"Now there were in the church that was in Antioch certain prophets and teachers;..." Acts 13:1
This was around AD 44 about twelve years after the resurrection of Jesus. Antioch was the first place where people stood out as Christ followers, i. e., Christians. The body of believers that was in Antioch probably wasn't any more faithful than Christ followers in other area, but they were beginning to become organized. I wish that I would hear , much less often, how the organized church is somehow less spiritual than the un-organized church. Or that those who meet in their home are somehow more spiritual than those who go to church on a regular basis at a particular facility.
The truth is that each of us are a part of this great organism, 'the Church,' and we shouldn't be thinking of ourselves more spiritual than others or talking badly about our brothers and sisters in the Lord. As you can see from the scripture, even 12 years after the resurrection of Jesus, some of those followers were called teachers and some prophets. Do we really need to get our back up just because someone wears a title that we might not approve of. I know people who have thrown stones at some of these 'titled' ministers, all the while living a life far less honorable.
It's not the title, but the faithfulness of the individual that really gives them title. I've found that when I can get past the title, sometimes I see a man or woman in love with the Lord, serving Him with depth and inspiring me to step up to the pump. Let's serve with gladness and not be too concerned with semantics.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Daily Devotional February 2 - The Lord Is On Your Side
"Plead my cause , O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me." Psalm 35:1
Do you believe that God goes before us and interacts with others on our behalf? If not, you are missing out on one of God's wonderful gifts to you; the gift of assisting in the management of your affairs so that the results are not solely based upon your own actions. If life was life without the personal intervention of a personal God, there would be no life at all. Man would have annihilated themselves far before now. You are not the creator of your own destiny as so many proclaim. You are co-creator and be thankful for that. Can you imagine what you are capable of if not for the check of the Holy Spirit?
Do you believe that God goes before us and interacts with others on our behalf? If not, you are missing out on one of God's wonderful gifts to you; the gift of assisting in the management of your affairs so that the results are not solely based upon your own actions. If life was life without the personal intervention of a personal God, there would be no life at all. Man would have annihilated themselves far before now. You are not the creator of your own destiny as so many proclaim. You are co-creator and be thankful for that. Can you imagine what you are capable of if not for the check of the Holy Spirit?
Friday, February 1, 2013
Daily Devotional February 1 - God Has made A Way For You
"And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals." Rev. 5:1
God has not left you without understanding. Over and over again, God goes ahead of you and makes a way. God has made a way for you today. There has been a time of seasoning and maturing, but now God is about to breath into your situation and bring to pass the impossible. Did you notice in this verse that John (the writer) made copious notes about what he was seeing. John noticed that the book was written within and on the backside. Are you ready to take copious notes as God unfolds the day?
God has not left you without understanding. Over and over again, God goes ahead of you and makes a way. God has made a way for you today. There has been a time of seasoning and maturing, but now God is about to breath into your situation and bring to pass the impossible. Did you notice in this verse that John (the writer) made copious notes about what he was seeing. John noticed that the book was written within and on the backside. Are you ready to take copious notes as God unfolds the day?
Daily Devotional January 31 - The Apathy Of God's People
"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?" James 2"1-4
Bottom line - Too many Christians judge others by their looks. There are countless stories where this kind of prejudice takes place. It's parishioners, pastors, priests, ministry leaders, deacons and lay leaders. They are still having a hard time getting past the skin, the dress, the hat, the beard. It makes me wonder if the Church really has the answers anymore.
I believe that the Church has fallen to an all time low as it pertains to true holiness and godliness. Oh, anybody can go through the motions and act like they love Jesus and "praise the Lord" and "come on in brother." But meaning it from their heart and practicing true Christianity is altogether a different thing. I admire those who have broken through the awful barrier of prejudice that our forefathers and in some cases our parents put into place. Most young people are not nearly as prejudice as the generation before us. But still stereotyping and profiling a man or a woman based on what they look like, that is not the Christian way.
If you are one of these people that claim Christ but have many rules and regulations about appearance, get over it. You are not following the protocols of Jesus.
You have become a judge instead of a brother or sister.
You have become a ruler, a pharisee of sorts and not an advocate.
You have taken the throne away from God and sit there comfortably as the all-knowing.
You have taken on a job title that doesn't exist in God's vocabulary.
When you look at someone and judge them, you lesson their ability to reach you. God may be using them to bring you a message and you turn them away before they even speak. What a travesty.
I know many people that have made sure judgements about so and so on TV, even though they have never met them, nor have they ever walked with them a mile or two or listened long enough to get past their own predjudices. Christians mocking Christians in the name of Christ. Is this what we have become?
In most cases it would be best if you kept your opinion to yourself, but if you have to pass judgement, I'de be careful to go easy. God is not pleased with such behavior. Why is there no fear in your heart that what you are doing doesn't please God? How can you run a family or a church with such a poor view of your children or parishioners. No wonder they rebel and/or move on. They are tired of being tormented by someone who thinks they are something they are not. Pride is an awful friend and relentless if there is even a notion that you will change the way you think. For most people of prejudiced opinions, this post will only fuel the fire. I am hoping for the few that believe Jesus. I didn't write the Bible.
For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?" James 2"1-4
Bottom line - Too many Christians judge others by their looks. There are countless stories where this kind of prejudice takes place. It's parishioners, pastors, priests, ministry leaders, deacons and lay leaders. They are still having a hard time getting past the skin, the dress, the hat, the beard. It makes me wonder if the Church really has the answers anymore.
I believe that the Church has fallen to an all time low as it pertains to true holiness and godliness. Oh, anybody can go through the motions and act like they love Jesus and "praise the Lord" and "come on in brother." But meaning it from their heart and practicing true Christianity is altogether a different thing. I admire those who have broken through the awful barrier of prejudice that our forefathers and in some cases our parents put into place. Most young people are not nearly as prejudice as the generation before us. But still stereotyping and profiling a man or a woman based on what they look like, that is not the Christian way.
If you are one of these people that claim Christ but have many rules and regulations about appearance, get over it. You are not following the protocols of Jesus.
You have become a judge instead of a brother or sister.
You have become a ruler, a pharisee of sorts and not an advocate.
You have taken the throne away from God and sit there comfortably as the all-knowing.
You have taken on a job title that doesn't exist in God's vocabulary.
When you look at someone and judge them, you lesson their ability to reach you. God may be using them to bring you a message and you turn them away before they even speak. What a travesty.
I know many people that have made sure judgements about so and so on TV, even though they have never met them, nor have they ever walked with them a mile or two or listened long enough to get past their own predjudices. Christians mocking Christians in the name of Christ. Is this what we have become?
In most cases it would be best if you kept your opinion to yourself, but if you have to pass judgement, I'de be careful to go easy. God is not pleased with such behavior. Why is there no fear in your heart that what you are doing doesn't please God? How can you run a family or a church with such a poor view of your children or parishioners. No wonder they rebel and/or move on. They are tired of being tormented by someone who thinks they are something they are not. Pride is an awful friend and relentless if there is even a notion that you will change the way you think. For most people of prejudiced opinions, this post will only fuel the fire. I am hoping for the few that believe Jesus. I didn't write the Bible.
Daily Devotional January 30 - What I Claim To Know
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." 1 John 3:2
What I claim to know
Could it be that Jesus has a plan
Worth more than we could ever see
Because He knew the end
Written before eternity
Could it be that Jesus planned all along
To see you through your life
That Jesus already knew
What you would face - and at what price
Could it be that Jesus really knows about future
And that yesterday he rolled away the stone blocking your tomorrow
Could it be that Jesus came to earth to demonstrate
That you don’t have to carry your sorrow
Could it be that Jesus sees with ancient eyes
Knowing all that was and is and is to be
So that when we find our self, unknowing what to do
He is there to show us how and to see us through
Could it be that Jesus looks into our day, and not to judge
But to clear us from what we should surely reap
So that we don’t have to pay the price
For living life as wandering sheep
Could it be that Jesus took upon Himself
The shame that surely should of been our own
Just so that we wouldn’t have to give up
Our place in His heavenly home
Could it be that Jesus knows your very pain
That there is not a hurt that Jesus has not felt
Having borne it all upon Himself
Without as much a one speck of sin or guilt
Could it be that Jesus wants to take us home
As friends and not as those who know Him not
As those who know Him well and tell the world
About the One whom Jesus bought
Could it be that Jesus is alive and well
And spends each day drawing us closer still
And as we lift our ears to hear
He speaks to us the Fathers will
Could it be that Jesus sees
Our pride and how we go about our own way
And yet He stands before the Father
Our advocate and defense, despite the way we spent the day
Could it be that Jesus made the days ahead
So that you and I could see His plan
And so we wouldn’t be without hope in the future
He also gave us vision in our inner man
Could it be that Jesus knew
That when you and I would sin
That if He had not died for us
There would be no way to win
Could it be, that Jesus knows
That what we think is who we are
And that is why He sent His Spirit
So we wouldn’t drift too far
Could it be that Jesus’s love
Covers more than sin and shame
And because of what He’s done
We can even call His name
As I ponder all He did for you and me
The question comes to mind, why would he set us free
Knowing, all of us at times, would turn the other way
Knowing at the garden, just one hour we could not pray
It came to me, that what God did
He did because He loved me so
So very much, He died for me
And that is what I claim to know
What I claim to know
Could it be that Jesus has a plan
Worth more than we could ever see
Because He knew the end
Written before eternity
Could it be that Jesus planned all along
To see you through your life
That Jesus already knew
What you would face - and at what price
Could it be that Jesus really knows about future
And that yesterday he rolled away the stone blocking your tomorrow
Could it be that Jesus came to earth to demonstrate
That you don’t have to carry your sorrow
Could it be that Jesus sees with ancient eyes
Knowing all that was and is and is to be
So that when we find our self, unknowing what to do
He is there to show us how and to see us through
Could it be that Jesus looks into our day, and not to judge
But to clear us from what we should surely reap
So that we don’t have to pay the price
For living life as wandering sheep
Could it be that Jesus took upon Himself
The shame that surely should of been our own
Just so that we wouldn’t have to give up
Our place in His heavenly home
Could it be that Jesus knows your very pain
That there is not a hurt that Jesus has not felt
Having borne it all upon Himself
Without as much a one speck of sin or guilt
Could it be that Jesus wants to take us home
As friends and not as those who know Him not
As those who know Him well and tell the world
About the One whom Jesus bought
Could it be that Jesus is alive and well
And spends each day drawing us closer still
And as we lift our ears to hear
He speaks to us the Fathers will
Could it be that Jesus sees
Our pride and how we go about our own way
And yet He stands before the Father
Our advocate and defense, despite the way we spent the day
Could it be that Jesus made the days ahead
So that you and I could see His plan
And so we wouldn’t be without hope in the future
He also gave us vision in our inner man
Could it be that Jesus knew
That when you and I would sin
That if He had not died for us
There would be no way to win
Could it be, that Jesus knows
That what we think is who we are
And that is why He sent His Spirit
So we wouldn’t drift too far
Could it be that Jesus’s love
Covers more than sin and shame
And because of what He’s done
We can even call His name
As I ponder all He did for you and me
The question comes to mind, why would he set us free
Knowing, all of us at times, would turn the other way
Knowing at the garden, just one hour we could not pray
It came to me, that what God did
He did because He loved me so
So very much, He died for me
And that is what I claim to know
Daily Devotional January 29 - Principles Of Power
"He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:29-31
Principles of power:
1st principle of power: Making a decision to spend time alone with God.
2nd Principle of power: Making a deliberate, firm and irreversible (YES) decision to do what God says prior to going to God in prayer.
If you really want power in your life, you will have to do it God's way. God does not issue His power to those whom He knows will throw it away, not His power. There is other power available and some of it looks good, but God's power is easily recognized:
God's power doesn't require a certain setting like when all the cameras are on or when the right people are present.
God's power is not performed by slight of hand. God works through yielded vessels, not self-proclaimed spiritual iconoclasts.
God's power does not require confirmation from the general assembly.
God gives His power and His gifts severally as He wills, not as 'we wills'.
The power of God cannot be arranged to be captured on film at 9:00 p.m. EST.
God's power proceeds forth from God at His will, on His timing, and the only thing that moves God is a yielded vessel with a YES on their tongue. YES I will - YES I can - YES, Lord, YES
What moves God is a praise of His glory.
What moves God is a right view of His Son.
What moves God is a follower of the leading of the Holy Spirit.
What moves God is a prayer of thankfulness, thanking God with real zest for life.
Thankful for who God is.
Thankful for His revelation
Thankful for what we have
If we spent as much time thanking God for what we have, as we do complaining to God about what we do not have, we would have what we don't have.
What moves God is an act of compassion:
A gift to the poor
A word for the lonely
A song for the weary
What moves God is a heart of worship.
Someone willing to bow the knee.
Submission to His wooing.
Recognition of our powerlessness apart from Him.
A yielded vessel.
The power of God is given to those who have stepped aside and lifted up the name of Jesus above their own. You can tell when a man or a woman is full of themself or yielded to God. The power of God is through the yielded and never wielded.
Those who are still full of themselves may have charisma and charm, authority, position and sometimes fame. They may be educated and informed. But the power of God is manifested in weakness and humility.
God pressed on me to search this word out, faint, because I always thought it meant the weak-willed, the helpless, those who were despondent and without, but I found out differently. The word faint as used in the scripture comes from the Hebrew word, (yaw-afe) which means fatigued or utterly exhausted. The faint are not the despondent or weak-willed, but those who are utterly exhausted from their labors.
The power of God is given to the laborers of God to perform the will of God.
The power of God doesn't stop and land on someone, as if, they could then wield the power of God at their own discretion. The power of God flows through a yielded man or woman to produce God results at God's discretion.
God is fed up with the modern prophets and so-called Apostles, some pastors and teachers who are puffed up with pride and self elevation and make a mockery of God's Holy and incorruptible power.
Galatians 6:3 says, "For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself."
Those who are still trying out God to see if they really have any interest in continuing with God are not awarded the power of God.
Those in whom God works His mighty power through:
They have stopped testing God.
They are done fighting God.
They have submitted to His will.
It's not that God does not work through others. God works through the ungodly and the unaware. The difference is, that those who adore the Lord - those who are yielded and submitted - they know when God is working in them and through them.
The power of God and the anointed life is for those who have made up their mind that God is who He says He is in the scriptures.
No other kind of faith will do:
Only faith in the Father as revealed in Holy scripture, the Holy Bible.
Faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God as revealed in Holy scripture, the Holy Bible.
Faith in the Holy Spirit as revealed in Holy scripture, the Holy Bible. (period)
Where did the body of Christ and our teenage believers hear that when we get saved, we get to keep?
Our old self
Our former inclinations
Our unsaved behaviors and attitudes
Where did the body of Christ hear that when we get saved, we get to keep?
Our old ways and
Our old habits
Who was it that taught that it's OK to struggle with the same old habit for twenty-five years?
I hope that you never placate your peers, your friends or your family with a 'feel good because I don't want to hurt their feelings gospel'.
The main reason that most Christians are living below their calling is because they have been taught that it is OK. It was never OK, nor will it ever be OK, for you and I to think that God saves His people so that they can continue to live the way they used to live. God forbid. I believe that if we were careful to give the gospel, without apology, new believers would seek God's heart and learn of His ways and make every effort to find God and serve Him.
If we were teaching people that YES is the only appropriate answer to our call from God and that YES is the only appropriate answer to the call to His ways, more people would be believing God with unswerving faith - And we wouldn't have to drive to Orlando to get healed either.
Here's the problem. Most people that go to God to get alone, first make a pack with themselves, that if God directs them in something that they don't want to do or go to a place they don't want to go, then they will renege.
They don't mind going to God to get alone as long as God comes through and meets their own particular requirements:
As long as God answers their prayer the way they want it answered.
As long as they aren't kept too long.
As long as God doesn't put them on the spot.
As a matter of fact, for some, as long as God just keeps His place, everything will be alright.
Some people go to God to see what God is going to say, and if God says the right things, they will consider it. But God is likely to say the wrong thing, if the right thing, is that thing, that we have already made up in our mind about.
If we've already made up our mind that:
We aren't going to go to where God says to go.
We aren't going to be what He called us to be.
We aren't going to do what God tells us to do.
We aren't going to say what God told us to say.
If we've already made up our mind, that what we hear from God, must echo of our own mind........
The only way to hear God clearly is to go to God with an open heart and an open mind and let God place into us, His will.
If we go to God with and open heart and an open mind, God might tell us to rest.
If we go to God with and open heart and an open mind, God might tell us to go.
If we go to God with and open heart and an open mind, God might tell us to give.
If we go to God with and open heart and an open mind, God might tell us to go to the mission field.
Some of us still think of missionaries as a small group of people who had nothing better to do, but give up everything: they had to move to a remote area to teach the unteachable, while earning their own substance, because they really couldn't get a job anywhere. No way. Missionaries are simply those who said YES, before God told them what they would be doing.
One night ma and pa were sitting at the edge of the setee and they knelt down to pray and they made the mistake of praying like this, "Oh God, why is this burden on my heart? I feel you tugging on me. What is it you are trying to tell me. Make it clear and I will obey."
"Go to Nairobi"
"Go to Sri Lanka"
"Go to Bangledesh"
"Go to Frankfurt Germany"
"Go to Tajikistan"
"Go to Sydney Australia"
And sometimes God calls us to more familiar places.
"Stay where you are for five years. Be faithful and serve in this place."
People go and needs are met when we go to God with a YES, fixed in our heart and on our lips.
If we go to God with and open heart and an open mind, God will use us to accomplish His good pleasure - and sometimes His good pleasure is to intercede for others or to go and do what others have left undone.
Those who are still listening for God to say what they want to hear, have not read the Word, nor do they know the heart of God.
We put too much emphasis on me, myself and I. We sing to God to take us and mold us but we end the song with "as long as it is my way."
Personal fulfillment
Creature comfort security
Financial independence
Material satisfaction
Immediate gratification - take precedence over the call of God.
Too many people are going to God in prayer, primarily for personal fulfillment. There's nothing wrong with expecting God to move on our behalf and to bring to pass what we cannot or to infuse His supernatural power in our natural situation, but personal fulfillment is only a part of the whole truth.
God does want His people fulfilled. God has proved that to each of us.
God provides for us and sustains us apart from our own works and abilities.
God directs us to go this way and that and leads us to follow Him.
God heals our bodies and heals our emotions.
God takes away the pangs of the past and gives us hope for the future.
God fills us with blessings and makes us to prosper.
God wants His people fulfilled, but personal fulfillment without intercession for others and integration with others is shallow and ultimately un-fulfilling.
God has made available His power for you to operate in, but power isn't always measured in overwhelming success, sometimes there's more power in restraint than misguided action.
Principles of power:
1st principle of power: Making a decision to spend time alone with God.
2nd Principle of power: Making a deliberate, firm and irreversible (YES) decision to do what God says prior to going to God in prayer.
If you really want power in your life, you will have to do it God's way. God does not issue His power to those whom He knows will throw it away, not His power. There is other power available and some of it looks good, but God's power is easily recognized:
God's power doesn't require a certain setting like when all the cameras are on or when the right people are present.
God's power is not performed by slight of hand. God works through yielded vessels, not self-proclaimed spiritual iconoclasts.
God's power does not require confirmation from the general assembly.
God gives His power and His gifts severally as He wills, not as 'we wills'.
The power of God cannot be arranged to be captured on film at 9:00 p.m. EST.
God's power proceeds forth from God at His will, on His timing, and the only thing that moves God is a yielded vessel with a YES on their tongue. YES I will - YES I can - YES, Lord, YES
What moves God is a praise of His glory.
What moves God is a right view of His Son.
What moves God is a follower of the leading of the Holy Spirit.
What moves God is a prayer of thankfulness, thanking God with real zest for life.
Thankful for who God is.
Thankful for His revelation
Thankful for what we have
If we spent as much time thanking God for what we have, as we do complaining to God about what we do not have, we would have what we don't have.
What moves God is an act of compassion:
A gift to the poor
A word for the lonely
A song for the weary
What moves God is a heart of worship.
Someone willing to bow the knee.
Submission to His wooing.
Recognition of our powerlessness apart from Him.
A yielded vessel.
The power of God is given to those who have stepped aside and lifted up the name of Jesus above their own. You can tell when a man or a woman is full of themself or yielded to God. The power of God is through the yielded and never wielded.
Those who are still full of themselves may have charisma and charm, authority, position and sometimes fame. They may be educated and informed. But the power of God is manifested in weakness and humility.
God pressed on me to search this word out, faint, because I always thought it meant the weak-willed, the helpless, those who were despondent and without, but I found out differently. The word faint as used in the scripture comes from the Hebrew word, (yaw-afe) which means fatigued or utterly exhausted. The faint are not the despondent or weak-willed, but those who are utterly exhausted from their labors.
The power of God is given to the laborers of God to perform the will of God.
The power of God doesn't stop and land on someone, as if, they could then wield the power of God at their own discretion. The power of God flows through a yielded man or woman to produce God results at God's discretion.
God is fed up with the modern prophets and so-called Apostles, some pastors and teachers who are puffed up with pride and self elevation and make a mockery of God's Holy and incorruptible power.
Galatians 6:3 says, "For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself."
Those who are still trying out God to see if they really have any interest in continuing with God are not awarded the power of God.
Those in whom God works His mighty power through:
They have stopped testing God.
They are done fighting God.
They have submitted to His will.
It's not that God does not work through others. God works through the ungodly and the unaware. The difference is, that those who adore the Lord - those who are yielded and submitted - they know when God is working in them and through them.
The power of God and the anointed life is for those who have made up their mind that God is who He says He is in the scriptures.
No other kind of faith will do:
Only faith in the Father as revealed in Holy scripture, the Holy Bible.
Faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God as revealed in Holy scripture, the Holy Bible.
Faith in the Holy Spirit as revealed in Holy scripture, the Holy Bible. (period)
- Seeker faith will not do.
- Show me first faith will not do.
- I love you Lord, but not enough to do something about my situation faith will not do.
- Sunday faith will not do.
- Extra-biblical faith will not do.
- Your spouses faith will not do.
- If it goes my way faith will not do.
- As long as I can believe what I want to faith will not do.
- As long as You don't test me faith, will not do.
- Don't ask me to give up what is mine faith will not do.
- As long as I can continue in my sin faith, will not do.
- As long as I can have control faith, will not do.
- As long as You don't bother me faith, will not do.
- As long as You don't tell me what to do faith, will not do.
Where did the body of Christ and our teenage believers hear that when we get saved, we get to keep?
Our old self
Our former inclinations
Our unsaved behaviors and attitudes
Where did the body of Christ hear that when we get saved, we get to keep?
Our old ways and
Our old habits
Who was it that taught that it's OK to struggle with the same old habit for twenty-five years?
I hope that you never placate your peers, your friends or your family with a 'feel good because I don't want to hurt their feelings gospel'.
The main reason that most Christians are living below their calling is because they have been taught that it is OK. It was never OK, nor will it ever be OK, for you and I to think that God saves His people so that they can continue to live the way they used to live. God forbid. I believe that if we were careful to give the gospel, without apology, new believers would seek God's heart and learn of His ways and make every effort to find God and serve Him.
If we were teaching people that YES is the only appropriate answer to our call from God and that YES is the only appropriate answer to the call to His ways, more people would be believing God with unswerving faith - And we wouldn't have to drive to Orlando to get healed either.
Here's the problem. Most people that go to God to get alone, first make a pack with themselves, that if God directs them in something that they don't want to do or go to a place they don't want to go, then they will renege.
They don't mind going to God to get alone as long as God comes through and meets their own particular requirements:
As long as God answers their prayer the way they want it answered.
As long as they aren't kept too long.
As long as God doesn't put them on the spot.
As a matter of fact, for some, as long as God just keeps His place, everything will be alright.
Some people go to God to see what God is going to say, and if God says the right things, they will consider it. But God is likely to say the wrong thing, if the right thing, is that thing, that we have already made up in our mind about.
If we've already made up our mind that:
We aren't going to go to where God says to go.
We aren't going to be what He called us to be.
We aren't going to do what God tells us to do.
We aren't going to say what God told us to say.
If we've already made up our mind, that what we hear from God, must echo of our own mind........
The only way to hear God clearly is to go to God with an open heart and an open mind and let God place into us, His will.
If we go to God with and open heart and an open mind, God might tell us to rest.
If we go to God with and open heart and an open mind, God might tell us to go.
If we go to God with and open heart and an open mind, God might tell us to give.
If we go to God with and open heart and an open mind, God might tell us to go to the mission field.
Some of us still think of missionaries as a small group of people who had nothing better to do, but give up everything: they had to move to a remote area to teach the unteachable, while earning their own substance, because they really couldn't get a job anywhere. No way. Missionaries are simply those who said YES, before God told them what they would be doing.
One night ma and pa were sitting at the edge of the setee and they knelt down to pray and they made the mistake of praying like this, "Oh God, why is this burden on my heart? I feel you tugging on me. What is it you are trying to tell me. Make it clear and I will obey."
"Go to Nairobi"
"Go to Sri Lanka"
"Go to Bangledesh"
"Go to Frankfurt Germany"
"Go to Tajikistan"
"Go to Sydney Australia"
And sometimes God calls us to more familiar places.
"Stay where you are for five years. Be faithful and serve in this place."
People go and needs are met when we go to God with a YES, fixed in our heart and on our lips.
If we go to God with and open heart and an open mind, God will use us to accomplish His good pleasure - and sometimes His good pleasure is to intercede for others or to go and do what others have left undone.
Those who are still listening for God to say what they want to hear, have not read the Word, nor do they know the heart of God.
We put too much emphasis on me, myself and I. We sing to God to take us and mold us but we end the song with "as long as it is my way."
Personal fulfillment
Creature comfort security
Financial independence
Material satisfaction
Immediate gratification - take precedence over the call of God.
Too many people are going to God in prayer, primarily for personal fulfillment. There's nothing wrong with expecting God to move on our behalf and to bring to pass what we cannot or to infuse His supernatural power in our natural situation, but personal fulfillment is only a part of the whole truth.
God does want His people fulfilled. God has proved that to each of us.
God provides for us and sustains us apart from our own works and abilities.
God directs us to go this way and that and leads us to follow Him.
God heals our bodies and heals our emotions.
God takes away the pangs of the past and gives us hope for the future.
God fills us with blessings and makes us to prosper.
God wants His people fulfilled, but personal fulfillment without intercession for others and integration with others is shallow and ultimately un-fulfilling.
God has made available His power for you to operate in, but power isn't always measured in overwhelming success, sometimes there's more power in restraint than misguided action.
Daily Devotional January 28 - The Ninth Stage of Spiritual Growth - Anointed
"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. (Now get this down in your spirit.) For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His." Hebrews 4:9-10
While you are reading this, make sure you let go of everything that is distracting you. Get comfortable and hold on. Don't rush the reading of this message. Allow it to deposit in your spirit.
The nine stages of spiritual growth are: Called - Washed - Strengthened - Prepared - Filled - Empowered - Inspired - Authorized and Anointed.
God thinking proposes that you do what God says and rest in the results. But when you are unsure of what God says you wrestle with the results. And the reason is: Only those who do the will of God, by allowing God to work in them, by them and through them, can rest from their own works. Your belief, if embraced by God, brings you to a place of rest, where unbelief brings you to a place of unrest. Your belief brings you to a resting place and your unbelief brings us to a restless place. Further, your belief brings you to a place of resting within and your unbelief brings you to a place of unrest without. Unbelief is the greatest sin of all.
The anointing is available, but it is only found in God's rest.
The true power of God is found in knowing and practicing God's ways. The idea of universal power that is equally available to any and all recipients, despite what they believe or how they operate in their belief, is not scriptural. There is a spiritual power apart from God and that power and that realm is owned and operated by satan. Don't be fooled by the "all paths lead to God" proponents. They make claims that cannot be supported by scripture, nor by the indwelling Holy Spirit - False claims are made to elevate self and God is sickened when the beauty of His ways is compared to the reckless behavior of the disobedient.
We are a generation, not too sure about God's ways, because religions/denominations have been doing our Bible study for us. The call to personal revelation by regular reading of the scripture and time alone with God to commune with Him, has been exchanged for a quick fix and a short sermonette.
The preaching of a holy and sovereign God that has already layed out the framework for your life by principles for living, found in the scriptures, and daily guidance by the indwelling Holy Spirit, has been exchanged for private interpretation of God's will that better suits a comfortable and far less challenging way of life.
God is holy and will not tolerate our consistent and frequent ignorance of His ways.
How long will God have to wait for you and I to take God as serious as we take ourselves? How long until we seek to apprehend His pleasure as much as we do our own?
Just how much unbelief does it take to spoil belief?
To enter into this rest - this place where even God entered into - this place where we rest from our works is also the place called rest. Let us labor to enter into that rest, just as God labored six days and then entered into His rest.
When we have labored to enter in - when we are prepared - when we have matured into the fullness of who we are in Christ - we enter into the rest of God, where we cease from our own works and the Spirit of God works in us, by us, and through us, as we rest from our own labors, but it is not that we cease from work or cease from labor - we cease from our own work and our own labor.
Again I ask, just how much unbelief does it take to spoil belief?
• How much doubt does it take to keep us from believing God this morning that God will take us out of debt?
• How much doubt does it take to keep us from believing for good health?
• How much doubt does it take to keep us from believing for healing in our body?
• How much doubt does it take to keep us from believing for our dream to come true?
God is calling us to a place of no doubt.
No doubt about so and so coming to the Lord. We will rest in our belief and God will work His will through us to do what we could not do.
• No resistance to God.
• No doubt holding us hostage anymore.
The anointing requires that you cease from your works and rest in God.
There were many that God showed Himself to.
There were many that knew the scriptures from back to front.
There were many that claimed to be of the seed of Abraham.
But they were not all anointed.
They were not anointed, because they did not believe what God said about Himself.
They did not enter into the rest of God, nor could they because to enter into the rest of God, requires that they rest from their own works, and they would not.
They did not enter into God's rest even though they knew the right words to say, because the right words are not enough to enter into the rest of God.
They did not enter into God's rest because of their birthright. God made it clear that Abraham and His seed are heirs by faith, not by blood.
No one come to God by default - only by belief that what God says about Himself and His Son is true.
To be anointed God must have all of you, not only is there no resistance, but there is a genuine, inner compunction to serve God, despite any and every circumstance. But many cannot come in to this place of rest, because of unbelief and doubt, consent to unnecessary, unhealthy and sometimes ungodly sentiments for this worlds system. Those sentiments don't start out as a path away from God. Most, harmful relationships with illegal drugs, prescription drugs, gambling, smoking, or people don't start out with the same level of detriment as they end up with.
Most harmful relationships grow from casual acquaintance to full blown affairs over time. Over time, worldly sentiments produce fruits of their own:
Territory is lost to the enemy.
Your body is damaged.
Your liver is damaged.
Your heart is damaged.
Your mind is corrupted.
Your reputation is tarnished.
You make light of the price God paid for your salvation.
Your emotions are demoralized.
Your motives become skewed.
Your faith becomes religious.
Your witness becomes void of efficacy.
You start to rely on everything but God to get you through.
You become an expert at rationalizing.
Worldly sentiments interfere when you hear the Word of God, you are not convicted in your heart to make a change, the conviction is turned into vindictive behavior, and you fight back, sometimes even at the ones you love the most. Again, no one starts out with the intentions of messing up their life. Little by little indiscretions turn into inclinations and inclinations turn into ungodly behaviors and ungodly behaviors turn into sins.
But just the same as the way you go astray - you can come back. But different than straying away where you are fighting against the leading of the Holy Spirit and you have to forge ahead fighting God, operating in your own power, when you are coming back you are in agreement with the Holy Spirit, God is pushing you forward and supporting you along the way and you are no longer operating under your own power. Whatever satan has taken from you, whatever territory has been given up, God has an ample supply to replenish your life. Whatever ground was lost in the battle can be and must be taken back. God is on your side and if you are willing to turn it over to Him and believe God, you will enter into His rest.
Unbelief is what holds you back and unbelief is what keeps you from the anointing.
To question God is not a sin
To ask God why things have to be
To search to find the answers, the truth
God sets a man and woman free
We are free to knock and seek and find
To dig real deep with open mind
To ever press for truths that bind
God will not hinder such a find
It’s not the rebel that can’t be changed
Or the one who made mistakes
It’s not the sinner that will be blamed
Not even the one who drove the stakes
For our sins can be forgiven by the price Christ paid for them
Our rebellion can be changed to serving God from within
Our mistakes can be forgotten because salvation is sure
But for the sin of unbelief - there is no cure
When we all stand before our God
What sin we’ve done will not be named
For our transgressions all are covered
And all in Jesus’s name
For God so loved the world
That He gave His only begotten Son
That whosoever believes in Him
Will never come undone
God did not leave faith to chance
He sent His only Son
To make sure that not even sin
Could keep a man from entering in
But to the unbelieving world
Whose blinded eyes could never see
For those who found another way
Other than the rugged tree
Those who stand in unbelief
After all that God has done
The best of speeches will not avail
If they deny God’s Son
• Unbelief is why Cain slew Able.
• Unbelief is why only eight were spared in the great flood.
• Unbelief is why the nation of Israel did not recognize the Messiah.
• Unbelief is why the nation of Israel does not recognize the Messiah today.
• Unbelief is why the Muslims and Hindus cannot find rest.
• Unbelief is the nagging nemesis of this millennium too.
• Unbelief is what keeps the seeker from finding the truth when it is right in front of them.
• And unbelief is what keeps you from uniting with God in will and purpose.
Why so much discussion on unbelief when we are discussing being anointed by God? Because it is unbelief that keeps you from finding the rest of God and it is in this rest that you are anointed. The anointed are committed. And the committed are anointed.
I want you to get a real feel for what committed is. Committed - is that point in time when you move forward with such agreement and/or momentum, that you cannot turn back - you cannot turn back without, at least a serious degrading or perilous outcome.
Ex: You are a batter and the pitch comes to you. You are committed to the swing when the swing goes across the plate - even if you balk, at the point where you went over the plate, you will be charged with a strike. That is committed.
Ex: You are an airline pilot and everyone has boarded the plane. All checks have been processed and everything is O.K. You taxi down the runway and you receive the word that you are a go for takeoff. You accelerate to flight speed. You reach that point when you cannot turn back and if you do, the plane will run off the runway and there will be damage or fatalities. That point is committed.
Ex: You are playing golf and you set the ball on the tee. You position your feet and take a practice swing or two. You rear back and swing. There is a point in time when you have committed to that swing.
And yet, in our experience with the ways that God has set before us - when we think of committed, we think more in terms of trying something out than we do emptying ourselves into it. One of the reasons that we don’t experience more of God’s fulfilled promises in our life, is because in what we believe we have not committed ourselves to it, yet. We are still trying it out. Can you see how the whole concept of commitment has been watered down in our society?
There’s no way you can receive anything spiritual from God if what you call commitment doesn’t meet biblical criteria, i. e.:
No more turning back.
No stopping in the middle of
No conditions after the fact
No trying out God’s promises and provisions to see if God meets your expectations.
No more leaving a job half done.
Why, today if someone gets a little discouraged, they bail.
If someone gets offended, they quit.
If their needs aren’t getting met, they walk.
If you aren’t bending over backwards to make them comfortable, they complain and eventually leave.
What about the call?
What about the commitment to God in spite of the circumstances or difficulties?
What about conforming to God’s call instead of trying to conform God’s call to meet your own personal agenda?
What about serving for decades?
The Church is full of people today that won’t get involved if they have to commit more than a few weeks or a few months.
Here’s the final analysis:
You have been conditioned, to operate in, and be satisfied with, less than a biblical understanding of God’s call to your commitment to the things of God. And for this reason, there is great lack in the body of Christ today. God is not conditioned to accept whatever offering we bring to Him. No, I’m not talking about money, but it could be money too. I’m talking about how we bring to God what part of our self that we don’t mind giving up. But unconditional surrender....
Over time, and due to our lack of commitment to placing and keeping God in the center of our life, there has been a falling away from sound doctrine. We have the uncommitted teaching the uncommitted how to be committed. The results are two-fold:
1 God is grieved, because the kind of commitment that God demands of His people is not what has been preached, taught, nurtured and believed in the Church in our generation.
2 The Church is living with less than what is available, because the blessings and provisions of God are accessed by commitment and delivered in God’s rest.
It is this place of God’s rest where the anointing is imparted and there is no rest where there is no commitment. Why are we so satisfied with less than what is available?
Are you willing to ask God to take you deeper than ever before? Are you willing to find God’s rest? Are you willing to be in the center of God’s will even at the expense of............. everything? There is nothing worth not trading in for the anointing.
While you are reading this, make sure you let go of everything that is distracting you. Get comfortable and hold on. Don't rush the reading of this message. Allow it to deposit in your spirit.
The nine stages of spiritual growth are: Called - Washed - Strengthened - Prepared - Filled - Empowered - Inspired - Authorized and Anointed.
God thinking proposes that you do what God says and rest in the results. But when you are unsure of what God says you wrestle with the results. And the reason is: Only those who do the will of God, by allowing God to work in them, by them and through them, can rest from their own works. Your belief, if embraced by God, brings you to a place of rest, where unbelief brings you to a place of unrest. Your belief brings you to a resting place and your unbelief brings us to a restless place. Further, your belief brings you to a place of resting within and your unbelief brings you to a place of unrest without. Unbelief is the greatest sin of all.
The anointing is available, but it is only found in God's rest.
The true power of God is found in knowing and practicing God's ways. The idea of universal power that is equally available to any and all recipients, despite what they believe or how they operate in their belief, is not scriptural. There is a spiritual power apart from God and that power and that realm is owned and operated by satan. Don't be fooled by the "all paths lead to God" proponents. They make claims that cannot be supported by scripture, nor by the indwelling Holy Spirit - False claims are made to elevate self and God is sickened when the beauty of His ways is compared to the reckless behavior of the disobedient.
We are a generation, not too sure about God's ways, because religions/denominations have been doing our Bible study for us. The call to personal revelation by regular reading of the scripture and time alone with God to commune with Him, has been exchanged for a quick fix and a short sermonette.
The preaching of a holy and sovereign God that has already layed out the framework for your life by principles for living, found in the scriptures, and daily guidance by the indwelling Holy Spirit, has been exchanged for private interpretation of God's will that better suits a comfortable and far less challenging way of life.
God is holy and will not tolerate our consistent and frequent ignorance of His ways.
How long will God have to wait for you and I to take God as serious as we take ourselves? How long until we seek to apprehend His pleasure as much as we do our own?
Just how much unbelief does it take to spoil belief?
To enter into this rest - this place where even God entered into - this place where we rest from our works is also the place called rest. Let us labor to enter into that rest, just as God labored six days and then entered into His rest.
When we have labored to enter in - when we are prepared - when we have matured into the fullness of who we are in Christ - we enter into the rest of God, where we cease from our own works and the Spirit of God works in us, by us, and through us, as we rest from our own labors, but it is not that we cease from work or cease from labor - we cease from our own work and our own labor.
Again I ask, just how much unbelief does it take to spoil belief?
• How much doubt does it take to keep us from believing God this morning that God will take us out of debt?
• How much doubt does it take to keep us from believing for good health?
• How much doubt does it take to keep us from believing for healing in our body?
• How much doubt does it take to keep us from believing for our dream to come true?
God is calling us to a place of no doubt.
No doubt about so and so coming to the Lord. We will rest in our belief and God will work His will through us to do what we could not do.
• No resistance to God.
• No doubt holding us hostage anymore.
The anointing requires that you cease from your works and rest in God.
There were many that God showed Himself to.
There were many that knew the scriptures from back to front.
There were many that claimed to be of the seed of Abraham.
But they were not all anointed.
They were not anointed, because they did not believe what God said about Himself.
They did not enter into the rest of God, nor could they because to enter into the rest of God, requires that they rest from their own works, and they would not.
They did not enter into God's rest even though they knew the right words to say, because the right words are not enough to enter into the rest of God.
They did not enter into God's rest because of their birthright. God made it clear that Abraham and His seed are heirs by faith, not by blood.
No one come to God by default - only by belief that what God says about Himself and His Son is true.
To be anointed God must have all of you, not only is there no resistance, but there is a genuine, inner compunction to serve God, despite any and every circumstance. But many cannot come in to this place of rest, because of unbelief and doubt, consent to unnecessary, unhealthy and sometimes ungodly sentiments for this worlds system. Those sentiments don't start out as a path away from God. Most, harmful relationships with illegal drugs, prescription drugs, gambling, smoking, or people don't start out with the same level of detriment as they end up with.
Most harmful relationships grow from casual acquaintance to full blown affairs over time. Over time, worldly sentiments produce fruits of their own:
Territory is lost to the enemy.
Your body is damaged.
Your liver is damaged.
Your heart is damaged.
Your mind is corrupted.
Your reputation is tarnished.
You make light of the price God paid for your salvation.
Your emotions are demoralized.
Your motives become skewed.
Your faith becomes religious.
Your witness becomes void of efficacy.
You start to rely on everything but God to get you through.
You become an expert at rationalizing.
Worldly sentiments interfere when you hear the Word of God, you are not convicted in your heart to make a change, the conviction is turned into vindictive behavior, and you fight back, sometimes even at the ones you love the most. Again, no one starts out with the intentions of messing up their life. Little by little indiscretions turn into inclinations and inclinations turn into ungodly behaviors and ungodly behaviors turn into sins.
But just the same as the way you go astray - you can come back. But different than straying away where you are fighting against the leading of the Holy Spirit and you have to forge ahead fighting God, operating in your own power, when you are coming back you are in agreement with the Holy Spirit, God is pushing you forward and supporting you along the way and you are no longer operating under your own power. Whatever satan has taken from you, whatever territory has been given up, God has an ample supply to replenish your life. Whatever ground was lost in the battle can be and must be taken back. God is on your side and if you are willing to turn it over to Him and believe God, you will enter into His rest.
Unbelief is what holds you back and unbelief is what keeps you from the anointing.
To question God is not a sin
To ask God why things have to be
To search to find the answers, the truth
God sets a man and woman free
We are free to knock and seek and find
To dig real deep with open mind
To ever press for truths that bind
God will not hinder such a find
It’s not the rebel that can’t be changed
Or the one who made mistakes
It’s not the sinner that will be blamed
Not even the one who drove the stakes
For our sins can be forgiven by the price Christ paid for them
Our rebellion can be changed to serving God from within
Our mistakes can be forgotten because salvation is sure
But for the sin of unbelief - there is no cure
When we all stand before our God
What sin we’ve done will not be named
For our transgressions all are covered
And all in Jesus’s name
For God so loved the world
That He gave His only begotten Son
That whosoever believes in Him
Will never come undone
God did not leave faith to chance
He sent His only Son
To make sure that not even sin
Could keep a man from entering in
But to the unbelieving world
Whose blinded eyes could never see
For those who found another way
Other than the rugged tree
Those who stand in unbelief
After all that God has done
The best of speeches will not avail
If they deny God’s Son
• Unbelief is why Cain slew Able.
• Unbelief is why only eight were spared in the great flood.
• Unbelief is why the nation of Israel did not recognize the Messiah.
• Unbelief is why the nation of Israel does not recognize the Messiah today.
• Unbelief is why the Muslims and Hindus cannot find rest.
• Unbelief is the nagging nemesis of this millennium too.
• Unbelief is what keeps the seeker from finding the truth when it is right in front of them.
• And unbelief is what keeps you from uniting with God in will and purpose.
Why so much discussion on unbelief when we are discussing being anointed by God? Because it is unbelief that keeps you from finding the rest of God and it is in this rest that you are anointed. The anointed are committed. And the committed are anointed.
I want you to get a real feel for what committed is. Committed - is that point in time when you move forward with such agreement and/or momentum, that you cannot turn back - you cannot turn back without, at least a serious degrading or perilous outcome.
Ex: You are a batter and the pitch comes to you. You are committed to the swing when the swing goes across the plate - even if you balk, at the point where you went over the plate, you will be charged with a strike. That is committed.
Ex: You are an airline pilot and everyone has boarded the plane. All checks have been processed and everything is O.K. You taxi down the runway and you receive the word that you are a go for takeoff. You accelerate to flight speed. You reach that point when you cannot turn back and if you do, the plane will run off the runway and there will be damage or fatalities. That point is committed.
Ex: You are playing golf and you set the ball on the tee. You position your feet and take a practice swing or two. You rear back and swing. There is a point in time when you have committed to that swing.
And yet, in our experience with the ways that God has set before us - when we think of committed, we think more in terms of trying something out than we do emptying ourselves into it. One of the reasons that we don’t experience more of God’s fulfilled promises in our life, is because in what we believe we have not committed ourselves to it, yet. We are still trying it out. Can you see how the whole concept of commitment has been watered down in our society?
There’s no way you can receive anything spiritual from God if what you call commitment doesn’t meet biblical criteria, i. e.:
No more turning back.
No stopping in the middle of
No conditions after the fact
No trying out God’s promises and provisions to see if God meets your expectations.
No more leaving a job half done.
Why, today if someone gets a little discouraged, they bail.
If someone gets offended, they quit.
If their needs aren’t getting met, they walk.
If you aren’t bending over backwards to make them comfortable, they complain and eventually leave.
What about the call?
What about the commitment to God in spite of the circumstances or difficulties?
What about conforming to God’s call instead of trying to conform God’s call to meet your own personal agenda?
What about serving for decades?
The Church is full of people today that won’t get involved if they have to commit more than a few weeks or a few months.
Here’s the final analysis:
You have been conditioned, to operate in, and be satisfied with, less than a biblical understanding of God’s call to your commitment to the things of God. And for this reason, there is great lack in the body of Christ today. God is not conditioned to accept whatever offering we bring to Him. No, I’m not talking about money, but it could be money too. I’m talking about how we bring to God what part of our self that we don’t mind giving up. But unconditional surrender....
Over time, and due to our lack of commitment to placing and keeping God in the center of our life, there has been a falling away from sound doctrine. We have the uncommitted teaching the uncommitted how to be committed. The results are two-fold:
1 God is grieved, because the kind of commitment that God demands of His people is not what has been preached, taught, nurtured and believed in the Church in our generation.
2 The Church is living with less than what is available, because the blessings and provisions of God are accessed by commitment and delivered in God’s rest.
It is this place of God’s rest where the anointing is imparted and there is no rest where there is no commitment. Why are we so satisfied with less than what is available?
Are you willing to ask God to take you deeper than ever before? Are you willing to find God’s rest? Are you willing to be in the center of God’s will even at the expense of............. everything? There is nothing worth not trading in for the anointing.
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