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

Searching

Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust. O my soul, you have said to the Lord, You are my Lord, My goodness is nothing apart from You. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:1, 2, 7-9, 11 We spend a great deal of our time searching. Inside of every one of us is the desire to find satisfaction and contentment, and so we misguidedly use entertainment and other activities that keep us busy, filling up and taking up the time of our lives. But In His presence is fullness of joy... there is no where else that we can go, nothing else we can do, though, that will ever satisfy the longing like being in the presence of the Lord, as we put everything aside, tune out every distraction, just Him and each of us. Created for relationship with our Father/Bridegroom, this is not optional if we are to find real joy we must spend time with Him. I would suggest that perhaps it is time to consider how our time is budgeted. We have 24 hours a day in our "time bank account", how is it spent? If the Lord God is our first love, does He get our first consideration, do you get into His presence first? I will also suggest that if we fail to do this, it simply won't happen, as we get swept away in the activities of our day....this is an observation from my own life, so today beloved, search for Him with all your heart... you will find Him. "In His Presence is fullness of joy."

Recharged

"He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak."
Is. 40:29

"As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God."
Ps. 42:1

As I go through my life, moment by moment, day by day,
I am reminded by my own weaknesses and inabilities...
that I am desperate for Jesus, thirsty for His Holy Spirit, and starved for my Father's love.
It is more important even than the air I breathe. 
I deserve nothing, but on this broken and flawed vessel 
He lavishes His mercy, grace, unmerited favor, and extravagant love.
Moments of pride, idolatry and unfaithfulness leave me stumbling parched, over the desert dunes,
but even as I croak out a cry for His mercy,
it comes-suddenly- waves of refreshment, 
His joy falls, cascading and washing my spirit...
His love billows over me, deep calls unto deep,
and I am renewed, recharged

 ¹⁵ For this is what the high and exalted One says—
    he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
“I live in a high and holy place,
    but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
    and to revive the heart of the contrite.
Is. 57:15

The Help 268

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears,
and he will tell you what is yet to come.
He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
All that belongs to the Father is mine.
That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.
“In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”
John 16: 2-16

Jesus tells His grief stricken disciples that they can expect the Helper, referred to in this translation as the "Spirit of Truth", who will help embed in them what is currently bouncing off their hearts and minds. They can't begin to grasp all that Jesus wants to share and say to them. Jesus knew what lay ahead for them, the temporary disappointment, the shattering of messianic hopes, the brokenness and fear. He knew that only then would they be able to receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and the vastness of what that will mean to them.
Once filled with the Holy Spirit these simple men went on to set the world on fire, filled with supernatural revelation and power. They loved the Lord with the same intensity that He loved them (and loves us), and they loved not their lives even unto death, understanding that in Yeshua/Jesus, physical death is just a gateway to eternal life.
A key difference between knowing about God and actually knowing Him, is the filling of the Holy Spirit. Christ in you...the Hope of glory...
He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
All that belongs to the Father is mine.
That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

To only know facts about Him without being filled with the Holy Spirit is like standing outside the palace window, looking in on the banquet taking place...you are there, but not participating.
Beloved, if today you recognize that the presence and habitation of the Holy Spirit is long overdue in your life, invite Him in.
Remember the words of our Lord:
 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears,
and he will tell you what is yet to come.
John 16:13

Paying Attention

A feast for a special guest is underway, but the guest has been delayed in arriving. The noise of the gathering is loud; there is eating, drinking, and celebrating, and in fact the participants are so caught up that when the guest for whom the whole event was created for arrives and stands knocking on the door those inside cannot hear him.

Behold! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
Rev. 3:20

The table has been set, the guests invited.
Jesus is the special guest, He is the reason for everything, in Him belongs all preemininence...
 in our lives, purpose, and plans, and even now He knocks at the door of our hearts.
Do you hear Him, or is there too much noise?
Is our own selfishness screaming louder, or perhaps the noise of a very temporary world along with glittery but meaningless baubles, distracting us?
Today beloved, turn down the volume and listen, and answer...He is knocking.
Don't dare miss it.

Time is Money 220

The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower becomes the lender's slave.
Proverbs 22:7

And Jacob said, "First swear to me"; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.
Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way.
Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Genesis 25:33, 34

"You cannot serve both God and money"
-Jesus

This is a practical message.
There are many scriptures that mention how we are to deal with finances.
Why is it important that we pay for goods and services with actual money, not borrowing?
We live in the most indebted, debt shackled culture in the history of mankind, where people's propensity to borrow on credit and pay back is valued and tracked by those who lend, expressed as a credit score, and a new system of slavery has emerged.
In the "old" system, the system under which many of us, including me, was raised,
I was told by my father:
Buy something only when you have the money in hand to pay for it.
When things are purchased on credit, the borrower makes an oath to pay, and we are indenturing ourselves...the old maxim, time is money is absolutely true.
When we use a lender's money, we become slaves,
owing a piece of our lives,  willfully shackling ourselves for nothing more than the equivalent of a "bowl of stew".

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.
Gal. 5:1

Shades of Grace

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me.... I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now, I see. T'was Grace that taught... my heart to fear. And Grace, my fears relieved. How precious did that Grace appear... the hour I first believed. "

 This morning as we sang Amazing Grace in our worship, the power of the Lord's truly amazing grace hit home to me, again. This grace causes both a fear of Him...and a calming, a relief from other fears, that He will deliver me from, at the same time. This fear, and His ever lovingkindness, causes me to repent from wickedness...how dare I abuse such grace, that I would willfully pursue desperate or dark things! Knowing that He would forgive me, nonetheless...how dare I grieve my Father/ My Bridegroom, who has lavished His love, mercy-and this amazing grace-on me? Is this any way to treat the One who loves me so furiously? So I am mindful of Him, I desire to move forward, to apprehend the One who has apprehended me, I am thankful for His grace, which draws me to stay faithful, and not to take undue advantage of such a forgiving and loving Father. His hurricane-force furious love causes us to want to respond in kind, how could we not? Today beloved, dwell on this Grace, and don't take it for granted.

Finishing 294

"Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation– if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.
Colossians 1:21-22
"If you continue in your faith..." There it is, brother and sisters.
 The choice.
Will we finish the race or not? It will not be finished for us, or without our participation, it's up to us; there are two choices set before us: the way of Life or the way of death. The Father, Son, and the Spirit all call to us, sometimes in whispers, sometimes shouting: COME!! Don't quit or lose heart! Keep at it! Be bold, be strong! Choose LIFE!
But They won't make us, won't drag us across that finish line, so we must grasp tightly to the hope of things we know are true that are yet unseen, for this is the very definition, the very essence of faith. Let us consider who, what, and where we were before He reconciled us, and presented us holy, and let us remember that this is not about us, it's all about a preeminent Jesus.
 He made a way for us, He will be faithful to complete what was begun in us...
Keep your faith, beloved, and finish what He began in you.

Diagnosis/Cure

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Isaiah 53:1 Recently my beautiful wife had been afflicted with a number of physical ailments: pain and swelling in her knee, a mysterious swelling in her wrist that manifested a huge painful lump, and other ailments that have attacked her. The doctors reports were negative (big surprise there... Not really!). A doctor even diagnosed her with a condition for which there is no cure. She said there was no reason for a blood test, but Lisa demanded it. Finally she determined that she was going to trust the Lord, who both created her, and is her great Physician, not believing the negative reports ... she started proclaiming her health and healing over these conditions, and just a short time later, these "conditions" are all but gone! That blood test came back negative...the doctor was wrong! There are many who have believed the Lord, not the negative reports; our loving Father has the whole world, every situation in His Hands. There are also many who sadly cling to the negative reports, believing men instead of God. There is a more excellent way though, and God's plan is always the best plan. Today beloved, stand on His Word that goes forth and never returns void...proclaim His goodness, grace, and mercy. Believe His report.

Hindrances

"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 10:5

The "knowledge of God" spoken of here is love, and all that the holy concept of love entails.
The Word tells us that God Himself is love, and once again, I'm reminded, provoked, encouraged, and challenged to imitate the Ultimate Lover.
My greatest hurdles and hindrances to loving others as Yeshua loves me comes in the form of arguments, pretensions, suppositions, traps, that pop up if I'm not vigilant, right from my own cold heart, and a mind that can suffer from a lack of renewal, only the Holy Spirit and the Word can "melt me, and fan the flames."*

 "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self‑seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 NIV84


*Thanks Misty Edwards/ What Only You Can Do

All Sufficient

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:8-10

"My grace is sufficient for you...fear not...look up and focus...do not look to the left or right, lock your gaze on Me.."
There is not denying the obvious, that I am just human, flawed and broken, a mere mortal.
Day by day I find myself challenged by my own weaknesses, my own circumstances; through it all if I am listening as I should be, I hear the voice of the shepherd calling to me:
" My grace is more than sufficient for you..."
Thank you, my Father, for your amazing grace.
It's sufficiency, and the cascading revelations it brings to my spirit, is the sweetest sound I have ever heard.

Back To Basics/ Garden Life

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God."
Psalm 42:1

In the busy hustle and bustle of life, I find that there are so many things that compete for my time and attention. Some days I find myself frankly so tired that my morning devotional time is lost to sheer fatigue, and I pay a heavy price for not having face time with my Father.
As I find myself missing that critical element, my soul becoming so parched,
I feel myself desperately searching for the one thing, desiring to go to the one place,
the only thing that restores in my soul... fellowship with God.
I find myself longing to sit at my Master/Bridegroom/Father's feet, casting myself on His great love, grace, and mercy, I  desperately seek to apprehend the One who has apprehended me.
The length, width, depth, and heighth of His love, and how it washes over in billows is incomprehensible, inexplicable, and vital.
Made for this "garden life", I find there is no substitute...
So it's back to basics, yet again, abiding in Yeshua alone.
Beloved, satisfy the inner longing, that hunger that only Jesus can satisfy,
get that vital one-on-one with Him today.

Intentions and Plans 223

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." Genesis 50:20

It's 1981...a young unmarried couple, involved  out of wedlock, discover that they are pregnant.
They are anxious, confused, without resources...Roe v. Wade is in force, abortion is legal, and they are considering doing again what they have already done before, in fact, twice before…
but this time is different, this time they make a decision to keep this baby, and in October, 1981,
became the proud parents of a healthy, beautiful baby girl.
The couple's marriage soon dissolved, but the girl flourished...

Recently my oldest  daughter, born in 1981,who resides in New York,
along with our son-in-law, and our two beautiful grand-daughters came to visit us.
This daughter is that baby girl... and a new legacy of life was begun.
In the classic movie, It's A Wonderful Life, a despondent George Bailey gets to see what his world would've looked like without the impact of his life...and I am moved to repeatedly consider the many lives that would've been impacted without this young lady, not to mention there would be no grand daughters...

When I look at them and take in all the blessings of these two generations, both now and the future,
I hear the voice of the Lord: ...for I know the plans I have for them, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for a hope and a future..."  Jer. 29:11
Beloved,  God's plans are crafted with eternity in His mind, and are far better than even the best laid intentions of men... Seek first His kingdom, surrender your intentions to Him.