Thankful For My Quiver

No, I am not talking about some new dance. Today, as I was running around using up the gift cards my kids got me for Father’s Day, I thought how blessed I was to have three grown children that work so hard. Growing up and getting married, I can remember wanting to have 12 kids. Yes, that was the same reaction my wife had. We stopped at three. But what an amazing blessing they are! We do not see eye to eye n everything, especially religion, but so what? God is on my side and loves my kids more than I ever could. All of that works out. What I realized today (though I think I knew it without thinking about it “out loud”) is that my view of children and family ought to be the same as what God thinks. So what does He think? Are there any examples?

Psalms 127:1 Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
3 Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
5H appy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Here we see the psalmist comparing the right number of children to a full quiver of arrows. So what is a full quiver of arrows? Well, I am not an archer, but I have been told by a friend who was that a full quiver of arrows is 13! So, my number of 12 was not far off.

I am saying all of this to say, “Thank You God for family!”

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You. Thank you for Your kingdom coming to this earth. We ask that You forgive us when we think children are a burden rather than a blessing. Please help us to see our children as You see them. Please send us today Your healing, forgiveness, mercy, deliverance, and abundant provision. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Say And Do

Growing up I heard many phrases that my parents used that today we call cliches. Yet, they seemed to live by them. “Your word is your bond” was one of the ones my father taught me all the time. He grew up during the depression and learned the hard way that people did not always do what they said. His folks lost their home to a wealthy person who claimed to help them out when they could not pay back some money owed. That story stuck with me, and I thought that all people stuck by their word. The scriptures speak of this as well.

James 5:12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

James was saying, amongst other things, that we should either say we will or will not do or agree to something. If we say one thing and do another, then our words become meaningless. One of the problems with that is we use our words to pray. If our prayers are meaningless, then it will be difficult to defeat our enemy. James talks about the power of the words.

James 5:17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
18And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

James was saying that Elijah had all the same faults as us. Yet, when he prayed, his words meant something. It is because our words and actions define us. In fact, the words take on meaning by our actions. The most important message here is that Elijah trusted God and knew that as a man he, Elijah, had faults. Lastly, God gives us an example about our words.

Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

God always makes what He says come to pass. If He says something He does it. If we say something and do not do it, it becomes difficult for us to believe that God would be any different.

Today, let’s pray and ask God to help us do what we say, and that what we say and do are in line with His ways.

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You. You alone are worthy to be praised. We so want to see Your kingdom in this earth. Sometimes we say one thing but do something else. Please forgive us when we do not do what we say. We know that people count on us to do what we say. We know it causes harm when we don’t do something we said we would do. Please help us to keep our word. Please send today Your healing, deliverance, and overwhelming provision that all men might know that You alone are God. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Preparing Our Fields First

For most of us I think we want to live in a decent place where things are neat and in order. We want there to be a system that the home runs by that makes it comfortable for us. There do come times of change, however, and in those times the house comes second. The scriptures speak about this.

Proverbs 24:27 Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.

This scripture is speaking literally about farming in the time it was written. It was better for the person that was going to settle some land to live in a tent and get the ground planted first, then build the actual house where he would live. The reason is there is a timing and season to the planting and harvest. It takes longer for that season to pass than to build a house. Perhaps food is more important than shelter. This reminds me of what Jesus said when He told us to seek the things of God first. He was telling us that what we sow in our hearts toward God we will reap in our physical lives. God watches out for His creation and He takes care of all our needs.

Today, let’s spend time preparing our hearts for and with God, that our lives might overflow with His goodness.

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You as the Most High. You truly are majestic. You cause the work of our hands to be blessed. Please forgive us when we say, do, or think things we should not. We are frail and imperfect. Help us to become more like You today. Help us to keep our hearts turned toward You. lease send today Your deliverance, healing, and abundant provision. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Rain Falls

It is encouraging to know that God is not like us and that He loves us all. For me at least, at times I can become very upset with some people. Yet if I want to follow Jesus, if I want to do His will by doing His words, then I must get past all that. It can be tough, but it is what Jesus encouraged us to do.

Matthew 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

God sends rain on the crops of the just and the unjust. It is challenging for me to understand this, and I do my best to live it. But it also seems that we are to pursue life which God values above even the Sabbath. What I try to do is when I am faced with evil men doing evil things, I pray for judgement because God’s judgement simply sets things right in the earth. He alone is the one that brings about the truth and righteousness of His kingdom.

If you are like me and have those that speak evil of you and persecute you from time to time, pray for them to be enlightened. Pray for God’s judgement to set things right in the way He chooses (not the way we choose). To God be the glory.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. We want to be in Your kingdom here on earth. We want to be like You. But we are frail human beings and we mess up and get angry with other people. Please forgive us when we do that. Please help us get past these things. Please send Your judgement to set things right. Please deliver us from those that oppress us. Please send Your healing and Your deliverance and Your overwhelming overflowing provision. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Finding Peace

We all are presented with so many subjects to occupy our thoughts and our lives. It can be overwhelming. For young families it is work, chasing kids, shopping, etc. Then comes the years of school activities. For older people it is traveling or spending time with the grand kids. It is easy to be distracted. However, there comes a point where have to slow down and remember what this is all about. This is about our God and serving Him.

1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

When we understand this and begin to try to live this way, life begins to work towards a better end.

Matthew 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

We can be at peace, true peace within, if we will put God first.

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You. We love You and want to spend time with You. Please forgive us when we get in too big of a hurry and run off without spending time with You. Help us to walk in Your ways, and to help those around us that we can help. Send Your healing, deliverance, and overwhelming provision. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Sabbath Is For Safety

As I was thinking of the Sabbath today, it occurred to me that it may have yet another aspect for us as believers. We all know it is called a day of rest. But I suggest perhaps it is even more. Let’s look at it’s first mention in Genesis.

Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

The scriptures state that God rested from His work. The word means to put down, to repose or kneel down. God essentially took the day off to be with His kids, Adam and Eve, that He had created. Here is what I saw today. If God wants to spend time on the Sabbath with His kids, as a Father He would certainly make certain everything was safe for Him to do this. He would certainly make certain that His kids would be protected from harm while He spent time with them. There are no scriptures I know of this that say this straight out. But as a father myself, I can say that all fathers look to the safety of their family first. God is a far better Father than I could ever hope to be. Does it not make sense then that He would ensure the safety of His kids when He spends time with them even more than I would.

Today, as we spend time with our heavenly Father, we can know He has our back and we are safe.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You. We want Your kingdom here. We want to spend time with You and we trust You to keep us safe. Please forgive us our sin, and cleanse us. Please send today Your healing, deliverance, and abundant provision. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

From Praise To Presence

Have you ever noticed how the presence of God seems greater during times of praise and worship? I think we probably all have noticed this at one time of another. There seems to come a time when we get to a place of being very close to God when we praise Him. The scriptures speak of this.

Psalms 22:3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

The literal translation here means says that God is enthroned upon or sits on the praises of His people. Somehow when we give praise to God, He shows up in those airwaves in some way. He is committed to us, to hear our cries.

Psalms 22:22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
23 Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.

We can also see this when David sang a psalm to God. An interesting example appears in Psalms 95. It begins with David saying calling out to the people to join him in praising God. Through the first seven verses we see David encouraging us to praise God, telling us why we should praise God, and finally a way in which we should praise God.

Psalms 95:1 O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
5 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.
7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,

Then in verse eight, things change. In the first seven verses it is written (and sung) from the perspective of the people about and then to God. From verse eight to the end it is written (and sung) from the perspective of God speaking to us, His people.

Psalms 95:8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

During the time of the singing of this song, God shows up and begins to speak to us. This is that same feeling we have when we spend time with God and have Him show up in some greater way. We are to be the ushers. We usher in the presence of God with our praise.

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You. You alone are worthy to be praised. We love You and want You with us. We long for those times when You are seated on our praises. Forgive us when we forget to praise You and go our own ways. Help us to overcome these shortcomings. Please send us today Your strength, Your power, Your provision, healing, and deliverance. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Keeping It Simple

We had some strong storms go through here yesterday and last night. This morning as I looked in my back yard I was thankful that none of the tall trees from the forest had fallen into my yard. Several years ago one fell on my house, and that created a mess for a while. As I thought about writing today, I felt the Spirit encouraging me to keep it simple – something to be thankful for, a scripture, and a song. If you would like to join me, think of something that may have just happened in the last 24 hours that you are thankful for and say that out loud to God. Now here is a scripture.

Psalms 96:1 O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing unto the Lord, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.
4 For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength.
8 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.
9 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof.
12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice
13 Before the Lord: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

As for a song, that I will spare you as I do not sing. But let’s all think of a simple praise song that we might like and know. Let’s take some time today and sing that out loud to God. Maybe on the way to work, at lunch, or perhaps on the drive home instead of listening to the radio, let’s be God’s radio where He can tune in and here His people praise Him.

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You today. You along are worthy of our praise. We long for Your physical reign on this earth. Forgive us when we do things or say things that do not follow Your path to getting the kingdom in the earth. Help us to love one another the way You love us. Please send Your abundant healing, mercy, grace, deliverance, and overwhelming provision. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Preparing For Reign

Last night my wife and I watched yet again one of our favorite movies, “Facing the Giants” which was a low budget highly successful Christian movie. As always it moved me. There are many great point in the movie, but two I would like to address here. The first is when the older gentleman that prayed for the students everyday approached the coach with a message from God. His final words were about two farmers that prayed for a much needed rain (not reign), but only one prepared his fields for it. He then asked the coach where he thought God sent the rain, and which sort of man the coach was. I have changed the word from “rain” to “reign” in the title of this writing because I believe it applies. Revival struck the school in the movie because they were prepared for the rain of reign.

We then watched the features at the end of the film. The making of the film was an amazing story. God was moving on Alex Kindrick to create such films. He wanted to point out that we all have giants in our lives, but with God they can be overcome. There are many stories about giants as a source of opposition in scripture. Most likely think of David and Goliath. However, long before David, there is a story of giants that applies here.

Numbers 13:1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.
3 And Moses by the commandment of the Lord sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.
17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain:
18 And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;

Moses sent the men as God had commanded to scout out the land. They found it to be very fruitful, with grape clusters so big it took two men to carry one! But there were two different reports that came back.

Numbers 13:30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Caleb (and Joshua) wanted to go take on the people, the giants, and possess the land. But the other men said the giants were too big. In saying this they were supporting the giants over God. It was like saying God was not big enough, and it scared the people. Then came a different response.

Numbers 14:6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:
7 And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.
8 If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
9 Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.
10 But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
11 And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?

Joshua stood up and said God is with us, do not rebel against Him. The people stood up to stone them. God showed up and was displeased. God set things right.

I tell this story because it turns out that in the making of “Facing the Giants”, Alex was prepared to leave his church. He felt the call from God to promote the kingdom, but that the church he was at did not do that type of thing. The pastor decided they would do the movie. The entire church prayed, the movie was done with only five professionals and the rest were volunteers. The movie cost $100,000 to make and grossed $10,000,000. More importantly it has touched and continues to touch thousands of lives. They prepared for reign. Let me now tell you another story.

A couple years ago a friend of mine went to church every day and prayed for revival in the churches sanctuary. God did a miracle and gave him and another of my friends many songs, day after day. Though he did not consider himself a song writer at the time, God was sending the reign. Unfortunately this story does not have a similar ending to date. Instead of using what God was providing to bring revival, the church leaders black balled my friend by name and would not allow the songs they had created to be played. And, as you may have guessed, no revival. So why tell these stories and what can be learned from this?

In the story from Numbers 13-14 we see that some speak for God and some speak for the giants. It is important to never give up, to realize that God will always defeat the giants. Perhaps the question we should all ask ourselves is, who do we speak for – God or the giants?

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You. You alone are worthy of praise. We love and exalt You above the giants in our lives. At some point we all give in and/or speak for the giants. Please forgive us when we do. We want to promote Your kingdom. We want You to rain your reign on us and this world. Please send us You abundant healing, deliverance, and provision. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Together

Last night my wife and I went out to a late dinner, which is unusual for us because we enjoy cooking and eating at home. It did give us opportunity to talk about some scriptures she had been reading, and about the community of believers in general. One of the topics we discussed was how we enjoy being around like-minded believers. There is just something about being with a group of people with shared values. This is spoken of often in scripture.

Psalms 133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;
3 As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

In this psalm we see that unity leads to a blessing of life for evermore. It truly is good and pleasant. My wife mentioned that she was seeing some things anew in the Proverbs, even though Proverbs and Psalms are frequent reading for her. One thing stood out. We are not all the same – we have differences. These differences are not only good, but they bind us together because each has something to contribute. Again, this message is a repetitive one in the scriptures.

Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Many who quote this scripture speak of the five-fold ministry. While I do agree they are for today, it is verses 12 and 13 I want to point to here. It can be read that the five-fold ministers are to to help the saints (believers) be perfected so that the saints can do the work of the ministry which is building up the body of Christ.

In the end, the message we came away with was a simple one. We believers all need each other. We can make a difference, we can change the world by advancing the kingdom, if we do it the way God planned… together.

Prayer
Father, we exalt You today. Send Your kingdom amongst us. Let us be Your ambassadors for life. Forgive us when we act alone or for ourselves only. Please help us to help others see You for who You truly are – the One and Only Living God. Please send today Your healing, deliverance, and abundant provision. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.