Getting To The Kingdom

When we think about our lives as believers, we often think about God’s kingdom. We as believers long to see that kingdom here on earth. We long for the return of Messiah to set things right. But a question that I consider is, how can we help get there? Can we as believers do something to promote the kingdom on earth? What might that be? As I consider this possibility, I am reminded of what Paul said about the kingdom.

Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Here Paul tells us that the kingdom of God is not made up of the things around us, but of things that are spiritual – righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. If these are what makes up the kingdom of God, how do we promote the kingdom? jesus gave us some indight here.

Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

The kindom suffers from violence, and those that want the kingdom to move forward use violence to take it. What can that mean to us? The violent use the violence of declaring the truth. They declare the truth by what they say and do. We can be these people if what we say and do is in line with the kingdom.

Today, if we want to move the kingdom of God forward, we need to be saying and doing the things that are of the kingdom – righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You. You alone are the King in Your kingdom. Please help us to promote Your kingdom here in the earth. Please forgive us when what do does not line up with Your kingdom. Please bring Your kingdom into our lives in healing, deliverance, and provision in a way that all men may know that You alone are King. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Awakening The Thankfulness

Have you ever been through a period of time where things seemed pretty rough and you drew closer to God? I think most of us have. Sooner or later, life gets better and at first we are very thankful and grateful to God. Sometimes though I know it has been true for me that if that period of good times seem to continue, I can find myself forgetting to be thankful, or at least as so readily thankful. In speaking with other believers there are a number of them hat have said t me that they have had that same experience. It makes me a little sad when I think that I could forget to say thanks to God sometime. That is one of the reasons I started writing everyday. David spoke of this often.

Psalms 63:1O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
2 To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
3 Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.
4 Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.

In the desert David found time early in the morning to praise and thank God for all He had been. Those that experienced the scriptures first hand that we read seemed to have found a way to awaken the thankfulness within themselves. David was not alone.

Isaiah 26:8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Isaiah had this same experience it would seem. He sought God day and night, knowing God was on his side. These are just a few examples of how those that wrote what they experienced back then knew to be thankful.

Today, if we want to be like them, in good times and bad, we can. If we make the time we set aside day and night with God as valuable, it won’t get away from us. We too can awaken that thankfulness within us.

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You. We want to thank You for giving to us the chance to walk with You in Your ways. We want to thank You for all You sent before us that walked in Your ways as an example to us. Please forgive our missteps. Please help us find Your way. Please send today Your healing, Your deliverance, and Your provision. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

The Truth Is Its’ Own Defense

There is a phrase in the legal world that is used as the test for when someone says something about something or someone and how they can defend themselves from being sued. The truth is its’ own defense. It means that if what you say is true, that is the ultimate defense. You cannot have someone sue you and win if what you are saying is truth. There is something similar for us as believers.

In fighting against our enemy, the truth is not only a defense, it is a weapon. God and what He says is the source of truth. God’s words always come to pass.

Isaiah 55:10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
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.

Here God told Isaiah that just like there is a cycle to water in the rain coming to the earth, watering and producing in the plant life, and returning to the heavens, His words are the same. He speaks, the words go out and do what He has commanded, and then the result returns to Him just as He said. In a way, this is the definition of truth. In the pursuit of seeking to walk with God, it is likely that we will not always get it right. That is a truth. Jesus died for all of the sins of all believers. That is a truth. Jesus spoke of this truth in the scripture I mentioned yesterday.

Matthew 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Here Jesus is saying plainly that those that hear and do are standing on the truth. They are being built upon Him for He alone is our Rock, and He alone is truth. John repeated this in telling us how to love one another.

1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

Here John says that our actions need to line up with the truth, just as our words need to as well. If they do, then we are keeping God’s words, we are walking in the things that He says will come to pass, and we can receive all that we ask for because we are in the truth. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, maybe.

Some things what we read in the scriptures are challenging to understand. There may be parts that seem to contradict each other. However, from what we have just seen, that cannot be. God said both, therefore both are true. How do we reconcile these? Not our job. We do not have to reconcile anything. We just need to say the truth, and try to do the truth. What about the conflict that may seem to exist?

The answers are not in our heads. Don’t try to figure it out and make up some kind of rule about it. We go to God. We spend time with God. We trust God to show us how to walk it out. And oh yeah, when we do that, we destroy the enemy and his works.

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You. You alone are King. We do not always get things right. For that we ask You to forgive us. We need Your help to understand what You want us to do. We want to walk in Your truth. We trust You that You are on our side. Please show us Your ways that we might walk in them. Please send us today Your healing, Your deliverance, and Your provision. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Rock And Sand

Before I start today, let me provide sort of a warning. If you are just fine with life, relationships, church, and so on, you may not want to read what I am writing today. God has laid it on my heart to say the truth about some things here. Some may say this is meat and not milk. I say it is the source of tears.

My wife and I were discussing last night many of the things we have been taught about the church and about relationship, from the scriptures. As we talked, God began to show us a number of things that we have been taught are not accurate, or mixed with truth at best. We were trying to figure out how this happened.

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:

Paul in his letter to the Ephesians clearly laid out the structure of the church. There are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Their job is to raise up (not be the boss of) the believers. The believers are to work toward becoming perfected so that they can build each other up. Let me ask a question. Have you ever seen this structure in the church? I never have.

Do you imagine that church leaders have read this scripture? So then, what we are saying is it has been heard, but is not being done, right? For example, almost every church I have been to the pastor tried to be the alpha male. And then we wonder why sometimes pastors fall and run of with a woman from the congregation. We wonder why the men in the congregation are not the strong male figure at home. Think about that for a minute and I think the answer becomes more clear. In every church I have been in that had more than one pastor, one of them always claims to be the Head Pastor or the Lead Pastor or the Senior Pastor. Interestingly enough, we have none of those listed in the scriptures that God gave us. So we are hearing what God said but doing something else. Hmmm.

In relationships we see a similar tendency. Paul wrote about this in the same letter to the Ephesians. Think they might be connected?

Ephesians 5:21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

There is so much to say here. Today’s teachings want to water this down and talk about how the scripture just before this says to submit to one another. It is not popular to talk about the order of things in the household. It is not popular to say that the wives should treat their husband as they would treat Jesus. Everybody seems to want to point to the husband treating his wife like Jesus treats the church. This latter point is true. But there is a strong voice among us believers, taught repeatedly from pulpits, lessening the concept of the wife submitting to the husband (maybe because the leaders already have the leading of the church wrong as we pointed out). So, from where does this strong voice come? Have we ever heard it before? What were the results?

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Here we have an example of hearing what God said, but choosing to do what someone or something else said. That is what got us here. So what does the scripture have to say about why?

Matthew 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Jesus seems to be saying that if we hear and do what He says, we will be okay and things will go well. If we choose to hear but not do what He says, everything will fall apart. I guess we can look at these things, the condition of the church and the condition of relationships and ask, are things not right? If that is true, then according to Jesus, it would seem at least part of the reason is we have heard but are not doing.

If anyone thinks I am writing this because I have the answer, I am not.

I am writing this because I am weeping.

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You as the Most High. You are our King. You are our Ruler. We long to hear Your words and to do Your words. Help. We have gotten off the path. How do we get back and turn the families and the church? Only You can do this great miracle. It may perhaps be the greatest miracle of all. Please forgive us. We ask that You send Your healing, Your deliverance, and Your provision today. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Small Things

Children learn life from the big people, the more mature people, in their life. And frequently, they learn the small things. They see when we give each other compliments, or not. They see when we smile and laugh, or not. They see when we treat each other with respoect, or not. And they see when we praise and trust our God, or not.

1 Corinthians 3:2I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

Paul spoke about this to the Corinthians when he told them he had to give them milk instead of meat. While Paul was addressing the need for us to grow up in the Lord and some may see this as just a negative, I suggest we can look at this another way. The point is, we can grow up. We can learn to be better at serving God. Hopefully, we can learn this from other believers that are more mature, like Paul, that have experienced many of the good things of God. But what does it take to grow? Just like the children that watch us, we need to watch others that have been through many things, good and bad, and try to learn. Perhaps the best news of all in this is our God is a Father not like us earthly fathers. He is always on our side.

Dueteronomy 31:6 Be 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.
7 And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.

Moses told the people, and told Joshua, that they will possess the land that God promised to them. Moses had learned God’s ways and was an example to the people. He told them not to be afraid but be of good courage. Paul repeated this to us.

Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

Paul knew that he was meant to encourage those around him that may not yet know what he knows about the goodness of God. No matter how long we have been believers, we can do the same for our fellow believers. Today, if you want encouragement, encourage others. It is the small things that we do that add up. Together, we can learn to walk in God’s ways.

Together, we can make a difference.

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You as the Most High King. You have given us so much. You have shown Yourself to be our King. Please forgive us when we stumble and when we doubt. We really are trying to learn. Please help us to learn. Send us today healing, deliverance, and provision that all men may know that You alone are God. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Not Perfect

As believers we are called to walk in God’s ways. As humans, we will not do this perfectly all the time. We are not perfect. But we can take comfort in knowing that God knows we are not and will not be perfect. The psalmists knew this, and they were comforted by who God is.

Psalms 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

We have an even greater blessing than they had. We have our Messiah, Jesus (Yeshua) that gave His life so we could have a new life through Him. We have a new life in God. He died for all our sins. I long to be perfect, but like everyone I am human. Paul, someone that we look to as a great man of God, knew this about himself.

Romans 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

Even Paul struggled with sin, with doing what he should not and not doing what he should. In that way, Paul was just like us. But our hope is not in us and our ability to be perfect in ourselves. Our hope and our comfort is that our Messiah died for us, and our sini are forgiven if we will acknowledge them to God and ask forgiveness.

Today, we can take comfort in knowing that God always forgives when we ask and seek His face. God is our Father, and He is on our side.

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You as the Most High God. You are not made with hands as the gods others serve. You are the King and our Righteous Ruler. Please forgive us. Please walk with us and show us Your ways. We long to serve You. We praise You for all You are and all You do for us. We ask today that You do not count our wrongs against us, for they are many, but ask instead that You see us through the covering You gave us, Your Son Jesus. We ask that You send us today Your healing inside and out, Your deliverance, and Your mighty provision. in Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

God Hears Us

God has set in His creation, this earth, certain patterns which will happen. He is the Ruler and King. He has set for us a time of rest. And He is our defense against those that would oppress the poor and fatherless. He is a strong defense.

Psalms 10:12 Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.
13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.
14 Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.
16 The Lord is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.
17 Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.

Our God does hear us. He asks that we call out to Him. It is a part of the patterns He has set in this earth. Just like He has set up His sabbath for His people. He has set Himself up to be our Defender and our King.

Call out to Him today, and watch as He upholds His people.

Prayer
Father, We praise and exalt You as the Defender King. You alone are the One that we worship. To You alone do we offer the sacrifice of praise. Rise up Father, and defend Your people. Forgive us our failures, and help us follow Your ways and patterns. Please send us today Your deliverance, Your healing, and Your provision. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

On Our Way

When we determine that we want to follow our Messiah, things change. We get both blessing and resistance. The blessings come from God. The resistance comes from the enemy. The good news for us is God is far bigger than the enemy – the difference is even greater than comparing our planet to a pebble from the driveway. The challenge for us is remembering just how good and great our God is in times of challenges. He is on our side. We just need to trust Him.

Psalms 28:6 Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
8 The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.
9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.

God will lift us up – FOREVER! We have already beaten the enemy – FOREVER! Whenever there is doubt and fear, it is our enemy attacking us, and God is on our side to be our strength and save us – FOREVER! God has provided for us to be able to live with Him in us now, with access to the Jesus within us – FOREVER!

Colossians 2:3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

God hid all treasures in our Messiah. Then, through His mercy and grace, allowed us to have the Messiah in us if we will just turn to Him, seek forgiveness, and ask Him to be our savior.

And we get these amazing benefits – IMMEDIATELY AND FOREVER!

Prayer
Father, we exalt You as the Most High. We ask that You guide and keep us. Please forgive us when we get off Your path. Keep renewing Your hope within us. Please send us Your healing, Your deliverance, and Your provision today. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

What To Say

Last night before going to bed my wife and I were discussing some psalms. They made me think about how merciful our God is, and how we get to choose our lives’ paths. It would be so much easier if God just programmed us to only do His will. As a father I want my children to do the things I taught them growing up. But my older children are on their own, and I want them to do the right things in life and to live good lives. At some point they have to choose. Our heavenly Father is no different. He wants us to choose the good things that He has shown to us. I saw this in the psalms we were discussing.

Psalms 56:6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.
7 Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God.
8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
9 When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.
10 In God will I praise his word: in the Lord will I praise his word.

God is watching over us. He gives us the power to do good, or not. When we try to walk in His ways and call out to Him, He answers and protects us. He sends us His deliverance. He defeats our enemies.

Psalms 24:4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.

We can be that generation that seeks the face of God. It is hard to imagine what it must have been like in the times of Moses, seeing the plagues come upon Egypt, and then finally setting out to the promised land. In the desert and crossing the Red Sea, seeing all that went on is hard to comprehend. Sometimes I wonder if I would have been any different than the children of Israel that doubted. Much of life seems to be a journey around the same mountains, trying to decide if we will really trust our God or not. It seems like it should be easy to trust, but somehow it is not, or at least for me it can be a challenge at times. The times that I have faced the biggest challenges and decided to trust God, I see now they were just that. A choice. They are also something else. They are a declaration of who we really are inside, a statement of what we really believe. God has a word of encouragement for that as well.

Psalms 24:7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.

You see, we are the doors to the kingdom of God for those that do not believe. Our lives are an opportunity for those that do not believe to see what God has in store. The question is, what are we really revealing to those around us with our lives? Do they see God’s kingdom? Do they see Jesus in us? And if we really understand what God has given to us and to those we love and care about, what do we say with our lives and our mouths?

How about just saying thanks?

Prayer
Father, we exalt You as the Most High. We are more blessed than we can understand to have You on our side. Our world has so many distractions in it. It is not easy, Father, to stay on the right path, but it seems like it should be. Please help us to see You and do Your will. Please help us to walk in Your way. Please help us to help those around us find their way and have their needs for healing, deliverance, and provision met. Please send us today, now, Your healing, deliverance, and provision. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Taking Back The Land

The last few days have been very interesting. It began with a disagreement between my wife and I that we couldn’t seem to get behind us. Immediately after that first day, I became sick and then she became sick. After about four days of that, last night while in bed I woke up every hour, struggling with some thought or another, I would say out loud, “No I am not thinking about that.” It was easier because I was worn out and was able to shut my mind off to sleep. But an hour later I would wake up. In about the middle of the night, I woke up and thought about our situation, and decided that it was time to just not give way to the division between us. I said a quick prayer of thanks to God for helping me, and went to sleep. A scripture came to mind as I prayed.

Psalms 107:20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
21 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

There will be work ahead of us because we have to figure out how to better communicate with each other. But God wants us all to work on our walk. Not that it is meant to be a struggle. It is not.

Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Following the Messiah is easier than not following Him. The lie of the enemy is that our walk is hard and not following God is easier. That is just a plain lie. Our God loves us, and is on our side.

Prayer
Farther, we exalt You as the Most High King of the universe. We praise and thank You for Your mighty works on our behalf. We ask today that you forgive us and help us to trust in You. Please send us today our deliverance, healing, and provision in abundance. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.