All we see around us is built line-upon-line by what God speaks, for His words have purpose. God’s purposes are evident then, in what we see around us. The trees bud and bring forth seed-bearing fruit, which, when it falls to the ground is planted, one day to grow up into more of the same kind of trees. God purposed it to be this way and accomplished it by first speaking His word to create the tree.
We know God by what we see around us, for His ways are unchanging. The tree does not stop bearing flowers or fruit, neither do the seasons change their order. We learn God’s nature little-by-little, observing what is around us.
And so it is with prophecy. God sends us a Word, and then builds upon it, just as He spoke the foundations of the world into being and then covered them with the oceans. When we receive a Word from God, He will build on it, little-by-little, line upon line, bringing understanding, growth and maturity. And after the Word bears fruit in a believer it will bear seed that will grow in others. I’d like to give you an example from my own life of the process of God building on His Word.
Several years ago, while living with my husband in Kona, Hawaii, the Lord sent His Word to me in the form of a dream. In this dream I saw myself going up to a brick building, but couldn’t get in because the door was locked. My older sister was at a different entrance, approaching a door with keys. I called over to her, asking to be let in. After unlocking the door my sister returned to the other side of the building because that is where she worked. I was to sit down and take a very fundamental test of things I had learned long ago. This was a surprise to me. This was the end of the dream, dated 11/04. I wrote the dream in my journal, though I hadn’t a clue as to its meaning.
In 2007 my husband and I moved back to my home town, Santa Rosa, California. Work was hard for us to find. I had been a nurse, and then became a Nurse Practitioner. Ro renew my license I had to go through the state Board of Nursing, putting in hours to meet their requirements and bring both licenses to an active status.
One day my older sister, who was a professor of nursing at the local college in Santa Rosa, asked me to apply for a teaching job there. I didn’t want to go back to nursing as I had become a Nurse Practitioner, but then I remembered the dream from 2004. The brick building in my dream was the local college, which is built out of bricks. And my sister held the keys to my employment there. I began to see the Lord building on the Word He had sent me three years earlier by bringing understanding about what I should do; seek employment at the college.
So, obedience to this understanding meant I had to nursing, which I hadn’t done in over 10 years. To qualify for the teaching position I had to do remediation at a hospital and pass their standards for patient care. This seemed overwhelming at the time and I lacked confidence to begin the process. Then I realized that the remediation was the “test” in the dream. Nursing was a fundamental part of my education, and I had to renew my knowledge of it. Knowing that God sends His Word and then builds on it, I saw these steps were only possible if I went through with the remediation. I passed and was hired for the teaching position. Not surprisingly, I now teach the Fundamentals of Nursing. All that I have learned has borne fruit and now is being planted in nursing students. Also, in this time of economic turmoil, I have a good job, one I wouldn’t have considered if God had not first sent His Word to me in the form of a dream.
I hope this helps you to see that God sends His Word to us, and builds on what He has spoken. We can trust Him to bring understanding to what He has said or shown us. If we keep His Word by faith and obey it when understanding comes, we will grow, mature, and plant seeds in others. Amen.
God created the world by speaking His Word. His voice laid the foundations and by His Word He built on it. All we see around us is built line-upon-line by what God speaks, for His words have purpose. God’s purposes are evident then, in what we see around us. The trees bud and bring forth seed-bearing fruit, which, when it falls to the ground is planted, one day to grow up into more of the same kind of trees. God purposed it to be this way and accomplished it by first speaking His word to create the tree.
We know God by what we see around us, for His ways are unchanging. The tree does not stop bearing flowers or fruit, neither do the seasons change their order. We learn God’s nature little-by-little, observing what is around us.
And so it is with prophecy. God sends us a Word, and then builds upon it, just as He spoke the foundations of the world into being and then covered them with the oceans. When we receive a Word from God, He will build on it, little-by-little, line upon line, bringing understanding, growth and maturity. And after the Word bears fruit in a believer it will bear seed that will grow in others. I’d like to give you an example from my own life of the process of God building on His Word.
Several years ago, while living with my husband in Kona, Hawaii, the Lord sent His Word to me in the form of a dream. In this dream I saw myself going up to a brick building, but couldn’t get in because the door was locked. My older sister was at a different entrance, approaching a door with keys. I called over to her, asking to be let in. After unlocking the door my sister returned to the other side of the building because that is where she worked. I was to sit down and take a very fundamental test of things I had learned long ago. This was a surprise to me. This was the end of the dream, dated 11/04. I wrote the dream in my journal, though I hadn’t a clue as to its meaning.
In 2007 my husband and I moved back to my home town, Santa Rosa, California. Work was hard for us to find. I had been a nurse, and then became a Nurse Practitioner. Ro renew my license I had to go through the state Board of Nursing, putting in hours to meet their requirements and bring both licenses to an active status.
One day my older sister, who was a professor of nursing at the local college in Santa Rosa, asked me to apply for a teaching job there. I didn’t want to go back to nursing as I had become a Nurse Practitioner, but then I remembered the dream from 2004. The brick building in my dream was the local college, which is built out of bricks. And my sister held the keys to my employment there. I began to see the Lord building on the Word He had sent me three years earlier by bringing understanding about what I should do; seek employment at the college.
So, obedience to this understanding meant I had to nursing, which I hadn’t done in over 10 years. To qualify for the teaching position I had to do remediation at a hospital and pass their standards for patient care. This seemed overwhelming at the time and I lacked confidence to begin the process. Then I realized that the remediation was the “test” in the dream. Nursing was a fundamental part of my education, and I had to renew my knowledge of it. Knowing that God sends His Word and then builds on it, I saw these steps were only possible if I went through with the remediation. I passed and was hired for the teaching position. Not surprisingly, I now teach the Fundamentals of Nursing. All that I have learned has borne fruit and now is being planted in nursing students. Also, in this time of economic turmoil, I have a good job, one I wouldn’t have considered if God had not first sent His Word to me in the form of a dream.
I hope this helps you to see that God sends His Word to us, and builds on what He has spoken. We can trust Him to bring understanding to what He has said or shown us. If we keep His Word by faith and obey it when understanding comes, we will grow, mature, and plant seeds in others. Amen.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Prophecy - seeing from God's perspective
Today I was thinking about prophecy, wondering how to define its function in the Church. Why does God say what He says, and what is the purpose of His words? Then the Holy Spirit brought this thought; “I want you to see what I speak about from my point, instead of from yours.” And so unraveled a lesson on seeing things from God’s perspective.
The Lord often talks to us about His nature as a Father and how this relationship to us is played out in our lives. As children with our natural parents, we do not know why they speak the things they do. The most important thing that is formed in us is a trust, or a bond with our parents. If our parents teach us to obey them, we do . . . but not from a place of knowing what their motives are or of what good will come out of our obedience. An older child may want to emulate one of his parents, but it is a copying of behavior, and does not come from an understanding of his parent’s heart.
When we become teen agers we begin to separate from our childlike attachment to our parents. There is a sense that we have separate identities, unique by design. The purposes for which we do things may come in part from a parent, and in part from our own desires. This sense of forming a separate identity often causes teens to become offended at their parent’s words, as if they intrude upon the holy ground of the teenager’s wishes. At times he may give lip service to his parents, or honor them on the surface, but understanding of why his parents say what they say comes after maturity moves him beyond the stage of feeling the need to be separate from his parents.
As adults we are no longer insulated by our parents from the consequences of the decisions we make. Some of our parent’s words, such as past advice, begin to make sense to us. Understanding brings value to the content of those past conversations. We find ourselves doing some things our parent’s way, and at times find ourselves thinking like our parents think. You might say that, though different in reality, we are in the image of our earthly father or mother.
We see our heavenly Father’s words in much the same way as we see our earthly father’s words. At first we receive love from Him, and trust is built. We see God’s words from the perspective of our need, providing security as we enter a new world of faith. As we grow in Him, we want to emulate Him, but still do not know His heart. As we enter the teenage years of our faith God allows us to spread the wings of our faith and gives us more responsibilities. We experience a sense of separateness, and pride can rear up in our hearts causing us to feel offended at God’s instructions, whether written or spoken. We see our accomplishments and growing skills, and think of ourselves as capable on our own.
As time progresses we come upon circumstances that make us waver, and our steps don’t seem so sure. God’s words have more value as we begin to understand why He spoke the things He said. As we think like Him and do like He says, we find that we are more and more in His image. We see the purpose for His words, and this is seeing them how He sees them.
Is it important to see why God speaks? Jesus said that He lived “by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” (Mt 4:4b). Though we go from no understanding, through various stages of handling God’s word, He always intended that we would not only understand what He says to us, but that we would become like Him. Our relationship with God should progress to the point where we begin to think like Him, at least a little. Paul writes about having the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16b). He calls it being a “spiritual man” (vs 15). This is the inner man who sees why God is saying what He says from His perspective. If we will move beyond being the child who needs security, and the teen ager who needs to assert his independence, then we will begin to recall God’s words with an understanding that comes with spiritual maturity. And then, we will see why God speaks the things He says to us. Open the eyes of our heart, dear Lord, that we might understand the inheritance we have yet to come into. Amen.
The Lord often talks to us about His nature as a Father and how this relationship to us is played out in our lives. As children with our natural parents, we do not know why they speak the things they do. The most important thing that is formed in us is a trust, or a bond with our parents. If our parents teach us to obey them, we do . . . but not from a place of knowing what their motives are or of what good will come out of our obedience. An older child may want to emulate one of his parents, but it is a copying of behavior, and does not come from an understanding of his parent’s heart.
When we become teen agers we begin to separate from our childlike attachment to our parents. There is a sense that we have separate identities, unique by design. The purposes for which we do things may come in part from a parent, and in part from our own desires. This sense of forming a separate identity often causes teens to become offended at their parent’s words, as if they intrude upon the holy ground of the teenager’s wishes. At times he may give lip service to his parents, or honor them on the surface, but understanding of why his parents say what they say comes after maturity moves him beyond the stage of feeling the need to be separate from his parents.
As adults we are no longer insulated by our parents from the consequences of the decisions we make. Some of our parent’s words, such as past advice, begin to make sense to us. Understanding brings value to the content of those past conversations. We find ourselves doing some things our parent’s way, and at times find ourselves thinking like our parents think. You might say that, though different in reality, we are in the image of our earthly father or mother.
We see our heavenly Father’s words in much the same way as we see our earthly father’s words. At first we receive love from Him, and trust is built. We see God’s words from the perspective of our need, providing security as we enter a new world of faith. As we grow in Him, we want to emulate Him, but still do not know His heart. As we enter the teenage years of our faith God allows us to spread the wings of our faith and gives us more responsibilities. We experience a sense of separateness, and pride can rear up in our hearts causing us to feel offended at God’s instructions, whether written or spoken. We see our accomplishments and growing skills, and think of ourselves as capable on our own.
As time progresses we come upon circumstances that make us waver, and our steps don’t seem so sure. God’s words have more value as we begin to understand why He spoke the things He said. As we think like Him and do like He says, we find that we are more and more in His image. We see the purpose for His words, and this is seeing them how He sees them.
Is it important to see why God speaks? Jesus said that He lived “by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” (Mt 4:4b). Though we go from no understanding, through various stages of handling God’s word, He always intended that we would not only understand what He says to us, but that we would become like Him. Our relationship with God should progress to the point where we begin to think like Him, at least a little. Paul writes about having the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16b). He calls it being a “spiritual man” (vs 15). This is the inner man who sees why God is saying what He says from His perspective. If we will move beyond being the child who needs security, and the teen ager who needs to assert his independence, then we will begin to recall God’s words with an understanding that comes with spiritual maturity. And then, we will see why God speaks the things He says to us. Open the eyes of our heart, dear Lord, that we might understand the inheritance we have yet to come into. Amen.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Shared love
I saw a vision of the bride of Christ dressed in white with fine jewels on her. She was ready, and she knew she was loved. It wasn’t arrogance or pride that came from her, but a sense of beginning a walk with her intended which would bring forth a life full of goodness and fruit. How can I capture what that look said? Here are the words that came with this vision;
There is a walk of shared love that God wants us to take. We must leave behind us fear of not pleasing God. If not, the anxiety which accompanies fear will cause us to become restless, trying on other people’s walks, with the end result of losing the very nature that God loves in us.
How strong we each would be if we walked in the confidence of God’s love. Once fear is taken away, faith’s roots would go deep and grow by love.
It’s My nature to love My people. In holiness and purity I build upon that love, not forcing My ways on My people, but revealing their excellence. This year will be a year of revealing Myself to My bride. A bride must know that she is loved in order to open her heart and trust her husband. It takes an open, trusting heart to receive revelations about the nature of her husband. A closed fearful heart will learn duties and behaviors. But a heart that knows it is loved and treasured will receive deep revelations about her lover. This is the walk I am bringing my intended into. Those who have put fear of pleasing Me behind them will begin a deeper walk with Me; a walk of revelation about My nature. Those who know I love and accept their nature, treasuring it and preserving it on this earth, will come to know My nature. When a wife knows her husband’s nature and the husband accepts his wife’s nature, the two become as one. I am waiting for My bride to know Me so that we may become one. Then she will reflect My nature to the world. It is about becoming One with Me. Amen.
There is a walk of shared love that God wants us to take. We must leave behind us fear of not pleasing God. If not, the anxiety which accompanies fear will cause us to become restless, trying on other people’s walks, with the end result of losing the very nature that God loves in us.
How strong we each would be if we walked in the confidence of God’s love. Once fear is taken away, faith’s roots would go deep and grow by love.
It’s My nature to love My people. In holiness and purity I build upon that love, not forcing My ways on My people, but revealing their excellence. This year will be a year of revealing Myself to My bride. A bride must know that she is loved in order to open her heart and trust her husband. It takes an open, trusting heart to receive revelations about the nature of her husband. A closed fearful heart will learn duties and behaviors. But a heart that knows it is loved and treasured will receive deep revelations about her lover. This is the walk I am bringing my intended into. Those who have put fear of pleasing Me behind them will begin a deeper walk with Me; a walk of revelation about My nature. Those who know I love and accept their nature, treasuring it and preserving it on this earth, will come to know My nature. When a wife knows her husband’s nature and the husband accepts his wife’s nature, the two become as one. I am waiting for My bride to know Me so that we may become one. Then she will reflect My nature to the world. It is about becoming One with Me. Amen.
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