Never Give In

One of the great speeches of all time was short and given by Winston Churchill. Although he was alleged to have a speech impediment, he gave an inspiring speech to a group of young people, and told them to consider those days as great days in history and to thank God for being a part of those days.

As believers we too are being given a great honor. We are granted the privilege of being a part of bringing God’s kingdom to earth. We do that through spiritual warfare. It can be an aggressive assault on darkness. But perhaps one of the greatest weapons we have is to not give in. This is one thing that Paul wrote to Timothy,

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

Paul also wrote similarly to the Galatians,

Galatians 6:1, 9-10 1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Paul was telling them that we all will be tempted, but not to grow weary. Don’t give in. Do good to others. If we do this we truly displace the darkness and usher in God’s light. Is that not what the aim of our spiritual warfare should be? I think it is.

Is there someone that you can do good for today? If so, in doing it, you dispel that darkness of a need they have, and you are winning the battle. You are ushering in God’s kingdom. You become a warrior for God!

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You. Help us do good to others. Help us to not grow weary. Help us to not give in to temptation, even if it is only the temptation to not help others. Help us to be a part of ushering in Your kingdom on earth. Help us to be the warriors You have created us to be. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

The Cycle Of Words

As I look around the community of believers today, one of the things that shows up is how much and how many could use some building up. My heart goes out to those that spend way too much time feeling the desperation of not being good enough or not understanding or stumbling forward toward God in spite of the other believers and family. I think we all have the same reaction to this when we really stop to see it or think about it. We want to help. We want to be a part of changing these people’s lives for the better. But how? Words, for a start.

We can begin by knowing that we are to help. We are to assist our fellow believers by building them up, according to Paul in his first letter to the Thessalonians, chapter five verse eleven,

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

So if we can see we are to build others up, the question is how to do it. Well, we need to ask how God does things because Jesus (Yeshua) said He only did what He saw the Father doing and we are followers of Jesus (Yeshua).

John 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

So then, what did Jesus (Yeshua) see when He saw the Father doing something? A part of that answer can be found in Genesis.

Genesis 1:3Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

God changes things by speaking! That is what Jesus saw, and in every case I can think of when Jesus initiated something, it always began with speaking. Many who read this will likely be thinking that this is not new and wonder why I am writing about it. I am writing today to say that the negative is also true, and that we should guard ourselves against being a part of the negative.

Jesus said that what is in our heart comes out of our mouth, in Matthew 12.

Matthew 12:34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Again we have heard this many times. But if you are like me, you may have forgotten, as I did, what came before and after this verse.

Matthew 12:33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Jesus (Yeshua) was instructing them and us to make the tree good. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a part of us, thanks to Adam and Eve. What is in our heart will come out, and grow the knowledge we speak, the good or the evil. We can build our fellow believers up by saying the good. Or not. And here is the most important point I want to make today.

Assumptions that are negative do more to hurt the body of believers today than possibly anything else. How could that be? Because we can all have them, and if we dwell on them at all, they end up in our heart. Then guess what? They come out our mouth, and the evil enters the world through our words, tearing down instead of building up. If you are like me when I realized this point this morning, you, like me, want to avoid these negative assumptions, right? Where here is the really cool thing. The same tool can get rid of those bad assumptions! Paul said in his letter to the Ephesians,

Ephesians 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

He did not say to do that when we felt that way. He said to do it, and then we would feel that way.

In closing let me say that I am guilty of allowing bad assumptions at times rule what I say. Here is our hope. God can help us. If we will take time each day to reach out to God, and then begin to say good things from Him out of our mouth, even if it is just to ourselves, we can put the good stuff in our hearts so that the good tree comes forth from our hearts to build up those in need.

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You as the Most High God. Thank You for guiding us and keeping us. Help us to get the good into our hearts today and every day, Father. Help us to have so much good in our hearts that we speak only the good. Help the good words from our hearts build up those in need of building up, that Your kingdom might be manifest here on earth. In Yeshua’s (Jesus’) name. Amen.

We Can Learn From The Changing Leaves

Here in the upper Midwest the leaves are beginning to change. Every year my yard gets almost knee deep in leaves. I live on the edge of the country boundary with the city, so the property is bigger than many. That means, what a lot of leaves to rake! I was reflecting on the scripture from a previous post, Jeremiah 33:20-21,

Jeremiah 33:20 Thus saith the Lord; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;
21 Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.

I was trying to better understand encouragement. In this case God was pointing to something we can watch happen every day that is unchanging, the separation of day from night. He then compares that with the unchangeable promise He made to David. He also speaks of the restoration and return of Israel. He was encouraging Jeremiah. Encouragement is offered about future events. They may be soon, or they may be after our life time. So why does God encourage us?

Looking back to Jeremiah there in prison, it reminds me of how we all at times feel like we are bound up by things we cannot control – work, PTO meetings, family gatherings, etc. God offers encouragement so we won’t give up. He offers encouragement so we will stick to the plan – His plan. And why would we stick to His plan? Because, in God’s plan, in the end we win. We will be at peace. We will be at rest. And God is ushering His plan to earth right now. We can be a part of that, right now.

Yes, there are many cycles in life. The leaves turn and fall to the ground, but then comes the spring with new growth and new green leaves. God has a plan and a promise for good for us, both now and in the future. Can you stop the day and night from being separated? Me either. That means, God will keep His promises to us, to you. Never give up!

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You for being our God. thank You for the cycles in life. Thank You that Your promises are for now and for the future. Please encourage the hearts of those that feel imprisoned and down trodden today, God. Please do it speedily. Help the lowly to rise up. take the poor out of the dust. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Who Do You Trust?

Those of you that read here often by now have come to know that I sometimes mention the message I heard at church and build from that here. Today is one of those days. Yesterday was one of the most powerful messages I have ever heard on the need for fleeing sexual immorality in the church. It was both thorough and at the same time, it offered encouragement. The pastor that delivered it was one of the most compassionate I know, so coming from him it was very believable that he actually cared. This gets to the point of today’s writing.

At the end of the message, many people were moved. People were offered opportunity to come forward for prayer at the end, as is the custom, while other people exit the auditorium. These people were seeking wholeness. These people wanted the comfort from the deliverance from whatever darkness had entered their lives in whatever way. But I also think they wanted one more thing. They wanted the comfort of talking with another human being, sharing and praying, all why knowing that they could trust that they would not be singled out in some way for what they shared, that what they shared would truly end up in the past and not a part of some leadership “discussion”. In speaking with different people from different churches on the subject of praying, one thing comes through. People want and need to be comforted. This comfort only truly comes with the trust factor previously mentioned.

At this point I would like to tell the readers that this trust bond, this lack of making church members a point of “discussion” amongst leaders and other members in the church, was readily available. Sadly, from my personal interactions with others I have to tell you, it is not. In case you are wondering what I am referring to here, and why the word “discussion” is in quotes, let me make that clear before I go on. Any time anyone talks more ABOUT someone in a less than positive way, than TO that person, that is what the bible calls gossip and the sowing of discord amongst the brethren. And And God hates that discord thing more than anything. (By the way, if you are a leader and you are doing this, you should know that God holds you to a higher standard. I suggest you get on your knees and repent, or resign.)

Proverbs 6:16 These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

I wish I could tell you that when you are moved at your church to reach out to others for this comfort that you will not face this mistrust. Sadly, I cannot. It exists where I go to church, and likely where you go to church as well. So, here is the comforting part. God still cares. He can and will meet your need for being made whole without anyone else. And we are all in this together, so those of us that experience this misuse of “discussions” (read “gossip”) also have to be forgiving of those that do it. We can feel the comfort of doing God’s work of forgiveness. We are all truly in this together, and God uses all of us to help knock off the rough edges on each other.

I get a sense that there is some that will read this and that there will be people on one side or the other or on both sides of this point. Remember this, God loves you. You can have freedom and comfort. I will be praying today and during the week for those that read this and are moved to prayer. Ask God for your freedom today.

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You as the most high God, the true Master of comfort for Your people. God, please reach out to the people that read this and need the comfort of being made whole from darkness, no matter how it entered their lives. And please Father, help leaders and all of us to not “discuss” other people. Help us to reach out to those in love as Jesus (Yeshua) would have, seeing them as the same as us in Your eyes. Help us extend to them the mercy You have extended to us. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Cloudy Days, Clear Days

This morning I woke up to a very cloudy, gray day. It rained overnight, and is expected to rain more later today. Days like this seem to cause the colors to be more subdued as if someone had sprayed everything with something to dull the view. As I observed this in my back yard, it reminded me that at times I look at my life that way. It also made me think about clear days, and how we move from cloudy to clear.

Sometimes what we see depends on what we look for or from where we look. I am not talking about physical locations. I am talking about the heart. Jesus (Yeshua) spoke about this at various times, like Matthew 6:21-23,

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!

It seems that what we value draws our heart to it. Since we are all human and may value the wrong things, what does it take to value the right things? And how do we change? Jeremiah said the heart was deceitfully wicked. But God knows our heart. In fact, He gave us access to a renewed heart through the new covenant when He wrote the law on our heart (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 10:16).

Jeremiah 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Hebrews 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

This is the game changer, I believe. The law brings us to the Messiah according to Galatians 3:24-25,

Galatians 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Some say that the law is no more. But then does that make God a lier about the new covenant? Maybe, the law is an external thing that by attempting to keep it points us to Jesus (Yeshua), but at that moment that we confess our sins and accept Him as Lord and Savior, that faith transforms our hearts and God writes the law on it. It still is point to the Messiah, but it is no longer outside trying to show us the way. We can now pray and have God lead our hearts in the right way.

If we make God’s stuff more important than our stuff, we get access to Him leading us from cloudy to clear, through grace by faith.

Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You. Thank You for this day, and every day, and we ask You help us to remember the important things in life. We do not want to ever forget what You have done for us, or Your promises. On this Sabbath day, please help the cloudy become clear. Help us to help those around us. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

God Is With Us And For Us

As believers we are truly in an awesome place in this life. Sure, there are times when life gets challenging, maybe a little too challenging, from our point of view. But those are the times when God rises up to be strong on our behalf. He has provided already for our needs to be fulfilled. If we are willing to take the time to look at the scriptures that He has provided where He makes promises to us, it helps us to build our faith and trust in Him. Let’s look at a few examples.

Psalm 113:4-9
4 The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high,
6 Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!
7 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
8 That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.
9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.

Psalm 110:1-2
1 The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
2 The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

Proverbs 4:20-23
20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

In these scriptures we see that God has promises and a plan for us. He will lift us up and provide for our needs abundantly. When Jesus (Yeshua) came to earth, God made His enemies His footstool, placing them under Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) feet. Since we as believers are joint heirs with Jesus (Yeshua), we are in that same position! We have victory over the enemy through Him! How? By attending to God’s words, reading the scriptures, and holding those words close in our heart. We need only pray and believe, and wait patiently for God’s deliverance. Isn’t that great?! Praise God!

Click here to listen to “God Is Able”.

Prayer
Father, we love You. You are the Mighty King! We praise and thank You for giving to us hope when we feel so far from it. thank You for never leaving anyone behind. You are the ultimate Warrior King! Please bring to us our needs today, and Your kingdom to earth. Let us be Your vessels and reach out to those that we have struggled to be close to and to those we have yet to meet. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Deliberate Thankfulness

In life we can get caught up in the day to day activities. It happens for me frequently. What do we miss? What we miss is the foundation for the day. Think about it for a moment. If just start our day with the lengthy list of to-dos, we don’t really have a foundation, just a running endless list of what is and is not done. As the day progresses, we can feel overwhelmed because it seems like the list is in control. It was our focus and starting point.

However, if we begin by deciding on purpose to thank God for the blessings in our life, then when the list seems overwhelming, we still have that starting point to reflect back upon and restore that blessing within us. Perhaps this is what Lamentations 3:21-26 is referring to when we read,

21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24 The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.

Like building any house, we first need a foundation. Perhaps thankfulness toward God for daily renewal is a good place to start…

Prayer
Father, we thank You for showing us Your mercy and truth every day. We thank You that You do not hold grudges or anything against us and give us a path to renewal through confession to Jesus and seeking forgiveness. Help us today to stay focused on You. In Jesus (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

Expressions Of Caring

Often when I think of spiritual warfare images come to mind of clips from “The Exorcist” where the priest is shouting and throwing water on a little girl that spins her head and vomits something like pea soup. It is interesting to me how so many different things can turn out to be powerful enough to dislodge opportunities for the enemy of our souls to creep in and cause harm to us and our fellow believers. And nobody has to spin their head around. Take the other night for example.

My family and I went to a potluck – prayer meeting. My wife was running late getting home from work. On the way home she witnessed a motorcycle accident, and needless to say she was pretty shook up. She got ready and we took off, going to someone’s house for the first time instead of the church. Of course we came across yet another accident, had to detour and got a little lost, and then we were stopped by a train! When we finally arrived twelve minutes late, as we pulled up I received a call on my cell phone. It was someone from the meeting calling to see how soon we might arrive, because they were waiting to eat until we arrived. I remember how I felt as I hung up the phone – I couldn’t believe it. They had actually waited for us. Somehow it made me feel like my family and I really mattered. Even though all they did was wait twelve minutes, those twelve minutes bought a tremendous amount of space in our hearts that could have been filled with the sadness of lack of self worth. And all for just twelve minutes.

How many opportunities do we have each day to show some small amount of caring to others? Open a door. A smile, a nod, asking someone how their day is and waiting for the answer? They really don’t cost us anything but a little of our time and willingness to treat people with respect. And when we add prayers of preparation to this, we may just get the opportunity to move the enemy of out of some influence that he currently has in their lives. Seems worth it, right? Today, we might try saying a prayer or two about such opportunities, and then look for them to see who we might bless with a little kindness. Sounds like fun to me!

Prayer
Father, we praise You and thank You for giving us Your grace. We are very blessed that little things matter to You and You provide for those little things. We bless Your Holy Name. Please show us today some of these small opportunities to reach out to others. Please help us to remember in those moments that You are giving us the power to dislodge the enemy and bring a little peace and joy to that person. And please soften the hearts of those that You bring our way to receive it as a gift from You, even to the point that we might win them, that they might receive Your Son as their Messiah. In Yeshua’s (Jesus’) name. Amen.

You May Never Know

Every day we engage with people who, just like us, are constructed with feelings, emotions, and reason. When I think about interactions I have with people, and about interactions I observe between others, I am struck by the intricacies of how we are made and how these areas interact in us and between us. Scriptures offer us direction in these interactions.

In Ephesians 5:19 Paul tells us how to build each other up:

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

This echoes what is said in Proverbs 12:18 which says:

There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.

In these two scriptures we see that we are not only told to build others up, clearly we see that this is done at least by what we say. I want to come back to this Proverb, but here is another one that is similar, Proverbs 15:2 which reads:

The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.

In these two Proverbs we see both an example of the good use of our words and mouth for encouragement, and also a warning that we can just as easily discourage with our words and mouth. There are many examples of this in scripture. Sometimes I think we want to do the good part of this and not the bad, but feel like we are just not spiritual enough or just don’t know how. Let me offer a couple practical examples.

Last night I was at a potluck and prayer meeting. Someone told me that they read this blog everyday as a part of their spiritual meditations with God. That was amazingly encouraging to me. It was a very simple statement, but very uplifting. In the four years I have attended the church where I go, this is one of four or five points of encouragement that I can remember. It felt good, to be honest. This is what we are to be doing, according to Paul.

On the other hand, I have a friend to whom God has given many Christian songs as a result of praying daily at the church for his congregation. Another member of the congregation joined him to write the music. Sadly, his church leadership has singled out in a very discouraging way him and the songs God gave him by instructing those that lead worship that they could play any song (including non-religious rock songs) but his. Sad really. Very sad. This would be an example of discouragement, which is likely not what was meant but is the result.

Let’s pray for one another, and especially for leaders, that we all realize that we can make a big difference in people’s lives, for good or bad, in what we say. Let’s join together for the good, shall we?

Prayer
Father in heaven, we exalt You. Thank You for encouraging us daily. Thank You for those that encourage us. Please show us ways we can encourage others. Please show us whom we might bless today with a word of encouragement. Please help us and those that lead us to not say things to discourage Your children, for we know this displeases You. We love You. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.

God Will Bring Us

There are good times and there are bad times in life. Have you ever felt like there is this continual struggle back and forth between these two in your life? As believers we face these same challenges, but we have a hope. Our hope is in the Lord. But the daily struggle between these good and bad times can wear us down. This is not new to us, for all those that have gone before us faced these same feelings, yet God even then called to them as He does to us, to have hope.

In Jeremiah 30 God told Jeremiah that He heard the voice of the people. They had experienced the result of their sin, but He was delivering them. In Jeremiah 31:9 He tells Jeremiah that He, God, would make it possible for them one day to walk with God in His ways:

They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a Father…

This same message is continued in Joel 2:32:

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered…

This message was continued when the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, when in Peter was speaking in verse 21:

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

And it was echoed again by Paul in Romans 10:13 when he quoted the prophet Joel:

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

God always knew we would face troubling times or times of being wearied. From the very beginning He had a plan for us to be made whole. Our hope is in God, that when we call upon His name, the name of the Messiah Jesus (Yeshua), He hears us and will deliver us to walk the straight ways by the rivers of waters and be renewed.

If you are feeling weary, call upon His name, and let Him give you peace in your spirit and wholeness in your soul today.

Prayer
Father, we thank You for being our God. Thank You for creating a path home, even from the beginning. Thank You for always calling us back to the straight path by the river of Living Water, Jesus. Please encourage our hearts and renew our strength today, Lord. In Jesus name. Amen.