Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Powerless=Powerful

"'For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.'” 2 Chronicles 20:12 NASB

King Jehoshaphat prayed this prayer as the larger nations surrounding around him were coming to attack his little nation of Judah. We don't know a lot about this king, but one thing is obvious--he was wise in the spirit because he knew the first thing to do when he heard of this attack approaching was to pray and fast--"Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah." 2 Chronicles 20:3 NASB

When I read this passage, the Lord spoke to me about the correlation of that time and that prayer to our lives today. What to you do when you feel you are being attacked? Do you just put on thicker skin? Do you retaliate by getting revenge? Do you try to pull in others so that you have enforcement?

While those would seem to be the natural responses--in Christ they are the wrong ones. In Christ, you need to become powerless to be powerful. You need to have the wisdom to know that you are outnumbered, outpowered and maybe even outwitted--and be OK with it. Because once you can receive one or all of characteristics of your situation--your battle--you will be able to humble yourself and turn to the One that will really help you win whatever the battle is that you are about to be engaged in or are already in the heat of.

Jehoshaphat was a king and even as king, he didn't try to fool his people by telling them that he had it all together and that everything was under control. No. This man stood in the midst of his people and proclaimed through out the land that everyone needed to fast and pray for the events on the horizon.

Brothers and sisters, we have an enemy that is just as powerful, if not more, than the nations of Israel. We have Satan and his team and they are relentless. They will fight and try to trip you up--and deceive you--until the very end. And you cannot win it alone. You cannot win that battle with him on your own power, wisdom or even a team. Oh, don't get me wrong, it is important to have a team to help support you, but it needs to be a praying team. A team that is grounded in the word. Not a team that will just go in with their bare fists. But to cover it all, you need to seek the Lord first and let Him do what he does best--and that is to take care and protect you.

Do you feel like you have an army of trouble coming your way? Or has the multitude already come and you are in the midst of fighting a battle right now? Don't be afraid--all you have to do is get on your knees, admit you are powerless and ask your Heavenly Father for help--He will send it in the form of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Praise be our God!

"When the enemy comes like a raging flood tide, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him and put him to flight." Isaiah 59:19 NASB

Thursday, September 20, 2012

The Promise Keeper

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore. Psalms 121 ESV

We are living in very epic and challenging times. The world around us seems to be a "thin crust" ready to explode or implode. On a world wide scale we see social, economic, religious, environmental,criminal, and political unrest.

In these days it would be easy to give into despair, fear, self reliance, and maybe even denial. The scriptures point us to the One who gives us strength for today and hope for tomorrow, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalms 121 gives us promises and hope in the Promise Keeper. The word "keep" and "keeper" are used six times in eight short verses. the word " keep" in the Hebrew means;  to guard, watch over, and attend to carefully.

Just think, the One who is the creator of all things offers to keep you in His care. He offers to help, keep, protect, and preserve you. In fact He promises to do so. How can you begin to live in this reality? You start by receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Jesus said,

"'My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.'” John 10:27-30 ESV

Daily we are challenged in our faith. Daily we have a choice to believe and receive the grace that Jesus gives. Daily, indeed forever, Jesus is the one constant in an ever changing and challenging world. He gives us the confidence in times of trials. He is the Promise Keeper.

Who or what are you putting your confidence in? What about Jesus?

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

SING!

"The Lord is my strength,
the reason for my song,
because he has saved me.
I praise and honor the Lord—
he is my God
and the God
of my ancestors."
Exodus 15:2 CEV

The Lord brought me to this verse a couple of days ago and I love it.

When I first discovered it, it was in the NIV version, which is great of course. But today, He brought me to this version which is the Contemporary English version. Please read the first two lines--what does it state? "The Lord is my strength, the REASON for my song." I love that--don't you?! He is the reason for my song, for your song. That is how it should be. The reason isn't whether we have a lot of material possessions, the reason isn't because of our circumstances, the reason isn't because of whom we are married to or whom our children are or aren't. No! HE is the reason.

And why is He the reason? It's the third line, "because He has saved me." He has saved me! Me--a sinner from before I was conceived. Me--with all my hurts, habits and hangups. Me--whom the world may label as ditsy or unworthy or not important. He came down from His throne in Heaven, became a humble baby, grew up to only be ridiculed and tortured and then died on a cross for me--for YOU.

How can we not, how do we dare not do the forth line, "I praise and honor the Lord". People, we need to stop whining to Him like the Israelites in the desert. Whining about having to leave a life of slavery. Whining about not having enough variety in our food. Whining that we are bored with life and with Him, so we will start worshiping other gods.

Our God is an AWESOME God and we need to sing from the mountain tops. Other nations are doing with other gods, we diffidently should be doing it for our God--your God, my God--and we need to SING!

"And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise." Romans 5:2 MSG

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Oh My Goodness!

Yes, goodness and faithful love
will pursue me all the days of my life,
and I will live[a] in the Lord’s house
as long as I live.
Psalm 23:6 CEB

The Goodness of the Lord--we hear of it all the time from the pulpit, when we read His word, when we sing the songs in worship--but do you feel it? Be honest--with yourself and your Lord--do you truly feel it? Or do you just mimic what you hear because you think, "Hey I'm a Christian. I have to say God is good, and His goodness I feel because if I don't I'm being disloyal to Him or will be judged."

Well, today, you are given the freedom to be truly honest--to say that you don't always feel the goodness of the Lord. It's an honest feeling. God wants you to be honest, to be vulernable with Him. He already knows. He already knows that you are feeling these feelings. Maybe it's because of the situation you are in in your life right now. Maybe it's because someone or something has hurt you. Maybe it's because you are in a depression and it's hard to see goodness in anything, let alone your God. Be honest. Be respectfully honest.

Until you give Him your true feelings, you are living a lie. And when you are living a lie, the goodness button gets harder to find. Harder to recognize. But the moment that you lay on His lap--the confusion, the hurt, the betrayal, whatever it is that is keeping you from truly seeing, feeling and receiving His goodness--He can deal with it. Once you release it into His capable hands, you will be amazed at how light the yoke will feel in your heart, in your spirit.

Your Heavenly Father wants to give you His goodness and He does, whether you recognize it or not. But you see, your spirital walk is not a walk that you take alone. You need the buddy system, and ultimately, He is your buddy. You have to be communicating with Him and allowing Him to communicate with you in order for the walk to be successful and safe. If you go alone, you will be attack by all kinds of creatures, you will get lost and in the end, you will die.

"'I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.'” Matthew 28:20 MSC

So today, take this very important step in your walk--be honest and share your heart with your Heavenly Father. Get all the crud out and then I know you will be amazed of how much room you will find for the true meaning of goodness to fill your spirit and when you say the words, God is good, you will truly mean it. Praise Jesus!

My dear Father in Heaven, I pray for my past feelings of not really thinking that the events of my life was covered by Your goodness. I humbly ask for forgivenss when I have just gone along with the crowd and not by being honest with You or myself. I pray that You would help me to be able to voice to You my true feelings repectfully and honestly. I pray for the wisdom to be still before You so that I can receive Your word and know that You are God--my God. Thank you so much for loving me, and for Your faithfulness and grace that You show me every single second of our journey together. I so truly love You and praise You. Amen



Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Who's Truly Watching Your Back?

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding."
Proverbs 3:5 NLT

In an age of being, at times, overwhelmed with information, you may read this verse and just push it aside. "What? I am not to figure it out myself? I have to trust someone else, Someone that I can't even see? No way! That is just plain silly!"

We are a society that is addicted to reasoning and with reasoning, control. We need control, we need to know the outcome--in everything.

God doesn't want that. Sure, He wants us to use our intellect, our brains, but not to the point that we push Him out or over ride Him. He is our power source. Our great "Wizard"--(for those of you who have seen The Wizard of Oz.) He wants us to turn to Him for everything. And give Him all the control.

And do you know why? Is it because He is a control freak Himself? NO! Of course not. The reason that He wants to have the control of your life is for the simple reason that He created you. He knew you before you were even created in your mother's womb. He knows every hair on your head, and He knows you even better than you think you know yourself. He has your best interest at heart--His heart. He has no hidden agendas, no favorites, no reason on earth or in Heaven, to wish you harm. What better Person to have watch over you, to take care of you--don't you think?

Do you realize that we can reason/control ourselves right into a corner that we don't want to be in. That without praying and listening to our Heavenly Father, we are just asking for trouble. Look at all the prophets--whenever they were faithful and keeping a very close walk and conversations (prayer life) with the Lord, they were fine--even if they were in prison, or being martyred.

But the moment that they started having little private conversations with themselves, their friends, whatever or whomever, that was not under the coverage of God's wisdom, they started floundering. Their decisions were bad, their walk started faltering--then they were really in a disaster.

What is the biblical definition of faith?--Believing and trusting in God: knowing that God is real, even though we can't see Him.

"For we live by believing and not by seeing." 2 Corinthians 5:7 NLT

"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." Hebrews 11:1 NLT

So, today, if you are one of those that has to be in control of every aspect of your day, if you feel lost or fearful at just the thought of giving your day, your life over to Someone you can't even see--give it up.

Is knowing, is doing what you have been doing, given you any joy? Are you any less stressed out? Do you just want a day of peace? Give it Jesus. It sounds too simple I know, but it is what you need to do. The opening verse is only two lines--reread them and then ponder upon them. God will reveal Himself and His plan for your day, your life--in His timing. But you have to humbly ask, (pray), humbly receive (listen) and humbly obey (then praise Him with thanksgiving.)

Heavenly Father, thank You for being so patient with me and people like me who feel we must have all the answers before we can act or trust. In the name of Jesus, help me to simply trust in You, knowing that You will give me what is best for me and my life. Amen