Impulse and Consequence

"Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.) Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?” But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright." Genesis 25:29-34 Esau was the firstborn, he had his father's favor, and all the rights and blessings that went along with such a position. This was not to be taken lightly, or treated casually, but in a moment of weakness he succumbed to his fleshly desires and impulsively traded away his most significant assets. Surely he knew better, surely his heart and mind, the spirit the Lord placed inside him screamed out: "Don't do it!", but he did... One of the ways God is called is "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob"... Jacob, and not Esau...his small moment of weakness had eternal consequences on him, and his descendants. "Make wise choices" is a phrase we say to children parents can identify with, and the rest of us have heard something like it from our own parents. It means to consider carefully as the outcome and consequences reach far beyond the moment, each choice adjusting and redefining our direction in life, moving forward on the narrow path Jesus calls us to follow Him on, or finding ourselves off course. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21 As we go about life today, beloved, ask the Lord for wisdom and counsel, seek His purposes first not your own, do not succumb to impulsive rash decisions, don't be short sighted...make wise choices.

Margins and Balances

"Come near to God and he will come near to you." James 4:8a I've been working long days lately. The requirements of my vocation bring with it tremendous pressure to "hit the numbers", and 12-14 hours away from home are not unusual. I find myself longing for the Lord's presence, missing my time with Him, and I find myself asking for His forgiveness, and saying in the spirit to the Lord: "How long Lord, will you tarry? Where can I go right now to meet with you?" There is a tightrope we walk, the struggle for balance in life. We have various responsibilities, but there must be an order, priorities... I find that I must make Him first, keep Him first, draw near to Him... it is not God who drifts away, no, it is me; because He never changes. Life without His nearness, His presence, and His voice speaking to me is like food without spices on it- bland, tasteless, pointless-it has been said that "life without God is like an unsharpened pencil...there is no point to it." So today, in spite of the rigors of life, and outside demands, I will call on His name, call to Him as deep calls unto deep, and petition His Holy Spirit to rise up on the inside of me, that the Well would spring up, that I would never lose being lovesick for Jesus, my First and Greatest Love. Only He can satisfy.

Mountains and Molehills

"The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth." Psalm 97:5 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26 "For nothing is impossible with God.” Luke 1:37 Perhaps today you are facing a situation, or multiples situations, obstacles and problems that loom mountainous before us. In our own minds we may find ourselves thinking that there is no way out, no deliverance...in our own small minds we see impossibilities. Read Psalm 97:5 again..."the mountains melt like wax before the Lord"...nothing is impossible for God, beloved. Seek Him earnestly, knowing, believing, and trusting in Him, stand still and watch as these mountains dissolve, impossibilities being overturned, as His glory shines through!

Insight

"But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
    the Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵ “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
    and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
    I will not forget you!
¹⁶ See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls are ever before me."

Is.49:14-16

Lately I have a sense that so many of us are weary, beaten up, beaten down, dealing with issues both real and contrived...one day runs into the next as we deal with messes, tests, and trials....that desert experience. 

Awakening each day, unless we pause, reflect, and focus on the Author and Perfector, we can forget that His mercies, amazing grace, and incomprehensible joys are new every morning.

 I recently saw a poster online that read:" Only God can turn a MESS into a message, a TEST onto a testimony, a TRIAL into a triumph, and a VICTIM into a victory."

Amen, our plights are not unseen or forgotten.

Yeshua sent  us a helper, the Holy Spirit who is like our armor-bearer, energizer, enabler.

We serve a mighty God, who bears the name "ADONAI TZEVA'OT -Lord of the ARMIES- all around us are unseen armies of angelic armies, and our Father commands and dispatches them as He inclines His ear towards those who seek Him.

We are called overcomers, victors, more than conquerors and as we run towards the finish line there will be hurdles and more hurdles.

Stay the course, beloved, let's fix our eyes on Jesus and the finish line, let's keep on moving and as we do we realize just how light and momentary our trials and sufferings are.

Binding The Strongman

In high school, I was acquainted with an extremely strong wrestler whose nickname was "Manpower". He won every match, by his sheer strength. I recall asking him the secret of his success, and he replied, "I grab my opponent by the head, and the rest of the body follows." As we stand on the brink of revival and spiritual advances, a wind of offense blows through our ranks. "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." Colossians 2:8 Our greatest battlefield in our struggles has always been the mind. "So as a man thinks, he becomes..." That strongman, the accuser of the brethren, that we must bind, seeks to take control of our "heads" and take us captive, because we are truly as good as chained if empty and vain thoughts rule over us, and our lives will be governed by whoever rules our minds and thought lives. "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they 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 Corinthians 10:3-5 Freedom from the strongman, the purveyor of lies, offenses, unforgiveness, anger, fomented misunderstandings, jealousy, can only happen as we abide in the true Vine, governed by the mind of Christ dwelling in us. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1 Today beloved, choose the Captivator of the heart. He stoops down to conquer, He is a great and benevolent King, and in Jesus alone dwells freedom.

Foundations

"Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 As my wife and I prepare to send off our 18 year old daughter to start a new phase of life and learning on her own, I am reminded of this scripture! It is the promise of the Lord that our children will return, again and again, to the the foundations that have been laid inside them. Thy Word, Lord, is a lamp and a light, and the Lord is our Light and our Salvation. So even if she bumps into the "guard rail" a few times, and learns to walk on the narrow path, we know she is never alone, that Jesus is always with her, that the Holy Spirit is pursuing and guiding her. My prayer is for her to be attuned to that still small voice that whispers: "This is my way, walk in it." So we look forward to what the Lord is going to do. We know there will be scrapes and bruises, prunings, but triumphs, victories, as she picks up her own cross and carries it on the path her Father has laid out for her. His word is active, living, and powerful, and will accomplish what it was purpose for.

Chasing Wind

"Now godliness with contentment is great gain." 1 Timothy 6:6 We live in a culture where happiness and contentment are vainly pursued. All manner of activities are undertaken for the sake of happiness, the elusive acquisition of lasting contentment, but apart from abiding in Jesus, there is none! No place, no activity, no thing, will ever satisfy, yet such energy is expended with the same result that Solomon achieved- Chasing the wind. The greater the energy, the more frantic the search, the greater the hunger and thirst... but apart from relationship with our Father/Bridegroom, there is no last contentment and no real life, and from deep within the parched desert way down inside, the soul cries. "Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done. And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun." Ecclesiastes 2:10, 11 Where are you today, beloved? Have you found your one true love, or have you returned to Him? Cast aside everything that is a stumbling block, every idol, anything that diverts your time or attention from Him. Only He can ever satisfy the deepest longings of your heart...it's time to come home.

All I Can Do 218

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:6, 7

During the Battle of Britain, one of the fiercest air battles ever waged that raged for months during 1940 over the English Channel and Britain. The resources of the Royal Air Force were so depleted, that the Royal Air marshall and the leadership of England feared that they would be vanquished by Hitler's Luftwaffe, the German Air Forces.
At this same time 100 intercessors led by Rees Howells were on their faces, day and night.
At the crucial time of this struggle, the Luftwaffe planes just turned away...and never returned.
The Battle of Britain had ended, a decisive victory claimed in prayer... one of many!

In times of high anxiety, stress, and situations when we are powerless to changes things ourselves,
we find the only thing we can do is to pray!
There is something about human nature where we always try to fix things ourselves,
leaving the most effective and powerful thing we can do-pray- as the last resort.
The Holy Scriptures tell us, that we are to use prayer in every situation, big and small,
the prayers of righteous men and women avail much.
Beloved, God is inclining His ear towards us, and He's waiting for us to ask...seek...and knock.

He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I shall never be shaken.
Psalm 62.2