Longing With Tears

Yesterday was a tough day for me. My wife was involved in a a hit and run accident in the slippery snow. She was okay but shaken a bit. I became very upset myself at the person, who I never saw. While it is a crime to hit someone and then drive away, it made me think about myself generally today. I thought about a scripture I read where Jesus walked about and the it seems that perhaps just who He was in His presence healed people.

Luke 6:19 And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.

As I read this it sounds as if they wanted to touch Him to be healed but the power went out of Him anyway, touched or not, and healed them all. Either way, that is not the pattern I see in my own life. As I thought about what Jesus was doing, it made me think of what He was like. He had compassion on all mankind. The only people He ever got mad at were the church (synagogue) leaders of His day because they were teaching people that lead people away from who God really was. I guess my point is for me it is difficult to care that way about all people. But I want to care for people that way. I want to be like Jesus. I want to be that gentle spirited person that just heals everyone and cause no harm. As I thought about the comparison between who I am and wanting to be the person like Jesus, the difference made me start to get a little misty, hence the title. I think we all really want to be better people. I know I do. Let’s pray for ourselves and each other that God might do mighty work in each of us that we might have His heart for all mankind.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You alone are worthy to be praised. We love You. We need Your kingdom here. We need to learn to be kingdom residents. Please send today Your overwhelming provision. Please forgive our sins. We need Your healing and deliverance that we might serve You better. We want to be true representatives of who You are and show people Your nature. Please do that for us. Help us be like You. Guide us. Help all those that come around us that they might seek You and be healed by Your Spirit in us. We love You. In Yeshua’s (Jesus’) name. Amen.

Being There

When we have obstacles in our lives they can keep us from seeing the truth about ourselves and our lives. Friday was such a day for me. It was very challenging. I was making something, a wood project, and made mistake after mistake. There were several times when things fell and the saw bucked where I should have been harmed. But God stopped them all. That was the truth that I was having trouble seeing. God is always there, always on our side, always watching over us, even when we are not doing well. Then while traveling I lost internet connectivity and could not write this. Now I see that God was teaching me that He is always there and always in charge.

Psalms 76:1 In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel.
2 In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.
3 There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah.
4 Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey.
5 The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of might have found their hands.
6 At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.
7 Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?
8 Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared, and was still,
9 When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.

We serve a very great God.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You alone are worthy to be praised. Thank You for Your ever present help and preservation, even when we are failing. Forgive us when we are failing, and help us back up. Send Your overwhelming provision. Heal us and deliver us. In Yeshua’s (Jesus’) name. Amen.

Which Way To Go?

Life is filled with many things vying for our attention. Like many signposts standing up and waving their hands, these things try to get us to look or even travel in their direction. We get the option to choose what we will follow. This really gets at the heart of what takes up and makes up our lives. Jesus spoke about this.

Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 No man can serve two masters:

This is challenging for us to hear. For those with great possessions it can be even more challenging for if we regard these treasures, we run the risk of caring more for them than for our God. It is very easy for us to see our jobs, our houses, our bank accounts all as the source of our existence. If we let them be that to us, then we are serving them.

Let’s trust in and serve the living God today.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. Thank You for this day and Your kingdom. Let Your kingdom reign. Give us Your abundant provision today. Forgive us when we fail You. Heal us and deliver us. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

With Us

Today I had a discussion with a friend. He relayed to me a story of a believer that had a close relationship with God, like friends. In the discussion what came out is that God is always with us. He experiences whatever we are experiencing. What this made me think about is that He is with us in good times, but He also is with us when we sin. That was a sobering moment. I thought about a scripture that might confirm this is true.

Deuteronomy 31:6Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

What is interesting here is that Moses had also said that the people would walk away from God when times were good. God would do things to draw them back. But He never will forsake His people. Ever.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You are our King. Great King, send Your kingdom. Give us provision and forgive our sin. Heal us and deliver us. Be with us. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Temple Care

There were times in history when there was a temple in Jerusalem. From the artist renditions of the two temples that existed at some point, they appear to be very majestic in their construction and design. It must have been an awesome thing to have the presence of the Father show up and light the Holy of Holies. And it is difficult to imagine what it would have been like to have the sacrifices ignited by the fire of God, a supernatural even each time. Recently I was considering this as I watched a man teach on Sukkot and the temple. It occurred to me that there is a new temple now that is a bit different, but just as majestic.

1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Our bodies and our spirit belong to God. They are meant to be holy. We must keep this temple that God gives to each of us holy. In these scriptures Paul was speaking about fornication in particular, which is obviously not good. But there are other things we can do to our bodies AND to our spirit that are not good as well. It can be movies we watch, music we listen to, jokes we tell or are willing to listen to, the food we eat… the list goes on. Don’t get this wrong, I am not talking about what we should not do. I am speaking more about what we should do. With God in us we should want to pursue righteousness. We will not get it right all of the time, but when we get it wrong there should be a conviction within us that drives us toward getting it right the next time we have the opportunity.

I write these things not as one who has achieved perfection in this area, but as one with the drive inside. Let us all pray for each other that we might become the holy temple of God.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You alone are Holy. You alone are worthy of our commitment to be holy to You. Let Your kingdom reign in the earth today Father. Send us Your overwhelming abundant provision. Do it in a way that it shows it is You and not just the work of our hands. Forgive us our sins. Forgive us when we are really dumb and repeat wrong things. Let us be like Yeshua (Jesus). Heal us and deliver us. In Yeshua’s (Jesus’) name. Amen.

What Is To Come

Can we know as believers what is coming in our future. It is interesting when God does what He wants according to His plan and His timing, and we are amazed. These are definitely interesting times we are in today. It appears that we are headed for a time when the world is oing to faced with the reality of God. We have the signs in the sky. We have people bringing great harm to others. When we are headed into these troubled times, I am reminded of a scripture.

Luke 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

This was Jesus telling us of times to come. And then there is Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians.

Thessalonians 1:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

God shows signs in the heavens to let us know. He rules the heavens and sets those signs in place.

Let us watch and wait, ready to see our Messiah return!

Prayer
Father, we prais eand exalt You. Send Your kingdom among us. Give us our provision for today, and forgive us whaen we fail You. Heal us and deliver us. Open our eyes to see the signs and Your ways. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

We Can Become What We Need To Become

When I speak with fellow believers there is a common theme amongst those that have a sense of humility. They worry about whether they can make it, whether they will be good enough. This is a thought that I also have from time to time, and it has caused me to consider the answer. By ourselves, the answer is no. But we are not by ourselves, we have God on our side, making the answer yes. Paul spoke of this in his letter to the Philippians.

Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

The real question we must settle the answer to is whether or not we will trust our God. Actually, this may be a lifetime journey and not a point in time question. It seems that God has us in a world where He allows us to be presented with challenges on a regular basis. For us to succeed, for us to have Him make us better, we must trust that He will do what He says He will do. Each of these moments becomes and opportunity for us to again trust that He will finish the work in us, that He is our Provider, our Healer, our King. It can be challenging because the world is big and we in ourselves our frail. But we must believe and trust that we are not alone.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. We need Your kingdom in the earth, but mostly in our hearts and minds. Help us today to trust in You. Give us Your abundant provision today. Forgive us our sins, and those that sin against us. We need Your help because we cannot do it alone. Heal us and deliver us. Let Your will reign in the earth. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Flood Waters

In a dream I had last night we were in a house on a cliff forty or fifty feet above the ocean. There was a staircase down to the garage that was down at road level. A warning came in suddenly over the air that a flood wave was coming we were at street level with many people and the police and city were trying to barricade the homes with dirt shoved from edges of yards. we went up the stairs to the house and a number of people joined us. We watched as one and then another wave crashed into the cliff just below the edge of the cliff. I said, “Our car will be under water now,” and we watched as the waves subsided. There were fishing boats trying to ride the waves and one of them capsized with the smaller follow up waves. The man on board jumped in the water, and was picked up by another boat as the waves stopped pounding the shores. Then I woke up.

I do not know if the dream has any spiritual meaning. What I do know is that God is on our side. He keeps us safe from the storms of life.

Isaiah 59:19 So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.

Today, if you face a flood, God will turn the tide if you ask Him.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You alone are worthy. Send us Your kingdom. Give us abundant provision today. Forgive us when we make mistakes. Deliver us and heal us. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

When The Time Comes

Isn’t it interesting how much in our lives is based on time? We work, eat, sleep, and do most things based on a time when they will occur. In fact, the only truly universal measurement seems to be time – all societies use hours and minutes today. Since time is so universal, it seems logical that God would have something to say about it. He does.

Daniel 7:24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

In this passage we see that the beast at the end of time changes the times and laws. Literally this is the High Holy days and royal law (the Law of the Torah). The timing of the High Holy days, the feasts of the Lord, is obviously very important to God.

As believers, we can follow God according to His timing. Then, we will be ready, when the time comes.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. Thank You. You have done and given so much for and to Your people. Please send Your kingdom and reign in the earth. Give us Your abundant provision. Forgive us for our faults and failures. We need Your healing and deliverance. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Chin Up

Have you ever had a day that seems like it was filled with one challenge after another, a day that just would not end? Perhaps you have had a week like that or a month or a year or more. The feelings we have in these times can be of defeat and cause us to walk through our walk with head down, slightly slumped over, almost in defeat. God wants us to feel and be victorious. But He understands that we are human. How do we know? Because this same experience has happened to many believers for centuries. We see this in scripture.

Psalms 42:5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

Here we see the psalmist talking to himself (actually sining to himself) not to be discouraged.

Psalms 43:1 Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
2 For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
4 Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.
5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

As we can see, the psalmist had this experience on occasion. As believers we do not have to be downhearted. We can encourage ourselves through psalms and hymns and spiritual songs that God is with us and for us.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You alone are worthy of honor and praise. Send Your kingdom into the world and into our hearts and minds today, Lord, and dispel the darkness. We have needs today, Father. Please send us Your provision today. Forgive us when we give in to doubts and fears, and lift us up. Heal our infirmities, both on the outside and the inside, and those of our fellow believers. Deliver us today. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.