"Today’s church wants to be raptured from responsibility."
"If weak in prayer, we are weak everywhere."
"Men give advice; God gives guidance."
"Are the things you are living for worth Christ dying for?"
"A sinning man stops praying, a praying man stops sinning"
"The only reason we don't have revival is because we are willing to live without it!"
"God pity us that after years of writing, using mountains of paper and rivers of ink, exhausting flashy terminology about the biggest revival meetings in history, we are still faced with gross corruption in every nation, as well as with the most prayerless church age since Pentecost."
"The Church used to be a lifeboat rescuing the perishing. Now she is a cruise ship recruiting the promising."
"The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized within the lifetime of the opportunity."
"My main ambition in life is to be on the devil's most wanted list."
"If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified."
"Entertainment is the devil's substitute for joy"
November 27, 2010
November 24, 2010
Not Enough? The Answer to Total Fulfillment.
Have you ever felt like you just ______ enough? (You fill in the blank.) I assume we all have this phrase set aside and ready to be departed from an area in our mind where we think “I just don’t have enough,” “aren’t good enough,” “can’t give enough,” and etc.
Today I was thinking about this. There are so many things we can go back to in our past and say if only I “had enough”: money, talent, interest, good looks, spirituality, faith, time, and on and on. You name it; I think we’ve said it. Sometimes as we’re thinking these things inwardly, we’re outwardly comparing ourselves one to another and even competing to make ourselves feel better. But, I truly believe this is an attack of the enemy (Satan of course) and is a tool that he uses to move us away from what truly matters. Jesus; He’s what matters! Him and His Kingdom! (Simple, I know, but it’s true!)
We’ll never “be good enough”; we can’t be. Our human nature (our fleshly, carnal nature) prevents us from being that perfect being. We won’t ever have enough. Our flesh seeks more and more. We’re usually interested in having more money, left wishing we had more talents/capabilities or wishing we were more spiritual in some way. But, why? This is the question I asked myself today. Why do we allow these thoughts of aspiring to have more or be more to circulate around in our brain? Why do we then allow what we assume about ourselves and our situations drop into our heart and plant seeds of doubt and confusion?
My theory is that we do this because we’re seeking three things. We want to be loved, wanted and accepted. I think on some level we’re all yearning for this. Sometimes we compare the number of “Friends” we have on Facebook to other friend’s numbers and at other times we might find ourselves in other situations that will give us some sort of indicator of how well we’re doing in the social arena. Those who are single can feel this way or people in general who are not receiving what they think they want or need from people. As humans, we’re longing for some sort of social/spiritual fulfillment. We want to connect, but we’re not sure how.
Well, here’s the answer! God placed these desires in us. He wants us to want His love. He wants us to want Him to want us. And, He wants us to seek His approval and acceptance, not man’s. These feelings that we have, these desires and hungers are set in us from the time we were knit together in our mother’s womb. As babies, we can’t deny that we wanted our parents to care for us. We were hungry, cold and uncomfortable. We were insecure and didn’t want to fall. Even now, it’s instilled in us to want these things from our Heavenly Father.
We want our Heavenly Father to feed us. He will, but will also remind us that we don’t live on bread alone, but every Word that proceeds from His mouth. His Word, His Life, and His Revelation….all these things sustain us as well! He cares for our every need. He is our supplier. Philippians 4:19 says, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Then in Genesis 22:14, we find that Abraham discovers that one of God’s names, in Hebrew, is Adonai Yir’eh. We commonly translate this as Jehovah-Jireh – The Lord will Provide, He will see to it. He cares for us; He cares for our every need, but when we don’t recognize that the pulling on our hearts to want this is from Him, we are left distraught, confused, isolated and sometimes angry.
I think that it’s at this point that we begin to look inwardly. We think there’s something wrong with us. If only I had more money to go to college, get the car I want, or _____. If I just had better looks, someone would want to marry me. If I had a better personality, opportunity or talents, I’d have more friends. If only I could pray more, have more faith or take part in more church activities, God would accept me and love me more. Maybe my walk would be stronger. Some of things may be true, but it’s not going to fulfill what we’re truly looking for. The root and origin of our quest for more of something is the need to fulfill the longing we have to be wanted and accepted by God.
We don’t want to be forgotten. We want to be used. We want to have a calling and purpose on our life. We want to live a life of meaning, not wasting it. And, these are good things, BUT we must turn to God and seek Him. The ultimate purpose for our life, before any other thing, is to totally surrender our lives to our Creator and King. We are to, and need to, focus on Him and His plans. When we get so wrapped up in the cares of this world and focus on our lack, we begin to worry and are doing the complete opposite of living by Faith and walking in the Spirit.
Habakkuk 2:4 “…the just shall live by faith.”
2 Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
In order to find our lives, we must lose our lives for His sake.
Matthew 10:39 “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
This is the greatest calling and #1 only fulfilling thing we can do. Living our lives for any other thing is a complete Waste.
Ecclesiastes 1:12-17 “I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised. 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. 15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered. 16 I communed with my heart, saying, "Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge." 17 And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.”
King Solomon was the wisest king to ever live and in his wisdom he discovered that “all is vanity.” He searched to do all and to obtain all that he could. Nothing fulfilled Him. His desire for fulfillment and purpose could only be fulfilled by one thing.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all.”
The conclusion is that our relationship with God is of utmost importance. Him and His love. He is the Great I AM! He is our Heavenly Father. He knows our needs because He placed them there. He is Jehovah – Jireh, our All. We find complete fulfillment in Him. We find our purpose, our identity, our salvation, our hope and our future. We find our life because He is “the Way, the Truth and the Life.”
We don’t need enough. There’s no point in trying to obtain more! God is all sufficient and He is sufficient for ALL our needs. The BIG ones and the small ones. Relax…. And trust Him! He’s got it all covered. We’re His children. We’re the Bride of Christ. When we come to the full revelation of who He is and how much He loves us, we’ll supernaturally come together in unity as the Bride of Christ. We’ll not only find fellowship deeply with our Heavenly Father and Heavenly Husband, but we’ll find each other. God has all the details worked out for our life. We don’t need to put it all together because we can’t! Trust Him to do the work. He’s a very BIG GOD. He’s our almighty El-Shaddai!
God Bless.
November 23, 2010
Starting Fresh
It's always good to take a moment and start fresh each day. We need to remove ourselves from the world and to set time aside for God. We've been created with a longing inside of us to be completed by Him! In prayer and worship, we learn to put our Father and our Heavenly Husband, Jesus, first!
I think, like others I'm sure, I've taken my prayer time with the Lord for granted. We live by sight often and shouldn't. We need to live by faith. We're to worship Him in Spirit and Truth. We're to walk in the Spirit and to deny our flesh. It can be tough, though, with the cares of this world. Obviously we're still living in it, but the bible says that we're not to be of it! :)
Isaiah 56:7 says "I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples."
That's us! The bible (aka "the Word") in 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 says "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's" We are his temple! :) God's Spirit dwells in us. We're His housing and He calls us to be a house of prayer.
What are we doing in our "house"? Are we filling it with prayer, setting aside time to Worship the Lord? In the Old Testament, the original house of God for the Israelites was called the Tabernacle. You'll find explanation of how the Tabernacle was built and all that occurred within the Tabernacle in the book of Exodus. What I want to point out is that there were three parts to this Tabernacle. There was the Outer Court, the Inner Court, and the Holy of Hollies. Each area was divided. You started in the Outer Court and worked your way inward. In order to reach the Holy of Hollies, you would need to pass through a REALLY big curtain, but it was only the High Priest who would do this. Inside the Holy of Hollies was the "ark of the covenant." This was the mercy seat of God. This was where the Spirit of God dwelt and when the High Priest entered this area, he would burn incense before the Lord. As the curtain swept aside, the incense would wander in and fill the temple. The incense was symbolic of worship and even now as we enter into the presence of God, worship is one of the first things that should precede anything we do.
Here's the perfect word for this Thanksgiving week. (Adonai = Hebrew for "My Lord")
All of this, the Tabernacle and what occurred there, was all symbolic of Jesus and what he did for us. Jesus died on the cross for us! In order to enter into the presence of God, we need a High Priest. We need a sacrifice. Back when Adam and Eve brought sin into mankind, they tried to cover up the sin with fig leaves, but it was God that took the initiative to restore us to himself. It took skins. It took the shedding of blood to atone and make right. This is why the Israelites made animal sacrifices in the Tabernacle and later the Temple. The temporary innocent blood of bulls, goats and doves wasn't going to cut it. These sacrifices had to be made as sinful acts were committed and yearly to atone for the sin of man, but praise be to God it was only temporary. The ultimate plan was Jesus! He is called "The Lamb of God." He was perfect. He sacrificed Himself on the cross in our place. He took on our sins and abolished them when he died on the cross. BUT, praise God! He arose and overcame death. He overcame sin.
Not only was He our perfect, one time needed, sacrifice, He became our High Priest. And, included in this, was the fact that when he died, the REALLY BIG veil in the temple of Jerusalem was really torn in two from top to bottom. This was a feat fit for only the hand of God. It was a REALLY thick veil. After he arose, he went into the heavenly temple of God and sprinkled (like in the Old Testament, the Tanakh) his blood over and before the mercy seat in the MOST holy of hollies. He made the GREAT and FINAL atonement for the sin of all man and now offers himself as a FREE gift to all who will accept His grace and mercy. We can't earn anything that he did. We can offer nothing equal in comparison to what He did for us. All we can do is say "yes" in obedience and humility before Him. Sweet surrender to our majestic King.
So, if you understand all of this and are in a place to do so, I would truly recommend taking a moment or more to worship Him! Do not be ashamed of what He has done for you. It doesn't matter what you're going through. It doesn't matter the sins you've made or how often you've repeated it. You're His bride and He loves you. He knows you can't change by yourself. He knows that you're powerless without Him. This is why He wants you to come and fall into His forgiving and loving arms. This is why He wants to nestle you in His bosom and give you His strength. Jesus wants to remove all the stains on your garment, so to speak, and to give you a new glorious white, pure garment that you can wear as His bride. He wants to put you in His royal garb and prepare you for the wedding feast to come!
For you see, Jesus is coming back for His bride. He's coming back to collect us unto Himself. He's coming to finally overthrow the evil kingdom and to reclaim what's His. Those who refuse Him, won't be with Him and will be sent away, eternally far away from His presence to a place of death where demons and the devil himself will be eternally, forever and ever punished! We definitely don't want to be there. This is why it's so crucial that we turn to Him as our Savior. This is why it's so crucial to place our faith and trust in Him! He wants none of us to perish! He's calling every human being to himself - men, women, children, the old and the young!
I pray that the Lord would bless you and if you don't know Him and the power of His resurrection, that you would take a moment and speak real words to a God that you might not know. Speak out loud and trust that He hears you. He's standing at the door of your heart, knocking. Answer the door and let Him come in! The bible says that He'll come in and dine with you! Don't be afraid of what He'll find. He already knows what's there. He's come to help you. Lay it ALL down at His feet. You don't come to Him perfect - there's no such thing. You don't come to Him with all the answers and with everything figured out. You come to Him in brokenness and humility. This is the heart He's looking for. He's looking for the ones who are heart sick and need Him. He loves you. :) I love you. As your Sister in Christ, as a member of the Bride of Christ, go now in prayer, in worship and find your heavenly husband. Let His love flood you. Let His grace and mercy overwhelm you. Let the time for refreshing have it's way.
If you have a prayer request, feel free to send it my way. I'm here to pray with you. God bless!
I think, like others I'm sure, I've taken my prayer time with the Lord for granted. We live by sight often and shouldn't. We need to live by faith. We're to worship Him in Spirit and Truth. We're to walk in the Spirit and to deny our flesh. It can be tough, though, with the cares of this world. Obviously we're still living in it, but the bible says that we're not to be of it! :)
Isaiah 56:7 says "I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples."
That's us! The bible (aka "the Word") in 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 says "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's" We are his temple! :) God's Spirit dwells in us. We're His housing and He calls us to be a house of prayer.
What are we doing in our "house"? Are we filling it with prayer, setting aside time to Worship the Lord? In the Old Testament, the original house of God for the Israelites was called the Tabernacle. You'll find explanation of how the Tabernacle was built and all that occurred within the Tabernacle in the book of Exodus. What I want to point out is that there were three parts to this Tabernacle. There was the Outer Court, the Inner Court, and the Holy of Hollies. Each area was divided. You started in the Outer Court and worked your way inward. In order to reach the Holy of Hollies, you would need to pass through a REALLY big curtain, but it was only the High Priest who would do this. Inside the Holy of Hollies was the "ark of the covenant." This was the mercy seat of God. This was where the Spirit of God dwelt and when the High Priest entered this area, he would burn incense before the Lord. As the curtain swept aside, the incense would wander in and fill the temple. The incense was symbolic of worship and even now as we enter into the presence of God, worship is one of the first things that should precede anything we do.
Here's the perfect word for this Thanksgiving week. (Adonai = Hebrew for "My Lord")
Psalm 100
1(0) A psalm of thanksgiving:
Psalms 100:1-5 (CJB)(1) Shout for joy to Adonai, all the earth!
2 Serve Adonai with gladness.
Enter his presence with joyful songs.
3 Be aware that Adonai is God;
it is he who made us; and we are his,
his people, the flock in his pasture.
enter his courtyards with praise;
give thanks to him, and bless his name.
5 For Adonai is good, his grace continues forever,
and his faithfulness lasts through all generations.
All of this, the Tabernacle and what occurred there, was all symbolic of Jesus and what he did for us. Jesus died on the cross for us! In order to enter into the presence of God, we need a High Priest. We need a sacrifice. Back when Adam and Eve brought sin into mankind, they tried to cover up the sin with fig leaves, but it was God that took the initiative to restore us to himself. It took skins. It took the shedding of blood to atone and make right. This is why the Israelites made animal sacrifices in the Tabernacle and later the Temple. The temporary innocent blood of bulls, goats and doves wasn't going to cut it. These sacrifices had to be made as sinful acts were committed and yearly to atone for the sin of man, but praise be to God it was only temporary. The ultimate plan was Jesus! He is called "The Lamb of God." He was perfect. He sacrificed Himself on the cross in our place. He took on our sins and abolished them when he died on the cross. BUT, praise God! He arose and overcame death. He overcame sin.
Not only was He our perfect, one time needed, sacrifice, He became our High Priest. And, included in this, was the fact that when he died, the REALLY BIG veil in the temple of Jerusalem was really torn in two from top to bottom. This was a feat fit for only the hand of God. It was a REALLY thick veil. After he arose, he went into the heavenly temple of God and sprinkled (like in the Old Testament, the Tanakh) his blood over and before the mercy seat in the MOST holy of hollies. He made the GREAT and FINAL atonement for the sin of all man and now offers himself as a FREE gift to all who will accept His grace and mercy. We can't earn anything that he did. We can offer nothing equal in comparison to what He did for us. All we can do is say "yes" in obedience and humility before Him. Sweet surrender to our majestic King.
So, if you understand all of this and are in a place to do so, I would truly recommend taking a moment or more to worship Him! Do not be ashamed of what He has done for you. It doesn't matter what you're going through. It doesn't matter the sins you've made or how often you've repeated it. You're His bride and He loves you. He knows you can't change by yourself. He knows that you're powerless without Him. This is why He wants you to come and fall into His forgiving and loving arms. This is why He wants to nestle you in His bosom and give you His strength. Jesus wants to remove all the stains on your garment, so to speak, and to give you a new glorious white, pure garment that you can wear as His bride. He wants to put you in His royal garb and prepare you for the wedding feast to come!
For you see, Jesus is coming back for His bride. He's coming back to collect us unto Himself. He's coming to finally overthrow the evil kingdom and to reclaim what's His. Those who refuse Him, won't be with Him and will be sent away, eternally far away from His presence to a place of death where demons and the devil himself will be eternally, forever and ever punished! We definitely don't want to be there. This is why it's so crucial that we turn to Him as our Savior. This is why it's so crucial to place our faith and trust in Him! He wants none of us to perish! He's calling every human being to himself - men, women, children, the old and the young!
I pray that the Lord would bless you and if you don't know Him and the power of His resurrection, that you would take a moment and speak real words to a God that you might not know. Speak out loud and trust that He hears you. He's standing at the door of your heart, knocking. Answer the door and let Him come in! The bible says that He'll come in and dine with you! Don't be afraid of what He'll find. He already knows what's there. He's come to help you. Lay it ALL down at His feet. You don't come to Him perfect - there's no such thing. You don't come to Him with all the answers and with everything figured out. You come to Him in brokenness and humility. This is the heart He's looking for. He's looking for the ones who are heart sick and need Him. He loves you. :) I love you. As your Sister in Christ, as a member of the Bride of Christ, go now in prayer, in worship and find your heavenly husband. Let His love flood you. Let His grace and mercy overwhelm you. Let the time for refreshing have it's way.
If you have a prayer request, feel free to send it my way. I'm here to pray with you. God bless!
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